# Only millet



## Nagendra

I recently brought a pair of budgies from a pet store. As per the information shared by the store keeper, they were 3 months old. They are eating millet only. I offered flax seeds, papaya, guava, cooked rice, spinach to them but nothing worked. Please help me to make them eat other food as well.


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## Therm

Hi, 

when a budgie is very young (as in, before you got it), it's very important to offer the birds a mixed diet so that young birds are introduced to lots of different new foods when they are most likely to try them. 
If the breeder only offers the bird basic foods, once they are ready for rehoming, they will be more likely to just stick with what they know. 

The only thing you can do is keep offering them different budgie safe foods and one day they may try them. 
It's very important to remember that just because your budgie doesn't want to try and of those foods today, it doesn't mean that they wont eventually try them. 

Romaine lettuce or other leaf veg, such as spinach, usually is an good food option for your birds (although don't keep offering spinach as too much is bad for your birds) to get them started. It's all about finding out how your bird wants to take the food, so try and mix it up. 

Sometimes on a dish on the floor and wet, sometimes poked between the bars of maybe torn into small piece in a regular food pot. Keep trying different methods to get your birds interested and eventually they will try other foods. 
Also, if you give them millet spray in their cage as well as their regular seed, cute out the millet spray as this is a 'treat' and might help encourage the birds to not fill themselves up on their favourite treats.


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## Nagendra

Thank you for your response.

As suggested, I will try different methods of introducing safe food for my budgies.


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## FaeryBee

*Hi! :welcome: to Talk Budgies

It can take several weeks (or even months) for budgies to decide to try a new food.
Fruit is high in sugar content so vegetables are actually healthier for your budgies with fruits given only occasionally (once or twice a week)

Healthy Diet for your Budgies

Please take the time to read the Budgie Articles and the Stickies posted at the top of each section of the forum. 
Most basic questions have been answered there. 

You will find many different tips with regard to presenting vegetables and encouraging your budgies to try new foods in the Diet and Nutrition section of the forum.
The first vegetable which my budgies that had not been weaned to vegetables tried (and loved) was sweet corn kernels sprinkled with a teeny bit of garlic powder (NOT salt).

Budgies seem to love "spicy" tastes. 
They also adored fresh basil, dill, cilantro, chickweed, zucchini and red pepper. 

Diet and Nutrition - Talk Budgies Forums

Using Apple Cider Vinegar (with the mother)
as a natural pro-biotic is very beneficial to your budgies:

Apple Cider Vinegar

When I introduced pellets to my budgie, my Avian Vet recommended using Harrison's High Potency Mash and sprinkling it on the budgie's seed mix every day. This way, when the budgie hulls the seed it tastes the pellet mash and ingests bits of it as well. This helps the budgie identify the taste as a food source.

Many members seem to find the easiest pellets to use for introducing pellets to their budgies to be the CANARY sized Zupreem fruity pellets. Most budgies like the taste and the "Canary" sized pellets are tiny enough for them to easily eat them. Once they've become accustomed to the Fruity Pellets, introducing the smallest "natural" pellets is then an easy step.

Other than when I was using the Harrison's mash, I've never mixed my birds' pellets and seed together. My birds have three separate dishes each with a different brand/flavor of pellets available to them 24/7. Their seed is rationed to approximately 2 teaspoons of seed per budgie each day. I give them seed first thing in the morning right after putting clean newspapers on the bottom grate of the cages. I sprinkle their morning ration on the paper so they can forage for the seeds. I then do the same thing in the evenings (after replacing the soiled newspaper with clean) and again allow them to forage for their seed.

All of my birds have the option to eat the available pellets whenever they like throughout the day and they all enjoy them!

Please take the time to read through the Site Guidelines, all of the How To Guides, the FAQs, the Budgie Articles and the stickies located at the top of each section of the forum.

Truly, the very BEST advice anyone can offer you is to take the time to read ALL of the stickies throughout the various Talk Budgie forums as well as the Budgie Articles we have posted.

These are great resources for Talk Budgie members and have a wealth of reliable information which will assist you to learn the best practices in caring for your budgies for their optimal health and well-being.

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## StarlingWings

Hi there and :welcome: to the forums!

You've been given great advice. I'm glad you're trying to get your budgies to eat a better diet! As mentioned, it will probably take a while before they take to new foods. The important thing is to keep trying!

Meanwhile, be sure to read through the forums' many budgie articles and "stickies" (threads "stuck" to the top of each subform), many of which are linked above by FaeryBee. They will help keep you updated on the best of budgie care practices! 

If you have any questions after reading through everything, be sure to ask as we'd love to help!

Cheers :wave:


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## Nagendra

Hi Everyone,

Thank you for the information and suggestions.

My budgies started tasting new foods.

Could you please let me know male and female budgies in the attachment pic?

As per the guidelines I saw in the forum, the first one(blue) is female and the second one(green) is male. But I was confused with their behavior, the green budgie was so noisy and the blue was soooo calm. 

Regards,
Nagendra


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## JRS

Your blue budgie is female.
Your green budgie I suspect may also be female - in that photograph, the cere looks to be more of a tan colour as opposed to pink/purple and there is a lot of white around the nares.


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## Nagendra

Hi JRS,

Thanks for your response.

I was bit shocked by seeing your response.

When I purchased, the store keeper said that the blue is male and green was female by comparing their cere. The blue's cere looks little blue in color. My budgies are 3 months old.

Regards,
Nagendra


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## JRS

Tbh what I’m seeing looks most like an older female cere, but yes I can see that its a young bird by the baby bars.
The pet owner may well be correct and it’s just displaying differently on my screen.


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## Nagendra

OK. Please give the final conclusion. I am confused.

Waiting for your response. :001_tongue:


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## JRS

Nagendra said:


> OK. Please give the final conclusion. I am confused.
> 
> Waiting for your response. :001_tongue:


My conclusion is, so am I :001_huh:

Can you post another photo of the cere, taken in daylight, but not direct light and without any camera flash?


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## StarlingWings

You have two beautiful girls, without a doubt  

They are precious! Good thing that you don't have to worry about accidental breeding


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## Nagendra

*Gender of my budgies*



JRS said:


> My conclusion is, so am I :001_huh:
> 
> Can you post another photo of the cere, taken in daylight, but not direct light and without any camera flash?


I have attached the picture of my budgies taken in day light.

Please check and let me know the gender of my budgies (blue and green).

Awaiting for your response.


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## JRS

From that photo, I’d say they are both female.

Also, Starlingwings who posted above seems very sure that they are both female and she is a lot more experienced than I am. 

So, have you chosen any names?


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## Nagendra

JRS said:


> From that photo, I'd say they are both female.
> 
> Also, Starlingwings who posted above seems very sure that they are both female and she is a lot more experienced than I am.
> 
> So, have you chosen any names?


ohhhh :001_smile:

Thank you for the confirmation.

No, I didn't choose any names. Could you please suggest the names?

I am planning to replace one female probably green with a new male. Which one would be better to replace? Blue or Green.


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## FaeryBee

*Why would you "replace" one of the female budgies with another female budgie? 
I find that to be very confusing and rather distressing as I don't view my birds to be "exchangeable" or disposable pets. :sad:*


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## Nagendra

Oops!!!! my mistake.

I would like to replace one female with a new male budgie. Initially I thought to bring two males for these two female. But I am thinking that the cage will become congested for 4 budgies. 

So I am planning to replace one female with another male budgies.

By seeing the picture I attached previously, could you please pick one female bird to replace?

Regards,
Nagendra


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## Nagendra

Nagendra said:


> Oops!!!! my mistake.
> 
> I would like to replace one female with a new male budgie. Initially I thought to bring two males for these two female. But I am thinking that the cage will become congested for 4 budgies.
> 
> So I am planning to replace one female with another male budgies.
> 
> By seeing the picture I attached previously, could you please pick one female bird to replace?
> 
> Regards,
> Nagendra





FaeryBee said:


> *Why would you "replace" one of the female budgies with another female budgie?
> I find that to be very confusing and rather distressing as I don't view my birds to be "exchangeable" or disposable pets. :sad:*


Oops!!!! typo mistake.

I would like to replace one female with a new male budgie. Initially I thought to bring two males for these two female. But I am thinking that the cage will become congested for 4 budgies.

So I am planning to replace one female with a male budgies.

By seeing the picture I attached previously, could you please pick one female bird(blue or green) to replace?

Regards,
Nagendra


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## RavensGryf

Again, as FaeryBee mentioned in her last post, "replacing" one of the birds, is not the right thing to do. This is regardless of the reason.

We are here to promote only the best practices for keeping budgies, and to educate owners on how to keep your budgies happy and healthy. The thought of 'throwing one away' because you'd rather have a male, definitely goes against what we believe.

Why do you feel you must have a male and a female? They are both gorgeous birds that you're fortunate to have getting along well.

What would you do with the other one?

Contrary to popular belief, you don't need to have a male and female pair for them to get along well and be happy. In fact, unless one is experienced, and has done much work in pre-planning and research, we advise _against_ breeding.

We recommend that all members read the Stickies provided on this site. Please do so if you haven't already. Here is some very specific information on why you are better off now not having a pair to breed. Please read these links. I hope you understand our stance on this and where we are coming from . 
https://www.talkbudgies.com/budgie-breeding/327881-heartfelt-plea-all-members.html
https://www.cutelittlebirdiesaviary.com/are-you-ready-to-breed-your-budgies.html


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## Nagendra

RavensGryf said:


> Again, as FaeryBee mentioned in her last post, "replacing" one of the birds, is not the right thing to do. This is regardless of the reason.
> 
> We are here to promote only the best practices for keeping budgies, and to educate owners on how to keep your budgies happy and healthy. The thought of 'throwing one away' because you'd rather have a male, definitely goes against what we believe.
> 
> Why do you feel you must have a male and a female? They are both gorgeous birds that you're fortunate to have getting along well.
> 
> What would you do with the other one?
> 
> Contrary to popular belief, you don't need to have a male and female pair for them to get along well and be happy. In fact, unless one is experienced, and has done much work in pre-planning and research, we advise _against_ breeding.
> 
> We recommend that all members read the Stickies provided on this site. Please do so if you haven't already. Here is some very specific information on why you are better off now not having a pair to breed. Please read these links. I hope you understand our stance on this and where we are coming from .
> https://www.talkbudgies.com/budgie-breeding/327881-heartfelt-plea-all-members.html
> https://www.cutelittlebirdiesaviary.com/are-you-ready-to-breed-your-budgies.html


Hi RavensGryf,

Thank you very much for the response and the guidelines.

I totally understand about your concern and I am so concerned about these issues. I am offering best foods available like seeds, vegetables and fruits to my budgies. But the consumption by them was very less. My intention for replacing with a male budgies is not for breeding, it is to have a good relation and bonding with opposite gender of budgies. Anyway the mating process will not happen until they get mature and it is a natural process.

Hope you understand my thoughts.

Regards,
Nagendra


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## RavensGryf

I see, Nagendra. It's not true that you must have opposite genders for budgies to be friends. In fact, there is never a guarantee that a male and female will get along! Many don't.

Once they reach maturity (if) you have both a female and male together, there _is_ something you can do in order to keep them from breeding. This link tell you what to do to discourage mature birds from coming into condition and wanting to breed. https://www.cutelittlebirdiesaviary.com/when-we-dont-want-eggs.html

Of course, in order to avoid this issue altogether, we suggest having two males or two females. Remember, any time budgies don't get along, it has more to do with individual personalities, not gender.


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## Nagendra

RavensGryf said:


> I see, Nagendra. It's not true that you must have opposite genders for budgies to be friends. In fact, there is never a guarantee that a male and female will get along! Many don't.
> 
> Once they reach maturity (if) you have both a female and male together, there _is_ something you can do in order to keep them from breeding. This link tell you what to do to discourage mature birds from coming into condition and wanting to breed. https://www.cutelittlebirdiesaviary.com/when-we-dont-want-eggs.html
> 
> Of course, in order to avoid this issue altogether, we suggest having two males or two females. Remember, any time budgies don't get along, it has more to do with individual personalities, not gender.


Very informative link. Thank you!!!


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