Best Feed For Pet Cockatiels

This post is about the food that is best for pet cockatiels. You will find on this page the advice I decided to apply for my part. Some may disagree. In the absence of certainties, this is the philosophy I chose.

cockatiel eating millet seeds


For my part, I chose to give my pet cockatiel fruits, vegetables and germinated seeds because a good diet is like for us: it avoids deficiencies and health problems!

The seeds for cockatiels

Beware of ready mixes... Admittedly, they are practical but not frankly balanced and above all too rich. They really contain a lot, too much sunflower, even for year-round cockatiels. And mine are not the same.

So I decided to follow the advice of the reference site NosVolieres but slightly adapted according to what I could find in this forum too:
  • 60 % Alpen
  • Yellow Millet 10% yellow
  • White Millet 10% White
  • Red Millet 3%
  • Cardy 3%
  • Oatmeal 3% Oatmeal
  • Paddy rice 3%
  • Sarasin 5% Sarasin
  • Lin 1%
  • Niger 1% Niger
  • Cheneevis 1%


Or a mixture for parakeets but enriched at least 50% with alpine corn for cockatiels.

I keep the sunflower (white) as a reward for the recall.

Germinated seeds

IN-DIS-PEN-SA-BLES!

Why? Why? Because the germination process changes the composition of the seed: they are richer in nutrients and lower in fat. But watch out for mould!

I put a few drops of grapefruit extract oils in the water in which I soak my seeds before germinating them, as if it were for my own consumption (in fact, we sometimes share when I give them a mixture of seeds to germinate bought in an organic store! But I also sometimes make them simply germinate their own mixture of seeds, whether or not supplemented with other seeds.

I give my cockatiel almost daily (almost daily, because sometimes I forget to sprout when it's necessary!

Fruit & Vegetables

Here again you will find a whole lot of lists on the web - these are the ones I usually give for fruit, without seeds.
I didn't try papaya, sea buckthorn, carambole, kumquat, beetroot... But what's funny is that to avoid wasting, given the appetites of sparrows, we share our salads and I've got the taste of fruit and vegetables back!

And fruits and vegetables are ALL DAYS!

Homemade cakes for pet cockatiels

When Polly the cockatiel arrived home, she knew nothing but seeds... And the diversification of food is slow and laborious (which is new scary...!).) So I found the trick and at home, it worked: fruit and vegetables are first served as homemade cake (usually on weekends, and MiniBec knows very well when I bake a cake for them: he's not mistaken!).

The recipe is simple:
  • one beaten egg
  • seeds of their usual mixture
  • choice of fruit or vegetable

Stir and put in glasses, 3 minutes. in the microwave. Of course we let it cool down! Then I put them on a fruit spike for birds and hop! In the cage!

So yes, cooking changes the taste, destroys vitamins, etc... But it doesn't matter: it's not their main source of food, it's the little pleasure.

Other essentials to remember
  • Cuttlefish bone
  • The Mineral Block
  • Fresh and clean water, of course.


This video discusses how Baby Food Cerelac can be a good food for baby cockatiels






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