Whoa! Overwhelmed much?!

[sammisams]

So I strolled into petsmart looking for a seed blend to buy for my budgie Kai. There were so many different kinds, I have to admit I felt overwhelmed. I know from experience with my last budgie Fred that she loved white millet. It's all she wanted to eat. I want to try and avoid feeding Kai nothing but white millet because I plan on training him and if I can I'd like to use it as his special training treat. So here's my question. What do YOU feed your budgie? Which seed blend do you find to be the best?

Muchos thank yous! ^_^

[Michael]

Budgies are obsessed with millet. They never get enough of it (I mean they can get full in the short term but in the long term they never get bored of it). So in terms of training purposes don't worry about it. Just reserve spray millet for training cause it seems to be their favorite.

[sammisams]

Hey Michael thanks a bunch. I have some spray millet. Still am wondering what the best kind of seed mix is best for Kai. I'm not a fan of the "vitamin enriched" type only because I know they wont really get any of the vitamins if they're deskinning the seeds. Thanks!

[CinnamonParrots]

You can try giving your budgie Organic pellets, and begin by mixing with a brand of seeds. My budgie (unfortunately) is eating Zupreem pellets for budgies, and I got him to eat that with relatively easy success, and I also feed him a brand called "Tropimix" Cockatiel as he is housed with my lovebird. I love this seed mix because it has papaya, lentils, oats, some millet that's shelled, and some other seeds with pellets and also bits of carrots etc. It does not have safflower or sunflower seeds and less of the junk in "regular" budgie seeds. But many people still don't fee budgies pellets and they do fine, and their wild diet mainly does consist of seeds and other forms of millet

[sammisams]

You can try giving your budgie Organic pellets, and begin by mixing with a brand of seeds. My budgie (unfortunately) is eating Zupreem pellets for budgies, and I got him to eat that with relatively easy success, and I also feed him a brand called "Tropimix" Cockatiel as he is housed with my lovebird. I love this seed mix because it has papaya, lentils, oats, some millet that's shelled, and some other seeds with pellets and also bits of carrots etc. It does not have safflower or sunflower seeds and less of the junk in "regular" budgie seeds. But many people still don't fee budgies pellets and they do fine, and their wild diet mainly does consist of seeds and other forms of millet

What's so bad about the zupreem pellets? I'll try that. I just want him to have a healthy diet and he's not really a veggie or fruit fan yet. Have to get him on the bandwagon. Right now he's still in the "I'm afraid of everything" phase. Just got him not to flip our when my hand is in his cage. And he lets me pet him every now and then but I digress. What's with these zupreem pellets?

[CinnamonParrots]

Well after reading one of the threads on nutrition for birds, a few of the people on the forum have advised me not to feed zupreem --- but first it is the colouring, as I never paid extreme attention to that, and realized it says "natural AND artificial colouring" so that's not good -- which explains why their poop is dyed in the colour they eat.

Secondly, even with the natural Zupreem that does not have colouring, there is a lot of sucrose in the formula. I don't remember the specific details, you'll be able to find that thread in the nutrition section of the forum under something about Nutri(something) brand of food (sorry don't remember the thread title).

I've been feeding my lovebird and conure zupreem for 6 years now and they are healthy birds, but I there seems to be better pellet formula out there, so if you have access to it, and can afford to buy it, why not? My birds don't eat zupreem as a staple, they get everything. But long term, I'm not sure if it will greatly affect their health... it's a good question for my vet though!

[GlassOnion]

Zupreem pellets are SO brightly coloured- seriously that shit turns bird poop bright blue and red. That is NOT good for their livers at all. Also, sugar is the 4th or 5th largest ingredient in the pellets.. I suggest Harrison's, Roudybush, Totally Organics.

I would get a plain Budgie seed mix, and soak some in warm water overnight before feeding. Sprouts are a HUGE necessity of avian nutrition as there many so many vitamins in live food. If you get plain seed mix and soak some overnight, you have just started the germination process that makes the seed a million times healthier and lower in fat. Once your Budgie is used to eating soaked seeds, try sprouting the seeds for about two days simply by washing the seeds under cold water a few times a day after you have soaked them overnight.

Seed diets kill birds, and it is very easy to sprout bird seed, so I highly suggest you do that

Also, Budgies and other Australian Parakeets are "Grass Parakeets" meaning they eat grass in the wild. Grow a small dish of wheat/oat grass and and put it on the cage top; my Budgie went for it the moment she saw oat grass!

[GlassOnion]

I would stay away from Kaytee, 7-in-one, whatever else expensive 'seed mix'. Just get a plain Budgie mix, soak/sprout the seeds, offer pellets, oat/wheat grass, and bird bread with all sorts of veggies and goodies. That's how my birds eat most of the time.

[sammisams]

Sprouting seeds sounded like such a great idea I started last night. I had never heard of sprouting bird seed. Thanks a bunch! As far as pellets I haven't tried implementing them into the diet yet. I'll give it a try. And most likely stay away from zupreem. Haha

[liz]

I put the wasted bird seed in flower pots. They love to eat the plants.