Ignoring Fresh Food

[cierlo]

We are blessed with 4 budgies who are all completely different characters.

They are on a seed diet but are only given a small amount each day and are weighed regularly to ensure that they are maintaining a healthy weight, and the seed volume is adjusted accordingly. I try to find a mix with as many different seeds as possible. They also have access to a mineral block, dry egg food, and soluble oyster shell grit for calcium. They have ACV in their water too.

My problem, as it is for many, is fresh foods. They will always eat cooked brown rice, quinoa, sweetcorn, scrambled egg, pick the seeds out of a strawberry, and grass. Currently the grass is developing seed heads and we're able to pick long blades from the local park most days and give them a good wash. However, being in the UK, we don't have access to grass in the winter when it is slower growing. I'm trying to figure out if we could grow enough grass for the 4 of them, but I'd have to do more research. Sadly we have no garden.

They will sometimes eat leafy greens such as spinach, peas, and grated carrot. The occasionally nibble slices of carrot, celery, herbs like basil and bell peppers. They do like a slice of apple when it is offered. After 9 months, they did finally try broccoli but now ignore it. And a few weeks back they had a week of really enjoying bell peppers of all colours, but now ignore those again too.

The majority of the foods they'll eat consistently are either grains or higher calorie, so I usually give less seeds on the days they have those. But I'm not sure if those few foods are enough to meet their nutritional needs.

However, even though they know that the other vegetables are food and edible they won't eat them even if we withhold their seed for a while. They'll be hungry but rather than eat the vegetables they will just badger for seed instead. They are slightly better when we are at work and they are in their cage, but the amount consumed could usually just be the work of one of them. If we're home they will badger, in the cage or out.

I feel like the eldest did better when he was a single budgie. He used to get excited to see food that weren't seeds, and he would also want to eat whatever I was eating, which meant that he might take a bit or two of something. Not a lot, but at least it was a few nutrients.

I have tried adding pellets to their diet to at least supplement for vitamins and minerals but they'd have none of it.

Does anyone have any advice about encouraging them to actually eat more variety, or is what they will eat suitable?

[tweetiepiesmom]

It sounds to me that your budgies are eating a good variety. I also rotate a variety of foods for my two budgies and they do exactly as you described. If I give them something that they haven't had in awhile, they may devour it or they may ignore it. If they ignore it, after a couple of hours I take it out and replace it with something else.

Do you have a sunny window? Next winter you might try growing some grass in a pot in that window. My two love wheat grass and especially the seed heads. I'm fortunate in living somewhere that I can grow it myself year round. They take to herbs that has a grassey look to it like dill so you could try that also. If you hang a bunch of wet Romaine lettuce leaves in their cage, will they wipe themselves on it to take a bath? Maybe they'll munch it also.

Have you tried sprouting? That might also give them a bit more variety and help reduce the amount of seeds you are feeding them. You can feed them sprouts every day. My guys love their sprouts. I recently attended a webinar presented by an avian vet in the US. She said the typical American budgie weighs 25 grams and needs 11 calories daily. If you have the larger budgies that weigh around 50 grams, they'll need 22 calories a day.

I think you are doing great with the food for your budgies.

[cierlo]

Thank you, tweetiepiesmom, that is reassuring.

I have tried sprouting previously with mixed success. My last batch went all furry so I was a bit reluctant to try again after that.

[tweetiepiesmom]

I would encourage you to try sprouting again. After the first 12 hour soak, rinse very well with fresh water. Then let them soak in apple cider vinegar water for about 15 minutes then rinse thoroughly. Shake all excess water out. You'll need to rinse every 12 hours. One key thing is to make sure they are damp but not wet. They need a bit of moisture and air to grow. Where I live the sprouts are ready to serve in 3 days. Also don't sprout a big batch. I sprout 2 TBL at a time for my 2 budgies. After sprouting for 3 days, I store the rest in the frig. It will last them 3-4 days. To keep my guys in sprouts, I almost always have a batch going. Feel free to ask questions about sprouting. Others here also sprout.

[Hezz]

You are right not to feed the mouldy sprouts to the birds, and sprouts can be dodgy things to get right, depending on your climate. For seeding grass to be a big part of their diet there does need to be a good variety, just the same as you are trying to do with their seed. I think you are on the right track with what you are doing and what you have tried.

Are your four all in together? This could make it harder to try what I’m going to suggest, as there will be one who will get the majority of the seed. I have inadvertently got my boy budgies eating pellets simply by using the pellets as a foraging material for their teaspoon of seed. Because they though that wasn’t enough in the evenings for them, they started to nibble on the pellets. This works with two birds in together with two seed pots, but I think four might make that more of a challenge especially if you have a hen or two. Keep trying with the different veg, even if they have rejected something in the past.

[cierlo]

Thank you, Hezz.
I have been able to gather about 5 different types of grass from the park.
I've ended up with Haiths aviary mix because it seemed to have the widest variety and also has no groats. Although it does have niger seeds, which are oil seeds, but those seem to be the least favourite in the mix.

There are times when they barely touch anything and I wonder why bother, but I know that they should have fresh food, so I keep trying. The pellets I gave up on after two bags because it was quite a pricey waste of food but I might try again, just to add another form of variety.

I'm experimenting with just giving seed in the evening. Maybe that will encourage them to eat veg throughout the day, but if they do hold out then they won't starve.
I have 4 bowls, but they do tend to swap around between them. Fortunately the least dominant bird is generally first to the bowls and as he gets moved he gets to untouched bowls first, and eats quickly. He's also the most willing to investigate so usually encourages the others to try new things. He's the one who taught them that strawberries are fun to pick at.

I have tried a sweet potato and carrot mash before. Maybe I can make a mash and mix it with the grains that they like eating, so perhaps they will taste it or end up eating a small amount, even if it's just what's on the outside of the grains.

Hopefully the bits they do pick at are covering most of their nutritional needs, and one of the reasons they're not massively interested is because they don't need too much. I can hope anyway.