Homemade Baby Budgie Food? We gathered the top 5 homemade baby budgie food recipes! For hand-feeding Babies!
Since forever budgies have been fed with different seeds. This has been the prevailing way of feeding them. We have to be careful when choosing their food because these birds, especially babies, depend on us most of the time.
As we know, the best type of food even for us is homemade. Stay tuned because in the next few pages we will talk about homemade baby budgie food.
Mother budgie not feeding the baby
Like every baby in the world, baby budgies need their mother too. Unfortunately, what sometimes happens is that female budgie stops feeding her babies for some reason. That’s where we come in.
Female budgie abandons their babies for different reasons. Either the baby is sick or the female budgie just stops feeding one of her babies but continues feeding her other babies. Also, one of the reasons mentioned is that if a baby budgie falls off the nest, mother budgie refuses to give its baby extra care. Maybe the mother cannot provide sufficient food for her babies and therefore, she abandons them.
In order to be prepared if this happens to you, we give you a guide you can follow to save your baby budgie. What you need are formula and a needleless syringe. The syringe needs to be sterilized so wash it with soap and water, and then boil it for some time.
First, you put the formula into the syringe and then start injecting the food slowly, every 15 seconds. You continue doing this until you notice the baby’s full. You need to put the syringe on one side of the baby’s beak. Mind you, do not use force, but be gentle! After the feeding, use a piece of cloth to clean the baby’s beak.
One more thing you can do in order to make your baby budgie feel happier and to fill the void of an absent mother is playing budgie sounds. This can make them feel better as if they are surrounded by their own kind. But if you notice that your baby budgie starts screaming or moving after you play budgie sounds, then turn off the sounds. All baby budgies are different and some of them cannot stand these sounds.
How often do you hand feed baby budgies?
Now we come to the most important part. How often do you hand feed baby budgies and how much food do baby budgies need?
You should feed them 6 times a day, basically every 4 hours and once they are 5 weeks old, you can give them solid food. When it comes to solid food, baby budgies can eat fruits such as blueberries, cherries, bananas, grapes, strawberries, etc.
You can also notice if the baby’s hungry by observing when its crop becomes empty. When it’s full, it’s firm. This means that the usual advice to feed the baby every 4 hours does not have to apply to every baby. Don’t take this rule for granted but instead observe the baby and if the baby needs feeding every 2 hours, then do it. Some of the hunger symptoms are crying and moving as if the baby’s looking for food.
At 2 weeks old, babies need 2-4 ml of food each time you feed them. At 3 weeks old, they need 4-5 ml of food. At 4 weeks 5-7 ml. When it comes to a 3 week old and 5-week old baby budgie, it’s much easier.
What to feed a baby budgie?
Now, you must be wondering what is the formula or rather what to feed a baby budgie? In order to make the formula, you can buy a powdered baby bird food mix in a pet store. Then, mix the food with boiling water and let it cool a little bit. And there you go Budgie owners, you have the baby budgie formula!
The food should contain vitamins and minerals necessary for baby budgie’s development and consequently, its survival. Be careful to follow the instructions on how to prepare the food. It cannot be too cold or too hot because it can be damaging to the baby.
But since our topic is homemade food, we’ll provide you with a list of ingredients you can use to make a homemade formula for your baby budgie. You can use cornmeal, ground oat, coconut oil, boiled egg, chia seeds, dried pumpkin, dried peas, brown rice, soy protein, etc. These ingredients and many others can be combined in order to make a formula. These ingredients can definitely replace the store product because they contain the necessary vitamins and minerals.
Now you must be wondering, how am I supposed to hold the baby? Well, it’s pretty simple. Put your hand around it gently and place it on the warm cloth. The warm cloth is important for the baby’s body temperature. While feeding the baby, hold it gently with your hand. In addition, you have to make sure that your budgie has access to fresh water, especially in the summertime!
If you notice any complications or if the babies acting weird and not eating, please contact your vet! The problems could be that the baby’s sick or you are not feeding it correctly and your vet can definitely help you.
Homemade baby budgie food recipe
You’ll agree with me when I say that now we come to the most interesting part. There are many food recipes out there, but we’ll give you just the very best! These are the top 5 homemade baby budgie food recipes!
Budgie Recipe with brown rice
The first recipe that can be prepared quickly and easily is the recipe that contains brown rice, dried peas, and dried sunflower seeds. This recipe is rich in vitamins such as B, A, and E that are good for the baby. Also, rice is rich in fiber and carbohydrates that are good for babies. There are false statements that rice is not good (Ranjan, 2021). Like human babies, you can notice if your baby budgie likes the recipe. If it doesn’t like the recipe, try some of the others we prepared for you. In order to make this formula, you need to put all the ingredients in a big bowl. Then, you need to blend them all together and you can use your blender for this. Afterward, boil the ingredients in a saucepan for three minutes in order to get a really nice texture. Finally, let it cool and it’s ready for your baby!
High-protein Budgie Recipe
The second recipe is probably much easier since you can find most ingredients in your kitchen. You need high-protein baby cereal, sunflower seeds, glucose powder, almonds, and cornmeal. You mix it all together, boil it and cool it off („How To Make Baby Parakeet Formula“, 2022). According to dr. Muscarella, a well-known researcher at Cornell University’s Veterinary Medical Center in New York, when it comes to choosing the right cereals, it is better if they are low-sugar (Chewy Editorial, 2014).
Budgie Recipe with nuts
The third recipe contains nuts, cereals, and peanut butter. You boil it shortly and it’s ready for hand feeding. Be sure that it’s not too hot („How To Make Baby Parakeet Formula“, 2022). You probably noticed that peanut butter is mentioned in the recipe. Budgies can eat the same peanut butter we eat and buy in our stores. It is just important to give them small portions of it (Kaufman, 2020).
Budgie Recipe with egg shell and brown rice
The fourth homemade baby budgie recipe includes one egg with its shell, cooked brown rice, mixed seeds, millet, and grinded mix of fruits and vegetables („How To Make Baby Parakeet Formula“, 2022). Eggs are rich in calcium that is good for young baby budgies. Fruits and vegetables are part of normal budgies’ diet and if their diet is balanced they don’t need any supplements. Millet is good for budgies but does not contain many nutrients. Therefore, it can be omitted from the recipe (Hess and Axelson, n.d.).
Budgie Recipe containing oats, chia seeds…
Last, but not least we have the fifth homemade budgie recipe. In order to make this recipe, you need to use ground oats, chia seeds, corn, and dried beetroot pulp („What Can I Feed My Baby Parakeet? 5 Homemade Baby Budgie Food Recipes“, 2022). When it comes to chia seeds, budgies can eat them. They are rich in calcium and proteins that are easily digested by budgies („Can birds eat chia seeds? Benefits, Serving, and What to avoid“, 2021).
As you can see, we talked about feeding baby budgies, and finally, we mentioned 5 homemade recipes that you can easily follow. Of course, there are many more available recipes.
If you want to do the best for your baby budgies, follow our pieces of advice. You can combine different seeds and fruits and vegetables. The most important thing is to be careful when choosing ingredients and the right dose.
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This article is extremely helpful!!! I am breeding my budgies, and I was so worried about their chicks! The mother kept on neglecting her babies and forgetting to feed them. I had completely no idea what to feed the baby budgies. Human baby food? Unlikely. Adult budgie food? IDK, but maybe… Biscuit and cookie crumbs? Quite insane for a small baby budgie. This article helped me understand what baby budgies should eat, how to feed them, and what to make for them. This saves me from running to the pet store and wondering what budgie food to buy. Thanks a lot!!! 🙂