# Types of soft foods to feed to nesting cockatiels?



## tangiroo (May 27, 2012)

Hello,
What sort of soft foods should I be giving my nesting cockatiels to prepare them to feed potential babies? Right now in addition to their seed diet I give them kale and watercress which they loved before they started nesting but now don't touch. 
I read somewhere to give them sprouted seed. I do have a seed sprouter but which seeds should I sprout? Is it okay to buy store sprouts that are not organic? I offered them alfalfa sprouts but they weren't interested. I have seen that sunflower sprouts are often sold in health food stores, are these a good option for them? I put cooked egg in their cage for the last week (removed after a few hour to prevent spoiling) but they have no interest in it. 
In their cage right now they also have seed diet mixed with avilac stress nutritional supplement, nutri-berries, which I just introduced them too (no interest), spray millet, a watercress plant, and kale. 
They eat mostly the spray millet and pick out certain seeds from their seed mix.
Thanks in advance for any advice!


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

I give mine pellets as their soft food for breeding, you can offer them bread (wheat or multi-grain) as a source of soft food. Keep offering what you're offering, if its new to them they probably don't realize its food as of yet.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Grocery-store sprouts (the already-sprouted kind) aren't recommended for pet birds because of the risk that they might contaminated with bacteria and mold. It's better to sprout your own seeds and grains at home using good practices. There's more info at http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=9019

You can sprout your bird's regular seed mix along with human-quality grains, which are often available in bulk bins at whole-foods stores. Organic is generally preferable, especially since the sprouts will be fed to fast-growing baby birds who are more vulnerable to toxins than adults are.

Pellets are an excellent baby food. The parents eat the dry pellets then drink water to soften them up. Organic whole-grain bread is good. Provide plenty of greens/vegetables. You can offer cooked foods (being careful to avoid spoilage); some parent tiels like to feed this to their babies, although my birds won't touch it. If you go with cooked foods, it needs to be whole-grain stuff, not refined stuff like white rice and white flour.


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