Budgies: Feeding

Why is my bird’s diet important?

A bird's health depends significantly on how well it is fed and what it consumes. Like all other animals, birds need a proper balance of carbohydrates, proteins, fat, vitamins, minerals, and water. Different species have different nutritional needs.

Poor nutrition is a common cause of health problems in pet birds. Budgies are vulnerable to obesity, iodine deficiencies, and other nutrition-related problems. A well-balanced and varied diet must be maintained for these birds to stay healthy.

Birds may choose their favorite foods rather than eat a balanced diet. It is important to offer your bird a well-balanced diet and make sure they eat the recommended amounts of each food. Discuss your bird’s diet with a veterinarian experienced in bird care.

What do budgies eat in the wild?

Budgerigars (parakeets) originally came from the grasslands in Australia. Wild budgies eat various seeds (as they come into season), fruits, berries, and vegetation. They feed on or near the ground. What they eat varies with food availability during different seasons.

What should I feed my budgie?

Offer your budgie a well-balanced and varied diet.

Pellets

Commercially available pelleted diets have been developed to meet most of a bird’s nutritional needs. Different formulations are available for different life stages and for the management of certain diseases. For budgies, choose pellets formulated for small birds. Several brands are available in different shapes, sizes, and colors.

Pellets should form the basis of your bird’s diet and represent approximately 60% to 80% of the daily diet. Ask your veterinarian about the appropriate proportions for your bird. It is recommended that all seed-eating birds should be slowly weaned off seeds onto a pelleted diet.

Hand-raised babies should be weaned onto an appropriate pelleted diet once they can eat on their own, so they become accustomed to a balanced diet at an early age. It may be challenging to change an adult budgie to pellets. 

Seeds

Commercial seed mixes generally contain two to eight different types of seeds. However, they tend to be high in fat and carbohydrates, low in protein, and are commonly lacking essential vitamins and minerals. An all-seed diet can cause malnutrition and shorten your bird’s life.

Budgies often selectively eat only one or two of their favorite types of seeds, limiting their nutrient intake. They often choose millet seeds or millet spray or branches, which are deficient in many nutrients. Honey sticks are seeds stuck together with sugar and honey and are similarly nutrient-deficient and overloaded with carbohydrates. Molting foods, song foods, and conditioning foods are simply different combinations of more seeds that are nutritionally incomplete. A balanced diet year-round supports healthy molts, vibrant song, and good body condition.

Seeds should only be a very small part of a budgie’s diet and should never be the entire diet. Millet spray or branches should only be offered in small quantities once or twice a month. Honey sticks are not recommended at all by most avian veterinarians. If you gradually offer your bird fewer seeds, replacing them with healthier options, such as fortified pellets and a limited amount of fresh table food, your bird may gradually accept more nutritious foods.

Fruits and vegetables

Offer a variety of fruits, vegetables, and greens. Together, these should account for no more than 20% to 25% of the daily diet. See suggested foods at the end of this handout.

• Pale vegetables with a high water content offer very little nutritional value (e.g.,iceberg lettuce, celery).
• Avocado is potentially toxic and should never be fed to birds.

Fruits and vegetables must be washed thoroughly before feeding. Cut them into pieces appropriate to the size of your bird, and offer them in a separate dish. It is not necessary to take the skin off.

If your bird develops a preference for one food, reduce the amount or temporarily stop offering it to encourage them to eat other foods. It may take several exposures to a new food before your bird accepts it. Remove uneaten fruits and vegetables within a couple of hours, especially in warm conditions, to prevent spoilage.

How do I change my bird to a pelleted diet?

Changing from seeds to pellets can take weeks or months. Some birds do not recognize pellets as food at first. Never switch a bird’s diet suddenly. Make the change gradually, with guidance from your veterinarian. They will help you slowly increase the proportion of pellets in the diet.

Do not remove familiar food until you are sure your bird is eating enough of the new diet. Weigh your bird daily during the transition, using a digital scale that measures in grams, to be sure your bird is maintaining its weight. Contact your veterinarian if your bird eats less or loses weight.

Your veterinarian may suggest the following techniques:

• Pellets may be offered separately from seeds. You can offer pellets first thing in the morning, when your bird is hungry, but make sure they continue to eat enough food.
• Since budgies eat off the ground in the wild, you may mimic this behavior by spreading the pellets over a flat surface and encouraging the bird to walk through them. You can also flick each pellet between your thumb and pointer finger and tap on the tabletop as if your fingers are a beak investigating the pellets.
• You can grind the pellets into a fine powder and sprinkle it on a small bit of moist food that your bird likes to eat  (e.g., vegetables, fruit, cooked egg, pasta). If the bird eats the pellet-coated food, you can gradually grind the pellets into larger chunks and mix them with smaller amounts of moist food over time so that, ultimately, you are offering nearly all pellets with minimal amounts of moist food mixed in.
• Alternatively, you can mix pellets with seeds and gradually decrease the amount of seeds while increasing the amount of pellets, with guidance from your veterinarian.

What water does my bird need?

Fresh, clean water must always be available. Depending on the quality of your tap water, you might consider using bottled water. Clean food and water dishes and water bottles daily with hot, soapy water, and rinse them thoroughly before reuse.

Can I offer other foods?

Some foods your family eats may be offered in very small amounts, provided they are suitable for your bird. Follow the feeding guidelines and restrictions in this handout.

• Do not offer processed foods, such as cookies, crackers, and cake.
• Do not offer very salty foods, such as chips, pretzels, and popcorn.
• Do not offer chocolate, caffeinated products, or alcoholic beverages.
• Do not offer foods cooked with butter or oil.
• Offer dairy products only occasionally, in tiny amounts, as birds are lactose-intolerant.

Will my bird’s nutritional needs change throughout its life?

Birds that are very young, stressed, injured, laying eggs, or raising young may have certain special nutritional requirements. There are specially formulated pelleted foods available for these birds. Consult your veterinarian about these situations.

Does my bird need supplements?

Your veterinarian can help you assess your bird's diet and particular needs. Generally, a bird eating 75% to 80% of its diet from pelleted food does not need supplemental vitamins. Egg-laying birds may need calcium supplementation, as advised by their veterinarian. Various vitamin and mineral supplements, as well as omega fatty acid supplements, are available for birds. Give them only as recommended by your veterinarian.

Birds that are not yet eating pelleted diets may need supplements until their nutrition can be improved. Supplements may be offered on moist food as directed by your veterinarian. However, your bird must eat the food containing the supplement to receive it. Placing these powders on seeds or dried foods is of little value because they may fall off or be discarded with the seed hull.

Give supplements only as recommended by your veterinarian. Once your bird is eating a nutritionally complete diet, ask your veterinarian whether supplements are still needed.

Does my bird need gravel or grit?

Budgies do not need gravel or grit because they remove the seed’s outer hull before ingesting the kernel. Grit helps birds such as pigeons and doves, which consume whole seeds, to grind food in the gizzard (part of the stomach). Some budgies offered grit eat too much and develop potentially life-threatening intestinal blockages.

What should I remember about feeding my bird?

Photo courtesy of Dr. Gregory Rich, DVMKeep these points in mind when feeding your budgie

• Monitor how much your bird eats every day.
• Make pelleted food formulated for small birds the basis of the diet, using the proportions recommended by your veterinarian.
• Change diets gradually and monitor food intake and weight during the transition.
• Offer fresh water every day.
• Clean food and water dishes daily with hot, soapy water, and rinse them thoroughly before reuse.
• Continue offering suitable new foods; your bird may need time to accept them.

Some suggested food items to offer include: apple, apricots, asparagus, banana, beet, blueberry, bok choy, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cantaloupe, carrot, carrot tops, cherries without pit, coconut, cooked beans (various), corn, cucumber, dandelion leaves, dates, endive, fig, grapefruit, grapes, kale, kiwi, mango, melons, nectarines, orange, papaya, parsnip, peaches, pear, peas, peppers, pineapple, plum, pomegranate, potato, pumpkin, rapini, raspberry, rice (brown), romaine lettuce, spinach, sprouted seeds, squash, strawberry, sweet potato, tomato, and zucchini.