Varied Diet? | Talk Cockatiels Forum
Varied Diet?
Is a diet of 40% high quality pellets, 30% seeds, and 30% veggies good for my little boy?
With millet a few times a week for training?
Hi pirate! The amount of seeds and pellets in a cockatiel's diet is quite a controversial topic, but I have found more articles and sources which support diets that consist mostly of pellets (60-70%). The basic idea is that cockatiels tend to pick their favourite seeds to eat (usually millet and sunflower seeds) and leave out the other ones, leading to a lack of sufficient nutrients. Sunflower and millet seeds are high in fat and diets containing more pellets are supposedly more complete than seed diets anyway. Here are some of the sources I found.
http://www.melbournebirdvet.com/cockatiel-care.aspx
https://www.petco.com/content/petco...ces/resource-center/caresheets/cockatiel.html
https://pets.thenest.com/much-should-cockatiel-eat-8972.html
http://www.cockatielcottage.net/diet2.html
However, there are also sources with different opinions. This source argues that a diet containing more seeds is fine as long as the cockatiel's diet is still varied, and some cockatiel lovers say that lots of pellets are no good for smaller birds such as cockatiels because they are too high in protein and can cause kidney failure, but the fourth link points to research that shows that these high protein diets are only harmful to birds that already have underlying kidney problems (usually colour mutation birds like lutinos). Here is what some people on Talk Cockatiels had to say.
Ultimately, when it comes to the percentage of each type of food in your baby's diet, you will have to make the choice yourself but there is a pretty strong case for diets containing mostly pellets and about 10-15% seeds. Make sure to pick pellets that are specially for cockatiels. TOP's is also a great brand for pellets. Additionally, it is a good idea to feed your cockatiel other nutritious foods (e.g. hardboiled/scrambled eggs, multigrain bread with no preservatives) in very small amounts. I am sure your boy will do great as long as his diet is nutritious and he isn't just choosing fatty foods. Good luck!
Thank you! How much of veggies should I give him a day?
Fruits and veggies should make up 25% of his diet. Feed more veggies than fruits as fruits are high in sugar and cockatiels usually prefer veggies anyway. Cut all the fruits and veggies into small, manageable pieces. Here's something important from cockatiel.com:
"NEVER give your cockatiel any of the following foods, as they are extremely TOXIC:
Avocado, Chocolate, Any Fruit Seeds, Onions, Garlic, Alcohol, Mushrooms, Honey, Salt, Caffeine, Dried or Uncooked Beans, Rhubarb, High-Fat, High-Sodium, High-Sugar Foods. Any type of food that might be advertised as 'sugar free', like sugar free peanut butter, candies etc. These sugar free products might contain Xylitol, which has been associated with severe hypoglycemia and liver damage. "
Okay thank you so much for all of your help!
Hi, there is an interesting read here on the best diet for a cockatiel.
You are correct about millet - it's the best training treat hands down!
Many of the most knowledgeable vets nowadays recommend 30-50% pellets for cockatiels. There's an updated version of my cockatiel diet article here: http://www.littlefeatheredbuddies.com/info/nutrition-tieldiet.html
Thank you I've read the article.