cockatiel nutrition

[sayyadina]

I've had cockatiels for 12 years now, starting when I was in 8th grade. I've always fed them a good quality seed mix, either the mix put together by the store I got my first 'tiel from, or New England Bird Farm's Cockatiel blend.

Also, both my 'tiels have different nutritional requirements.

Darwin is 12, and I've had her since she was 6 months old. She's always been fussy about what she'd eat. She gets a little over 1/2 of a scoop full of seed mix once a day. She seems to loose weight when she gets less seed. Some of her favorite human foods are pasta w/ sauce, rice, peas, corn, bread, lettuce, eggs, broccoli & sweet potato. Weighed her today, and she was around 87g. Normally, she's around 90g, though she has been lighter.

Rufus is 6, and I've had him since he was 3 months old. He'll eat pretty much anything he can get his beak on, including bricks, dirt & dried poop. He's eaten pretty much any food I've given him. Today, he was 114g. Exercising him is a bit of an issue, since there's some carpentry going on in the house, and he's not the best flier. Even with flight feathers, he goes backwards.

Giving them human food is a bit difficult this time of year, since they're back in their cages before dinner, which is usually when they'd get some. If they aren't back in their cages before it gets dark, they get very cranky, and it gets dark around 4pm. Availability of food for them is also an issue. There's an organic farm w/ a market where we get most of our fruits & veggies, but it closes before Christmas. Don't really want to give them non-organic food. Then the closest place with the best selection is over an hour's drive away, if we can get out through all the snow & ice.

None of the pet stores around here have any parrot food. I usually order the seed in bulk by mail, 35lbs at a time.

Is there a better cockatiel seed out their to feed them? Any special tips on feeding the slightly underweight cockatiel, and the slightly overweight cockatiel? What about good pellets?

[sweetrsue]

Mine seem to really like dried beans. Navy beans, pinto beans, garbonzo beans. I also add barly, lentils and split peas. I soak and cook and make a huge batch about once a month. I add wild rice and quinoa and it makes a perfect protein. To soak up the remaining moisture when they are done cooking I throw in some pellets to make it an even more balanced diet. Since you organic food place is so far away if you could buy dry beans and such in bulk you would only have to go about twice a year.

[skthurley]

Dried veggies are great to soak and offer with cooked and/or sprouted legumes, some cooked rice, quinoa and amaranth(cooked or sprouted).

Not sure where you live, but you could purchase beak appetit. It's a decent fresh food mix. I'd recommend the veggie delight or nuts for alfredo blend.

As for your heavy guy. perhaps try feeding him less seed.. or only offer his seed soaked. (Soak the seed overnight in water, rinse and serve. This starts the germination process, which makes the seed lose some of it's fat value)

You could also purchase some bags of frozen veggies and offer those during the winter.Cooked, of course

[tielfan]

This starts the germination process, which makes the seed lose some of it's fat value

Germination does more than that! It also boosts the amount of some desirable nutrients. Soaking and sprouting are wonderful things.

[skthurley]

lol, perhaps I should have added ",among other things" to my sentence lol!

[ChocoNoir]

My cockatiel loves the most, his seeds;he never seems to get bored from them. In that case, he must get his seeds everyday in his dish.
But he likes other things as well but doesn't like to eat them often. Anyway, he likes inner part of the cucumbers and sometimes he wouldn't mind to nibble green peppers. He also loves watercresses and green plants which grow from bean seeds.
He likes bread but not whole wheat bread. He never liked whole wheat bread. But of course I can't give him bread everyday to avoid having excess fats. However, in winter, I give him pieces of bread more than in summer. I believe eating starch can make him feel warm easily since cold weather bothers him.
And he also likes green cantaloupe. He sometimes likes peeled apples. But, he doesn't like eating fruits in general.

He's very picky somehow! And if I even leave the whole day his dish containing other different fruits or veggies, he wouldn't want to eat any one of them. He'd rather stay without food or break my head. LOL.
But if I give him a small piece of plain biscuit, he would take it! I don't mean to encourage him to eat fatty foods but it's just that he has his own taste. And of course, I never gave him a piece of biscuit except once. I worry if biscuits could be effective to 'tiels as well.
To summarize the whole story, Saturn goes for starch and green stuff.