Expert: Chrys Meatyard - 1/13/2008

Question
QUESTION: hi
whenever my budgies eat, they have to hold on to the bowls and dive down to the bowl, because they have a big bowls.
so when my male bugie go down to eat, his tail goes straight up, but my female's tail stay horizontacally and so it bends. is this okay?
also, how much food are you supposed to give to a budgie?
i've been giving them 1tsp of pellets and 1.5 tablespoon of seeds EACH. but they never eat the pellets because i've only started to make them go on the diet for a month. so because they dont eat the pellets, should i give more seeds?

ANSWER: Hi, Rookie,

Yes, it's OK for the female's tail to bend.  Why don't you use smaller feed dishes?

How much food to feed....realize that their tummies aren't very big.  You'll need to experiment with your birds to see how much feed they require...each bird is different depending on age, activity level, health, etc.  If they are eating everything you provide in a day, you may not be feeding enough.  If food is left over when you feed next, then you may be feeding too much.  Realize, too, that birds don't always eat the same amount each day.  Watch the bird's weight...if the keel (chest) bone protrudes/is pronounced, a bird is underweight.  If this area resembles clevage, a bird could be overweight.  You want the bird to have sufficient "meat" on either side of the keel, but don't want too much or too little.  

Most birds will not eat pelleted food (or any other healthy, nutritious food) if seed is available at the same time.  Try keeping the pelleted food in the cage 24/7 and only offer seed once per day, separate from the pellets.  Some birds do well mixing both together, but others won't eat the pellets.  You should also offer your birds a variety of other nutritious, healthy human foods.  But remember that birds won't eat new foods they don't recognize as food.  You have to keep offering the food daily.  And remove any seed during the times you are offering any other foods.  Seed to a bird is like candy to a kid.  It tastes good and they love it.  However, seed is high in fat and low in nutritional value.  An all-seed diet will result in health problems for your bird eventually.

No, do not give more seed.  They won't eat the pellets because of the seed.

Chrys

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi again
Sorry, i made a mistake
i only give half a teaspoon of pellets, and 1.5teaspoon of seeds EACH. they always finish them earlier, so i guess that means i should feed them more.
if i do the pellets thing 24/7, how much seeds should i give them once a day, and for how long?

Answer
Hi again, Rookie,

I recommend you keep the bowl of pellets filled up 24/7 so your bird has pellets available at all times whenever it wants them.  One teaspoon of seed should be enough for each bird per day, as long as they are also eating pellets and/or other healthy, nutritional foods.  This would be the bird's diet forever.  I have to stress that birds also need a variety of other nutritious, healthy foods as well as pellets and some seed.

If your birds are having difficulty converting, you can try mixing seed/pellets, 75% seed/25% pellets for the first week.  The second week, mix 50% seed/50% pellets.  The next week, mix 25% seed/75% pellets.  The next week, all pellets, with the seed in the evening.  You may have to use different strategies to convert your birds, depending on the personalities of your individual birds.  Some birds learn that if they hold out on the pellets long enough, they will get their seed at the end of the day.  In this case, you may have to just keep seed away completely until they convert.  However, since your birds are used to seed, this probably isn't the best way to go, but you'll have to judge based on what your birds are doing at any particular time.

Chrys