upatsix.com - Your Source For Pet Bird Information

Hello everyone. We have just got two budgies... I love these little guys. They have settled right in so far, it took us about 2-weeks to get them hand trained.

The cage is 26"L x 14"D x 22 1/2" H, lots of toys.

Food... Nutriphase, Parakeet Formula Bird Food. ecotrition Grains & Greens. ecotrition Tropical Fruit & Seed. Ultra Care Health Blend. We also put vitamins in their water. We have been trying to feed fresh fruits and veggies but they are not eating it yet.

Bathing... we offer them a bath about every other day but they will not go in?? so I have been using Ultra Care Bird Bath Spray.

I'm sure I'm missing something... we got the book Budgies for Dummy. I'm looking for another book or two.

Anyway, please let me know if you have any suggestions for me.

Some pictures...









My daughter also loves these little guys

Nice looking opaline sky white and light green cocks. Sadly your description of your birds being seed junkies is quite typical of pet store budgies. It is easier to convert 2 or more birds over to a healthy diet "more quickly" than one bird. I put that in quotes as a relative term. A good healthy diet should consist of fresh veggies, fruits, pellets and only 20% to 30% of the diet made up of seed. Once your birds are on a heathy diet they will no longer need vitamins. I will caution you about putting "stuff" in their water source is a good way to breed bacteria. If this is the rout you choose to take make sure to throughly wash out the water cup was soap and water DAILY.

To work on converting them to a healthy diet start with something easy, the greens. Make a game of it, budgies by nature LOVE to roll on the wet grass to bath. Tie a bundle of parsley and hang it from the cage top so it is about beak level the their favorite perch. Make sure you rinse it throughly and leave the bundle drippy wet when you hang it. Once they get use to the new object that you hang fresh daily in their cage they will start to play with it. Once they are eating it regularly you can move it loose to the bottom of the cage. Next you might add a bit of chopped mustard greens or turnip greens or kale. Once they are eating all of those try adding a bit of grated carrots. What you will ultimately be doing in the end is making a tossed chopped salad for them. To this mixture you can add chopped broccoli, cabbage red or green, carrots, beats, sweet potatoes, apples, etc.

Foods that are toxic to budgies are: alcohol, chocolate, caffeine, rhubarb, potato eyes, tapioca, avocado, potato chips, fries etc. Budgies should not be drinking milk out of your cereale bowl. However if budgies have been on antibiotics for being sick giving them some plain yogurt is good to replace to good gut flora that was killed by the antibiotics. Don't feed your birds frozen yogurt from a store dispenser. You don't know how well the parts were cleaned and many birds have become sick by eating this contaminated yogurt. It may not be enough to make humans sick, but birds have a more delicate system.

If your local pet shop or local book store doesn't have a good selection of budgie books you can find them on http://www.abebooks.com I have order birds as far away as England and Ireland without any difficulty. Even with shipping the prices have been better. There are several ways to search for books which is quite handy.

If you are looking for a more in-depth book I would suggest Cult of the Budgerigar. There are 5 editions of this book, all collectors items for those collecting budgie books. Edition 1-4 are the best. All of these book have long since been out of print, but the information is sound especially if you decided to take your interest in the budgie hobby further into breeding.

Since you are new to birds I would also suggest you take a subscription for Bird Talk Magazine. It is a good way to learn the basic of bird keeping and about different species of pet birds. Another thing that is highly recommended it join your local bird club. This way you keep up with local events, find out where the best avian vets are and have close by help if you need it.

Hope this helps.

Kerry

I'll be honest with you and say that I personally do not care for any of the products that you give to your birds... Yes, I know that many use them, however the seeds themselves are full of food dyes and quite possibly preversatives even.

In short, when choosing a good seed mix I suggest looking for something that has so food dyes, no preservatives, and is pretty much dust free/clean. All the mentioned items that you buy I'd be sure probably do have food dyes in them at least. IMO, the food dyes are to help entice YOU to buy these products when you could probably get better products, dye-free.

Currently though, the foods that you are feeding are hyped up on vitamins and minerals as it is... it's not a good idea to put vitamins in the water unless recommended by a vet.

As far as fresh foods go, try taking about 5 or more different veggies (dark green leafy veggies, orange veggies, yellow veggies, etc), put them through the food processor until minced (or chop finely), then mix into some cooked brown or wild rice (white rice will do but not as healthy), maybe even mix in some cooked beans (such as some from 15 bean soups without the flavor packet - may also help to make these into more of a 'bean dip' before adding to the mixture). mix this all up and try feeding it.... Or you can try taking those same veggies and putting into corn bread.


As for bathing, you may want to try using a spray bottle instead... or maybe some wet dark leafy greens attached to the side of the cage, and a spray bottle. Use just plain water as you don't need to put anything into it.

it sounds like you are really trying! I agree with the other chatters that it isn't a good idea to add stuff to their water. There should be enough vitamens in pellets & veggies.
I attached a freshy wshed peice of collard green or sliced thin peice of carrot with a clip for my budgies. Budgies are nosey little guys so they will find the greens interesting. Also cooked corn on the cob
You might want to add a cuttle bone or mineral block.
"The new parakeet handbook" by Wolter is pretty good.

Thanks for all the great feed back... yes we are trying but I did not do enough research prior to buying... I will implement all of your suggestions and give an update.

I did leave out the cuttle bones... we have a normal one, a grape flavored and a orange flavored.

THANK YOU

Cuttlebones and mineral blocks are fine! Just a note though, some of the colored ones have caused some scares (such as orange poops for example!) so you might want to go with white ones so that you'd be able to more easily watch their droppings for any signs of problems!

From your pics it looks like you have only wooden dowel in their cage. This is not good for their feet. Try manzita or apple or rope perches in their cage.

Never mind about the rope. I can see you have one. But try some other wood ones.

MFids, that's a good point. Would the same apply to the food if it has dyes in it??

luvthembirds, we do have a rope and a couple small natural wood perches but they spend most of their time on the ones you see in the picture. Should we replace all of them with natural wood??

Another question... we keep them out of their cage most of every afternoon but they frequently try to fly back to their cage. (their wings are clipped so they can not reach the cage) I first thought they were getting hungry and/or thirsty but we put food and water next to their play pin... they still try to get back to the cage. Is this normal?? are they telling me they need some rest or something??

So, when trying to convert their diet to pellets do I remove the seed and if so for how long at a time. I’m assuming I’ll have to remove it… but I do not want them to get to hungry?? We got Exact Rainbow Parakeet Pellets, I should of asked what food was best.

Good news is they are nipping at the parsley… they are not eating it yet but we are getting closer!!

We have stopped the vitamins in the water… and I forgot to add that we have a millet holder and give them the millet twice a week. Is that ok??

Thanks again,

Yes, it applies to food that has dyes in it as well.... My mitred conure is on Zupreem Fruit Blend and I'd rather change his diet over to something without dyes, if I can get him interested in something a little more natural. Let me tell you though, he's got poops that are red, orange, yellow, green, purple, and brown! If he had blood in his droppings or if he had an intestinal issue it'd be VERY hard for me to see the issue. I've had him for about 6 months now, and he came with enough food to last this long and then some... and since money is a bit tight it's kind of pointless for me to NOT feed the fruit blend until it's at least out... and if he doesn't easily switch to a more natural pellet then we're going to have some issues!


It's alright to have some regular wooden dowels... heck you can get them cheapest at Home Depot or similar and just cut to your own specific size! I had two put into my budgies cage, however yesterday they finally chewed through one to the point that it broke in half... and these were 5/8" diameter! A little bigger than 1/2" and a little smaller than 3/4" wide!

The main thing though is to have a VARIETY of perches... not only in diameters, but in type as well... so I think some wooden dowl ones would be fine as long as they have other perches too... and you can always change the perches around!


As for them flying back to the cage.... or at least trying to.... they are probably doing this because they are feeling a bit insecure... it may help to have them in a room where they cannot see their cage. If you have them out for more than 30 minutes though be sure they have access to food and water.

As far as pellets go, I don't really recommend Kaytee (let alone Pretty Bird). It's a personal choice, but to be honest I don't think they have some of the best products, and the ONLY product of theirs I use is the handfeeding formula, but I've been questioning that as well! To be honest I don't even recommend most foods that you can find at grocery stores or major chain pet stores. Zupreem may be one of the better (if not best) food brands that you may be able to find at a petstore.... unless of course they may cary Roudybush (heard it's good but then again it's another company I slightly question) or Lafebers (heard its good as well). I don't know the best brand of pellets that can be bought in a major chain petstore, but I'd say that Roudybush, Lafeber, and Zupreem are probably the best options you'd find in most.

It's much like dog nutrition... the cheapest brand I've seen is Old Yeller by Disney... and when fed to the dogs it gives them the runs... and it stinks to high heavens as well! However, there ARE better brands out there that are not only healthier for your dog, but also don't give the dog the runs... the same effects may not be seen in birds but I hope you get the idea... I'm just saying that I personally don't think Kaytee or Pretty Bird pellets are the healthiest you could probably buy...


And truth to be honest I don't think any bird should be on a 100% diet, let alone a 100% seed diet... I will always suggest a diet high in fresh foods, and a variety.

When trying to convert to any diet however, the best thing to do is to put the foods that you want them to eat first thing in the morning into the cage. After a couple of hours take the food out and give them their regular food. You can take their regular food out around noon, wait a few hours, try to give them the new food again for a couple hours, then about an hour or two before bedtime put in their regular food again... just keep repeating this until they start eating the new foods.

Sometimes it does help to add in a very small amount of seeds to the new foods... or even trying sprouted seeds, broccoli lightly steamed, fresh parsley or carrot tops, or other very leafy/seedy looking type veggies. It may help to weave it into the bars, hang it on a skewer, or even mince it up well and mix into some cooked rice (white will do but brown or wild rice is MUCH healthier) or into some bird bread.


Otherwise though it sounds great!

Sounds good, thanks for the info. Seems our biggest challenge will be converting their food but we will be diligent.

I have been a saltwater aquarium enthusiast for years now and one thing I have learned is the importance of providing the correct accommodations for the pets you keep... I have also learned NOT to impulse buy pets before having time to fully research them but everyone slips time to time.

That said, I have read Budgies live as long as 15 years so I fully intend to have two 15+year old birds one day!!

Dowels are fine as long as they have other perching options. Rope is fine as long as you check them daily so there is no fraying. Personally, i would not give birds rope perches unsupervised but maybe pyu it on a playstand. You wouldn't want them to get a toe nail stuck. I've heard Roudybush is a good diet for birds as well as Harrison's although it is hard to find and more expensive. You mainly have to compromise with your budgies, as long as the pellet they like is good. You can try to help convert them to pellets by making them birdie bread with veggies and seeds inside. Yuo mentioned the budgies fly back to their cage. Try bonding with them in a bathroom so they can't fly away and softly speak to them. Remember, patience is key. Good luck!

Roudybush is found in most petstores that carry bird pellets... at least that I have noticed.... Harrison's you either buy directly from their website, or you can buy through your avian vet... otherwise however it's very unlikely to find Harrison's in ANY petstore. Harrison is also one of the most expensive brands out there but claims to be all a bird needs in a diet... and to not add more than 20% fresh foods... however IMO, I don't think you can ever make a complete diet in one tiny little pellet... yeah its hard to make a complete diet with fresh foods but there in goes variety. Birds also process foods differently, so where it may be good for one bird, another bird could have a deficiency or overdose.... all depends on the birds themselves!

IMO though, mainly with the smaller birds, is that they should have SOME amount of seeds in their diet since they are primarily seed eaters... taking out seeds from their diet could only lead to problems.

I'm not really concerned about the cost... I went to both Roudybush's and Harrison's websites and cannot find anything specific to Budgies... or does that matter??

Normally crumbles or nibbles, mash or fine crumbles is what is normally recommended for budgies... depending on what formulated diet you go with.

With Harrison's it's recommended to put them in the High Potency for 6 months, then switch over to Adult Lifetime or Adult Breeder if your birds are breeding. You can get more specific information if you speak with one of the representatives.

A 1lb bag easily starts at $6 and goes up to $12, depending on where you buy from...
https://www.shdybrk.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=21_31
http://www.birdsupplynh.com/catalog/ind ... 76fc74c0d5
http://birdieboutique.stores.yahoo.net/ ... ordie.html
http://yhst-51898397859030.stores.yahoo ... -food.html

As for Roudybush, well I haven't exactly heard much of their products... they once carried Ethoxyquin (a preservative and thought to be deadly) in their products however have heard that they've since stopped using this. They too have specialized diets depending on the health of the bird.


There's also quite a few other brands out there... the main two I suggest to stay away from are Kaytee and Pretty Bird... and anything pelleted from a grocery store! Otherwise though it's just trying to figure out the bets diet to choose to use... it may even help to get samples from a few different pellet companies (Zupreem does not give out free samples, however if you buy a product, in their bag, from them or a store, you can return it for a full refund of your money - minus shipping costs if you bought it over the internet). So just look around, and see what your birds like! Get a variety of various types of pellets to try!