Can millet spray kill a budgie?

[tinysouls]

(first of all i'm sorry for any mistakes, english is not my first language)

I'm a first time budgie owner. I have (had) two female budgies, Luna and Mia, in different cages one next to the other (they're not tamed).

Yesterday (the 20th) my budgie Mia passed away and I feel incredibly sad and guilty.

She was looking healthy and happy, despite not being tame, and she enjoyed playing with her toys and talking to Luna. One day, she decided she wasn't so afraid of my presence and started to pay attention to me. I got really excited to take my taming process "to the next level" and try to offer her some millet from outside the cage. I live in Argentina so there're not many bird supplies in pet stores, as a matter of fact, I've found only one pet store in the entire city that sells
imported millet spray so I bought it. She ate the millet happily and I was so excited to start bonding a little bit more with my bird but after two/three days of feeding her this product she got sick and died. Me, as a first time owner, have read so much about budgies and I realized the day before she died that she was sick but I don't know why I didn't do anything.. I guess it was because she tended to be very moddy and I guessed that was the reason why she wasn't paying attention to me, I thought she was tired that's why she's been taking so many naps, I thought she was cold (it has just started attummn here) that's why she was puffed up and so on..

It all happened so fast.

I can't help but think it could have been that the millet had something on it? maybe some sort of chemical or..? maybe I overfeed it? Luna, my other budgie looks healthy, nothing like how Mia was (I might still get her a check up just in case) and didn't eat the millet, probably because she was still a little bit more afraid of me than Mia to aproach my hand.

I can't shake the feeling that it was my fault, that I should have done something sooner. She passed away during the trip to the vet, I cried all the way back home. Still crying while typing this.

I just want to learn from my mistakes and be a better owner or "human budgie parent" for my remaning budgie. I feel so hearbroken I don't want her to go through the same thing.

If there's anyone who reads this, thank you so much and I'm sorry if it is too long.

RIP Mia, you're a little angel now. <3

 

[Sylvester]

I am so very sorry for your loss.

I don't think that millet is a danger to budgies, if that were true, my two budgies would have died the first year that I had them. I offered it once in awhile as a treat and they would both gobble it down.

Your little girl may have been sick from something else; they are such delicate birds.

 

[ElisaDove81]

(first of all i'm sorry for any mistakes, english is not my first language)

I'm a first time budgie owner. I have (had) two female budgies, Luna and Mia, in different cages one next to the other (they're not tamed).

Yesterday (the 20th) my budgie Mia passed away and I feel incredibly sad and guilty.

She was looking healthy and happy, despite not being tame, and she enjoyed playing with her toys and talking to Luna. One day, she decided she wasn't so afraid of my presence and started to pay attention to me. I got really excited to take my taming process "to the next level" and try to offer her some millet from outside the cage. I live in Argentina so there're not many bird supplies in pet stores, as a matter of fact, I've found only one pet store in the entire city that sells
imported millet spray so I bought it. She ate the millet happily and I was so excited to start bonding a little bit more with my bird but after two/three days of feeding her this product she got sick and died. Me, as a first time owner, have read so much about budgies and I realized the day before she died that she was sick but I don't know why I didn't do anything.. I guess it was because she tended to be very moddy and I guessed that was the reason why she wasn't paying attention to me, I thought she was tired that's why she's been taking so many naps, I thought she was cold (it has just started attummn here) that's why she was puffed up and so on..

It all happened so fast.

I can't help but think it could have been that the millet had something on it? maybe some sort of chemical or..? maybe I overfeed it? Luna, my other budgie looks healthy, nothing like how Mia was (I might still get her a check up just in case) and didn't eat the millet, probably because she was still a little bit more afraid of me than Mia to aproach my hand.

I can't shake the feeling that it was my fault, that I should have done something sooner. She passed away during the trip to the vet, I cried all the way back home. Still crying while typing this.

I just want to learn from my mistakes and be a better owner or "human budgie parent" for my remaning budgie. I feel so hearbroken I don't want her to go through the same thing.

If there's anyone who reads this, thank you so much and I'm sorry if it is too long.

RIP Mia, you're a little angel now. <3

Sorry for your loss. I feed my budgies millet once a week and they have never died or gotten sick from it. I am not sure what happened.

 

[tinysouls]

I am so very sorry for your loss.

I don't think that millet is a danger to budgies, if that were true, my two budgies would have died the first year that I had them. I offered it once in awhile as a treat and they would both gobble it down.

Your little girl may have been sick from something else; they are such delicate birds.

Yeah, that's what I thought. Everyone I've seen on the internet feeds them millet every once in a while and I haven't seen many (if any) negative comments about it. And you also might be right, maybe I missed some signals. Maybe it's been a while since she's been sick. Poor thing.

Thank you so much for taking your time to read this. <3

 

[tinysouls]

Sorry for your loss. I feed my budgies millet once a week and they have never died or gotten sick from it. I am not sure what happened.

Me neither. I just saw her getting sick out of nowhere and in two days she was gone. I couldn't help but make the connection with her feeling bad and the millet having some sort of chemical or pesticide and that somehow she got sick from it.

btw thank you so much for taking your time to read this. <3

 

[Lady Jane]

The millet could have been sprayed by pesticides at some point. Best you destroy what you bought just in case. Where did you get the bird from?

Truely sorry for this loss.

 

[taxidermynerd]

I'm sorry for your loss.

As far as I know millet is not dangerous. It's in nearly every seed mix and it's one of the most popular snacks for birds. I feed it almost every day in some form.

Maybe the bag was sprayed with something while it was in transit or in a warehouse or something? Or it's possible she fell ill really quickly. Birds are so fragile and are so good at hiding symptoms.

I'm so sorry

 

[ElisaDove81]

Me neither. I just saw her getting sick out of nowhere and in two days she was gone. I couldn't help but make the connection with her feeling bad and the millet having some sort of chemical or pesticide and that somehow she got sick from it.

btw thank you so much for taking your time to read this. <3

Yes that may have been it, maybe the millet was old or bad or something? I know one time I bought a bag of millet and it literally smelled like mildew. Yuck! I had to throw the entire bag away as I couldn't see giving that to my birds - the smell was awful! I am so sorry you lost your little budgie - they are such sweet little birds.

 

[tinysouls]

The millet could have been sprayed by pesticides at some point. Best you destroy what you bought just in case. Where did you get the bird from?

Truely sorry for this loss.

I'm surely not giving the rest of the millet to my remaining birdie, that's for sure. And yes, I think that, if she truly got sick from the millet, it had to be because it had some sort of chemical in it. But I definitely didn't even fathom the idea of that possibility when I bought it.
I got my budgie from a pet store near my house. Where I live there's not such thing as breeders, the only way to get a budgie is through a pet store. Or breed it yourself.

Thank you so much for reading this. <3

 

[tinysouls]

I'm sorry for your loss.

As far as I know millet is not dangerous. It's in nearly every seed mix and it's one of the most popular snacks for birds. I feed it almost every day in some form.

Maybe the bag was sprayed with something while it was in transit or in a warehouse or something? Or it's possible she fell ill really quickly. Birds are so fragile and are so good at hiding symptoms.

I'm so sorry

I'm thinking about that possibility. There was only one brand of millet available so I think if one of them is 'contaminated' probably all of them are (I mean the ones at the store, especially if they had to imported into the country, maybe it had to undergo some extra procedures and was sprayed with something else as you say).

And yeah that's probably the only thing I hate about budgies, their fragile health.. wish they could live for eons :'(

Thank you so much for taking your time to reply. <3

 

[tinysouls]

Yes that may have been it, maybe the millet was old or bad or something? I know one time I bought a bag of millet and it literally smelled like mildew. Yuck! I had to throw the entire bag away as I couldn't see giving that to my birds - the smell was awful! I am so sorry you lost your little budgie - they are such sweet little birds.

Wow that sounds bad, thank god you realized it was in really bad conditions before giving it to your birds.

Honestly I didn't feel any weird smell and the expiration date was ok, though I have to say the bag look kinda old but I thought that was because it was imported and also because (maybe) nobody was buying treats for their birds. We (as in my country) are not really bird people and for those who are is hard to find supplies. I didn't have any other brand to comprare it with (the one I got was Kaytee). Think the biggest bird you get here (legally) is a cockatiel.. so yeah :/

Thanks again for all the kind words

 

[ElisaDove81]

Wow that sounds bad, thank god you realized it was in really bad conditions before giving it to your birds.

Honestly I didn't feel any weird smell and the expiration date was ok, though I have to say the bag look kinda old but I thought that was because it was imported and also because (maybe) nobody was buying treats for their birds. We (as in my country) are not really bird people and for those who are is hard to find supplies. I didn't have any other brand to comprare it with (the one I got was Kaytee). Think the biggest bird you get here (legally) is a cockatiel.. so yeah :/

Thanks again for all the kind words

Yes I bought it from Wal-mart (the millet) and it was bad - probably been sitting on the shelf for a very long time. I'm from Florida and many many people own birds here, I think dogs and cats may be more popular as pets but birds are definitely popular here as well. I love birds and have had them for years, my favorite being my budgies and diamond doves.

 

[sunnysmom]

I'm very sorry for your loss.

 

[Birbs&Poodles]

I'm very sorry for your loss. I have also fed millet with no bad consequences. Please don't be hard on yourself, you sound like a great budgie parent. Fly high little Mia.

 

[pawprintedheart]

Oh gosh, I am so sorry for your loss. While millet in general isn't typically dangerous, it could have been a bad batch or maybe something was done to it while it was imported. Either way, it was nothing you would have known. I am so so sorry.

 

[Laurie]

I am so sorry. It is possible that if being calm around you was out of the norm she may have already been sick when her behavior changed. Perhaps she didn't have the energy to be anything but clam. Birds often hide illnesses and there is not always something that can be done.

Budgies are awesome little birds. I am so glad that you get to enjoy them.

 

[Fergus Mom]

@tinysouls - I just asked @Lady Jane a question recently about which millet she buys. I didn't say much about why I was asking, but I will talk more in depth about it now that I have read this. First of all, I'm SO very sorry you have lost your sweet Mia!

My Fergus and Fiona only enjoy millet sprays when I hand feed it to them. (As a sort of socialization training).
BUT... (huge disclaimer) - As of late they have not eaten the millet I have been offering them at all. This was the highlight of their days in the past.
The last order I had for Dr.'s Foster and Smith (a mail order pet supply here in the U.S.) did NOT send my millet in the order - saying they were out of it. I could not find millet in the past month at all, from any vendor, for some reason. So ... this all makes me wonder if there has been, or should be a millet recall! UGH! The things we have to worry about having our sweet birds.

Again, I'm so very sorry.

 

[tinysouls]

Yes I bought it from Wal-mart (the millet) and it was bad - probably been sitting on the shelf for a very long time. I'm from Florida and many many people own birds here, I think dogs and cats may be more popular as pets but birds are definitely popular here as well. I love birds and have had them for years, my favorite being my budgies and diamond doves.

I haven't been to walmart in years but I'm 99,9% sure you won't find any there. Again, 'we' are not bird people. Dogs and cats are pretty popular here too. Birds are taken kind of like a joke sometimes it's like that one pet your parents gave you because they wouldn't allow you to get a bigger one, like a dog for example. Some don't even know that you can (and have) to tame them, get them toys and let them out of their cages. Some birds spend all their lives inside cages, poor things!

Yeah I know! I've read and seen so much about birds and bird owners in the US. As far as I can tell you can choose between many more bird species and also so many more people have them! It's kind of paradise for bird owners

I'm very new to birds (I only know stuff about the parrot family) but I just googled diamond doves and they look adorable! I'm so eager to learn more and more.. I been fascinated by birds since I was a kid.

 

[tinysouls]

I'm very sorry for your loss.

Thank you so much for you kind words <3

 

[tinysouls]

I'm very sorry for your loss. I have also fed millet with no bad consequences. Please don't be hard on yourself, you sound like a great budgie parent. Fly high little Mia.

This made me tear up a little (in a good way!). It's hard not to think about 'what ifs'. I loved her and will miss her forever.

Thank you so so much for your words <3