Parrot treats for the little guys?

[Lady Kakata]

As a general rule, I buy 'cockatiel' treats, rarely buying stock 'parrot' treats (i.e. treats that just say parrot without specifying size of bird)

But I've seen these treats for sale online at a damn cheap price. The size guide from Northern Parrots states that they are for Cockatoos upwards to Macaws

Can anyone see a problem with buying one for my cockatiels? Or is that a real bad idea?

Buy Cajun Cashew Grainola Bar - Large Birds from Northern Parrots

[KGWatkins]

Seems like that even though the price is fair, you'd be wasting a lot of the money, since some of it would be too large for the tiels to eat. I'm sure it has peanuts and other things that are too big and too hard for a cockatiel to eat.

[KGWatkins]

I have an idea, Email them and ask for a complete list of ingredients, if most of the ingredients are small enough, barring perhaps one or two, or are soft enough for them to eat, like walnut bits, then I'd go ahead.

[sailorkelly]

It looks fine to me. Why can't tiels eat peanuts? Abbey is the size of a tiel and she destroys shell in peanuts. If it is to large then cut it into squares. I had tiels before. They would have loved that treat.

[KGWatkins]

Well, maybe i'm just used to wimpy tiels then, because Zephyr couldn't eat something like that, she couldn't eat the big round disk pellets in the cockatiel food she had been eating, she'd try and fail and would give up, and the only other cockatiel I know, which is our 18 year old cockatiel, Elvis won't eat ANYTHING larger than canary seed and millet... He won't even eat sunflower seeds or safflower seeds, we've tried EVERYTHING. I just thought since seeing these two, that cockatiels were just kind of weak birds. And since peanuts are kind of hard, I thought they couldn't eat them.

[Lady Kakata]

Well, in my experiance if a cockatiel can't eat it, they destroy it (or sit on it). I bought them a 'parrot' bumper bar before as it looked more of a challenge than the normal cockatiel sticks I got them, since they shredded those in a milisecond. I'm not sure if they ate the peanuts that were in it but the sunflower seeds were definately eaten

One for, one against? Anyone else got an opinion? I don't want to give the 'tiels anything that really shouldn't be for them, only for big birdies. Though of course Bonnie seems to think she's bigger than she really is (no fear in that bird!)

[sailorkelly]

Originally Posted by KGWatkins

Well, maybe i'm just used to wimpy tiels then, because Zephyr couldn't eat something like that, she couldn't eat the big round disk pellets in the cockatiel food she had been eating, she'd try and fail and would give up, and the only other cockatiel I know, which is our 18 year old cockatiel, Elvis won't eat ANYTHING larger than canary seed and millet... He won't even eat sunflower seeds or safflower seeds, we've tried EVERYTHING. I just thought since seeing these two, that cockatiels were just kind of weak birds. And since peanuts are kind of hard, I thought they couldn't eat them.

WOW those are some picky birds

[KGWatkins]

Well, I do give Zephyr some credit, she's doing GREAT switching to pellets and fresh, but Elvis, he gives me the stink eye that would make even a lion back down. Since he's so old and has lived this long on seed and vitamin drops, I figure forcing the issue would be worse for him than letting him continue the way he is.

[KGWatkins]

Oh, but Lady, I'm not "against" the treats, I was just pointing out that the ingredient size difference might cause an issue, I don't see any problem in it at all if your birds are robust and accepting of new things and like to destroy, apparently mine aren't any of these things, so *I* wouldn't buy them.

[Lady Kakata]

Well, out of the two 'tiels, Bonnie is the one that challenges things by eating, destroying or sitting on them once she's accepted them. If the item is food, providing it doesn't look too surreal, she's usually first to have a go at it

I just wondered if there was a specific health or nutricional problem with feeding cockatiels treats (treats only, not seed or pellets or treats specifically designed for a specific breed of bird!) that are intended for larger birds, apart from of course some things that bigger birds love that cockatiels won't be interested in or items that, as you pointed out, may present a problem in trying to eat them due to the size or hardness of the item