what fruits and veggies do you feed your cockatiel or other bird.

[cockatiel92]

I try feeding my cockatiel fruits but he dosent seem to eat them. what did you do to get them to eat fruits and veggies also what fruits and veggies do you give them.

[shadowhywind]

my tiel loves broccoli and cauliflower, i have a pic of my like 3 year old cousin hand feeding my tiel some. He also loves corn and peas. Depending on his mood carrots. Oh and green/yellow beans. Fruits however is another subject... He will eat fresh banana's only if my mother eats one end, and he can eat the other... (cough's spoiled). He will also eat apples, canalope, and watermelon only if we hold it for him, if we put it down or on a clip he refuses to eat it.

[cockatiel92]

hmm ill have to try differet techniques for feeding

[Ashling]

If you cut fruits and vegetables up then grind them really fine (around sesame seed size), that may encourage him to nibble at and then eat them. Perhaps increase the size as he gets used to them? My cockatiels and budgie like spinach leaves, dandelion flowers, dandelion leaves, sprouts, broccoli and grass seed best (make sure the wild plants aren't treated or it could kill your tiel!) Mine generally don't eat fruits. On the other hand, my lorikeet will eat absolutely anything she's given!

[fluffy_stitch]

mine all have their own favourites,but they will all eat apple.celery,watermelon,green pepper and carrot.

[CraftQueen]

I saved this because it made such sense to me, maybe it can help you...

This is what a vet recommended for a single tiel that wasn’t eating at all:
Birds view our hands as being the same as their beaks - we pet them in the same way they preen themselves. So she told me to put him on the table (or other surface), put pellets down, and pick at them with my thumb and first finger, lifting the pellet about a 1/2 inch then dropping it, over and over. The he thinks we are eating with him and he can't help but join in. So I did just that. He not only ate all of the pellets, but he was licking up the crumbs - on pellets that he ignored this whole time! All this time he just wanted someone to eat with him! Right now he is eating the plain brown pellets and LOVING them! Who would have thought! And for fresh vegetables, I tap my fingernail on the table since vegetables don't make any sound when you drop them.

I used to feed my birds the bean mix/brown rice/pasta/veggies and I threw tons of it away. I started alternating days, one day they would get the bean mix and the next day they would get scrambled eggs, carrots, broccoli, kale, collard greens, apple (no seed), sweet potato(no peel), celery, red beets. Wheat bread and dry rolled oats. I rough chop everything and run it in the food processor because the problem with large hunks of food is they drop it, it's too clumsy and it falls below the grate never to be seen again. Run the wheat bread in the food processor too. Run the eggs in the food processor when they are done cooking. Mix everything together. Add the oats. The bread and the oats add different layers of texture and they take up some of the moisture from the veggies and apple. I feed this to my birds for breakfast, take away the seeds and put the fresh food cup exactly where the seeds were. In the evening I take out the fresh food cup and give back fresh seeds in the exact same place. My birds have pellets at all times, so if they run out of seeds or fresh food, they always have something to eat.

This serves a wide variety of birds, tiels, lovebirds, finches, parrotlets and keets. For quakers or larger parrots I just leave out some of the chopped veggies as I'm preparing this meal as they like to eat larger pieces with their feet.

If you have some birds that are a little finicky, you can mix a few seeds with Birdie Breakfast to get them to try it and eventually leave out the seeds.
This is a great food if you are breeding birds as well, it's easy for them to eat and feed to babies.

If feeding fresh foods is easier for you in the evening that is ok. Birds will get used to the schedule that you put them on if you are consistant. During breeding I feed fresh veggies every day, but when they are not breeding they get it every other day. They cry for it on Seed day. LOL I have 2 males tiels that will ask me, Are You Hungry? if I'm late with it or on seed day. And they know what it means. LOL

PS: the only things you should not feed the birds is: Cherries, Avocados, Cabbage or the like (I think Califlower might fall into this category), Chocolate or Potato Chips, and no Apple Seeds. Birds do not have the ability to burb, this is the reason for not giving Cabbage. Good Luck.

[BigBird]

every weekend i make up abucket of diced carrot, brocoli, apple pear orange, bok choy, silverbeet, snow peas, pellets, sunflower seed, banana chips, corn, peas and mixed nuts, put it in the freezer and every morning dish out some to the birds. They eat better than I do.

Chop it up small enough so that they arent snapping off what they can handle and throwing the rest on the floor.

[cockatiel92]

thanx so much craftqueen ill try that

[CraftQueen]

Cockatiel92,
You are very welcome. When my birds ate really well on veggie day, I gave up the bean mix. And if you don't want to do all the veggies do at least 3 with the eggs, bread and oats. Birds love the different textures. And when other things are in season like zuchinni or cucumber I use them too. My Wal-mart has pitiful Kale and only sometimes do they have collard greens. I 've been getting fresh Parsley and they seem to like it in the mix. So you can be creative and don't worry if you don't have some of the items.

Apple regulates blood sugar, beets are for liver health, kale-collard greens-broccoli are full of calcium and goodness. Dandilion greens are excellent if you have a source that has not been sprayed with any yard or pest poisons. I even throw in some banana, strawberries or grapes when they are getting very ripe, just a couple and it helps you use them up and put them to good use.

Here is a good tip for wilted Kale, which my Wal-mart insisits on selling! I bring it home and treat it like fresh cut flowers. I cut the stems on a slant with a very sharp knife and put them in a tall container of cool water, I put the clear baggie that I brount them home in over the tops of the kale like a green house effect. Let them sit for a couple of hours and Viola~ you have some very firm and perky Kale. I sneak a couple of paper towels into the clear baggie with the kale to take up the extra water and store them in the frige. The crisper is best, but I don't have room in the crisper, so I put them on a tea towel above the crisper and fold the edges of the baggie under to keep them from drying out.

And on days that you just don't have time to make Birdie Breakfast or Dinner, I will clip a slice of apple to the cage bars with a clothes pin or give everybirdie a slice of romaine lettuce. Most birds are very accepting of this, but my guys like the breakfast better. But in a pinch it works and it's better than them not getting anything fresh.

[cockatiel92]

o i have penty of things to give i have a 200' by 200' vegitable garden with 3 types of kale, string beans, cucumber, zuchini, red, gree, orange bell peppers. and so on.