A healthy diet for budgiesI decided to be organised and write myself out a weekly feeding menu for the budgies so I can remember what they are getting during a week. Every day they have a 50/50 seed mix (50% millet and 50%canary) availiable at all times. To this I sometimes add dry naked oats as 10% of the mix. Or these can be rinsed and soaked overnight and fed separately. Naked oats will contain pesticides so I only use them when birds need to gain weight during breeding or moulting. They are also very good to give to outdoor aviary kept birds during the winter as they have a high fat content. The millet and canary seeds are mainly consisting in carbohydrates around (50%), protein (14%), fat (4.5%) Pinenuts can also be useful for weight gain as can hulled sunflower seeds. Some budgies will manage to dehusk whole sunflower seeds but not mamy do. I also feed dampened eggfood 2-3 times per week all year round. Every day during breeding or during moulting period. I leave a small bowl of EMP eggfood in all the time. It is already moistened so doesn't need water added. Great, as it means it doesn't go off and can be replaced every couple of days without contaminating the cage and it is still availiable for the odd one who might need it the extra protein when the others appear not to be touching the moistened eggfood. Fresh veg are fed 6 days a week and on the 7th day they have their glutton day where they get to pig out on millet spray and no veg. It also gives me a day off from cleaning up sweetcorn etc that has been chucked all over the birdroom! I also add avigold plus (vitamin supplement) to the drinking water 3 days per week incase some birds are not taking enough veg. 1 or 2 days per week they have calciform in the drinking water. The other 2 days they have pure water. This is a rather basic version of what they get at this time of year. It has to be changed according to which things are seasonal and growing wild. Also some birds have specific needs at different times. Such as to gain or lose weight, breeding, moulting. MONDAY: avigold, seedmix, whole carrots stuck through the cage bars, seeding grasses and kale. TUESDAY: avigold, seedmix, Whole brocolli stuck through the cage bars and eggfood. WEDNESDAY: plain water, seedmix, sweetcorn and grated carrot mix. THURSDAY: calciform, seedmix, dandylions and shepherds purse, eucalyptus twigs and leaves (cedar gum). FRIDAY: avigold, seedmix, brocolli and sweetcorn and eggfood mix. Twisted willow branches in the summer. SATURDAY: plain water, seedmix, whole carrots, dish of sweetcorn with soaked groats added. SUNDAY: calciform, seedmix, millet spray, eggfood. Perhaps a branch of maple, apple or hawthorn to keep them busy. I occasionally provide celery sticks to munch on, but not often as they are low in nutrients. However they provide celluose. Its main value is prompting laxation. I have a constant batch of millet and canary grass growing on the window sill so around 3 times a week I cut the stems and feed them the grass. They love it! At the moment there is plenty of shepherds purse around. This acts as a binder so it useful to be fed along side things such as celery and dandylions which have the opposite effect. I don't often feed fruit at this time of year as in the heat it turns brown quicky and they are actully not that keen on it. I do sometimes add blackberries and raspberries to the sweetcorn nuggets. I no longer supply hard grit on my avian vets advice, but I do supply a dish of soluble grit in the form of crushed oyster shell. Also cuttle bone and iodine/mineral blocks are always availiable. I have heard it said that too much veg will give your birds runny poops. It may do at first until they are used to it, but all mine cope with 6 days of veg without any change in the poops. As long as they don't get fed veg with a high water content they will be fine. Remember when feeding veg or any other soft food to only leave it in for 6 hours. After which, clean the cage thoroughly to remove any traces of organic matter which will rot and spread bacterial infection. A quick wipe over of surfaces with a birdsafe disenfectant such as F10 or vanodine will ensure there is nothing left to cause contamination. When feeding all veg and wild picked foods give a thorough cleaning before feeding. Fallen leaves and bark from branches are safe to be left on the cage floor so on a busy day I would feed these rather than the other types of veg and softfood so they are still getting their greens but without the risk of bacterial growth. However they will still need to be removed the next day incase the budgies start to pick them off the dirty floor. I keep a covered bucket of vanodine in the birdroom and have 2 lots of feeding bowls. While one set are in use, the other set are in the bucket, so everything remains sterile. Feed bowls with metal fittings will rust if you do this, but the round stainless steel bowls are great and very easy to keep clean. The water is given in hamster water dispensers. It is a very hygenic way as no poop can get fired into the water! I have a minimum of 2 dispensers to every cage/ aviary incase one gets blocked. Its a good idea to get the birds used to drinking from these dispensers and nowdays many medications can be given via the water, but are sensitive to UV rays. When giving these type of meds, the bottles can be covered with silverfoil and a piece of plywood can be placed between the bottle and the cage bars to stop the birds nibbling the foil. ===========Resource Box=========== Nat Lofts keeps and breeds pet budgerigars. Contact her for help and advice via the Adorable Budgies Forum http://adorablebudgies.co.uk/forum ==================================== This article is available for reprint in your opt-in ezine, web site or ebook. You MUST agree not to make any changes to the article and the RESOURCE BOX MUST be included. (c) Nat Lofts All Rights Reserved |
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