During the past few months, I set aside several of the questions that I received via Facebook. These were questions that were valid and of interest to avicultural in general. I believe that answering them in this public forum without mentioning the person’s name will be helpful to others that may be experiencing the same issues.
QUESTION:
My Budgerigars are getting smaller and they are now producing only one or two chicks per clutch. A followed this message with a series of questions, which allowed me to better understand the root of the problem. If the question concerns breeding, I invariably ask the person to describe housing conditions, the nest type and diet. Getting a clear answer on the latter invariably requires multiple questions. Usually the respondent will answer simply “seeds” or a “seed mix”. In most cases the birds are fed a millet, often foxtail millet and little else. This diet is skewed towards deficiencies. That the birds can breed and rear their young is a testament to their tenacity.
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Budgies flock (c) Anna Saccheri. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
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ANSWER:
Diet is the foundation of good health. Provide the birds with a balanced, nutritious diet and they will prosper. On the other hand, feeding a diet that is composed of poor quality nutrients that are deficient in vitamins, minerals, calcium and other key elements and the result being engendered will be illness, if not death.
Budgerigars are inhabitants of the Australian hinterland, where they have evolved to survive primarily on grass seeds. They wait until rains come to breed, when there is a flush of unripened seeds, which are growing and nutritionally superior to the dry seeds. They rear their young on this bounty. If conditions are right, they will produce several clutches in rapid succession. They do not breed when food is scarce or of poor quality.
In aviculture, food (even of poor quality) is invariably available and this often triggers breeding, but the deficiencies soon reveal themselves: the hen depletes her stored calcium, dying from egg binding or producing thin-shelled eggs that break under her body weight when she incubates or the young suffer from rickets, look small, or many fail to fledge. The bird can only eat what is available in their cage; in the wild they can forage and even during the hardest of droughts can find some variety, but not so when all that is available is one type of seed.
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The foxtail millet represents mostly the base of diet for budgies. (c)Offlineinternet. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
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To produce Budgerigars is easy. To produce good quality Budgerigars (or Cockatiels or any parrots for that matter) requires a lot of work, expense and devotion.
In this modern day, aviculturists have pelleted feeds available, which are marketed as a complete feed. (I disagree and feel that the pellets or crumbles should be supplemented with greens or eggfood at the very least.) For those unable to buy this extruded food, they can supply a mixed seed diet. Various types of millets, steel cut oats, canary and other small seeds can be blended to produce a mix that is far superior to a single seed fare. This seed blend can be supplemented with greens. Spinach has oxalic acid that can interfere with calcium adsorption, but it can be fed once weekly without any detrimental effect. Endive, beet or carrot tops and many other leafy vegetables can be fed—and will be relished. Garden weeds like dandelion, sorrel and plantain are highly nutrition and will be eaten from the base to the flower head by the birds. They can be fed ad lib as long as they come from a pesticide and insecticide free source. Many Budgerigars do not readily take fruits, but many will eat a commercial eggfood preparation, or one can be made by finely grating carrot and adding to these chopped boiled egg, whole wheat breadcrumbs and fresh or drained canned corn. This softfood can be sprinkled with a vitamin supplement and calcium. Once adapted to eating this food, the birds will devour it with gusto.
Even after one clutch, the aviculturist will see a significant difference in quality in the young reared on this diet compared to those reared on a single, nutritionally poor foxtail millet.
Title photo: (c) Harsha K R. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
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