Food, Bird Diet. Help?!?

[2wisewings]

My cockatiel eats so much food. Is that normal or safe?

 

[Tiel Feathers]

Cockatiels rarely overeat, and should have access to food all day. My tiels eat about 1 tsp of pellets, 1 tsp of seeds, some nutriberries and Avicakes, sprouts, and veggies every day. There is always some left over, but I try to give them just enough so they don’t waste too much. They graze all day, and I always give them new food every morning. Make sure your bird is offered a variety of healthy food, and that way he won’t eat all the wrong things and become unhealthy. What are you feeding him?

 

[Zara]

Welcome

How much is ¨so much¨?

 

[2wisewings]

Cockatiels rarely overeat, and should have access to food all day. My tiels eat about 1 tsp of pellets, 1 tsp of seeds, some nutriberries and Avicakes, sprouts, and veggies every day. There is always some left over, but I try to give them just enough so they don’t waste too much. They graze all day, and I always give them new food every morning. Make sure your bird is offered a variety of healthy food, and that way he won’t eat all the wrong things and become unhealthy. What are you feeding him?

I feed him pellets, a variety of seeds that the store I'd adopted him from,. Nutraberries of veggies and fruits assortments. Milletts as a treat occasionally. Working on getting her to eat dry, chewy assortment of fruit and veggies I pick from the garden. She teys to eat literally everything in sight she sees on the coffee table or floor, so I'm constantly watching her so she doesn't do that.

 

[sunnysmom]

Does she have access to food 24/7? Cockatiels rarely over-eat. But because of their high metabolism rate they do need to eat frequently throughout the day and have access to food. I'm not sure what you mean by dry, chewy food. Fresh food from the garden is good for them (food on the safe list that is). Cockatiels generally are not big fruit eaters. Also, cockatiels are naturally ground foragers. So, she may be just instinctively foraging for food. Can you make her a foraging tray with some toys, paper, etc and maybe hide a few nutriberries of something in it too. That way she is still foraging and getting mental stimulation but hopefully redirecting her from eating things off the floor.

 

[Mizzely]

The phrase "eat like a bird" we usually think to mean "eats only a little" but really birds eat a little at a time, but tend to eat quite a bit for their size over the course of the day! In fact, parrots will eat 10 to 20% of their body weight a day!