Budgie List

[Nathaniel]

All pets are family members. they deserve the best I can buy.

[pchela]

All pets are family members. they deserve the best I can buy.

Hear, hear. I like your attitude!

Your list looks great. I don't think you are missing anything. I would not get the liquid multi vitamins. They are pretty much useless and every vet I've heard says to never add anything to the drinking water. For one thing, it encourages bacteria growth and for another, if there is any taste at all it can put a bird off of its drinking water. If you are feeding a good diet there is no need for extra vitamins anyway. Just make sure to feed plenty of orange and green veggies such as sweet potato, carrot, squash, kale, broccoli etc.

I use this recipe with great success.

SALLY BLANCHARD’S FAMOUS ‘GLOP’ RECIPE

The following recipe feeds my 4 parrots of various sizes and appetites for their morning meal. ‘Glop’ also makes a great hand-weaning food to finger feed your bappy.

* 1 small jar of baby food carrots, sweet potatoes, or winter squash (I use Earth’s Best because it is organic - they also have high vitamin A vegetable varieties with chicken and turkey. I occasionally use apricot, peach, or papaya baby food.) You can also use baked yams, winter squash or cooked, mashed carrots.
* 3 slices of coarse whole-grain crumbled toast. (I vary the bread but use the healthiest bread I can find without sugar. I particularly like a jalapeno cornbread loaf I buy at Trader Joe’s.) You can also use high quality cooked grains such as quinoa, amaranth, etc. and/or oatmeal.
* 2-4 Tablespoons of nonfat plain yogurt.
* I highly recommend adding a a few drops to a 1/2 teaspoon of Essential Fatty Acids (EFA). There are several varieties available including Flax Seed Oil. Adding EFAs to the diet has helped quite a few parrots with feather destructive behaviors.
* Optional: 1/8 cup high quality handfeeding formula or a sprinkle of a spirulina or wheat grass type supplement.

Put in a large bowl and mash together until toast is saturated with baby food and yogurt and everything is evenly mixed. Consistency can be changed according to your parrot’s preference. Mine like the toast chunky and the mixture thick - about the consistency of turkey dressing. ‘Glop’ is ready to feed - it does not have to be cooked.

Anything that is nutritious can be added to the glop for a variety in texture, color, and shapes. I will feed it plain or mix one or more of the following: finely chopped collard (mustard or turnip) greens, kale or broccoli flowers, grated carrots, wheat germ, oat bran, no sugar breakfast cereal, low salt V-8 juice, grated tofu-cheese, nonfat cottage cheese, chopped nuts or raisons, chopped very hard boiled egg, pasta, brown rice, well, cooked chopped chicken, powdered pellets.

Remember that any soft food will develop bacteria if left too long in the cage. I serve each batch fresh & never use leftovers as ingredients. I never have to worry about this mushy mixture going bad because all of my birds eat it as soon as I put it in their food bowls. My grey, Bongo Marie, loved her ‘glop’; and my double-yellows, Paco and Rascal, have relished this food—barely coming up for air when I feed it. The nutritious mixture as a part of their diet has kept them healthy for over 25 years. Their feather condition is superb. If you only have one bird and want to make the whole batch, the ‘glop’ can be rolled into balls or placed in an ice cube tray and frozen. Thaw as needed but don’t overcook. Add any supplement after heating since heating can destroy the vitamin A. If at first your bird doesn’t like this nutritious mixture—keep trying and trying.

[Nathaniel]

thank you for the information. It will save me a few bucks

[penelope's person]

You might want to save a few bucks by making some of your toys too! I know my bird, like many toddlers, prefers the packaging to the bought toys half the time, but absolutely loves my dollar-store-craft-aisle toys! Just be careful of potential chemicals and toxins...e.g. natural raffia instead of the coloured stuff.

Are mirrors OK for budgies? I don't really know, but I avoid them with my bird.

Good luck with your new buddy! He will obviously be well taken care of

[Nathaniel]

One thing I would suggest is not to use a harness or flight suit for a budgie, they are much to small and fragile for one

Acually I have had a few friends that say that once the budgie gets use to it, the aviator is the best to buy.

[Nathaniel]

As far as I am concered mirrors are. I have seen may top reviews at petsmart.com. and the budgies that I have seen at petsmart all play with it so...

I appriciate the concern. I think its just mirrors that are larger than they are.

[pchela]

The theory behind the mirror is that the budgie (or other bird) will think their refection is another bird and will bond with it rather than their human. I haven't seen any real evidence for this being true. I personally think it's kind of like an old wives tale but I could be wrong I guess.

[Michael]

Lets try this again...
This is the starting cost and list of supplies-
Cost
Supplies: $745
Vet: $100
Future Food and Toys: $55
Bird: $10
Total: $910

Ok, sorry to be jumping into this discussion a bit late and I am not sure if I end up repeating something that has been said or missed some important details. But I am really confused where you got $745 for supplies. I'm not trying to discourage you from being well intentioned and buying good supplies for your budgie. I hate seeing people being really cheap and buying junk just cause the bird is inexpensive. But honestly, I don't see how it would even be possible to spend that much on a budgie. Even if you get a luxurious cage for the bird, I don't see it being more than $100-$200. Not only is there no point in getting anything bigger but in fact the bar spacing on larger cages could be dangerously large. Budgies are small so naturally the supplies that go for them are small and cheap. Furthermore budgie food/supplies are sold in mass quantities so they are cheaper than supplies for other parrots.

I would recommend you either re-evaluate your budget and expect to spend around $300 generously on a budget or perhaps consider a different parrot if you have such funding prepared and wish to make good use of it. I don't want to discourage you from buying good supplies but it really is unnecessary to outdo yourself to this extent and the bird won't even appreciate it.

[notscaredtodance]

Your vet budget should be much higher. Specialized avian vets tend to be more expensive, and just for my bird's checkup it was 170, and that was without a full blood screen, which would have been 300. I'd rather see a bird get good vet care than a ton of toys, honestly.

[Nathaniel]

So can I afford a green cheek with this kind of money. and still get quality stuff?