Food Intolerance

There have been fewer posts the last couple of days, because I haven't been feeling too well. I have had a lot of stomach/bowel problems since the beginning of 2011, and now it turns out I'm probably lactoseintolerant...!

Photo © elfguts on tumblr

Well,food intolerance also occurs among budgies. You know that these little birds can be very curious. While they explore our homes, they find things like exotic plants or flowers. When they land on top of the book case, they can start gnawing on the polished wood. Since budgies love to chew on things, they can easily get poisoned by accident. Some plants may cause severe pain and vomiting, so you have to be careful with what you keep in the house. Budgies who suffer from poisoning, often throw up food. It may cause a crop infection but that is not always the case.

Never feed these things to your birds!

• French fries or fatty food
• Rotten food
• Human snacks (like crisps, chocolate bars, candy)

As a general rule, you should never give any human food to your budgies.
However, they tolerate the following food:

•  Fresh fruit and vegetables
• Boiled rice or potatoes (unsalted)

Garlic and Yoghurt

No, these are not new budgie names! :)

A week ago, our little Isla got sick for the first time. I noticed she was regurgitating a lot, but soon enough I saw that the "regurgitating" was actually more like "retching fits". At some point, she vomited once, but that was enough for me to go crazy. I started searching through my budgie books: could it be a crop infection? Psittacosis? Simply indigestion?

Image © toucanjam

I called the local veterinary and he came to our place to have a closer look at our bird. Isla doesn't like to be held, so she really bit his finger hard. The vet said that she had a few symptoms of Psittacosis, which made me go "aaaargh" and "noooo" but of course it's way too early to draw any conclusions. He added that it's more likely that Isla has some kind of infection in her crop, which often leads to retching.

So now they've been on antibiotics for a week - that's right, Frodo as well, because he has been taking such good care of Isla that he might be carrying the same disease now - and I can really tell there's a difference. Isla is living up again, she's getting more chatty and active than before. Frodo doesn't seem to be ill at all. He's too busy chasing Isla all the time!
Other than that, the vet gave me some tips that I never heard or read about before. But I can assure you it helps!

• mix a tiny bit of crushed garlic with the bird seed, and add a coffee spoon of yoghurt to each food tray. Make sure you get a nice, not too thick mix, so your budgies can still peck at the seeds.

As a result, you will get a nice, simple yet very healthy mix for your budgies. My budgies have been eating from it for a week now and they seem to really like it.

• I already mentioned apple cider vinegar before. The vet also mentioned it to me. A few drops a day in the drinking water should be plenty and it's very good for your budgies!

Bless you!

It's that time of the year again: cold and flu season has arrived in Belgium! Alas, I'm one of the unlucky ones.

Budgies are more vulnerable to cold and flu bugs than humans. Budgies can seriously suffer from what humans describe as a simple cold. Be extra careful when you have the flu, that can actually kill them when they are left untreated, or when their resistance is low.

Photo © imarocket-man

Stop your sniffling! How do I protect my budgies?

Rule 1: give them the right food

Let them eat their way to health during the Winter, with the right food and supplements

• brocolli and oranges strengthens their immune system
• a mineral block is also high on the list
• millet is also an immune-boosting snack. Use it wisely and don't overfeed them!
• daily vitamin supply to drinking water

Rule 2: keep your hand in front of your mouth

If possible, ask a healthy person to take care of the budgies for you. A veterinary once told me that a lot of budgies catch an illness through hand contact from humans. In any case, you always have to wash your hands with antibacterial soap before you handle the budgies. It's a good habit and reduces the chances of passing on your germs to the birds. Also keep your hand in front of your mouth if you have a cold, don't come too close to them unless you have to (don't touch them with your mouth) and don't sneeze or cough on them!

I know it's tough to keep a distance from your birds, but you have to do it for their sake. 

Photo © throughmycameraseyes

Rule 3: warm, cozy home

Budgies hate to be in a cold, moist climate. They thrive much better in warm and dry places. That's why I recommend you to keep them in a sufficiently warm room during day and night. You can also buy an Avian Sun, which is a lot like a UV-lamp, but for birds. It partially makes up for the absence of sunlight and vitamin D during the Winter.

Food regurgitation

Image © Little Feathered Buddies

If you have a couple of budgies, you might see one approach the other and lock beaks with it. This is how budgie couples feed each other. Also, this is how the female budgie feeds her babies. If your budgie is regurgitating food for you, you can be sure it means that your budgie loves you! It's one of the best compliments you can get from your feathered friends :)

Note: don't confuse food regurgitation with vomiting! Vomiting is an uncontrollable process and your budgie will keep doing it, while leaving stains on their feathers and cage floor. If you notice this, you have to go to the vet immediately!

Hunger strike?

I've been reading quite a few stories about budgies who refuse to eat when they are brought into a new home. So, I knew what to expect when I bought Frodo and Isla. They immediately flew up on to the highest perch and remained there for the rest of the evening.

Of course I was worried because they didn't touch the food. Budgies can only last a little more than two days without food. So what did I do? I hung some millet in the cage, where they could easily reach it. I can tell you it helped; we have seen some massive millet-nomming today!

Image © Canikeepit.typepad.com

Also, the budgies seem much more relaxed. It's amazing how fast they adapt. They are still young and I won't give them away: I'll make sure they have a long and happy life with us. The good news is that they already allow us very close to them, without being scared of us. My guess is that it will take less than a month before they are tame and can fly like little helicopters through the house :-)

Amazing senses pt.4

Budgies may have fewer taste buds than humans (birds have approximately 300 taste buds while humans have approximately 9,000!), but they are still able to detect sweet, salty, bitter, and acidic substances. So in a way, they're doing even better than us!

Image © Erlend Alvestad, my wonderful fiancé <3

Sweet or sour?

Budgies like both sweet and sour food. Most birds prefer food with a sour or bitter taste, that's one reason why budgies like vegetables so much. But when it comes to apples, millet, or other treats that contain sweetness like honey, I can definitely point out some addicts for you!

So taste really differs from budgie to budgie; there are budgies that shudder and walk away after they take a bite out of a fresh, bitter lettuce leaf. On the other hand, there are actually budgerigars that dislike apples.

Note that you better don't give any fruit or vegetables to your budgies when you think it's too bitter or sour! I hereby give the example of citrus fruit like lemons and grapefruit. Also, don't pamper them too much with snacks that are too sweet or salty. You don't want your budgie to get indigestion!

Other posts in this series:
Amazing senses pt. 3
Amazing senses pt. 2
Amazing senses pt. 1

Coconut Bowls

In the footsteps of my one-week food health project, I would like to post one more epic idea that your budgies would go crazy for: filled coconut bowls!

The coconuts are filled with a blend of apples, peas, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and millet.

All pictures are © Eyes Ever Opening & purpleglitter on livejournal.com. Thanks for sharing this!

Oooh... what's this?

OM NOM NOM!

Check out all the pictures on this link: http://neitherday.livejournal.com/1284609.html

Budgerigar food health week: day 7

Vegetable poll results

What vegetables are considered the best among our feathered friends?

Long before I closed the poll, I already thought it might be carrots. They are the absolute top favourite of my budgies as well! Let's have a look at the remaining top 5:

1. CARROTS
2. LETTUCE
3. BROCCOLI
4. BEANS / CUCUMBER
5. PAPRIKA / TOMATO

What I learn from this, is that a lot of budgies are crazy about carrots, lettuce and broccoli. I remember trying out lettuce on my budgies last week, and they were queuing up in front of it! It might be a good thing to know what vegetables are most popular among budgies, if your budgie is a so-called "seed addict" (a budgie who doesn't want to eat fresh food). You can most likely convince them by offering them small portions of carrots or lettuce to start with. In any other case, it's good to know how you can pamper your budgie in a healthy way! ;) Thanks again to all the people who voted! You helped me a lot!

Budgerigar food health week: day 6

The key to a healthy budgie diet is variation, but also patience. Some budgies namely are picky about food and find it hard to accept fresh fruit and vegetables. Do you have a little seed-addict at home? Perhaps the technique mentioned below will help your feathered friend to appreciate fresh food.

Sprouting
  
Sprouting is an excellent method (and also one of the most cost-effective) of providing nutrient-dense foods to birds. The so-called sprouted or germinating seeds are usually more easily accepted by "seed addicts" than fresh fruits and vegetables.

Sprouter with glass germinator and seed bags. Image © Renae on forums.avianavenue.com

What exactly is sprouting?

"Sprouting is the practice of soaking seeds overnight (1 part seeds to 5 parts water), draining them, placing them into a sprouting jar (a sieve propped up in a bowl to allow the water to drain will do just fine); and then rinsing the seeds several times a day until they start to sprout (they usually start sprouting after about 24 hours) - at which time they are ready to feed. For the next days, the seeds will continue to grow. The different stages provide different nutrients to your bird. For a few birds, a few tablespoons of seeds are sufficient. If properly attended to, the sprouted seeds will last for up to 5 days."

Information © avianweb.com

What are the health benefits of sprouting? 

• Sprouted seeds are healthier as the sprouting changes and enhances the nutritional quality and value of seeds and grains. Sprouted seeds are lower in fat, as the process of sprouting utilizes the fat in the seed to start the growing process - thus reducing the fat stored in the seeds.
• Sprouted seeds will help balance your bird’s diet by adding a nutritious supply of high in vegetable proteins, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and chlorophyll. 
• Soaked and germinated "oil" seeds, like niger and rape seeds, are rich in protein and carbohydrates; while "starch" seeds, such as canary and millets, are rich in carbohydrates, but lower in protein.  
• It is an invaluable food at all times; however, it is especially important for breeding or molting birds. Sprouted seeds also serve as a great rearing and weaning food as the softened shell is easier to break by chicks and gets them used to the texture of seeds.

"this is my private sprout plate. Wet kitchen paper, bird seed, wait a few days and a meal of fresh greens is ready." Image © mywestie.com

Information © avianweb.com

Sprouting is easy, you can make it yourself, or buy it online or at the local pet store. Visit this web page for more explanation and step-by-step instructions of sprouting: http://www.avianweb.com/sprouting.html

Budgerigar food health week: day 5

Daily bread

There always has to be enough food in your budgie's food tray. This sounds obvious to you, but some budgerigars actually starved to death because their owner didn't see the difference between the empty seed shells and the actual food. Budgerigars "crack" open the seeds you give them and only eat what's inside. They leave the empty shells lying around. 
In comparison to a lot of mammals and reptiles, budgies can't go long without food. They digest and use the energy from their food so quickly that they are already starving after one day. Therefore you have to make sure to refill their food tray completely every day!

Healthy seed mix for budgerigars. Image © parrotparadise.ca

 Budgie-sized portions

Fruit and vegetables have to be divided into small "boats" so that it's easier for your budgie to eat. Vegetables have to be washed thoroughly with lukewarm water. Your budgies have to eat it fresh - never give them anything that starts to get rotten. Serve them fresh fruit and vegetables in the morning, so you can remove it from their cage in the evening, when they're done eating. Never leave any pieces lying around in the cage. Your budgie can get diarrhoea very easily from rotten food.

Limmmme! Image © nlcafe.hu

 Quality takes time

A lot of fruit and vegetables you buy at the supermarket contain pesticides and absorbed poisonous fumes from all the traffic around. If you don't pay attention, your bird can get poisoned. The best you can do is buy biological fruit and vegetables and wash them more than once. Or you can buy your fruit at a farm in the countryside, far away from all the busy traffic roads.

It's always good to know where your fruit comes from. Image © folk.uio.no

 From the garden

Your budgies like plants like dandelions and shepherd's-purse. If it comes from your own garden, you can give your budgies the whole plant, roots and a bit of earth included. Don't give them the flowers, though! The earth contains minerals and stimulates your bird's digestion.

PLEASE TAKE NOTE OF THIS: TOXIC PLANTS 

 Budgies cannot eat the following plants:

• Avocado
• Dieffenbachia
• Ivy
• Taxus
• Foxglove
• Tung tree
• Lobelia
• Mistletoe
• Larkspur
• Poinsettia

You always have to doublecheck for any toxic plants in the house when you decide to let your budgie fly outside the cage!

My list above is still incomplete. If you're in doubt about something, you can visit this link or consult the wikipedia article on toxic plants.

Budgerigar food health week: day 4

Hide and seek

Stimulate your budgie's curiosity to look for hidden things. Animals that live under the guard of humans should have enough entertainment and movement outside the cage.
You can choose to challenge your budgie a little bit when you want to give him food. That cures part of their boredom - yes, budgies do actually get bored easily when they're kept as pets! - and turns the usual food routine into a fun game of dinner-hunting!

It's important that your budgies always get to the food in the end, otherwise they won't trust you anymore.

Here is what you can do:

1. Every other day, you can give your budgies a little less food in the cage and instead put some on a couple of food plates, for example on the table in the living room.
2. Place the filled food plates within eyesight of the budgies. Soon, the first budgie will discover the food and the rest will follow him.
3. After three or four times, your budgies will know they have to be on the lookout for food. Now you can hide the food plates in a more remote spot of the room.
4. This is where the real challenge begins for your budgies. They will have a lot of fun in this hide and seek game. But you have to be sure that your budgies always get to the food in the end! They are already starving when they have to go one day without food! The game is meant as a fun addition to the daily entertainment you should provide your feathered friends.

Budgerigar food health week: day 3

Snack time

You can find a nice supply of budgie snacks at the pet store or supermarket. One example is the sticks that are covered with seeds, held together by sticky honey or a sugar solution. A lot of budgies go crazy for this. You can give it to them every now and again, but not too often, for there are a lot of calories in sugar and honey which can easily make your budgie too fat.

Snacks are actually very good for budgies, as long as you don't exaggerate. Image © DigiDragon on Flickr.

Fresh water

Your budgies should be given fresh drinking water every day. You can buy a couple of drinking fountains, or just use a flat drinking bowl. Budgies will drink water according to the temperature in the room. If it's cold, their drinking pattern could be a little inconsistent. Sometimes they don't drink at all for a whole day. But you have to give them fresh water on a daily basis to keep the bacteria in the water from multiplying.

Drinking fountains. Image © raspetsupplies.nl

Budgerigar food health week: day 2

Important nutritional supplements

A daily supply of vegetables is necessary in a balanced diet. You don't have to go further than in your own garden to get them, because budgies are quite fond of certain herbs. One example is the green leaves of dandelions. Budgies absolutely love this!
As for fruit, you have a wide variety of choices from which to choose as well. Select from oranges, apples, kiwi, guava, strawberries and mango. For vegetables, pick lettuce, carrots, broccoli and sweet corn. I just read in another source that they like spinach as well. Organic fruits and vegetables are always preferred, as they don't contain harmful pesticides. Later on, I will post a complete list of which fruits and vegetables budgies are allowed to eat - and I'll mark their favourites.

Fresh fruit. Image © dinostock from Fotolia.com

Vitamins

It's also important to give your budgies vitamin preparations. You can buy this at the pet store. Vitamins in vegetables lose their value over time, after the harvest. Most food doesn't contain enough necessary minerals either. The best way to be sure your budgies don't run short on vitamins, is to give them supplies on a regular basis, about twice a week (especially during the Winter). You can for example add it to their drinking water.

Limestone

All budgies get limestone cravings. Not a big surprise, because limestone contains all the elements that are needed for the shape of your budgie's skeleton and the feathers. You may sometimes find your budgies looking for small pieces of limestone in bird sand. They pick it up and eat it because it improves their digestion. Limestone pieces break down the seeds and corn pieces in the gizzard.

Grit and bird sand

Grit consists of minerals, small broken shells and coal. Just like limestone, this helps to break down the seed shells in your budgie's gizzard and stomach. Bird sand generally contains some grit, but you can also buy it in a box apart at the pet store.

Grit improves your budgie's digestion. Image © parrotparadise.ca

Cuttlebone and mineral blocks

Cuttlebone comes from the shell of cuttle fish and provides both jaw exercise and calcium for your budgie. Mineral blocks contain the necessary minerals for your budgies. You can place these two objects in the cage and give the budgies some time to get used to them. After a while, the budgies will gnaw at them to get the exercise and nutrients needed.

Cuttlebone and mineral blocks can be combined into a perch, which is brilliant because budgies love to gnaw on everything. That includes the things they're sitting on. Image © Ken Marshall from Fotolia.com

Budgerigar food health week: day 1

Spoilt little birds

Wild budgerigars learn from an early age which plants they can or can't eat. They pick out the finest kinds of grasses and seeds to keep their athletic bodies healthy. When there's a short supply of food, they will still eat anything they can to survive.

Image © grasparkiet-online.eu

 Domesticated budgerigars, on the other hand, especially adult birds that had never anything else to eat than seeds, can be very picky. A lot of budgerigar owners complain about the fact that their birds only want to eat one specific seed mix. They may refuse the best-looking, tastiest fruit or the freshest vegetables you serve them. This is why you have to give your budgies a varied diet from the first day you buy them. This way, they can get used to different food types.

Seed mix as main dish

The basic element in a healthy diet for budgies is really easy to find. You may be surprised. In your local supermarket, they probably sell more than one kind of seed - and corn mix for budgies. 

Vitakraft is very common in Belgium. Image © animalheaven.eu

It's so simple, yet all budgies need some of this every day, like humans need potatoes to stay healthy. You always have to check the expiry date before you buy a box of bird seed, though. Old corn has less vitamins and rotten seeds can make your bird sick.

Budgerigar food health week

Our lives are not in the lap of the gods, but in the lap of our cooks. This could be said about budgerigars. If you give them the wrong food, they won't live long. Too many budgies are obese and unhealthy because they lack certain vitamins and minerals... and exercise.

Budgie enjoying corn © Petra Kohlstadt from Fotolia.com

The natural food supply in Australia is so high in quality that wild budgies hardly suffer from malnutrition. They can choose from a menu of more than twenty kinds of wild plants and grasses. Budgies that are kept in a cage aren't forced to live off this healthy diet and more often tempted to choose for unhealthy snacks rather than vegetables. You can only protect your budgies against malnutrition and obesity if you serve them the right diet from the moment you get them.

Combine bathing and lettuce together to give your budgie the world's best lunch! Image © mywestie.com.

 From now until next Sunday, I will post a daily tip about healthy food habits for budgies. At the end of the week, I will post the results of the vegetable poll on the top right of my blog. I already want to say a big thank you to everyone who voted! ^_^

Budgies with obesity / how to make food a challenge

Photo © Internationale Zentrale Tierregistrierung

Budgies that are kept inside a cage are getting too fat too soon. This was mentioned in an article on the website of the Internationale Zentrale Tierregistrierung®. Owners should give their budgies the opportunity to have some movement, without putting any pressure on the bird but instead by making a fun game out of it. One example is to hide little food tidbits in a ball or an egg carton. This way your budgie can get more fun and more movement out of the whole eating process.

The magazine "Ein Herz für Tiere" (A heart for animals) points out that budgies enjoy having a little challenge to get to their food, as long as it's just a game and not a matter of life and death as it is for them in the wild. According to the magazine, more than half of the budgies in Germany are overweight. An incorrect way of feeding is the main cause for this problem. Many owners give their budgies too much high-energy food, while two teaspoons of grains are usually enough for a budgie.

Radical diets on the other side, are dangerous to budgies, because the small birds can starve to death very quickly. As you may know, budgies can only go 46 hours without food. You have to keep this in mind before you decide to leave them alone for a few days! A better way to deal with your budgie's obesity is to remove the oil-bearing seeds (like sunflower seeds) from its diet and provide the chance of free flight outside of the cage every day.

Can budgerigars eat pancakes?

Image (c) Dan Lacey

Yes, they can! You just have to modify the recipe a little, to make it more healthy for your feathered friends.

Here's what you need:

chopped apples and/or berries
small pancake mix
3/4 cup (6 ounces) organic oat, almond or hazelnut milk (this can be found in any health food store or in your grocery store)
2 eggs
crushed pellets and/or petamine
budgie seeds
olive oil

Make a nice pancake batter with the fruit pieces and seeds. Use milk and eggs to mix it together. Fry mini pancakes with a little bit of olive oil and let them cool down a little. Only give small servings to your budgies, don't make them used to it or they'll never want to eat seeds again :) you can save the leftovers (freeze them in single servings) and heat them up again later. Enjoy!

Vegetable Poll

A healthy, balanced diet is good for everyone, also for budgies.

Today I put up a poll, to remind all budgie owners in the world to give their budgies at least one vegetable a day, and to find out which vegetable your budgie likes best. You can find the poll on the top right of my blog.

Can you help me?

TIP: if your budgie doesn't want to eat his vegetables, you can mix it with the seeds. YUM!

Budgerigar Health

You always have to keep a close eye on your budgie's health. Be sure to weigh him regularly, as weight loss is one of the easiest ways to find out your budgie is sick.

It's very important that your budgie has a balanced and healthy diet of seed, fruit and vegetables and pellets (without preservatives, artificial flavourings, added sugars or colorings).
Budgerigars need plenty of time out of their cage in order to stay healthy and fit. Many budgies don't grow older than 5 or 10 years because most people give the wrong diet to their budgies, or keep them locked up in their cage.

How to recognize a healthy budgie?

A healthy budgie has bright clear eyes, a slim acrobatic shape and strong shiny bright feathers.
Healthy budgies also have a shiny beak (non-flaky or crusty cere). Another good sign is when they're very lively and enthusiastic and fly about all day long, chattering happily.

How to recognize a sick budgie?

If your budgie sits huddled up on the floor, you can be sure he is ill. Or when he just sits on the perch with his eyes closed, using both his feet to rest. It's always better to take your budgie to the avian vet quickly in that case, although they don't always know the answer. My mum was told once that one of our budgies had cancer and that he wouldn't last longer than 2 weeks. Today it's almost one year later, and he is the healthiest budgie of the whole flock!

Other symptoms:

• poop change, runny/lack of droppings
• poop stuck to vent
• decrease talking/activity
• picking/plucking at feathers (not regular preening)
• feathers dirty/stuck together/ratty
• discharge from eyes/nose/beak
• abnormal breathing
• dull/swollen/runny/cloudy eyes
• falling off perch
• hunched over
• lumps/bumps/sores or swelling
• weight loss
• not eating
• weak/fluffed up
• tail bobbing
• bleeding
• convulsing
• runny/inflamed cere
• vomiting (not the regurgitation they do as part of bonding)

Symptom list (c) budgiecare.org

The Beneficial Effects of Millet and How Budgies Worship it

Budgies absolutely go crazy for spray millet (NL "Trosgierst"). They love it like most people love chocolate. But too much of this seed will make them avoid other healthy food like fresh fruit and vegetables. They will overeat and become addicted to it if given the chance, so offer it only a few times a week.

Millet, however, can be very healthy if they don't eat too much of it. It has a whole range of beneficial effects and can even cure budgies that are ill.