How to Feed Cockatoos
Many new cockatoo owners are unsure of the best diet to feed their new pets. Cockatoos, like all pet birds, enjoy having variety in the foods they eat as much as human beings do. To include the widest range of vitamins and minerals in your cockatoos diet, try adding fresh fruits and veggies along with nuts, seeds, proteins and grains. Some owners may choose to offer treats like spray millet along with supplements like cuttle bones for calcium enrichment. A constant supply of fresh water is also an absolute must for any cockatoo.
Other People Are Reading
Things You'll Need
- Vitamin enriched seed mix
- Pellets
- Assorted vegetables
- Dark, leafy greens
- Assorted fresh and dried fruits
- Nuts
- Rice
- Corn
- Beans
- Cereal
- Cooked eggs
- Bread
- Pasta
- Cheese
- Meat
- Stage 3 baby foods
- Spray millet
- Hanging dishes
- Liquid antibacterial soap
- Distilled water
Instructions
-
-
1
Pour fresh distilled water into the dish every day and change out the food so it is fresh on a daily basis. Offer fresh fruits and vegetables on a daily basis in separate dishes.
-
2
Fill two food dishes with seed and pellets according to the instructions provided on the back of the packaging for your bird's specific breed and size.
-
-
3
Offer nuts in the shell and spray millet for treats every other day.
-
4
Introduce your cockatoo to veggies. Purchase beets, dandelion leaves, peppers, sprouts, carrots, cucumber, kale, cabbage and spinach. Cut and wash, and offer different veggies every day. Wash and cook asparagus, chic peas, kidneys, lentils, broccoli, sweet potatoes, corn,parsnips and peas.
-
5
Feed different fruits each week. For the first week purchase fresh or dried nectarines, oranges, peaches, pears, pineapples, plums and strawberries. Wash and cut the fruit into bite-size pieces according to the size of your cockatoo. Wash and cut up fresh and dried apples, apricots, bananas, grapes, kiwi, grapefruit, melons and mangoes the following week.
-
6
Cook brown rice, barley, oats, vegetable pasta and eggs. Cut the foods up into bite-size pieces for your cockatoo. Offer a different food each day of the week. Soak chickpeas and beans overnight in lukewarm water. Add the sprouts to the vegetable dish in the morning.
-
7
Wash all food and water dishes every evening with liquid antibacterial soap and hot water.
-
8
Cook different meats and cut them into small pieces; offer them in a separate dish twice a week. Offer new foods continually and keep trying to offer them even if your cockatoo appears disinterested. Eventually the bird may grow to like the food.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Look for naturally-dried fruits that contain no sulfur dioxide. Many cockatoos are allergic to this preservative. Try soaking the dried fruits and vegetables with warm water to initially introduce new foods.
Take it easy with roods rich in Vitamin-C as too much can lead to an iron surplus disease.
Never feed your bird avocados. They are poisonous to cockatoos.
References
- Photo Credit Cockatoo image by Claire waterfield from Fotolia.com
