Fruit

[BrianKing]

I have read that I should not only feed my parakeet seed but I should also feed them fruit. Do I just stop feeding them seed and just give them fruit or Put a separate food cup with fruit in their cage? What kind of fruit shoud I give them?

[Monica]

You should feed your budgies fruits and veggies besides seeds alone.

A budgie's average lifespan on seeds alone is around 5-6 years. A seed only diet causes tumors, lipomas, among some other cancerous type illnesses. They are also very nutritional deficit and could die from a lack of nutrition if not from being overweight, or from cancers...


The average lifespan of a budgie on a healthy diet is more like 10-17 years. They have a smaller chance of getting some form of cancer, or lipoma, especially if they excersice daily. There tends to be much less health problems with inside of the bird, having him more healthy and able to live longer.

For budgies, you should feed the same fruits and veggies that you would feed your lovebirds, such as broccoli, lettuce (iceburg, romain, etc), corn, cabbage, bananas, apples, oranges, as well as boiled/scrambled eggs and breads. My birds prefer if I stick leafy greens or bread through the cage bars, however, if it is minced (cut up into tiny pieces) and put into dishes, some of them will still explore and eat some of that...


To feed, you can put the fruits/veggies/breads/eggs in an hour or two before you put in the seeds for the day, or put them in around the same time. However, if they are not use to eating fresh foods, you should first stick the fresh food in the cage for an hour or two before taking it out and replacing it with the seeds... And you should also do this in the evening.