Budgie and Cockatiel Diet Advice and Recommendations Please!

[JewellBird]

Hello all! I have a few different questions about the pellets and seed I have been feeding my budgies, so bear with me...

1. I have been feeding my 2 current budgies Lafebers premium parakeet pellets and a small amount of Higgins Vita Seed natural blend for almost a year. They also get fresh chop everyday and other fruits and veggies as treats. I will also be getting a Cockatiel and Budgie pair soon and since they are a bonded pair they will be in the same cage, so do you all think it will be okay to feed the Lafebers parakeet pellets to the Cockatiel too? It will be impossible to feed different food to the cockatiel than the budgie will eat, as the two new ones will be in their own cage together. As far as I can tell it is just the size of the pellet that varies between the Lafebers cockatiel and budgie pellets and not ingredients.

2. Is the Lafebers pellets a good pellet to keep them on? I originally got them the Lafebers pellets because they were naturally preserved and had a lot better ingredients than the ones that were recommended at the pet stores that had a ton of dye and artificial flavors and preservatives.

3. What do you all think about the Higgins Vita Seed? I would kind of prefer to find a different seed mix to give small amounts of, because the Higgins Vita Seed has a lot of dried fruit in it and a lot of added vitamins and minerals. So does anyone have a recommendation for a natural seed mix that will work well for both Budgies and Cockatiels and that preferably has no artificial preservatives or all of the dried fruit like the vita seed has? Or do you all think it is a decent seed mix to continue to give them?

Thank you!

 

[expressmailtome]

Bump.

 

[BirdWorld]

Hello all! I have a few different questions about the pellets and seed I have been feeding my budgies, so bear with me...

1. I have been feeding my 2 current budgies Lafebers premium parakeet pellets and a small amount of Higgins Vita Seed natural blend for almost a year. They also get fresh chop everyday and other fruits and veggies as treats. I will also be getting a Cockatiel and Budgie pair soon and since they are a bonded pair they will be in the same cage, so do you all think it will be okay to feed the Lafebers parakeet pellets to the Cockatiel too? It will be impossible to feed different food to the cockatiel than the budgie will eat, as the two new ones will be in their own cage together. As far as I can tell it is just the size of the pellet that varies between the Lafebers cockatiel and budgie pellets and not ingredients

Have you checked the ingredients? If the ingredients really are the same I don’t see why they’d need to eat different food. I’m pretty sure though that tiels need more seed than budgies (@Tiel Feathers?), so not sure how that would work.

2. Is the Lafebers pellets a good pellet to keep them on? I originally got them the Lafebers pellets because they were naturally preserved and had a lot better ingredients than the ones that were recommended at the pet stores that had a ton of dye and artificial flavors and preservatives.

I don’t see why you’d change it mine eat Lafebers and have been their whole lives.

3. What do you all think about the Higgins Vita Seed? I would kind of prefer to find a different seed mix to give small amounts of, because the Higgins Vita Seed has a lot of dried fruit in it and a lot of added vitamins and minerals. So does anyone have a recommendation for a natural seed mix that will work well for both Budgies and Cockatiels and that preferably has no artificial preservatives or all of the dried fruit like the vita seed has? Or do you all think it is a decent seed mix to continue to give them?

I’ve never heard of it, sorry. I give my birds millet, nutriberries, and Lafeber Avi Cakes.

 

[JewellBird]

Have you checked the ingredients? If the ingredients really are the same I don’t see why they’d need to eat different food. I’m pretty sure though that tiels need more seed than budgies (@Tiel Feathers?), so not sure how that would work.

I don’t see why you’d change it mine eat Lafebers and have been their whole lives.

I’ve never heard of it, sorry. I give my birds millet, nutriberries, and Lafeber Avi Cakes.

Thank you! I double checked them again and there isn't a difference in ingredients, so I guess I'll just continue with the smaller size parakeet pellets. I didn't think about the fact that the Cockatiel might need even more seed than I currently give my Budgies. I guess I'll just have to kind of play it by ear once they're home. I really wish I could have them in separate cages and not have to worry about the budgie getting too much of the seed... but I think they would be extremely stressed if I put them in separate cages.

And thanks for the suggestions for seed, I already give mine millet as an out of cage treat and for a training reward. But I will have to look into the nutriberries and avi cakes. Thanks again!

 

[taxidermynerd]

For the seed mix, when I had a budgie I had a hard time finding a mix without fruits, legumes etc so I just made my own. If you have a health food store, or a Whole Foods or Mariano's near you, you will probably be able to find human grade seed. I like Bob's Red Mill brand stuff, most of it is organic. Plus you have total control over what's in it, the ratios etc.

 

[JewellBird]

For the seed mix, when I had a budgie I had a hard time finding a mix without fruits, legumes etc so I just made my own. If you have a health food store, or a Whole Foods or Mariano's near you, you will probably be able to find human grade seed. I like Bob's Red Mill brand stuff, most of it is organic. Plus you have total control over what's in it, the ratios etc.

Okay, thank you for the suggestion! I have a Whole Foods near where I live, so I will have to go there soon and see what seeds I can find for them there. I really like the idea of making my own seed mix for them, and having control over what seeds, and how much of certain seeds they are getting!
Thanks again!

 

[budgieluv3]

My birds were never big on pellets, so I mostly stuck to chop in the day, pellets at night. I have owned multiple birds through the years and this always seems to work.

 

[finchly]

Yes to #1 and 2. I *think* I'm feeding Higgins brand right now, I like their products a lot.

Our tiels and budgies eat the same size food as canaries and finches, no one has complained yet. The parrots get a larger size food.

 

[Forest]

Yes to #1 and 2. I *think* I'm feeding Higgins brand right now, I like their products a lot.

Our tiels and budgies eat the same size food as canaries and finches, no one has complained yet. The parrots get a larger size food.

My birds all eat the same food, too. I like to switch out the type of pellets, or even mix different types together. Right now I'm using Higgins Intune and Caitec Oven Fresh Bites. I switch between cockatiel nutriberries and parakeet nutriberries; all my birds like them both. I've never tried just the pellets from Lafeber, but the nutriberries have the pellets in them and my birds LOVE those. For seeds, I like Volkman Avian Science Parakeet, Higgins Safflower Gold - Conure/Cockatiel, and Higgins Mayan Harvest Yucatan (the last one has juniper berries in it which makes my house smell like gin when the birbs eat it ).

I do put budgie-sized pellets in the budgie's cage, but everyone is always in and out of everyone else's cages so sometimes the budgies end up eating the conure/cockatiel-sized food and vice versa.