What Cockatiels Can Eat? A Helpful Guide!

A cockatiel also known as the weirdo bird is a regular-sized bird belonging to the cockatoo family. The cockatiel is considered to be one of the cheapest talking parrots in the world. They have an average lifespan of 16 to 21 years. cockatiels are native to the regions of Australia. Cockatiels enjoy a wide variety of foods, including vegetables, pellets, fruits, seeds, and occasional treats.

A healthy diet and practices are essential to keep these birds alive. A well-cared cockatiel can survive up to more than 20 years. In this article, we discuss the topic of what cockatiels can eat.

What Is Cockatiels Favorite Food?

Avoid feeding your cockatiel chocolates, avocados, and other human consumable foods in general. Don’t feed your birds foods that contain spice and salt. An adult cockatiel needs to eat at least two times a day. In the morning and late at night. Their daily diet includes approximately 30-40 grams of seeds or pellets and occasional treats like fruits or vegetables. For maintaining healthy cockatiels, they needed to take care of well. So it is necessary to know what cockatiels can eat and what not.

Generally, cockatiels consume each and every human food but consumption of these foods leads to a counter effect on these birds. It is harmful to their health and even causes death. Cockatiels mostly enjoy eating high-quality premium pellets, and fruits such as apples, bananas, and grapes.

Are Feeding Pellets Good For Cockatiels?

Pellets are supplements consumed by birds to acquire balanced nutrition. Recent studies have proved that pellets offer more balanced nutrition compared to seeds. Pellets are recommended bases for a pet bird’s diet. Many cockatiel owners have found that their birds love to consume a combination of food with pellets. Cockatiels can eat eat pellets.

Pellets are considered to be one of the favorite meals of cockatiel birds. Experts recommend feeding 30-40 grams of pellets on daily bases. There is no scientific evidence that consuming pellets are harmful to cockatiels and other birds. Some of the nutrition facts and benefits feeding of pellets are, mentioned below.

• Pellets cover almost 75 % of a cockatiel’s diet.
• Feeding your bird with pellets will optimize their health and keep them happy.
• Pellets are 100% edible and digestible.
• Pellets reduce the level of water in the bird’s aviary, which means you only have less cleaning to do.
• Pellets make a bird strong from the inside and outside.
• Pellets contain the right amount of amino acids, which enables the bird to develop feathers, bone strength, and a stronger immune system.
• You will notice a significant improvement in the bird’s health after following a pellet diet.
•  Pellets are considered to be the safest meal you can afford for your bird.
• Pellets increase bird performance
• It helps in the proper weight gain of the bird

What Kind Of Fruits And Vegetables Can A Cockatiel Eat?

What Cockatiels can eat? A cockatiel can eat fruits and vegetables. Feeding cockatiels fresh fruits and vegetables is a great method to add more nutrition to the bird’s diet. Vegetables make up a larger portion of their diet compared to fruits. Fruits should be given to cockatiels as a treat. The favorite fruits of cockatiel are banana, apple, and grape. Try to feed your bird with a wide variety of tastes and textures. Feeders also should add more vegetables rather than fruits to a bird’s diet.

As mentioned before almost 75% of a cockatiel’s daily diet consist of seeds or pellets. The rest is accommodated for vegetable and fruit treats. Most feeders recommend vegetables over fruits. Feeders utilize this opportunity to provide extra nutritional benefits for their birds. If you don’t have the circumstances to provide fresh vegetables or fruits you can feed them with dried fruits such as raisins and cranberries.

What To Avoid Feeding Cockatiels?

Never ever feed your cockatiel food that contains alcohol content. It can kill your bird instantly. Other foods that need to avoid are cabbage, eggplant, caffeine, milk cream, rhubarb, and raw potato. If you are not aware about a fruit or vegetable is good for the bird, immediately seek advice from experts as soon as possible.

The best way to keep your bird strong and healthy is to follow a strict diet prescribed by experts. Vegetables like romaine, bok choy, swiss chard, and mustard greens are rich in nutrition. They are the most preferred vegetable treats for birds. Avoid feeding vegetables like celery and lettuce.

They mostly consist of water and fiber which does not meet the proper nutrition of a bird. Tropical fruits like papaya, kiwi, mango, and guavas are great choices for these birds.  Not all fruits are safe for the cockatiel to consume. Especially don’t feed your bird avocados. Make sure to remove the seed from the apple before feeding them because it contains a small amount of cyanide. Fruits like grapes and citrus oranges can be fed, but only in a small amount because they are acidic.

Always remember that these birds only have a small appetite. They can only consume less food due to their physical structure, they only eat twice a day. So maximum feed the bird with essential vitamins and minerals.

Don’t choose foods that have high calories and fewer nutritional benefits. This only makes the bird’s stomach full but does not meet its required nutrition. Providing higher calories doesn’t have positive effects, it makes the bird gain more weight. Weight gaining makes the bird more inactive and unhealthy.

Final Thoughts

In this article, we discussed what cockatiels can eat. like other birds, the cockatiel is also a fan of human food but unfortunately, they cannot consume all of them. Just like humans cockatiels also shows a tendency to gain weight. An increased body fat percentage is harmful to cockatiels.

Cockatiels that are overweight have a risk of developing breathing issues, diabetes, and liver-related diseases. Following a healthy balanced diet is a key factor to keeping your bird strong from both inside and outside. Without proper nutrition, cockatiels may not consume the essential vitamins and minerals they need to acquire.

Malnutrition in cockatiels can lead to iodine deficiency, feather picking, and egg binding. As mentioned early a well-cared cockatiel can survive more than 20 years. Proper nutrition and diet help the birds to develop a strong immune system to fight against diseases. Pellet is an essential component in a cockatiel’s diet. A major portion of a bird’s diet includes pellets.

Feeding pellets to your bird at an early age will help them to develop feathers and strong bones. There are multiple brands that provide premium quality pellets for birds, which provide proper nutrition for the bird. Make sure to purchase the right one. Before purchasing any pellets remember to check the ingredients added to them. Make sure that there are no elements added to it that might be harmful to your bird.

Fruits and vegetables play a vital role in a cockatiel’s diet. Usually, fruits and vegetables are given as treats. You can contribute extra nutritional benefits through this. so make sure to choose the best vegetables and fruits that are rich in nutrition. Remember to use fresh fruits and vegetables. Clean and cut them into small pieces before feeding your bird. Vegetables are more likely to be rich in nutritional essence compared to fruits.

Almost all human foods are good for birds but there are some foods you need to keep away from them. Especially alcohol and caffeine. Any consumption of these foods can cause critical issues for the bird, it might even cause death. If you have any doubt regarding a cockatiel’s ideal diet visit the nearest avian center and seek expert advice. The experts will chart a diet plan to keep your bird healthy and strong. We hope you can get a clear idea about What Cockatiels Can eat and what to not?