Best Food For Budgies – An Introduction to Budgerigar’s Food
Budgies are a kind of parakeet native to Australia and known to fly long distances. These lush, colorful, and pretty birds make for a great avian pet for novice pet owners. Moreover, budgies are playful and energetic.
It is also called budgerigar, grass parakeet, shell parakeet, budgereegah etc
Budgies or budgerigar are small parakeets with loads of energy. They are entertaining and need sufficient nutrition to stay entertaining, healthy, and mentally fit. They need a variety of food to help them thrive and remain the beautiful avian creatures they are.
As a novice Budgerigar owner, you might be wondering what is the ideal sustenance for your Budgerigar, isn’t it?
Fret not; we have got you covered. This article enlightens you about the best food for budgies. Moreover, you will also know what a Budgerigar’s ideal diet is. You will also become aware of the foods you should necessarily avoid feeding your budgie.
So, read ahead to know the best food for a Budgerigarand its ideal diet.
The 5 Best Food for Budgie
The best food for a budgie is one that is nutritionally balanced and has natural ingredients. Below is our top recommended best food for a Budgerigar. Read ahead to choose the right one.
1. Living World Premium Budgie Food
Living World commits itself to design the best food for shell parakeets. It is a gourmet food blend with specialty seeds, fruits, vegetables, and nuts. Moreover, it gets enriched with Tropican, which provides your shell parakeet with plenty of nutrition.
Living World selects high-quality ingredients with the best nutritional levels, taste, and flavor. Moreover, they pack their budgie food in CO2 flushed air carrier bags. It ensures optimal potency of the vitamins and maintains the freshness of seeds. The gourmet formula has a clean, dust-free mix of appetizing seeds and nuts for budgies.
Pros
- High-quality
- Promotes strong bones
- Helps in the growth of vibrant feathers
- A natural diet for budgies
Cons
- Quality control issues likely
- Distinctive smell that some budgies may not like
2. ZuPreem Natural Food Pellet For Budgies With Added Nutrition
ZuPreem natural bird food is a pellet-based food for small birds like your shell parakeet. It comes in a 2.25-pound bag. Natural food pellets are rich in vitamins, minerals, and amino acids.
This unique blend made in the USA is a fortified mix of natural vegetables. It enables you to convert your grass parakeet to a healthier diet. The ZuPreem natural bird food blend contains the right amount of proteins, calcium, fats, carbs, and amino acids your budgie needs. Made without artificial flavors and colors, this blend gets highly recommended by vets.
Pros
- Natural food
- Rich in vitamins, minerals, and amino acids
- Wholesome food
Cons
- Corn-based
- Slightly pricy
3. Higgins Vita Seed Budgie Food
Higgins Vita Seed is a suitable food blend for your shell parakeet at all stages of their life. It comes in 2.5-pound bags and gets naturally preserved. Moreover, they do not contain any artificial colors or flavors.
The Higgins Vita Seed blend contains digestive probiotics, DHA, and omega-3 to enhance your bird’s health. This blend of premium vegetables, nuts, and dried fruits is rich in vitamins and minerals. It provides complete nutritional value for your affectionate shell parakeet.
Pros
- No artificial flavors or colors
- Gets preserved naturally
- A supreme blend of vitamins and minerals
- High in vegetable, nuts, and dried fruits
- Many budgies favor this blend
- Tasty and flavorful
Cons
• Slightly pricy
4. Kaytee Fiesta For Budgies
Kaytee has over 150 years of experience in the avian food industry. The Kaytee Fiesta is a gourmet feed blend of fruits, vegetables, grains, and seeds. The Fiesta bag consists of digestive prebiotics and probiotics. Moreover, it offers plenty of variety.
The Kaytee Fiesta comes in a 4-pound bag and packs a punch of flavor that your budgies will enjoy. It contains various foodstuff items to ensure different textures of food for your grass parakeet. This naturally preserved feed blend enhances your budgie’s skin and encourages a healthy plumage.
Pros
- Naturally preserved
- Antioxidant-rich to promote immunity
- Omega-3 rich to promote heart and brain health
- Variety of food items in the pellets
- Gourmet food
Cons
- Shipping only in the USA
- Quality control issues
5. Lafeber’s Premium Daily Diet Or Gourmet Fruit Pellets
Lafeber’s tropical fruit pellet is gourmet food for your bird. It is one of the very few fruit pellets in markets containing added sugar or fructose. Moreover, it contains human-grade pieced of mango, pineapple, and papaya.
Lafeber’s is a family-owned and family-run company of passionate veterinarians. They get committed to creating the best food for budgies. The gourmet fruit blend consists of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Moreover, it promotes an active and healthy lifestyle for your bird.
Pros
- Naturally preserved
- Natural non-GMO ingredients
- No artificial flavors, sugar, fructose, or colors
- Made with natural fruits
Cons
- Quality control issues
- Slightly expensive
What is a Budgie’s Diet?
Essentially, a budgie’s diet consists of 50-60% of pellets and seed mixes. Although, vets recommend that at least 40% of budgie’s diet should include fresh fruits and vegetables.
A budgie’s diet is a mix of pellets, fruits, vegetables, seeds, and nut mixes. Each of them has a unique nutritional benefit for your budgie’s balanced diet. It might help you to know what safe fruits and vegetables are for budgies. Moreover, it would also help you to know what to avoid feeding your budgie. So read ahead.
What to Feed Your Budgie?
As mentioned above, you can and should introduce a variety to your pet bird’s diet. The safe fruits and vegetables to feed your grass parakeet in small portions are the following.
1. Cucumber
2. sprouted seed
3. Lettuce
4. seed mix
5. Tomato
6. sweet potato
7. Beetroot
8. Celery veggies
9. leafy green vegetables
10. Green beans
11. Potato
12. Carrot
13. Peas
14. Bananas
15. Apples
16. Grapes
17. Oranges
18. Strawberries
19. Canary seed
20. Millet Spray
21. Parakeet pellets
22. sunflower seed
23. seed mix
Note, the fresh vegetables you feed your grass parakeet, except the salad vegetables, should be cooked to make it easy for your pet bird to consume. You must finely chop fruits that have seeds into small pieces to ensure your grass parakeet doesn’t choke.
Moreover, you need to ensure moderation in the fresh fruits and vegetables you feed your budgie diet. Anything in excess can prove harmful to your pet bird.
For increasing the calcium intake of shell parakeets, you can feed them cuttlefish bones. Budgies tend to gnaw at it and absorb calcium from them.
Water is the best thirst quencher and hydrator for your small bird. Ensure you give a sufficient supply of water to your budgie. If needed, you can add a couple of drops of apple cider vinegar to provide a boost in flavor. You should replenish your budgie’s water at least twice a day so that they have clean drinking water.
Occasionally, you can feed your shell parakeet a bite of boiled eggs or chicken as protein supplements.
What to Avoid Feeding Your Budgerigar?
There are some foodstuff items that you must necessarily avoid feeding your aviary birds at all costs. These prove harmful for your budgies and could be potentially fatal. You must stay away from the below list for the welfare of your budgie.
• Chocolate
• Alcohol
• Pizza
• Chips
• Bread
• Vanilla
• Tea
• Coffee
• Fried food
• Salty food
• Sugared food
• Cheese
• Bacon
This list is technically harmful to humans too. They can prove harmful to the health of your budgie. Moreover, they do not offer any nutritional value to your budgies.
How to Choose the Best Food for Budgies?
When you look for food for budgies, you must bear certain things in mind. A diet consisting only of pellets and seeds hardly covers a budgie’s nutritional requirements. So, here is a list of things to look out for when choosing the best food for budgies.
• Nutritionally balanced pellets should make up for 50-60% of their diet
• You must look for foodstuff that has a blend of several types of seeds
• Ensure your budgie gets a diet of at least 40% fruits and vegetables
• Your budgie doesn’t need much grit in their diet. So, get a food blend that has husks removed from them.
• Consult your vet before adding any supplemental vitamins, mineral or amino acids to your budgie’s diet
• Ensure you read the ingredients list carefully
• Your budgie’s feed should get naturally preserved
• Buy food that doesn’t have artificial flavor or colors
• If affordable, choose organic foodstuff for your budgie
• You must also keep the quantity your budgie will consume in mind. It helps in optimal storage and reduces wastage
• Bear in mind your budgie’s preferences. It will take a couple of trial-and-error to get it right.
Additionally, you can always consult your vet or an aviary specialist to ensure your budgie gets the perfect nutrition. Choose a foodstuff blend that is high in nutritional content and can help your budgie thrive and flourish.
Wrapping Up
Budgies are small parakeets native to Australia. They are incredibly affectionate, cute, and inexplicably entertaining. To thrive and continue being entertaining, budgies need the best foodstuff and sustenance possible.
You needn’t worry about the best foodstuff for your Budgerigar; we have got you covered in this article. This article has a curated list of the best foodstuff for a budgie. Moreover, it enlightens you on a budgie’s diet and what to avoid.
Since you are a novice, you must consult your vet or an aviary specialist too. That ensures you don’t potentially harm your budgie in any way. Furthermore, the researched and curated best food for budgie list will help you decide what to feed your bird without harming them.
So, buy the best parakeet food for your budgerigar to keep your companion flourishing and yourself entertained and loved always!