Do i need to feed my cockatiel fruits and vegetables or can i keep him on a seed diet.?

Question

Do i need to feed my cockatiel fruits and vegetables or can i keep him on a seed diet.?

Answer 1

Yes, I feed mine yams, carrots, grapes, bananas, apples, melon.  They really need fresh fruit and vegetables, make sure you remove the uneaten food after a few hours.  

Answer 2

Seed alone is a horrible diet for birds--sure it's the "traditional" way but seeds contain basically nothing but fat. There is no vitamins, nutrients, etc.--imagine if a human ate nothing but baked potato chips their whole life and you wouldn't be far off. Sure they can live on it, but it isn't good for them by any stretch of the imagination.

Pellets make a good addition to a bird's diet but are better as a supplement to a diet that also contains seed--not a substitute. And even with pellets as a part of the diet, a bird will still need fresh vegetables. Carrots, broccoli and cauliflower are all good for birds. Fruit isn't necessary, in fact fruit contains mostly sugar (which birds don't need, they can get sugar highs just like little kids get with candy) and not nearly as much nutrients as vegetables, so it's really only useful as a treat, and you can skip fruits entirely if you like.

Answer 3

With any diet, variety and moderation are the key to good health and balanced nutrition and this applies to pet birds as well.  

Feed your Cockatiel anything he'll eat that is healthy for him.  Just stay away from the toxic foods and keep the salt, sugar and fat to a minimum and he'll thrive.

Watch iron filled foods and stay away from dairy foods (they don't have the enzymes to break down the lactose).

Feed him lots of foods with beta-carotene so he'll get his needed levels of Vitamin A, and plenty of calcium rich foods to keep his bones and beak in top condition.

With parrots any foods that are healthy for you are healthy for him (minus the obvious toxic foods).

Keep the seed/pellet mix as the bulk of his diet but definitely introduce as much variety as you can.  He'll look great, feel great and be a better companion for you.

ADDED in response to post by Gwen L above:  I just wanted to correct your comment about fruits being useless and not having as much nutrition as vegetables.  While it's true fruits are high in fructose (fruit sugar) they also contain many important vitamins and minerals necessary for proper nutrition.  Take the apple for instance, it's high in Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Potassium, and Calcium, all of which are necessary for proper health, especially in birds.  

As for the seeds being full of fat and having no nutrition posted by others, the seed DOES contain vitamins and minerals, but the seed was designed by nature to only hold enough nutrients to sustain a seedling after germination and only until the plant begins to photosynthesize (make it's own food).  The problem with people offering seed only to their birds is the fact that they DO contain fat and taste really really good so birds often pick through the more nutritious ingredients and eat only the tasty seed, yet another reason to offer as much variety as possible.

Please get to know your foods people, you're missing out on excellent sources of nutrition and denying your birds the best health you can possibly offer!

Answer 4

seed and pellet diet is best for health, fruits and veggies can be more of a treat...I've found apples to be a favorite!

Answer 5

feed him both plus seeds and plunty of pelets.

Answer 6

You should feed them both; they looove variety. Keep seed out for them at all times but designate certain feeding times to give them fruit and veggies. They'll love you for it.

Answer 7

Shortie is correct. Click here: http://www.cockatielcottage.net/diet.htm...

Answer 8

Well he really needs to be converted to a pellet diet, and be fed fresh veggies. Regardless of whether it is seed or pellets he needs to be fed fresh veggies. Please read up on the veggies they cannot eat.