Been on vacation, came back to a fat budgie...

[Gribouille]

I had a shock coming home yesterday after 4 days away, Nova is a little ball of fat... Both her and Merlin went on the scale this morning: Merlin is his usual 41g (he stays between 40 and 42g no matter what), while Nova is up at 48g... Most of that fat is over the keel bone, can't feel it anymore, so this is not an egg-issue.

Now I'm not sure what her weight was before we left, I haven't been weighing them regularly those last months ... but they didn't get out-of-cage time for 5 days and the bird-sitter has been veeery generous with dry seeds (they usually get a few as foraging snacks in the afternoon). Since Nova doesn't let Merlin access food before she's done, she must have been eating most of those seeds herself.

So the plan is to cut the dry seeds off, they'll only get their usual pellets, chop and sprouted seeds and we'll see how it goes next Sunday. The thing is, Merlin's first companion died of obesity and we are a bit scared to see Nova go that way too. Tikki was never in very good health though, so I hope Nova will improve now that they are back on their usual diet, and she'll have to work out, but still...

Anyone here who has managed to reduce their budgie's weight?

 

[expressmailtome]

Bump.

 

[JLcribber]

Birds don’t get fat in 4 days. This existed long before that.

 

[clarousel]

I kinda wanna say diet and exercise just like us humans!

Perhaps start weighing daily to observe her weight too.

 

[Meerkat07]

Make sure they have tons of out of cage time or a big enough cage

 

[Gribouille]

Make sure they have tons of out of cage time or a big enough cage

they usually do but they mostly sit on their playstand and are not very active.

 

[Gribouille]

Birds don’t get fat in 4 days. This existed long before that.

I also think she had a tendency to be heavier than Merlin but I never noticed that she was that big, and she didn't have access to that much seeds either. Anyway, she needs to go down in weight now.

 

[Meerkat07]

they usually do but they mostly sit on their playstand and are not very active.

Maybe some toys or a little training then?

 

[cosmolove]

Large weight fluctuations in birds isn't something that will happen just over a week. If it does then you may have a much more serious issue going on that requires a avian vet and quite a bit of blood work. Usually big quick fluctuations are birds loosing weight drastically versus the other way.

Regardless tho, I would try to do everything you can to get the weight back down. I have english budgies and american budgies so I'm use to some budgies having HUGE size differences with no issue. So keep feeling her to know when she's at a good weight. You didn't mention this birds normal weight its hard to know how drastic of an issue this actually is. Increase out of cage flying time if you can safely do so, if you're going to feed seed maybe offer it in small foraging stations so split the amount of seed you'd give in 4 sections and put it in four different bowls in the cage to make her work for it. Move perches and toys around often, this will encourage exploring and playing in the cage. I'm not sure how big your cage is but if its smaller a flight cage or something similar may be very beneficial.

For out of cage time to you have anything like playgyms and such that would encourage them to explore out of the cage? Like we put yummy treats on our playgym so the birds take off and fly over there.

 

[Gribouille]

Maybe some toys or a little training then?

They don't play with toys, Nova would only chew some wood into pieces so that's not much exercise, but I removed the main perch on their playstand to make it more challenging, + I moved one of the branches from up there down into their cage. They are now so scared of the change that they have been flying around the whole evening Merlin is only now daring approach their cage again...

 

[Gribouille]

Large weight fluctuations in birds isn't something that will happen just over a week. If it does then you may have a much more serious issue going on that requires a avian vet and quite a bit of blood work. Usually big quick fluctuations are birds loosing weight drastically versus the other way.

Regardless tho, I would try to do everything you can to get the weight back down. I have english budgies and american budgies so I'm use to some budgies having HUGE size differences with no issue. So keep feeling her to know when she's at a good weight. You didn't mention this birds normal weight its hard to know how drastic of an issue this actually is. Increase out of cage flying time if you can safely do so, if you're going to feed seed maybe offer it in small foraging stations so split the amount of seed you'd give in 4 sections and put it in four different bowls in the cage to make her work for it. Move perches and toys around often, this will encourage exploring and playing in the cage. I'm not sure how big your cage is but if its smaller a flight cage or something similar may be very beneficial.

For out of cage time to you have anything like playgyms and such that would encourage them to explore out of the cage? Like we put yummy treats on our playgym so the birds take off and fly over there.

Yes I'm sure she has been growing heavier over the past few months but I noticed only after not seeing her for a few days... Maybe she got a little extra weight while we were away but she should be around the same as Merlin, who is 40-42g. So she is 6 to 8gr over that, ideally she should go down at least 4-5 gr.
I will cut on the dry seeds completely this week to see if it helps. Yummy treats would be millet, not sure if it is a good idea, I will try and get some fresh branches they can destroy instead.
They get several hours out-of-cage time every day (not when we were on vacation though) but usually sit on their perch (huge home-made playstand over their cage), which I removed today so they only have more challenging stations now. They've been flying around the whole evening because they were scared of the new set-up. So tonight's exercise: check!

 

[Miss_sj]

My vet told me that budgies ideal weight is 45-50g,p is this correct?

 

[BirdWorld]

Anyone here who has managed to reduce their budgie's weight?

My budgie Spring wasn’t exactly fat but a little overweight. I started a consistent diet of pellets and vegetables. I did have to separate her from Blinky because actually the reason she was overweight in the first place was because she was bullying Blinky away from seeds, fruit and vegetables whenever I put them in the cage, meaning he had actually gotten underweight during that time. Of course, after that I got them another food bowl and they are fine together now.

 

[Gribouille]

My budgie Spring wasn’t exactly fat but a little overweight. I started a consistent diet of pellets and vegetables. I did have to separate her from Blinky because actually the reason she was overweight in the first place was because she was bullying Blinky away from seeds, fruit and vegetables whenever I put them in the cage, meaning he had actually gotten underweight during that time. Of course, after that I got them another food bowl and they are fine together now.

Thanks for sharing this, I also think Nova is getting too much food because she is so busy eating what Merlin was about to eat, she'd take it even if she isn't necessarily hungry. Sometimes when I give them apple, I see he would go to have some, she'd chase him away and shred it into pieces, throwing them on the floor so he won't get any! He is keeping his weight though, and they are on a healthy diet, with rather small amounts too (except when we were away, the bird-sitter was more generous than me, but again it was only 4 days).
I have 3 separate bowls (2 with pellets and one with chop over sprouted seeds) + apple and lettuce on the bars so she can't be everywhere at the same time. But separating them... I can't really see that happen, they'd be calling each other non-stop and being stressed out, wouldn't they?

 

[Gribouille]

My vet told me that budgies ideal weight is 45-50g,p is this correct?

I'd say that's a little too much, mine are supposed to be around 38-42g, so over 45g is heavy. Some people talk about "American budgies", I don't know what they refer to, I only know about English and Australian, but could the American type be a bit bigger than the Australian one?

 

[Kiwi & Co.]

I'd say that's a little too much, mine are supposed to be around 38-42g, so over 45g is heavy. Some people talk about "American budgies", I don't know what they refer to, I only know about English and Australian, but could the American type be a bit bigger than the Australian one?

American is the normal small size, so probably what you call Australian.

45g to 60g for an English, and 38 to 42 for a normal budgie. Kiwi and Blizzard are mixes, so both are around 50g.

 

[BirdWorld]

But separating them... I can't really see that happen, they'd be calling each other non-stop and being stressed out, wouldn't they?

I kept their cages right next to each other, they were fine. Maybe a little stressed out at first, but after a while they didn’t care anymore. But they were relatively new at that time, they weren’t bonded yet. Now they are bonded and I don’t think I would separate them unless I really had to. But that’s how it works when you have a male and female budgies together, the girl will nearly always be more bossy and dominant. Does Merlin seem to care when she takes stuff from him?

 

[Gribouille]

American is the normal small size, so probably what you call Australian.

45g to 60g for an English, and 38 to 42 for a normal budgie. Kiwi and Blizzard are mixes, so both are around 50g.

thanks!

 

[Gribouille]

I kept their cages right next to each other, they were fine. Maybe a little stressed out at first, but after a while they didn’t care anymore. But they were relatively new at that time, they weren’t bonded yet. Now they are bonded and I don’t think I would separate them unless I really had to. But that’s how it works when you have a male and female budgies together, the girl will nearly always be more bossy and dominant. Does Merlin seem to care when she takes stuff from him?

no he doesn't, most of the time. He'd just go away and come back later, or sneak around. Sometimes he complains and bangs her beak back, but mostly they go along well

 

[Lori D Pert]

@Gribouille ...well hello, I have been wondering where you were. I really wouldn't worry about their wieght. Unless there was true bullying going on then budgies for the most part will sort out the feeding schedules. We tend to obsess over nothing. No hen will knowingly let her male starve any more than a male will let a female stuff herself...