Budgie on seed-only diet, Please Help!

[AwesomeSauce]

My budgie is and has been on a seed only diet for 2 months now, I like my budgie and we get along she's adorable but we all know how dangerous it is when birds don't get the right diet, my budgie is from PetSmart so this is obviously expected, I've had her for 2 months and she's likely about 5-8 months old now, somewhere around the age of a young-adult. I've tried every single idea, such as removing her water bowl and leaving a drenched-in-water piece lettuce in, Sticking millet spray seeds into apple slices (He just digs them out without eating the apple), Pairing them with seeds in their seed bowl, ect. Sometimes I'd straight up remove her food and replace it with fruit, vegetables, or other bird foods she won't eat, and as a result she'll go on a hunger strike and starve herself rather than just eat it! I've pretty much faced the fact she will only eat seeds and millet-spray, but if you think you have an idea that will work please let me know and/or tell me what I should do about this, do I need to see a vet or something to help her?

 

[Mizzely]

Have you tried any pellets with her?

Sometimes the smaller pellets mimic seeds to them and they will readily eat them. Here are most of the pellets available in much of North America: Pellets for Parrots | Lil Monsters Bird Toys

In the meantime, you can also give her a multivitamin. I really like the ones by Hagen: Amazon.com : Living World Prime Powder, 20-Gram : Pet Health Care Supplies : Pet Supplies

You could also try something like Lafeber Nutriberries. Nutri-Berries Parakeet 12.5oz

 

[Danita]

Have you tried any pellets with her?

Sometimes the smaller pellets mimic seeds to them and they will readily eat them. Here are most of the pellets available in much of North America: Pellets for Parrots | Lil Monsters Bird Toys

In the meantime, you can also give her a multivitamin. I really like the ones by Hagen: Amazon.com : Living World Prime Powder, 20-Gram : Pet Health Care Supplies : Pet Supplies

You could also try something like Lafeber Nutriberries. Nutri-Berries Parakeet 12.5oz

Good job on your pellet info page!

Sprinkle Harrison's Mash on the seeds, like lots of it. Then they get some of it. Every bite counts, then eventually they get used to the taste.

 

[AwesomeSauce]

I'm not sure what you mean by pellets, but she loves millet spray, probably because they kept that in her cage at petsmart but other than that she only eats seeds.

 

[Mizzely]

If you click my link "Pellets for Parrots" it will show you examples. They sell a few brands of them at Petsmart: Parrot Food: Parakeet, Cockatiel & Finch Food | PetSmart

They are like bird kibble. Made to be part of a balanced diet, they provide vitamins and minerals lacking in an all seed diet.

 

[AwesomeSauce]

I get that it's suppose to taste like fruit and give some of the nutrients from fruit but it's just not as good as if my bird would eat his fruits and veggies.

 

[Mizzely]

Not all pellets taste like fruit. And a diet of just seeds and a few veggies is not complete either. It can lack many vitamins and minerals unless they are actively eating a wide range of veggies, fruits, and grains.

And, you could at least provide pellets until you get him to eat more veggies.

Many of us on the avenue provide pellets, veggies, and a little bit of seed depending on the species.

Pellets are not "inferior." They are a tool to be used. They are especially good for picky birds! But even if they eat all of their veggies and seeds, you still could miss out on some things. Example: Vitamin D3 which you cannot get from a plant. Or still be low in calcium, Vitamin A, etc if not given in the right proportions.

 

[MommyBird]

Budgies don't really eat much fruit, so don't worry about that.
Their natural diet includes a good amount of seeds and sprouted seeds. Sprouts are excellent for budgies and usually easy to get them to eat because they still look like familiar seeds. You only want the root "tail " to just be starting to show, so the appearance is much the same, but they are more nutritious.
Sproutpeople has good bird sprouting supplies, instructions for folks new to sprouting, and there is info here on AA.
For veges I would give some raw broccolini pieces clipped to the cage. Most budgies will look at that because the buds are so large and interesting.

 

[Carol Mcculley]

I've had my Boyd (male budgie) for a year now. He was flat out anti-pellets. I had no lasting results from the many different approaches we tried. We recently got another budgie. This new young guy (Pesky) liked vegetables but not pellets. What I wound doing was creating a base. It includes; organic quinoa cooked as per directions, organic hemp seeds hearts, Todd's broccoli and friends mix sprouting seeds - just barely sprouted) and mixing with a little red palm oil. I store in fridge in a glass clamp jar. To this base I add veggies, and moistened pellets daily in their bowls. They like it.
I am not an experienced bird person. These two budgie are from pet smart. Don't even know if it this is correct for budgies, but works for us. Oh, yes they do get bird seed too.

 

[Jiffy]

My budgie used to be on an all seed diet, it was quite easy to switch her to a more healthy brand, but I could never get her to eat fresh veggies. It’s not that she didn’t like it, it’s that she was too skittish to even go near it.

I’ve been cutting carrots, greens, broccoli, and celery. Although soon enough I’ll be adding more variety of veggies. I chop those into tiny pieces, and put it in a cup that laches onto the cage. What I did was wait till morning, because that’s when your bird will be at it’s hungriest. She does not trust my hand but I’ve been just taking the cup of food out of her cage and putting it in front of her, and because she was hungry, she would it eat, as well as millets. Now I put the cup of veggies in front of her instead, and it might not happen right away, but she tried it and I’m pretty sure she liked it. Now I’ll catch her eating it by herself in her cage..

This obviously won’t work for everyone, another method is that if you have a tight bond with your bird, eating a veggie in front of it, and offering it might do something. Since birds eat in flocks, if they see their flock eating it, they will most likely try it.

 

[MojoIRN]

Try veggie chop if you haven't already. My two love it. I make up large patches and freeze it.

 

[icecream]

My budgies like to chew on chunks of veggies hanging in the cage. They especially love celery. Someone had said about birds, that everything hanging tastes better! I find that quite true! And don't get frustrated if they don't start to like it as soon as you want, budgies usually time to get used to new food and toys. So keep doing it and they will very likely try it eventually.