What should i feed my cockatiels?

Question

i've been reading about my precious bird's health lately & i found out that if i only feed it seeds, like i have been doing, it's like eating chocolate & drinking coke only for a human! i want my birds to be happy, but more importantly healthy! i've tried giving them some recomended things such as peas & corn, but the cage became covered in ants in less than 2 hours. should i only feed my birds a certain amout of time a few times a day? how & what should i feed them is my basic question.

Answer 1

Hi, get Lafeber balls you can get different varieties at Petco or Petsmart.  They are a little spendy, but worth it if you love your birdies!  Check out these websites, they will help you out a lot!!  Good luck! Oh, and on the Lafeber website, you can ask questions to a bird professional.  They are really prompt with their answers too.

Answer 2

Feed them fresh fruits and veggies (favorites of my tiels are peas, corn, broccoli, minced carrots and apple slices, no skin or seeds), whole wheat pastas, brown rice (cooked), hard boiled eggs (OMG they LOVE egg), lentils, etc.   If the birds aren't interested in them at first eat the foods in front of them and make noises like you're really enjoying it.  They'll want it eventually.

Offer them these foods in the morning and leave them in the cage for an hour or two (if the birds come out, then set it on top).  Then clear it away and offer more fresh around dinner time or the next day.  I give about a tbsp of fresh food per bird at each offering.  They also have access to seed and pellets throughout the day.

To keep ants out of the bird cage, apply a layer of vaseline around the legs of the cage, the ants can't cross the vaseline, they'll get stuck in it.  Also keep the area clean around the cage.  If ants are coming into your birds cage after such a short time with food in the cage, then you had an ant problem to begin with.  I've used ant traps with success, the ants won't carry the poison into the birds cage if you do the vaseline trick.

Answer 3

Feeding seeds only is high in fat and deficient in vitamin A, calcium, and protein, and is the equivalent of eating only bread and butter. Supplement with fruits and veggies, and several other things. This site is devoted to cockatiels and has lots of great info on exactly what to feed. http://www.cockatiels.org/articles/nutri...

Answer 4

Hi,

You can take some birdie bread and grind it up in a food processor.

Then take Broccoli (thawed) and grind it up.

Then some brown rice

And some peas

You can mix that in with their normal seed diet.

(Give them more birdie bread, broccolie, brown rice, and peas than seeds)

They LOVE apples for treats.

Basic Birdie Bread Recipe:

2 boxes Jiffy corn muffin mix

3 T. baking powder

2 eggs and shells (puree in blender)

4 jars baby food  (carrots, sweet potatoes)

3/4 c. peanut butter

2 c. baby cereal (buy lowest percent of iron)

1 1/2 c. shredded/chopped veggies (usually carrots or broccoli)

*** Almost any of the baby foods can be used but choose those with a high Vitamin A content.

Warning - the batter will be hard to mix!!

Mix wet and dry ingredients separately.

Combine wet and dry ingredients along with shredded/chopped veggies.

Spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray and bake about 30 min. in a 400 degree preheated oven.

Cool on rack, cut into squares and freeze in 3 day batches.

Optional additions: chopped nuts, toasted soybean bits, shredded low fat cheese, dried fruit (small pieces), shaved cuttlebone, toasted sunflower kernels, pureed bananas peeled, pureed fresh mango, papaya or kiwi (reduce number of jars of baby food)

Try to keep the cage off of the floor/ground. This makes it easy for ants to get inside the cage. You can go to Good Will, Walmart, or Kmart to get a cheap table to put your cage on. Also, by a pretty deep food dish, about an inch and a half deep.

HOPE THIS HELPS AND GOOD LUCKK!!!

~animAL HElpER