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feeding routines for full time workers

GreenThing

Jogging around the block
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Kat
Hello! I am driving four hours this Saturday to pick up my first budgie—a hand-reared male about ten weeks old. He has a spacious 32”Wx35” cage, safe wood toys, stainless steel dishes, manzanita perches of various widths & more waiting for him in my bird-proofed apartment bedroom. My questions are specifically for bird owners who work full time:
  • What is your daily feeding routine?
  • What is your bedtime routine?
I don’t have a lot of info from his owner, so he might not be adjusted to chop or any diet that isn’t fatty seed. I am lucky to have two days a week out of five that I work a split shift and will be able to spend 3-4 hours of the afternoon with him, but on my 8a-5p days I’m unsure what food he should be left with.

Obviously chop would grow bacteria, but I don’t want to overdo it with pellets (worried that free access to only pellets after a breakfast of chop would be too much supplement-heavy food). I’m also unsure about “cage mixes” such as those on Avian Organics-- they say to use sparingly, so I assumed leaving seed in the cage for 5+ hours would be a mistake. Are there healthy dry mixes you leave during the day? I've learned a lot about beginning of the day healthy meal prep or transitioning diets, but not as much about all-day access to a food source.

Of course, if he isn’t interested in new foods during my first two full days with him, I will leave him with whatever he is guaranteed to eat and work on transitioning his diet when I’m home.
 

Chris1234

Strolling the yard
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Yay, that's exciting! Maybe you could do sprouts in the AM and save the fresh foods/chop for when you get home? Or you could offer the chop right when you wake up and throw it in the fridge when you leave (bringing it out again when you get home). I'd recommend feeding him whatever he's used to for awhile, so he has a chance to get used to his new surroundings with less stress. Just add new things for now, before backing off on the seed (if that's what he's eating now). You can also sprinkle a little seed on top of his sprouts and chop to lure him to it. We had a budgie awhile back and I struggled to get him to eat pellets. I ended up getting Harrisons Fine Mash and mixing it in with his seeds, so at least I knew he was getting some in his diet.
 

Sparkles99

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If you're worried about food spoilage, how about putting food out while you get ready to go to work? I've never dealt with this, because I got my budgies during COVID, while working from home.
 

sunnysmom

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I give my birds freeze dried vegetables during the day when I am at work. That way I don't have to worry about spoilage. That said, the bird I just was bird sitting was on chop. I gave it to him as soon as I got up and switched it out for his pellets when I left for work.
 

Sparkles!

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I feed fresh foods like chop and breakfast mash items for 2 hours while I’m getting beautiful in the morning and taking care of the dogs/other critters. The birds get up early with me. Right before I leave, the breakfast dishes go into the sink and new dishes of pellets or fresh food that can stay out a bit longer: mini carrots or snap peas, herbs clipped to the cage, then go in.

I work. Think about the critters whilst I do so.

When I get home, every single living organism is hungry. The humans want dinner, and so do the birds/dogs/fish/bunnies….everything. So I make the rounds. Birds eat first, a fresh dinner of chop and seeds. And their dishes stay with them while I am feeding my family and my face. Then their dishes go into the dishwasher with our dishes from dinner. We play with the birdies. Then everyone gets their couple nutriberries and goes to bed.
(I do keep pellets in the cage at all times in a specific bowl)
 

GreenThing

Jogging around the block
Joined
5/24/21
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722
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South Florida
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Kat
If you're worried about food spoilage, how about putting food out while you get ready to go to work? I've never dealt with this, because I got my budgies during COVID, while working from home.
Maybe you could do sprouts in the AM and save the fresh foods/chop for when you get home? Or you could offer the chop right when you wake up and throw it in the fridge when you leave (bringing it out again when you get home).
Yes, I will definitely be up in the early AM and feed first thing-- I didn't really want to freeze large amounts, so making enough to fridge and feed later is a really good suggestion!
 

GreenThing

Jogging around the block
Joined
5/24/21
Messages
722
Location
South Florida
Real Name
Kat
I feed fresh foods like chop and breakfast mash items for 2 hours while I’m getting beautiful in the morning and taking care of the dogs/other critters. The birds get up early with me. Right before I leave, the breakfast dishes go into the sink and new dishes of pellets or fresh food that can stay out a bit longer: mini carrots or snap peas, herbs clipped to the cage, then go in.

I work. Think about the critters whilst I do so.

When I get home, every single living organism is hungry. The humans want dinner, and so do the birds/dogs/fish/bunnies….everything. So I make the rounds. Birds eat first, a fresh dinner of chop and seeds. And their dishes stay with them while I am feeding my family and my face. Then their dishes go into the dishwasher with our dishes from dinner. We play with the birdies. Then everyone gets their couple nutriberries and goes to bed.
(I do keep pellets in the cage at all times in a specific bowl)
I love this! And I will have to read that "every single living organism is hungry" bit to my mom, that will give her a chuckle!

That is very close to the schedule I have planned for the two or three days out of seven that I will be gone for most of the day. If I come straight home and already have chop ready to go in the fridge, this would be a super easy routine! Clipped herbs and greens didn't even occur to me, but I actually have an extra water bowl... I'm wondering if I clipped that to the OUTSIDE with a little water, maybe I could put the ends of the greens in there to keep them even perkier.

I was super encouraged after talking to the breeder today-- she was VERY knowledgeable and experienced and has all of her birds on an excellent healthy diet, so he will already be accustomed to a wide variety of veggies!
 

TheBirds

Sprinting down the street
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Ontario, Canada
How exciting, congratulations! You MUST post pics when you have him. The bar is set pretty low in our house for feeding routine right now.. we're taking a hiatus from fresh foods as my two kept turning their nose up at everything :laugh: (This will change when we try introducing the Higgins Worldly Cuisines mixes in the next week or two.)

Right now they have two different kinds of free-choice pellets all day, a nutriberry hidden away in their bowl of toys to find mid-morning, and in the evening they get their "forage mix" (other pellets, hemp hearts, sprinkle of seeds, some dried fruit/nuts) which they really look forward to. Our "routine" has evolved multiple times over the last few months, I expect yours will too ;)
 
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