[AprilW]

My birdies were raised on the colored Zupreem parakeet food when I bought them from a breeder. Being into health food myself, I researched a healthier, non-colored, non-fortified food for my birds. We (the birds & I) all loved Goldenfeast Basic Parakeet seeds. But then many of you may have heard, they changed a lot of their blends & don't offer that kind any longer. My birds don't' touch the "chunks" of this & that from the "fancier" food, so that's a waste to get Goldenfeasts other blends.

I bought Hagen Budgie Seed a couple weeks ago. Amazon.com : Parakeet/Budgie Staple Vme Seed, 6-Pound : Pet Food : Pet Supplies - I think i started feeding them this new seed mixture a week ago.

Hagen is fortified with vitamins. And altho other foods I've fed them before Hagens had vitamins too, I believe the others put the vitamins in the pellets, which my birds did NOT eat. This new mixture doesn't have pellets, so they must be spray-drying the vitamins ON the seeds themselves???

Anyways, my poor birds! They are 5 yrs old, so i am well aware of their energy level & habits. This past week, they were like caged wild animals whenever I had to close the cage. They would climb up & down, up & down the bars by the door of the cage, looking crazed!

When they get anxious to come out & fly, I usually just let them out for a little flying and they are DONE. They just hang out in the cage even with the door open. But NOW they can hardly stop flying, they are buzzing right up to my face in little circles like a humming bird, again & again! I've never seen anything like it!!

Plus the male started making low-pitched "cawing" sounds if we leave them in the cage too long. I've heard that before, but that's only when maybe the male steps on the female's feathers trying to get some 'tail'. And then the female was the one to make that sound. And that rarely happens at all. Maybe once or twice I've heard the sound he now repeatedly makes in the evenings if he's caged up. I keep looking in the cage when I hear that & see NOTHING happening.

So - i still have the previous food available & some plain canary seeds, I plan on making a new mixture of food with maybe 1/4 of the new Hagens. Seems logical to me that they are all "hyped" up on all the vitamins, doesn't it?!?!

Has anyone else experienced this?
Thanks,
April

 

[StarlingWings]

To be honest, vitamin fortified seeds are, as you said, made by coating seeds with vitamins. Because of this, the birds barely ingest any as they hull the seeds before eating them. Hagen seed is definitely a fresher and much better seed blend than others, however.

Budgies eat a wide variety of things “in the wild” that they do not eat as domestic birds on a seed diet. While they do of course eat seeds and grains of various types, they have access to insects, other vegetation, and minerals that they don’t get on a seed diet. Therefore it is important to include pellets as part of a healthy diet for budgies. Since they were raised on pellets, they will probably be more taken with them than other birds who have not been introduced before! There are pellets with no coloring, as “natural” as possible, if that is a concern. However, think of pellets as being an additional source of nutrients much like the many things they’d normally eat in the wild 👍🏻

 

[karenblodgett3261]

When I first introduced LoVey to pellets I noticed they ended up on the floor of the cage. I think she was trying to "hull" them and dropped them when they wouldn't hull. I used a coffee grinder to pulverize them and sprinkled that on her seed mix. Granted, she wasn't eating much of it, but she was getting a taste of it in the food she was accustomed to. I also have a dish with just pellets that I do see her eating occasionally. It took nine or ten months before she'd eat the pellets, but she eventually recognized them as food...finally! I do believe that's one of the areas in which we need to be consistent and very, very patient with budgies lol!

 

[FaeryBee]

A varied diet is important.

An all seed diet is not recommended as it can lead to obesity and fatty liver disease.
The amount of seed each budgie gets should be rationed to 1 1/2 teaspoons of seed per budgie per day.

Obesity/Hepatic Lipidosis/Fatty Liver Disease

When I introduced pellets to my budgie, my Avian Vet recommended using Harrison's High Potency Mash and sprinkling it on the budgie's seed mix every day.
This way, when the budgie hulls the seed it tastes[the pellet mash and ingests bits of it as well.
This helps the budgie identify the taste as a food source.
It worked for my all of budgies and lovebirds

A Healthy Diet for your Budgie
Quality Seed Mix
CuttleBones, Mineral Blocks and Manu Clay Roses
Safe Foods for Budgies
The Truth about GRIT

 

[Sweety's mom]

This seems so weird like somehow the food upped their hormones dramatically. Doesn’t seem like that could be a good thing.

 

[StarlingWings]

What I'm guessing is that the seed ratios of the Goldenfeast weren't sufficiently varied for them to have energy throughout the day. It could be that eating the new seed is providing different levels and types of fats that they are able to break down a bit better.

However, with regards to other aspects of a budgie's diet, great seed is just the start!

 

[AprilW]

Thanks everyone!