Confused on the best diet for cockatiel

[Sarahk]

For the longest time Alfie would only eat seed mix. The only fresh food he would eat was celery finely chopped.

It has taken me forever to get him to eat pellets. He is now about 50/50 pellets and seeds. I offer him whatever veg we eat, but he doesn't touch it. I am going to buy a variety and make some chop tomorrow.
Now, on another website, I read that pellets are bad and I should make "gloop" which is, I gather a mix of cooked whole grains?

I thought I had finally done something right getting him to eat pellets, but have i got it wrong again?

 

[Mizzely]

Some people are against pellets. Most aren't. For a cockatiel, half pellets is what i see recommended a lot.

 

[Milo]

The issue is making sure that your bird is getting a variety of nutrients. Based on what your bird was eating before, that is a very nutritionally incomplete diet. Pellets will help fill in that gap and provide him with the vitamins (specifically vitamin A) and minerals that the seeds lack. In cockatiels specifically I've seen many birds with atherosclerosis, respiratory issues, and poor bone density due to an all seed diet. I would encourage you to keep the diet that you're currently giving (with the pellets) and slowly try to introduce some fresh foods. Don't go too crazy all at once, getting them to try new things can be a very slow process.

How much are you feeding? Part of the issue is that your bird might simply not be hungry enough to try new things.

There is a huge debate over pellets. However, I have yet to meet an avian vet that does not recommend them. You will have to make the decision for yourself based on what you find. I will encourage you to check your resources on any articles you find, make sure that the authors cite sources and investigate those before taking what they say as fact. It's very easy for someone to write "pellets are bad..." and then make a lot of assumptions based off of anecdotal evidence and nothing based in science.

 

[Tiel Feathers]

My tiels eat about 50/50 seed/pellets, and as much veggies as I can get them to eat. Sprouts are a good food to start with, because most birds will eat them, and it gets them used to eating fresh foods. Most tiels will try broccoli and dark leafy greens too.

 

[Sarahk]

He gets about a quarter cup of half pellets half seeds. I give him maybe a teaspoon of chopped veggies every lunch time, which he never touched. I usually give him some more pellets about an hour before bed time, so he doesn't go to sleep hungry and has something to eat if he wakes before me.

My current plan now that he is consistently eating his pellets, is to feed them separately and use some of the seeds to mix in with veggies, see if that will work. The rest of them I am going to try use as treats, because he doesn't like millet spray and I want to try curb his sunflower seed addiction

 

[Mizzely]

To give some perspective, my quakers each eat about 1-2 tbsp of pellets and a 1/2 tsp of seed a day. You are currently feeding at least double that in just the dry portion of the diet. They mine get about 2 tbsp of finely chopped veggies. The best time of day to feed new foods is to do it right in the morning when they are hungriest. Try only offering veggies for an hour or so before giving him his daily pellets and seeds.

 

[Sarahk]

I will try to give him veggies first thing in the morning and see how we go.

I was under the impression that they should always have access to pellets? If I give him only a tbsp, he will go through them pretty quickly.

With regards sprouting seeds, can I use his seed mix or do I need to buy special ones?

 

[rocky'smom]

try giving the veggies first thing in the morning, before they scarf down any seeds/ pellets. try mashed sweet potato with few drops of coconut water in it, and tiny pinch of Ceylon cinnamon. I have to mind my fingers putting that into their cages, they love it so much. if you are first time sprouter, try chia seeds (Organic) for sprouting. they sprout easily.
Sprouting Easy or Complicated? | Avian Avenue Parrot Forum

 

[Sarahk]

try giving the veggies first thing in the morning, before they scarf down any seeds/ pellets. try mashed sweet potato with few drops of coconut water in it, and tiny pinch of Ceylon cinnamon. I have to mind my fingers putting that into their cages, they love it so much. if you are first time sprouter, try chia seeds (Organic) for sprouting. they sprout easily.
Sprouting Easy or Complicated? | Avian Avenue Parrot Forum

Oh I have organic chia seeds - I will start some soaking now!

Sweet potato and cinnamon, I can do that too.
Thanks!

 

[Mizzely]

I will try to give him veggies first thing in the morning and see how we go.

I was under the impression that they should always have access to pellets? If I give him only a tbsp, he will go through them pretty quickly.

With regards sprouting seeds, can I use his seed mix or do I need to buy special ones?

Does he really eat a while 1/4 cup of pellets? Mine i started off giving them that and then scaled it back until they ate their fill every day and had just a few leftover. They do have access to them all the time, but only what they will actually consume to minimize waste.

You can use his seed mix. If it doesn't sprout, the seeds are dead and it's not providing any nutrients

 

[Sarahk]

Does he really eat a while 1/4 cup of pellets?

Its 50/50 pellets and seed mix. By 6pm, he will have eaten all the pellets and the seeds he likes (mostly the millet and safflower seeds, I take out the sunflowers seeds) I have, as of today, served seeds and pellets separately, and pretty much the same, he has eaten all the pellets.

Is he a piggy? If I get him eating more fresh foods, I assume he will eat less of the dried stuff.

I have some quinoa and some chia seeds soaking, I will drain them shortly - but with the chia, they have soaked up most of the water and gone all gloppy, do I just leave them like that?

 

[Milo]

He gets about a quarter cup of half pellets half seeds. I give him maybe a teaspoon of chopped veggies every lunch time, which he never touched. I usually give him some more pellets about an hour before bed time, so he doesn't go to sleep hungry and has something to eat if he wakes before me.

My current plan now that he is consistently eating his pellets, is to feed them separately and use some of the seeds to mix in with veggies, see if that will work. The rest of them I am going to try use as treats, because he doesn't like millet spray and I want to try curb his sunflower seed addiction

That is waaaaaaaaaay too much food. It's great that he's eating the pellets! However, if he is truly eating 1/2 cup of food per day I would be worried about his weight. What I would suggest is gradually reducing that and figure out how much he actually eats in 1 day. If he goes through all of his pellets in a short amount of time you can try meal feeding instead of free feeding. I would also not offer him food overnight, he will be okay until you wake up.

 

[sunnysmom]

Everyone has different opinions on best diet. Here's mine. : ) First, cockatiels are granivores- unlike some other types of parrots. So , they need seeds and grains in their diets. I know of a well respected cockatiel breeder that feeds her tiels no pellets at all. That's because her birds get a nutritious diet of vegetables, seeds, sprouts, etc. Since most of us can't get our tiels to eat the way they should, we also give pellets. However, I don't think pellets should be viewed as a tiel's main diet. I fed my tiel about 50% seeds, 10% nutriberries (he didn't like regular pellets) and the rest vegetables, rice, pasta, birdie bread, etc. I would have eliminated the pellets all together if I would have thought he was getting enough needed vitamins etc but I always worried about a gap in what he ate so I did use them. Cockatiels tend not to eat fruit, but some do. Also, rarely do cockatiels over eat. They really should have access to food 24/7 as they have high metabolisms. So unless your cockatiel is overweight, I would not limit his access to food.

 

[Tiel Feathers]

I would toss the gloppy sprouts. They should always remain a little firm. Make sure you rinse and drain them very well several times a day. Sprouts are great, and my birds eat sprouts every day, but they can get mold and bacteria very fast, so make sure you do it right. I like the easy sprouter and little bird mix from Sprout People. China Prairie has good sprouts too. With four cockatiels, I use 1/4 cup every 3 days, so you don't need much for one bird.

Maybe your bird isn't eating all those pellets. I know two of my tiels spill about half the food I give them. Those two get about two Tbl. of pellets, but the dog gets a lot of it lol!

 

[CeciliaZ]

Chia seeds will develop a gel type substance when soaked. There was a thread here somewhere on how to grow them into greens. I did try that...don't soak - lightly spray them and let them grow. My tiels did not care for them but they do like grass grown from wheat berries.