Budgie Parakeet Nutrition and Food

Don’t let your feathered friend become a seed junkie. Seeds have too much fat and not enough vitamins, minerals and proteins. Birds fed seed-only diets have a much shorter life span — in fact, malnourishment is a leading cause of premature death in pet birds. In the wild, the lifespan of a Budgie Parakeet is 12-18 years of age but when fed only seed in captivity, they are lucky to reach 5-8 years of age. Furthermore, “Avian veterinarians estimate that poor nourishment is the underlying cause of about 75 to 80 percent of the medical problems they see.” (Source: Bird Talk April 2010)

Our baby budgie parakeets are weaned onto a wide variety of nutritious foods.

Seeds should constitute no more than about 20 percent of your bird’s diet. If offered seeds as a free-choice diet component, parrots will usually eat the seed to the exclusion of everything else offered. In other words, don’t put a dish of just seeds in your parrot’s cage and expect them to eat their vegetables, too.

If your bird has eaten little except seed before, he/she will need time to get used to something different. Sometimes it takes weeks, even months, but don’t give up! Their life and good health are at stake. Try encouraging your bird to explore new foods by lightly sprinkling seeds on top of the new food, or offer the new food items for breakfast when he/she is most hungry.

So if a seed-only diet is lacking in nutrition, should you feed those “complete nutrition” pelleted diets instead? In a word, no. Avoid processed foods whenever possible and feed “live”, enzyme-rich whole foods as nature intended. Heck, I don’t feed my family a daily diet of processed meal bars or bowls of boxed cereal just because they say they’re packed full of synthetic vitamins! I feed my family whole, natural, enzyme-rich, unprocessed foods. Likewise with my birds. For more information, read: Synthetic Bird Feeds: Do They Promote Health or Disease?

First, let’s discuss what your bird should NOT eat:

Conventionally grown produce: Stick to organic products because the bird’s body is too small to handle even small doses of pesticides and herbicides. I once made the mistake of feeding our pet gerbils conventionally-grown (non-organic) mixed greens and veggies and within 12 hours, they were dead!
Spoiled or Soiled Food: Remove all uneaten food and replace with a fresh batch at least twice daily to avoid deadly internal bacterial infections.
Grit: It has been known to cause impaction! Parrots don’t need grit because they don’t eat hard seed hulls that need to be broken down by the digestive system; they hull their seeds with their beaks before eating them.
Supplements in their water: Your bird should have fresh water every day. Don’t add supplements unless your veterinarian tells you to; they can be a medium for bacteria to grow and can cause a bird to turn up his nose at his water bowl, leading to decreased water intake and kidney damage.
ANY food that has been in your mouth: Human saliva contains many toxic and bacterial substances that can be deadly to your bird!
Avocado, including guacamole: It’s deadly to some birds!
Mushrooms
Onion
Raw meat and poultry: May carry salmonella and other bacteria.
Deli foods: Too many additives and preservatives, like sulfites, sulfates, nitrites, nitrates, etc.
Milk or raw-milk (non-pasteurized) cheese: Parrots do not digest dairy products containing lactose (the type of sugar contained in milk). Parrots are not mammals and so are not fed milk as babies — they feed their young by regurgitating food to them. Yogurts or low-fat cheese in very small amounts are okay because their initial lactose has been transformed.
Potatoes: Potatoes are not toxic in themselves, but certain parts of them are: the skin as well as the green parts you sometimes see on their flesh. These green bits contain solanine, a very toxic alkaloid that forms when potatoes are overexposed to light. This alkaloid can affect the central nervous system if ingested in significant quantity. It also is necessary to remove the germinated parts and potato eyes, since these also contain solanine.
Eggplants: Another member of the solanaceae family (with the potato), eggplants contain toxic solanine.
Green tomatoes: Contain tomatine, a substance like solanine. The plants and the leaves of green tomatoes are toxic.
Apple seeds or pear, plum, cherry, apricot and peach pits: Contain cyanhydric acid (poisonous cyanide)
Rhubarb leaves
Honey: Can contain a toxic bacterium that produces the neurotoxin botulin: clostridium botulinum
Raw lima beans
Bay leaves
Coriander
Chocolate: It’s toxic to many animals, birds included.
Junk Food: Ritz crackers, chips, Cheetos, candy, etc.
Alcohol, Caffeine Tobacco, Soda: Duh, right?

Now the good, healthy stuff…

Germinated (Soaked) and Sprouted Seeds:

A diet of cooked or processed foods does not generally contain as much nutritional value or enzymes as fresh raw foods. It has been estimated that approximately 85% of the original nutrients are destroyed after cooking. Soaked and sprouted seeds, nuts, grains, legumes and peas provide your bird with nutrient and enzyme-rich food as nature intended. Why are enzymes important? Read: Plant Enzymes: Providing Optimum Avian Health

Germinating / Sprouting Directions:

Place a day or two’s worth of mixed ingredients (see below) into a sterilized, clean glass jar. Using cold water, rinse until water runs clear.
Soak the mix overnight (12 hours) at room temperature.
The next morning, rinse well and drain several times.
Add apple cider vinegar to your final rinse and let the sprouts soak in it for 15 minutes (set your kitchen timer). Adding apple cider vinegar helps to guard against bacteria and fungi, aids in digestion, and provides enzymes and important minerals. Buy your apple cider vinegar from the natural food store, not the grocery store — it should be organic, raw, unfiltered, and have sediment on the bottom of the container. Bragg is a good brand. Read more about the benefits of using apple cider vinegar at NaturalBird.com.
After the 15 minute apple cider vinegar soak, rinse well again and serve the food immediately.
Refrigerate any leftovers and rinse with apple cider vinegar and water daily. Use each batch within 48 hours. Smell the mix before feeding — if it smells musty or sour, toss it out and start a new batch.

Tip: If your bird picks out her favorite ingredients and leaves the rest, try coarsely grinding the mixture (right before serving) to make it difficult for her to be picky. A coffee bean/spice grinder works well for small batches; a food processor for large batches. But you will need to remove uneaten ground-up foods from the cage within 1-4 hours because it will spoil much faster than whole sprouts will.

CLEANLINESS AND FRESHNESS ARE CRITICAL! To avoid toxic, deadly bacterial infections, remove old uneaten food and replace with a fresh batch at least every 12 hours (feed twice daily). Scrub all feeding and sprouting utensils, dishes and jars with hot, soapy water after each use. I keep 3 times as many feeding dishes as I have cages so that I can run the used ones through the dishwasher for sterilization. I also remove and replace the newspapers on the bottom of my cages EVERY DAY so that my birds won’t have access to any old, rotting food (and feces) that has found it’s way to the bottom of the cage.

Wash out your bird’s water dish twice daily, too. Rule of thumb — if you wouldn’t want to drink out of their dish, they shouldn’t have to, either. When feces and food particles fall into their water, it becomes bacterial soup!

… If you feel overwhelmed already, I promise it’s no big deal after you develop a routine. But if you’d rather pay for convenience than save money by doing it yourself, check out Dr. Harvey’s line of all natural bird foods.

Germinating / Sprouting Ingredients (raw or dehydrated, NOT canned):

I don’t buy every ingredient listed on this page all at once. Instead, I try to provide a variety over time. I mix a couple types of ingredients from each subcategory. For example, I buy 2 or 3 seeds, 2 or 3 grains, 2 or 3 oil seeds, and 2 or 3 legumes. I choose from those that are currently on sale from the bulk bins at my local natural health food store. The diversity and balance of seeds, grains and legumes are complementary so that by feeding a variety, the blend alone is capable of providing the nutrients parrots require. If you aren’t willing or able to provide variety over time, you’ll need to supplement your bird’s diet with a prepared, packaged food such as those offered by Dr. Harvey’s.

Herb seeds (pick 2 or more from this subcategory):

Alfalfa
Bishop’s weed seeds
Broccoli
Canola
Fennel
Fenugreek
Mustard seeds (yellow, red, and black)
Radish seeds
Red clover seeds

Grain seeds (pick 2 or more from this subcategory):

Amaranth
Barley
Brown rice
Buckwheat (whole)
Canary
Hemp seed
Kamut
Millets (yellow, red, white)
Niger
Oat (whole)
Quinoa
Rape
Rye berries
Spring rye
Triticale
Wheat berries (winter)
Whole kernel corn

Oil seeds (pick 2 or more from this subcategory):

Flax seeds
Pumpkin seeds (raw; not roasted)
Sesame seeds (black, white, brown)
Sunflower seeds (raw; not roasted)

Legumes: Beans and Peas (pick 2 or more from this subcategory):

Adzuki beans
Black-eyed peas
Black turtle beans
Chick peas
Garbanzo (yellow and brown)
Green whole peas
Lentils (french, red, green)
Mung beans
Soy beans
Yellow trapper peas

Vegetables:

Buy organic and/or pesticide-free and fresh (raw) or thawed frozen, NOT cooked or canned.

Asparagus
Beets
Broccoli
Carrots
Dandelion Greens
Green Beans
Leafy Greens (NOT Iceburg lettuce)
Parsley
Peas
Peppers (any color; spicy is fine, even jalapenos)
Squash
Tomato
Yams
Zucchini

Fruits:

Buy organic and/or pesticide-free and fresh (raw) or thawed frozen, NOT cooked or canned. Feed in small amounts because fruit contains mostly sugar and water. Don’t include the fruit seeds or pits because they contain trace amounts of Cyanide.

Papaya
Mango
Cantaloupe
Apricot
Peach
Oranges
Apples
Banana
Mango
Papaya
Cranberry
Blueberry
Raspberry
Strawberry
Grapes
Cherries (pitted)
Dried fruit (unsulfured)
Lemon
Kiwi
Pineapple
Melons
Pears
Blackberry
Peaches
Passion Fruit

Misc Foods:

Cuttlebone: should always be available in your bird’s cage — good calcium supplement. Buy it at your feed or pet store.
Dried Fruit: (free of sulfur dioxide) banana chips, apples, mango pieces, coconut shreds, orange peel granules
Dried Vegetables (no sulfur dioxide)
Hardboiled eggs including the clean, crushed shell: (offer animal protein in smaller amounts – maybe once or twice a week)
Human baby food containing fruits, vegetables, pasta, grains
Mealworms: small, live, available at pet stores
Millet Sprays (in moderation or as a training reward)
Nuts: (seeds and nuts are high in fat so give them to your bird only in moderation) macadamia, brazil pieces, almond pieces, filbert pieces, cashew pieces, pecan pieces, pistachio meats, pignolia pieces, walnut pieces
Pasta (preferably whole grain)

Recommended Seed:

Parakeets: I feed (very sparingly — usually as a training treat) “Sweet Harvest Parakeet Vitamin Enriched Food” made by Kaylor of Colorado. Call them and ask where they sell it in your area: 1-888-317-6347. Their website is www.kaylorofcolorado.com. I especially like this seed mix because it doesn’t contain artificial colors or flavors that are bad for birds.

Herbal Additive (optional):

Combine the following herbs and mix into fresh foods daily. Use 1/4 tsp. for small birds, 1/2 tsp. for medium birds and 1 tsp. for large macaws and cockatoos. Ingredients are listed by quantity (all organic):