Underweight budgie

[AnimalAffinity]

I received a budgie from some people who no longer wanted him, he was underweight. I assumed it was just malnutrition, but now 3 months later he is still underweight even though he seems to be eating well. I am very concerned he isn't active like the other birds and his breastbone sticks out very much. He lives with two other very healthy budgies. Does anyone know why he isn't getting better??

[Wolf]

First of all did you quarantine the new bird first? What are you feeding the bird? If you can would you please post some pictures showing the bird from front and side views? Do you know the age of the bird?

[AnimalAffinity]

Was quarantined for a month, he's around three years old. I don't think I can get pictures on here.

[Wolf]

What are you feeding him?

[Wolf]

Well I don't know what you are feeding him or what he is eating. But I would start by giving him some cooked wild rice and brown rice and some mixed vegetables like you find in the frozen food section. Chop the veggies smaller than they are and mix them in with the rice and sprinkle some budgie seed mix on top of this. Some avian vitamin/ mineral supplement and avian probiotics would also help.
I feed my birds including my parrotlet and budgies gloop for breakfast along with a couple of fresh raw veggies on the side and then a seed mix for dinner. I remove the seeds after they go to sleep at night.
I would also keep a watch on how the three of them interact as the two may be chasing the new one away from the food or just running the weight right off of him.
I hope that this will help you remedy the weight problem. You can also e mail me any pictures of him and I can post them for you. My E mail address is Wolf5459@Outlook.com

[AnimalAffinity]

He ate nothing but seed for 3 years in a cage so I haven't been able. To get him to eat veggies or pellets yet

[AnimalAffinity]

I think I will separate him for a while and try to get him fattened up

[Pajarita]

Yes, three is not a good number for budgies, it needs to be four or more than six.

First thing you need to do is separate him from the other two so put him in a cage by himself, side by side the cage where the other two are so he can hear and see them but they cannot reach him. This is not only because, as Wolf said, they might be ganging up on him and preventing him from eating enough but also because sick/weak birds always do better on their own plus, this way, you will be able to see how much he eats and poops and what his poop looks like. And keep him warm (heating pad under the bottom of the cage is good).

I would not use wild or brown rice for a too skinny bird, I would use white rice, white bread and millet (mix the cooked white rice with a finch mix -they are mostly millet) because you want to fatten him up. Wolf is right that adding finely chopped veggies is the way to go with them and I would do this with the other two but I would not try to switch him to a vastly different diet now that he is so skinny, I would wait until he gains some weight. But do give him leafy greens and sweet corn (budgies love them and they need them for vitamins). If you don't feed anything but seeds, please get some good powder vitamin/mineral supplement that dilutes in water (not the one that you put on the food because you need to make sure he is getting them).

Does he have an overgrown beak or too long nails? Is his poop runny or his urates any other color other than white? Because if the answer is yes to any of these questions, he might have liver malfunction in the last stages. Have you palpated his abdomen to see if you can feel a mass in there? Budgies are very prone to tumors...

[Wolf]

Pajarita, is the reason that you are saying white rice over brown or wild rice the starch content?

[Pajarita]

Yes, the less fiber a food has, the more starch the body will absorb (fiber pushes food faster through the digestive system so there is less time for the body to absorb the carbs).