Best budgie staple diet

I have been researching for a quality staple mix for my budgie. Seeds? Pellets? Mix? Looks like Dr. Harvey's Best Parakeet food has the best reviews. would you recommend this product for daily diet?

If not, what do you use? Thanks.

I guess you must all use top secret budgie mix cuz no one is willing to divulge what they feed their keet.

In the olden day’s when I was a kid (1970’s/80’s) it was pretty much millet and very few variations. Many pet budgies these days eat pellets. Seeds are high in stored energy which is great if you’re a wild bird flying many miles every day, but not for pet birds who might just get the odd flap around the house, so pellets and green leafy veg are much preferable, and retain those millet sprays for training or a special treat

I do plan to introduce the pellets in time but wanted to get him on a better seed mix than the store brand I got at PetSmart where I got him. It's what they fed him there and I wanted something familiar for him when he came home.

I'm not exactly sure what pellet brand to use either but I recommend tops except the only downfall is the smallest size of tops pellets are still to big for most budgies, but tops has no fillers unlike most pellet brands where they are filled with corn. your budgie should have at least 60% of their diet pellets 10-25% seeds and the rest should be fruits and veggies. brands of pellets I recommend are roudybush, zupreem, tops, and I've also heard good things about harrisons. also does your budgie eat pellets? if your budgie hasn't eaten pellets before then switching them onto a pellet mix like roudybush, tops or harrisons may be difficult but many people say zupreem is a gateway mix because most birds love them and I totally agree. as for seeds I honestly have no idea and its super hard to find a good seed mix. I recommend buying a cheap seed mix and then adding your own seeds like quinoa, hemp, pumpkin seeds, buckwheat, chia seeds, oats and really any seeds that are low in fat. also most budgies will pick out the seeds and not eat the pellets so give your budgie pellets in the morning and afternoon and seeds in the evening, but when your doing this make sure to check your birds weight and make sure they are still eating some budgies are really stubborn and will starve if not given seeds.

Hi Harry! I feed seed mix and veggies, chop, ect. Mineral block, cuttlebone, occasionally whole grain bread bits. I need to work harder on pellets! I crumble tops hook bill , and zoopreem. I tell myself they eat it....... . I have seen them nibble pumpkin seeds cut up, and the big birds pellets, of which I have almost all brands offered.

With Budgies it can be tough, because not a lot of companies make pellets that are small enough for them to eat. Some Budgies do fine with larger pellets, breaking them up with no issues, while other Budgies are very intimidated by pellets in-general and won't touch them...And unfortunately most Budgies are not weaned-onto pellets, and a lot of the time they aren't even weaned onto fresh veggies or dark, leafy greens. However, the nice thing about the seed-mixes made for Budgies is that overall they don't contain a lot of the really fatty junk that usually make larger bird seed-mixes high in fat and low in protein and other nutrition...For example, most Budgie seed-mixes don't contain any Sunflower Seeds, nor any Nuts, nor any Dried Corn Kernels or Dried Cracked Corn, simply because Budgies can't usually handle eating these things...

So that being said, if you have a pet/captive Budgie that was weaned onto seed-mix and not pellets, it's not nearly as bad as it is for larger birds weaned onto the really junky seed-mixes...I have owned/bred both American and English Budgies now since I was a little kid (my mom bred Budgies before I was born with my grandmother), and I currently own the very last clutch of Budgies that I ever bred and hand-raised myself; they are a clutch of 8 American/English hybrid-Budgies, 7 males and 1 female, and they are now almost 6 years old....I hand-raised them from 2 weeks-old, and I Abundance-Weaned them onto lots of fresh dark, leafy greens (collard, mustard, turnip, and dandelion greens, Arugula/Rocket, Bok Choy, Swiss Chard, Romaine and the other dark, leafy lettuces, etc.), lots of fresh Veggies chopped-up into tiny little pieces like Broccoli (they usually love Broccoli if you cut off the flowers into little bits), Green Beans, Peapods (they LOVE the Peapods cut up into tiny bits, along with the peas chopped up too, both Sugar-Snap Peapods and Sweet Peapods), Brussel Sprouts, Bell Peppers (red, green, yellow, and orange Bell Peppers, along with the seeds), any types of Squash, such as Butternut, Spaghetti, Acorn, Yellow, and then also Zucchini, and pretty much any type of FRESH Veggies (never canned) EXCEPT for Onions or anything in the Onion family like Chives, Leeks, etc. as they are all toxic/poisonous to birds...

They get fresh fruit very sparingly, 2-3 times a week along with their fresh Veggies and Greens, and any fresh fruit EXCEPT for Avocado, as it's toxic to birds, and NO CITRUS FRUIT, as it enhances their absorption of Iron, and birds cannot handled much Iron in their bloodstream at all, they develop a serious and fatal condition called "Iron Storage Disease/Syndrome", especially very small birds like Budgies, Parrotlets, etc. So avoid ALL Citrus Fruit, including oranges...But any other fresh fruit is fine, in small quantities and only a few days a week, as all fruit is very high in sugar, which is turned into fat and stored in their livers, just like the fat from Nuts and Sunflower Seeds is...

****So as far as the "Staple-Diet" for Budgies, I highly recommend that you choose a low-fat, high-protein, FORTIFIED seed-mix that is the correct size for Budgies, and that contains NO Sunflower Seeds, NO Dried Corn of any kind, and NO Nuts of any kind...And if your Budgie was weaned onto seeds only and not onto any pellets, then I suggest that you choose one of these healthy, low-fat, high-protein, fortified seed-mixes as their daily staple-diet, give them this fresh every morning so they have it throughout the day, and then in the evening at dinnertime you give them their daily serving of fresh Veggies and dark, leafy Greens. They should get both a "staple" food AND fresh Veggies AND Dark, Leafy Greens every single day...So like a 60% healthy seed-mix and 40% fresh Veggies and Dark, Leafy Greens diet for them...

****And if you want to transition them onto a HEALTHY, LOW-FAT pellet as their staple-diet, or what I would rather recommend is that you simply ADD a healthy, low-fat pellet in with their healthy, low-fat seed-mix, so it's a 50/50 split of pellets and seed-mix as their staple, along with the same daily amount of fresh Veggies and Greens...
Here's the thing about pellets though, and this is very important: If your bird is eating a healthy, low-fat, high-protein, varied seed-mix as it's daily staple-diet, the only pellet that is going to be healthier for your bird is going to be a NATURAL pellet; "Fruit-flavored pellets are absolutely LOADED WITH SUGAR, which turns into fat and is stored in their livers...So a "Fruit-flavored" pellet is actually much worse for your bird than a healthy, low-fat, varied seed-mix is!!! So there is no reason to switch your bird to a sugary fruit pellet from a healthy, low-fat seed-mix.

However, if you want to transition your Budgie from the healthy, low-fat seed-mix to a Natural, low-sugar, low-fat pellet as it's staple-diet, then that's the way to go...Harrison's, Tops, Zupreem Natural, Kaytee Natural, etc. are all good pellets, and I would slowly add one of these (Budgie-size of course) to your bird's healthy, low-fat seed-mix...There are many of these seed-mixes as well: Tropimix, Higgin's California Blend, Volkman, etc. You mentioned "Dr. Harvey's seed-mixes, which I believe are sold by Dr. Foster's and Smith (possibly other places too, I'm not sure)...I had someone ask me about Dr. Harvey's seed-mixes once a while ago, and I remember looking into them, and the only issue with them, specifically the Dr. Harvey "Best Parakeet Blend",
which is their only Budgie food, is that it is LOADED WITH TONS OF DIFFERENT NUTS!!!
As I recall, the Dr. Harvey's "Best Parakeet Blend", their only Budgie food, contains a ton of different types of nuts chopped-up in it, including Filberts, Brazil Nuts, Almonds, Cashews (terribly fatty), Macadamia Nuts (terribly fatty), Walnuts, Hazelnuts, etc. It's a shame because the rest of the ingredients are fantastic, it's a mix of all kinds of healthier seeds, grains, legumes, herbs, veggies, and a bit of fruit, exactly like the Tropimix or the Higgin's California Blend, but for whatever reason they added in a TON of different Nuts, not just one nut but an array of 5-10 different nuts, and that's just WAY TOO MUCH FAT!!! The Dr. Harvey's also has Coconut in it, and that's just adding sugar to the bunch of fat from all the nuts...If it was just the Coconut then that would be fine, but as your bird's regular, daily staple-diet, I don't at all recommend that you feed your bird the Dr. Harvey's, as it's just got too many nuts in it...

HarryC said:

I have been researching for a quality staple mix for my budgie. Seeds? Pellets? Mix? Looks like Dr. Harvey's Best Parakeet food has the best reviews. would you recommend this product for daily diet?

If not, what do you use? Thanks.

Click to expand...

My parrots, including my budgies, get a diet of 80% veggies, and 20% Fruits, seeds, pellets, grains, nuts. (Obviously, in the 20% category, some things are giving more than others). I used a large variety of veggies and fruits. When serving veggies throughout the day, I add seeds. At night before bedtime, they get their pellets. My birds are out all day and are flighted, therefore I can give seeds with less of a risk of them getting fatty liver disease. However, even having the freedom of flying all day every day, that is nothing compared to the freedom of being in the wild and flying. So I do not give seeds in large amounts. I was using just pellets, a good brand of pellets. (I will not say what brand because I do not desire to be attacked for stating the brand, I completely support this brand. But for my birds, they did not do well on pellets instead of seeds and pellets, which is why I offer both now. Of course on the side of their main diet, Veggies). I completely recommend you to allow your bird to fly, but that's if you feel your bird could do so safely. But most of your birdies diet should be veggies, and then you can give seeds and pellets, or just pellets. That is depending on what works for your bird(s). My birds started acting fluffy and sickly, sluggish even on just pellets(like I said on the side of pellets). They're the recommended brands of course, but some of them don't work for some peoples parrots. Here are some of the recommended Brands, Tops parrot food, Harrisons, Higgins, Roudybush, Zupreem. (They're probably more, but these are the ones I know that are good and that I have tried with my parrots and they highly enjoyed all.)

Coconut (White Male Budgie)
PineApple (Yellow Female Budgie)
Mituna ( Peach faced lovie)
Sollux (Peach faced lovie)
Jaden (Green Cheek Conure)
Echo (Male White faced Tiel)
Petunia (Female Grey Tiel)
Oz (Female Latino Tiel)
Diamond (B&G macaw)
Pigey(My wonderful sweet Roller Pigeon):10:

I thought that I would post the ingredient list of the Dr. Harvey's "Best Parakeet Blend" so that you can see how terribly fatty it is with all the different nuts...It's a shame, because otherwise it would be a great seed-mix, but unfortunately there are just way too many nuts for a captive/pet parrot who isn't flying all day long...This is definitely a recipe for Fatty-Liver Disease and a shortened Budgie lifespan...Dr. Harvey's Parakeet Blend actually sounds more like an occasional treat than a daily staple-diet seed-mix, so I would stay far away...You want a seed-mix that contains NO NUTS AT ALL, and NO Corn at all, and NO Sunflower seeds at all...Let alone every nut imaginable (the only nut that Dr. Harvey's doesn't contain are Peanuts, lol, like they purposely left the Peanuts out and that would make it okay to have every other nut available in it...This is taken right from the Dr. Harvey website, from their "Best Parakeet Blend", which is the only Parakeet/Budgie mix they have available:

White Millet, Canola Seed, Niger Seed, Canary Grass Seed, Oat Groats, Red Millet, Apple, Coconut, Carrot, Mango Dices, Hemp Seed, Sesame Seed, Flaxseed, Anise Seed, Poppy Seed, Caraway Seed, Banana, Orange Peel, Macadamia Nuts, Brazil Nuts, Filbert, Cashews, Almonds, Pine Nuts, Pecans, Walnuts, Pistachios, Soybeans, Broccoli, Zucchini, Green Beans, Green Bell Peppers, Red Bell Peppers, Freeze-Dried Peas, Spinach, Celery, Parsley

It's pretty bad...Add-in the Coconut and it's just not good...