Feeding your Bird

Your pet bird is now totally reliant on you for all its nutritional requirements and so it is extremely important you make the right choices on what to feed. Many commercial seed mixes are readily available on the market as is varying pellet diets and seed-pellet mixes. The choice is up to you, which you decide to use but the best option is often to feed the bird what it has been weaned onto as a baby. It will be used to that particular food and will thus be quite settled not having to worry about what the strange stuff is in its food bowl. Below are some things to consider when choosing the most appropriate diet for your bird.

• Seed alone is not a nutritionally balanced diet and birds fed on just seed may suffer a variety of nutritional imbalances.
• Select a seed mix that is designed for cockatiels. There are quite a few available that have other ingredients added to help balance the mix even further. Mixes like Large Parrot mix or Wild Bird mix are unsuitable as a lot of the seeds are unable to be eaten by cockatiels e.g. corn. Some examples of good mixes are Bird Munchies Gourmet blend and Breeders Choice Cockatiel mix. Each of these contains a mix of seeds that are suitable for your birds.
• Just because you offer a bird something new and it fails to eat it doesn't mean that it won't. All new food is often ignored until curiosity takes over and the bird actually gets to try it. It may take a day or as long as a week or more but keep putting it in the cage and sooner or later your bird will try it.
• Birds have favourite foods like humans do and it is up to us to provide them with a balance of what they need not just what they like. A bird may love sunflower seeds and pick them out leaving the rest. Don't be tempted to give in to the bird's whims and feed it only what it selects. Limit the amount of the favourite food making it consume more variety and thus helping to balance the diet.
• Cockatiels in the wild do not just eat seed. Their diet is often dictated by weather and the availability of food so they survive by eating a combination of different seeds, fruit, greens and whatever is available. A variety of different foods also benefit pet birds. Vary their diet and offer as many different foods as possible to keep their diet interesting.
• Be sure to refresh the seed each day. A full bowl does not mean it is full of edible seed. The bird will extract the seed from the husks and the bowl may in fact be full of empty husks that the bird does not consume. Even gently blowing off these husks is enough if there is still ample seed left.
• The following is a list of some of the other types of foods your bird may enjoy: silverbeet, bok choy, endive, dandelion, grated carrot, corn kernels, peas, beans, celery, broccoli, apple, sprouted seeds, soaked seed, cooked egg, multi-grain bread, breakfast cereals like cornflakes, egg & biscuit mix, cooked pasta, etc. Remember to give a variety and in moderation. Too much of anything can be bad.
• Always provide either a calcium bell or cuttlebone as a source of additional calcium for your bird.
• Do not feed avocado or rhubarb as these are toxic. Also avoid caffeine, alcohol, chocolate, apple seeds and any food high in salt or sugar. Lettuce is also not recommended. An occasional potato chip is not going to kill your bird but should be given sparingly because of the high salt content. They are like children and need these types of treats only occasionally and in moderation. A more suitable treat would be millet sprays or a piece of apple.
• If you are an avid cook then there are lots of recipes for birdie breads and muffins available on the Internet that your birds will relish too. Try doing a Google search for bird bread recipes and see how yummy some of them sound.
• There are numerous garden plants and weeds that are great nutritional value for your birds. Things like Dandelion, Chickweed, Clover, and some seeding grasses like oats. Always make sure these are thoroughly washed and preferably from your own yard where there is less chance of contamination from exhaust fumes and poisonous chemicals.
• Native branches also are a favourite of most cockatiels. Bottlebrush, Eucalyptus and Grevillea are all commonly found in backyards now and are a great source of entertainment for your bird as well. Small branches with leaves and flowers intact can be placed in the cage and your bird will spend hours totally destroying it. When the leaves and flowers are gone then the branches will be stripped of bark. This provides great exercise for them and also helps relieve boredom.
• Clean fresh water daily is an absolute must. Bacteria can grow very quickly in water that is soured by seed or droppings and to ensure the health of your birds it is important that water be cleaned out and replenished on a daily basis.