Vegetables and fruits?

[luke]

Do any of you came across any scientific info on what will happen to budgies that refuse to eat vegetables and fruits during its whole life span.


Thanks

[emilyhauer]

I haven't come across any information. My Budgie hasn't eaten any fruit or veggies. I've tried so many types of food. My Vet told me my bird was raised on Petco's birdseed, and Petco must have never introduced the birds to anything but seed. Unfortunately, this has caused my Budgie to be very picky. I'm going to keep trying though.

[elwood_blues]

I haven't come across any information either.

I was quite worried that mine wouldn't eat any fruit and vegetables but i stuck with it and after a loooooooong 6+months, they love apple!

Good luck :)

[BUUZBEE]

well, if you were to only eat rice your entire life, you wouldnt get the nurtients you need, so your life span would be shortened right.

[SushiGURL]

Well for a budgie that is on a only seed diet, they have a likely expectation to get a deadly sickness called Fatty Liver Disease. Although it is not proven that budgies have to eat fruit and veggies it is a healthier choice. A budgies life span can exel to 15 years! A budgie on a all seed diet regularly lives from 5-7 years.

Here is an exerpt from a website called http://www.budgieworld.net/budgie_advice.htm

Yes, it’s true Australian birds in the wild never ate fruits and vegetables because until 1788 there weren’t any!
Here’s a list of fruits, vegetables & cereals that are not Australian and were never seen on the entire Australian continent until after white settlement in the year 1788. The list is far from complete but we challenge anybody to find a readily available Australian fruit or vegetable.

Fruits:
Apples

Apricots
Bananas
Blueberries
Cherries
Currants (any)
Fejoas

Grapes
Grapefruit

Jackfruit
Kiwi Fruit

Lychees
Nectarines
Mandarins

Melons
Oranges
Peaches
Plums
Pears

Rambutans
Raspberries
Starfruit

Strawberries
Tomatoes


Vegetables:
Asparagus

Beets
Broccoli
Cabbages
Carrots
Cauliflower
Cucumber
Lettuce
Onions
Parsnip
Potatoes
Radishes
Rutabagas
Spinach
Zucchinis

Cereals:
Corn
Maize
Rice
Rye

[roman]

sushi thats the site i posted a few days ago (glad to see some one is using it) :)

in the petstore where i got kiwi they were raised on seeds and had orange slices to snack on

i just got skie to like cucumber a couple of days ago today i will be trying to mix the seeds with some carrots to see if it works

hope your guy nibles something soon as the fruits and veggies will make his life longer

[softie]

There is actually a disease that the budgies may get if there diet only consists of seeds and no organic foods. I can't think of it on top of my head, but I'm sure that someone here knows about this disease. It does have something to do with the liver.

[Keet1976]

I have tried introducing veggies into my keets diet and have nto had much success. I have used broccli tops broken apart and mixed with millet and some have gotten eaten, but that is about as good as I have gotten.

I was wondering if anyone thought this would be a good way to get veggie and fruits into a picky birds diet?

Garden Veggie Treat (http://www.bird.com/itemdy00.asp?T1=513116+KEE)

Tropical Fruit Treat (http://www.bird.com/itemdy00.asp?T1=513115+KEE)

I have tried hard boiled and scrambled eggs and I haven't had any luck with that either, but I have used the stick treats that are egg. Is that good to do?

Parakeet Egg Sticks (http://www.bird.com/itemdy00.asp?T1=524081)

Also I have seen fruit stick treats...???...

[airwave]

Ugh, I know what you mean. My little Tery is terrified of veggies and fruits. He won't go near them. I guess just try stinking to it and maybe soon they'll nibble on some out of curiousity.

Keyco (My first budgie) ate mostly the same seeds for her whole life except for the odd lettuce leaf. (Hey I was 8, no one told me what to feed her.) and she lived to be 5 or 7...something like that. I definatly think added veggies and fruits to your birds diet would help a lot :)

[roman]

if you really want them to live long and have a good diet try what i did with carrots

chop them into very small peices wash the peices after and then take the food dish out of the room

spinkle the peices onto the seeds like you would do with pellets except don't put the pellets (if you do use pellets anyways)

they will think that the pellets are there but they will eat the carrot pieces and every 2 weeks try something new and eventually if you choose keep them on a half seed half fruits/veggie diet

[spidergirl]

i'm not an expert on this by all means, but the budgies we had when i was a child didn't really thrive & lived not more than 4 years. they were only fed seed. one that did thrive for 12 years was Sparky, and he would always share meals with us at breakfast & supper. there is deffinately something to be said for feeding a wide range of foods other than seed.

[Angel_Miette]

When we first got Loranna I tried every veggie and fruit we had in the fridge to no avail... Then I started reading more about how to get a fussy budgie to eat and one site said mix sweet potato (baby food kind) with the seed. So we did and all we suceeded in doing was making Loranna very angry. She ripped the food dish off the wall of her cage and threw the seed every where. The only thing funny about it was her head was orange for a couple of weeks and we'd call her sweet potato head which would make her mad at us again. So we don't call her that anymore... But I don't think we'll ever get her to eat fruits and veggies.

Angel Miette:budgie:

[Keet1976]

I am laughing so hard right now just picturing that! Maybe I should try that with mine since he doesn't want anything to do with veggies or fruit for that matter!

[Keet1976]

I tried mixing seed in with baby apple sauce, I went for something that didn't have much color so it wouldn't stain. For what ever reason I decided to try this just after Pippin took a shower. He stared at it for a while so I sprinkled more seed on it, still just looked at it. So then I put some on my finger and fed it to him and he ate it. I'm not sure how much apple sauce he got, but at least he was eating seeds with a little on them to help him aquire the taste. Next time I'll try a baby veggie! His face was messy when he was done eating so I gave him a little bath in the sink.

[pal0m1n0]

Well, my birds loved tearing carrot sticks apart. And of course they love greens. You may have better luck if you try introducing leafy greens first, Parsley is good. Buuzbee's soak mix seems to be very popular with birds, and of course eat in front of them. I have decided not to bother with fruits, I stick to the soak mix and veggies.

[luke]

I only wish is that if any budgie breeder are reading this, is "please" try to introduce all your baby birds to vegetable and fruit while they are still with their parent before sending them to the pet store and also tell the pet store keep offering vege and fruits while at the store.:budgie: ;)

[pal0m1n0]

I suspect it is easier to get the father to eat new things because they are ravenously looking for food and once he feeds it to the hen, and she feeds it to the babies then they all will be at least familiar with the taste.

[luke]

Yes I agree, for the well being of the budgies they sell, the babies birds should at least see their parents eating the veges while they are still with them.
I know for sure if they (babies) birds see their parent eating "whatever" they will eat them too.