feeding and health

Question
Hello Chrys Meatyard, i m from India,i have 5 budgies ,i feed them with seeds,plz can u let me know which vegetables are safe for my budgies and good for their health? One of my budgies is loosing its feathers from the tail(infact its tail)wat can be the cause?,what is moulting? plz can u give me the datails for my above questions?In india we hav very few numbers of avian vets so it is difficult for me to find one to solve my querries.Your help will be very help full.

Answer
Iqbal.  I forgot something in my original response.  If you've never fed your budgies anything but seed, they will not recognize anything else right away that you give them to eat.  Therefore, you must offer the new food to them every day and eventually they will try the new food.  Don't get discouraged if they don't eat new foods the first time you offer them.  Just continue offering every day and they will get used to seeing the new food.  Then one day, one of the budgies will try the new food and the others will follow.  Also, not all birds like the same types of food.  In other words, 1 or 2 (or more) of your budgies may like, for example, carrots, and the others may not like carrots.  A couple may like peas, but the others may not like peas.  Therefore, offer several types of foods at the same time so each can decide what food(s) it likes or dislikes.  Also, some birds like shredded food, while others like diced food.  They can be very picky, but don't give up on them!

Chrys

Hi, Iqbal.  Thanks for posting your questions.

Any kind of vegetables that they will eat are good and healthy for them.  The most nutritious are the dark green and orange colored vegetables, but any are good.  However, you need to shred them/provide them in small sizes so the budgies can eat them (because the birds have small beaks).  Budgies will also eat different types of breads, such as cornbread, etc., whole grains, such as in cereals (without sugar), cooked brown rice, etc.  Seed is high in fat and has little nutrition.  Also, budgies are very susceptible to fatty liver syndrome and if they are on an all-seed diet, will likely become overweight, which will shorten their lives.  

Perhaps your budgie is moulting.  Moulting is a process all parrots go through once per year where every feather on their body is replaced with a new feather.  Parrots under a year will moult at 6 months and again at 12 months of age, then once per year after their first year.  This is a gradual process and usually takes 30-60 days to complete...they do not lose all their feathers at the same time.  This is a stressful process for a bird and takes much of their energy.  Therefore, it's important to feed them well and minimize any stress, especially during the moulting process.  Most parrots moult in the fall of the year (unless they are on eggs or have babies, then the moult is postponed until the babies have weaned).  Sometimes budgies pick on each other, so the feather loss could also be due to another budgie pulling out the other's feathers.  

I have a website that might provide some helpful information for you.  Visit if you'd like to:
http://www.angelfire.com/falcon/birdinfo/index.html

Come back if you have further questions.  It's nice meeting you so far away in India!

Chrys