You are what you eat. How many times have you heard this, probably just at the moment you were about to gobble down that last Oreo? It's an old saying, but in this health-conscious era, one that still holds meaning.

While it is an important adage for humans, it is perhaps even more important for your budgie. We have a giant body frame compared to a budgie's, and we can get away with, nutritionally, eating things that might be outside the realm of what we would call "healthy" foods. But for a bird, with such a small frame, every meal is significant, and should be as balanced and as healthy as possible. Here are three avian veterinarians to take the mystery out of your budgie's proper diet.

The Basics: Seed and Pellets

Dr. Larry Nemitz of Santa Ana, California, who has been working with birds for twelve years, suggests beginning with a good quality parakeet seed, which is predominately millet and hemp, with some canary and smaller seeds in it. "Small amounts of millet spray are good too," he says. "Pellets are fine, but I would never put a newly purchased bird on pellets because they are not familiar with it. If not done under supervision, you can accidentally kill your bird. If you think the bird is eating it, and it's not, it can starve to death. Pellets are fine as part of a budgie's diet, and I treat it no differently than another food. As long as they have their seed, and they have been checked to make sure they're healthy before you try to switch them, switching to pellets is okay."

Dr. Marge Wissman of Wesley Chapel, Florida, has been working with birds for 18 years and is a board certified specialist whose practice is exclusively avian and exotic. "Budgies are one of the birds that really are grass seed eaters in the wild so they do eat a fair amount of seed. In the wild they are foraging and flying around all the time, expending a lot of metabolic energy, so eating a primarily seed-based diet isn't a big deal for them because they don't tend to get obese. They balance out their diet with grasses and other things at different times of the year when seed and grains might not be available. For the pet bird owner, the best thing to do is to try to get the bird converted to a pelleted diet. The pellets for budgies are small and usually fairly well accepted, especially by young birds. It's important to make sure the bird is healthy before you try to convert it to pellets. " As an important side note, she adds, "Just like any other bird, they should have fresh water available at all times, and it's preferable to use a water bottle than a water bowl. Budgies are really smart and will usually figure it out quickly that if they stick their beak in it, the water will come out. But you have to check it every single day to make sure it's working."
Dr. Sam Vaughn of Louisville, Kentucky, has been working with birds for fifteen years, and sees more budgies in his practice than any other pet bird. He suggests you feed your bird a high quality, nutritious pellet, and fresh water, and don't worry about the rest of it. "That's how I feed my birds, and how I've been feeding them for ten years," Dr. Vaughn says. "While I'm not a breeder, strictly a pet-person, my better breeders have better success when they are on pellets also. Organic pellets are the safest thing to feed any bird. There are low levels of possible additives and contaminants in non-organic foods."

Conversion to Pellets

So you've decided to convert your budgie to a pelleted diet. Now how do you go about it? All three veterinarians agree that pellets can be an important part of your budgie's diet, but they all agree as well that your budgie should be completely healthy and checked by an avian veterinarian before beginning the conversion process.

"If you want to switch your budgie to pellets, you should do it under veterinary supervision," Dr. Nemitz says. "Then put the pellets in a separate dish and limit the seeds to the minimum seed they need to maintain their weight. An average budgie lives on two to two and a half teaspoons of seed per day. If they are already willing to eat new and different foods, they will be more amenable to converting to a crumbled pellet diet-- I would use a mashed-up crumble because they are less resistant to that. You can sprinkle some of the crumble on top of some of the fresh foods that they like. You can then increase the percentage of pellets in the diet. Budgies will more likely go for a natural food than a pellet, so conversion has to be done slowly. I would limit the extra treats during the switch. In twelve years I can name only one or two birds that weren't able to convert."

Dr. Wissman suggests that a younger bird will have less problems converting. "If you get a budgie that is just fledged it will be pretty amenable to eating almost anything. Hopefully, if the pet store didn't have it on pellets, by adding some pellets every day to the budgie seed mix, and every day adding more pellets and less seed, often the bird will eat them, but you have to make sure it's really eating them. Another way is to have a bird who is already eating them show the new bird that that's what it's supposed to eat. In terms of older birds, there are definitely some budgies on this planet that will rather die than eat a pelleted diet, and those are my biggest challenge."

"There are many different ways to convert your bird to pellets," says Dr. Vaughn. "The safest way to convert your bird is to do it with a scale. Do not do it without one, especially with a budgie. They are tiny little birds who could not eat for a day and a half and get into severe problems with weight loss. People may see the little bird going over to the bowl and think that it's eating but it is indeed not taking anything in. That's where the scale can tell you whether the bird is ingesting enough for its body weight or not. You must weigh the bird once daily, at least, making sure that the bird is maintaining its body weight.

"Let's say I have a client come in with a new budgie they have bought from a store and it has been on a seed diet," Dr. Vaughn continues. "I suggest conversion to a pelleted diet and I give them a number to call to order a scale. Then I tell them, before starting conversion, to start weighing the bird every morning for a week and keep a record of the weight. This helps train the owner in weighing their bird. Then they start mixing seed and pellets in the regular seed bowl. Then, in a higher position in the cage, they would place a dish with pellets only. Birds will generally feed from the higher bowl first. You do this for about two weeks, and if weight has maintained, you can go completly to pellets.

But what if the bird won't convert? "If the bird is stubborn," Dr. Vaughn says, "then I would recommend making sure it is as healthy as possible with some veterinary testing, and then get tougher with the bird. Once the bird is determined to be as healthy as it can be, you weigh the bird in the morning, as usual, putting only pellets in its cage. Then you go off and do what you have to do, and when you come home in the afternoon, you weigh the bird again. If it has lost three grams of body weight, you have to give it seed. If it hasn't, don't give it seed. Most baby birds will convert readily to pellets. Ideally, you should buy a bird that had been weaned to pellets. I wouldn't buy a bird that had been weaned to seed."

Supplements, Other Foods, and Treats

If you are feeding your budgie a seed-based diet, it will need to eat other things to balance out what the seed lacks. If you are feeding a pelleted diet, you may not need to supplement, but there are still things you should consider in terms of the health of your bird. While some veterinarians may limit foods beyond seed and pellets, others encourage them. You should check with your own avian veterinarian before making any dietary changes.

"The bird should have a cuttle bone for a calcium source because seed is very deficient in calcium and without it, over time, they will get calcium deficiency, which can lead to lameness, neurologic system disorders, and cause heart disease, among other problems," says Dr. Nemitz. "The most common mineral deficiency we see is calcium. Calcium is very important for the nerve system and muscle function. A deficiency can take years to develop, depending on how healthy the bird was to begin with. A little preventive care saves a lot time and money in the long run.

"A good, broad spectrum supplement is good for any bird," Dr. Nemitz continues, " as long as people realize that it is not a substitute for a balanced diet. If you're giving seed and a vitamin supplement, the bird will be deficient."
"Any bird on a seed diet should be getting a supplement, but that's something I encourage someone to discuss that with their avian vet," says Dr. Wissman. "Sprinkling a good powdered vitamin and mineral supplement over some soft food that you know they'll eat is much preferred to sprinkling it over dry seed or putting it in their drinking water. Vitamins in drinking water tend to oxidize and encourage bacterial growth. If a budgie is on a seed based diet, offering them a cuttlebone or mineral block is fine. If they are on a pelleted diet, I recommend that the owner consult with their avian veterinarian."

"I don't recommend supplements," says Dr. Vaughn. "I feed my birds organic pellets, fresh water, and whatever I'm having for dinner. They get table food strictly as treats. It's not more than a tenth of their diet. Kale and collard greens are excellent for them. My birds love corn bread. Egg is fine too. Most parakeets like Cheerios, and you can use them to help convert the bird to pellets. I don't recommend a lettuce or spinach type vegetable for them. Never give chocolate, caffeine, or avocado."

"It's important to offer fresh vegetables," says Dr. Nemitz. "The most common deficiency we see is vitamin A deficiency. Things like grated carrots, leaves of kale, cooked and mashed sweet potato, romaine lettuce, and broccoli are good sources of vitamin A. I don't recommend the treat sticks you can buy in stores because they are so high in fat and the bird will get spoiled, won't eat anything else, and get fat. Vitamin A deficient birds are more prone to respiratory infections, as well as skin and liver problems. The top ranked vitamin A rich vegetables for budgies are carrots, sweet potatoes, kale, spinach, butternut squash, mango."

But what if you can't get your budgie to eat these things? "When a budgie won't eat something it is because they are not familiar with it and are scared," Dr. Nemitz says. "If you put the food items, an assortment of three of four things with different colors and textures, over time the bird will become desensitized to the foods and will no be longer afraid, and will start investigating. I like to use the plastic lids that you can buy in pet stores that are used to seal dog food cans, and put the food on that so the bird doesn't have to stick their head into a cup. Put those in the bottom of the cage somewhere where there's not a perch so they won't soil it, and then put a smorgasbord on it. We use frozen mixed vegetables a lot because it has carrots in it, lima beans, which is a good protein source, corn, which is a natural fat source, and green beans-- lots of colors, textures, and shapes. We put that in every day. I always tell people to be very patient, give the bird at least two weeks before they try a new food. The biggest fault we find is that the average client gives it only two to three days when the average bird takes between ten to fourteen days to get used to a new food, unless you're lucky. Sometimes you put in a new food and the bird will go right for it. I've also had clients where it's taken more than a month. I tell all my clients that if you are patient and consistent and change the food each day, you'll win."

"I recommend that you encourage the people foods, the fruits and veggies-- you may have to grate it and chop it, hang it from the cage, tie it to the perch, try it in different ways," says Dr. Wissman. "All budgies can eat people food: whole wheat bread, pasta, vegetables more than fruits, carrots and sweet potatoes, peas, some squash, the more healthy vegetables. Celery tops are good is you have an overweight budgie because they can eat a lot of it. Feeding them greens does not give diarrhea. All it does is increase the urine. People need to learn what a normal dropping looks like. When there's increased urine people often think it's diarrhea and it's not."

Health Disorders and Nutrition

With poor or unbalanced nutrition come a variety of health disorders, many of which can be fatal. Budgies are prone to a number of disorders stemming from nutritional sources.

"In my practice, the number one problem we see in budgies is obesity," says Nemitz. "I have a lot of budgies on diets right now. There have been studies done showing that budgies actually need a certain level of protein to tell their brain that it's time to stop eating. If they are on a protein deficient diet, they will over eat calories searching for that protein, so they tend to get obese. If the bird is only on a seed diet, most budgies will be overweight by the age of five or six. The goal is about eleven to thirteen percent protein in their diet, and the average seed is only seven percent, and that's why over time they get deficient, eat more, and consume too many calories. We offer scrambled eggs, legumes like lentils and navy beans, and some of them can have small pieces of chicken. I don't recommend red meat for birds. Scrambled eggs are my hallmark because it's a good protein source. Some of the pellet companies use eggs as well. There was a review done in 1998 on the research of all bird nutrition retrospective of the last ten years that suggested that birds may have a harder time digesting soy bean compared to other sources of protein. It's only one article, but because if it I tend to lean toward other sources."

A chubby budgie can lead to a number of problems. "Overweight budgies may develop lipomas or xanthomas, little tumors, or even a generalized lipomatosis, where they put down a layer of fat subcutaneously over their body, and you have to do something to change that bird's diet, or eventually the lipomas will ulcerate and bleed and kill the bird," says Dr. Wissman. "Fatty tumors are very common in budgies over the age of five. Sometimes they are over the crop area and the abdomen, although they can be anywhere. It's one of the major problems we see in older budgies. You can take them off surgically, but they come back if you don't correct the diet. If you have a budgie who will absolutely not eat pellets, you can sprout the seed, because it's more nutritious that way, and offer more millet than any other seed, because it is one of the lowest in fat.

"As budgies get older, they really need a lower fat diet," Dr. Wissman says. "Try and encourage fruits and veggies, whole wheat bread and pasta, things that are not going to have a lot of fat in them. Some budgie owners go crazy with trying to get their budgies on to pellets, and some just aren't going to convert. If you can get that bird to eat sprouted seeds, some fruits and veggies and table foods, the bird will probably be okay. Just like other birds, they can't eat avocados, chocolate, onions, and really salty things-- if a budgie likes potato chips, then once in a while won't hurt.

"In terms of putting an overweight budgie on a diet," Dr. Wissman continues, "You have to get them more exercise to increase their metabolism as well as decrease the fats. A little play gym is good, or you can walk around on the floor with them, but be very careful."

"Budgies tend to get gout," says Dr. Vaughn, "which is an increased deposition of uric acid which can be in the kidneys and other body tissues, and is thought to be related to high levels of vitamin D3 and protein in the diet, which is why you should not supplement pellets with vitamins. Your formulated diets should have everything they need. If you supplement you are throwing things out of whack."
Sometimes your budgie's problem may stem from where you make your home. "We used to see goiter a lot, which is an iodine deficiency," says Dr. Nemitz. "A lot of what causes goiter depends on what part of the country you live in. If the soil is iodine deficient, the plants will be iodine deficient, and since budgies are quite prone to it, you might see that happen. A way to avoid that is to either give an iodine rich food or use a supplement. A pellet will usually solve that problem."

Though there are many ways to feed your budgie, it is important to remember that your budgie "is what it eats." Since it is proven that budgies are prone to problems like obesity and goiter, problems which can be caused by improper nutrition, it is important that you make sure your budgie is eating properly and getting enough exercise. As long as you serve a well balanced diet under the supervision of a qualified avian veterinarian, you and your budgie should be very happy. But watch out for those Oreos!