Advice for budgie weight loss?

[reeb]

Hi everyone,

Pearl, my female English/show budgie, has always been a glutton. Even when I hand-reared her as a baby, she demanded food constantly with a full crop! Today, at nearly 3 years old, she still over-eats. I was shocked today to discover that she has gained around 5g, and is now 70g, the heaviest she has ever been. My other tame show budgie Opal is healthy weight, at 52g. So, for those unfamiliar with the bigger size of show budgies, that’s an indication of HOW overweight she has become.

She’s a flighted bird, so I plan to start forcing her to fly laps, as I’ve noticed her struggle to get lift with her current weight. Let’s just say it’s like a Boeing 737 trying to stay airborne with the wings of a Cessna, lol!

Does anyone else have any other tips? The birds don’t have access to food when they are out of the cage most afternoons, but other than that, I never remove their food.

She’s healthy and happy otherwise, but I don’t think it’s good for her to be so fat!!

 

[SailBoat]

Take a long look at her diet provided and then what she is in fact eating. It is not unusual for them to target specific food items and not always what is the best for them. Set-up a schedule for obtaining her weight each morning, after her first morning movement and prior to Food and Water being provided. After the first week, target reducing what she is eating the most of and determine its health value. Reduce the items volume by 5% and see if anything changes. Note, some Parrots will show a quick change and others will take a bit longer, especially if you target additional muscle mass at the same time.

Since, she is flighted, target getting her to fly more often as those huge muscles will chew though her energy stores faster than anything else. It is not uncommon for her weight to maintain or ever go up a bit as muscles are heavier than fat. But, you should notice the change in her breast as the muscle mass will become larger as the fat stores reduce.

Our male DYH Amazon has finally gotten though his elongated Hormonal Season (was like never ending this year) and he has dropped 6 grams in the last couple of weeks. Yes, he commonly adds weight prior to and then drops it as it ends. Likely not what you are seeing, just pointing out the things that monitoring weight brings out.

Hope this helps.

 

[reeb]

Take a long look at her diet provided and then what she is in fact eating. It is not unusual for them to target specific food items and not always what is the best for them. Set-up a schedule for obtaining her weight each morning, after her first morning movement and prior to Food and Water being provided. After the first week, target reducing what she is eating the most of and determine its health value. Reduce the items volume by 5% and see if anything changes. Note, some Parrots will show a quick change and others will take a bit longer, especially if you target additional muscle mass at the same time.

Since, she is flighted, target getting her to fly more often as those huge muscles will chew though her energy stores faster than anything else. It is not uncommon for her weight to maintain or ever go up a bit as muscles are heavier than fat. But, you should notice the change in her breast as the muscle mass will become larger as the fat stores reduce.

Our male DYH Amazon has finally gotten though his elongated Hormonal Season (was like never ending this year) and he has dropped 6 grams in the last couple of weeks. Yes, he commonly adds weight prior to and then drops it as it ends. Likely not what you are seeing, just pointing out the things that monitoring weight brings out.

Hope this helps.

Thank you so much for this! Super informative and helpful!

 

[SailBoat]

So happy that it was helpful...

For an idea of what a Parrot (Amazon) diet looks like, take a peak at what I provided in the Amazon Forum, in the Sticky titled: I Love Amazons - ... That huge Thread in provided in Segments that are listed in the opening pages. There is a Segment that is titled something like: A Health Diet for an Amazon. FYI: That huge Thread is filled with Stuff that can be helpful across a wide range of Loving and Living with Parrots.

As that Segment is titled, that diet is for an Amazon, but can be helpful in defining a diet for you Bird. When considering a foundation diet for a Parrot, I would recommend that you research for what is common in their Original Region. This will allow you to define what a like flock would have available to eat in their home region.

Points to consider: Some regions are very low in High Protein foods, or lack in Fruits. This would imply that such foods, when served in volume will provide too much for their systems and result in weight issues. By switching the diet base to one that is more common to their home region can help.

Example: The very large Range that Amazon 'control' in Central and South America have very little in the way of Sunflower Seeds and Peanuts. Both are high in protein and as a result, an Amazon who's diet in extensive in either or both are commonly overweight. Plus, to much of a good thing can result in Liver issues with Amazons. By simply vastly reducing them in the Amazon's diet and replacing them with Seeds and Nuts more commonly found in those areas, their weight issues lessen.

Pellets are both a Wonderful thing and a Terrible thing depending on what levels of ingredients (their volume) and the needs of one's Parrot. Our Amazon receives 'some' Pellets as part of his dry diet and we increase or decrease depending on his most recent Blood Testing.

To my limited understanding, budgies are more grass seed and possible grain eaters and not heavy in high protein type of seeds and rarely have fruits in their diet. That would indicate that some Pellets would need to be a limited part of their diets. Please verify that prior to acting on it.

Again, thank you for your kind comments!