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In captivity, budgerigars typically live 3 to 10 years with some living 15-20 years. The maximum recorded lifespan is 26 years. Their life expectancy depends on genetics and health and is highly influenced by exercise and diet. Birds get hardening of the arteries and heart disease just like people. Obesity can decrease a bird’s lifespan by 70 percent.
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. 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)
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’re packed full of synthetic vitamins! I feed my family whole, natural, enzyme-rich, unprocessed foods. Likewise with my budgies. For more information, read: Synthetic Bird Feeds: Do They Promote Health or Disease?
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.
Dry prepackaged seeds should constitute no more than about 20 percent of your budgie’s diet. If offered seeds as a free-choice diet component, budgies 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 bird’s cage and expect them to eat their vegetables, too!
Vegetables are best fed raw. For the biggest nutritional punch, focus mostly on dark green leafy vegetables (some favorites are dandelion leaves, parsley, cilantro, kale, spinach) and orange veggies (carrots, sweet potatoes, yams, pumpkin). For optimal health, vegetables can be fed daily. Offer fruit only occasionally (perhaps 1-2 times weekly) as it contains more sugar.
How to encourage your budgie parakeet to eat new foods:
- If your budgie has eaten little except prepackaged dry seed before, she will need time to get used to something different. Sometimes it takes weeks but don’t give up! Her life and good health are at stake.
- Offer the new food items as a appetizer — BEFORE breakfast when she is most hungry.
- Lightly sprinkle her favorite seeds on top of the new food. After this initial introduction, mix a small amount of the seeds into the new food to encourage exploration.
- Many budgies will be encouraged to try new foods by peer pressure — observing another bird eating the food. Lacking another bird, try placing the new food on a mirror.
- Try moistening leafy green vegetables before offering as budgies often like to bathe on them, then eat them.
- Try serving large chunks of veggies for them to chew pieces off, as well as finely grated and mixed into their sprouts.
- If your budgie continues to pick out her favorite ingredients and leaves the rest, try coarsely grinding a mixture of her normal food with the new food items (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 (depending on climate) because it will spoil much faster than whole foods and sprouts will.
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Breakfast: Remove overnight food remains. In a clean bowl, put 1-2 teaspoons (per budgie) of an organic, soaked, germinated and rinsed mix of seeds, grains, legumes and peas. (Note: I sell an organic sprouting mix; I also provide the ingredients and directions below so you can make it yourself.) Mix in 1 tablespoon of finely chopped, organic, fresh or frozen vegetables and/or fruit. Optional: Sprinkle with cinnamon, garlic, ginger or cayenne pepper.
Afternoon Meal: Throw away breakfast meal remains and wash the food dish with soap and hot water. This meal is identical to the breakfast meal however it is important to offer a fresh (or refrigerated) new batch to avoid spoilage and bacterial infections.
Bedtime: An hour before you tuck your budgie(s) in for the night, remove the afternoon meal remains and wash the dish. Provide 1 teaspoon (per budgie) of Kaylor of Colorado seed mix, Harrison’s pellets, or Dr. Harvey’s dry food for late night munching.
Note: Parakeets hull their seed which means they take the “skin” off the outside of the seed before eating it. This “skin” normally drops back into the dish, so it may look like their dish is full. Don’t be fooled by a dish of empty seed hulls!
Keep in the cage at all times:
- 1 tablespoonful of herb and spice mix (see ingredients on this page below; adopters can purchase some herb and spice mix from me)
- Cuttlebone
- Mineral block
- Clean wat
Twice a month (or 2-3 times weekly for molting or nesting birds), offer a spoonful of egg-food:
- Wash an organic egg.
- Drop the entire egg into a food processor or blender. The shell is a good source of calcium. Add finely diced vegetables and/or herbs and a slice of whole grain bread. Whir it all up to mince the shell and blend ingredients together.
- Cook thoroughly in the microwave or skillet. DO NOT USE TEFLON OR NON-STICK COOKWARE! It’s fine to use a little vegetable oil to prevent sticking.
- Serve lukewarm. Remove remains from dish within 2 hours to prevent spoilage.
See itemized lists below for a variety of nutritious ideas!
