Budgie feeding

Undoubtedly the best staple diet for the budgie is millet seeds and canary seeds. Be sure to get these from your pet dealer or seedsman because he specialises in such and won't fail you. A millet spray is greatly appreciated by most budgies, in fact a great pastime for them.

Cuttlefish bone is obtainable from most pet shops and seed stores. A piece should always be available as it is the source of supply of lime which is so necessary when birds are laying eggs and rearing young. Sand of medium grade should be sprinkled over the floor of the house and also supplied in an earthenware vessel. A shelf placed inside the window is a suitable fixture and on this shelf can be placed earthenware or enamel dishes for food and water; the water pot need be only a small affair as budgerigars do not drink or bathe very much; water must, however, be available and fresh daily.

When the feeding dishes are being replenished it is unnecessary to throw out the old seed. It should be "blown" clean by holding the dish at the level of one's mouth, shaking it vigorously from side to side and blowing off the husks; the new seed can then be sprinkled over the old and there will be less waste.

Green Food
This, in some form, should be supplied regularly, because it contains most of the vitamins so essential to your bird's health.

Almost any green food that a budgerigar will eat does it good. Spinach, beet, lettuce, cabbage, groundsel, dandelion and seeding grasses are all excellent. The last are specially recommended and budgies are particularly fond of them. A turf of grass, roots and all, put into the cage or aviary is a fine way of giving green food, and the birds will enjoy biting it and tearing it to pieces after they have eaten the green part.

Care should be exercised that all green food is absolutely fresh. Stale or withered leaves or ones that have been frostbitten should never be offered, as such have not only lost their feeding value but may cause intestinal trouble in your birds. Unless green food can be given fresh, it is best withheld altogether.

Fruit and root vegetables are not normally eaten by budgerigars, but if your birds will eat them they will benefit by doing so. Apple, carrot, or turnip cut into slices all make good green food substitutes, especially in winter time when green leaves are scarce.

You can give your budgies all the green food or fruit they will eat, but do not leave uneaten pieces to lie on the cage or aviary floor and eventually go bad, for reasons already given.