What is a good and safe treat for Cockatails?

Question

What is a good and safe treat for Cockatails?

Answer 1

I feed mine millet spray and fruit pellets and they love it! Although they will not eat fruits and veggies so dont waste your time on those. Cockatiels are seed eaters mostly. You can go to kroger and buy for under $4.00 5 pounds of no waste seeds that are made up of sun flower seeds and peanuts.

And please do not listen to the one who says sun flower seeds are not good and millet is fattening because my birds love it and i been raising them for 20 yrs now.

Answer 2

CockatEils !  deffinately **NOT** sunflower seeds. they are not good for birds...even though it's in everything. try to stay away from it!

they like millet, but it can be fattening, so not too much. Kaytee makes a line of treat sticks you can find a petsmart. i give my tiel the parakeet ones though because they dont have sunflower seeds. also fresh fruits and veggies...carrots, apples, broccoli, mango, papaya. they can have dried fruits too.  Goldenfeast makes a great line of dehydrated veggies and greens. also look at peckandcoo.com they have good stuff too!

Answer 3

almonds. healthy, fun, tasty, they love them!

Answer 4

Mine love sprouts (the ones you buy at the shops!), corn on the cob (I cut it into shorter bits and hang it from the top of the cage), apple, broccoli... lots of different fruits and veggies! Millet and sun flower seeds are alright and yummy but they aren't the most healthy snack so feed them sparingly. Also if you are feeding seed as their basic diet then feeding seeds as treats isn't providing a very varied diet. Try to include as many different foods a you can! Just be careful and look up a list of things that are not safe to feed (the main things that are dangerous  avocado and chocolate!) Good luck!

Answer 5

Anything your bird REALLY enjoys that is safe for him/her can be used as a treat.

I have 2 dozen Cockatiels and they eat everything I give them because I've introduced them to a variety of foods early on, even my older rescues and rehab tiels who had health/behavior problems from being on a deficient diet have picked up on better eating habits.

When I mix my feed for my flock I start with a base of dried garden veggies (carrots, parsley, greens, dried spinach, corn) and pellet mix and then add a really good seed/pellet/nut mixture, dried fruits (apples, bananas, papaya, mango, raisins, mixed berries), shredded coconut (yes the sweetened kind), peanuts in the shell, unsalted pretzels, raisins, millet, quinoa, flax seed, corn flakes, fruit loops, cheerios, mixed dried pasta chunks and basically whatever else I have on hand and mix it all up in a big storage bin (I end up with about 50-60 lbs of food to last about 6 weeks).

Then when I put the fresh food their dishes each day they get a variety of different things to eat and they eat it all.  I only have one or two picky eaters and they don't like cooked carrots but love the dried carrots.

And that's just the dry food!  I also offer fresh and cooked mixed veggies, fresh fruits, cooked pastas, unsalted popcorn (they LOVE popcorn day) and cracker bits throughout the week so they get different textures as well and once a month I bake up a batch of bird bread.

Don't let anyone tell you Cockatiels (or any parrot for that matter) are seed eaters only or they won't eat the good stuff, you just have to stay with the safe and healthy foods and all things in moderation (including those "nasty fattening" sunflower seeds).  Anyone who says their birds won't eat this or that just hasn't tried enough different things to "entice" their birds to eat healthier.

Go easy on the sugars, salts and fats and stay away from the toxic foods but be persistent.  The key to a healthy balanced diet (and healthy birds) is variety and moderation.

Answer 6

i have two cockatiels as well and i treat them with Kaytee honey treat stick and Kaytee oat groats. Also millet spray is great.

If you want homemade goods, i suggest feeding them sprouts...they are both juicy and crispy. Also, it is nutritious for a balanced diet. What i do is take a bottle and put it upside down in the cage and balance a plate of sprouts on it. they just come down and start nibbling.

Bon Appetitie =]