Meals or free feeding?

[Payton Leeroy]

So, the vet said that I should be aiming for 75-150 grams for my Little Dragon, but he seems to have leveled out at 63ish. Today I went to a nearby pet store and was amazed at how large even their 6 month old cockatiels are, so I kinda suspect that my bird may simply be little, plus he needs to put on some muscle. He's getting better at flying, but he's still not getting much for distance.

My biggest concern is whether it's better to free feed him by leaving his seed and pellet mix in his bowl at all times, or make different meals, probably the seed and pellet mix in the morning when I'm half asleep and just got off work and then fresh fruits and veggies at night. Or maybe seed in the morning, fruit while I'm having dinner, then pellets out over night? How much fresh fruit and veggies should he be eating? I know he can get egg about twice a week or so, which is awesome for me, as I love eggs.

So I guess my question is, what's the best diet I can give my little guy, and what's the best way to give it to him?

[Eric&Rebecca]

Hi,

I'm not an avian vet or an expert however...

We've found the Prestige Cockatiel mix really good- it's the same mix they feed all the birds at Loro Parque in Tenerife so is proven to be good. It smells a bit strong but it's a great seed and pellet mix and we give our tiel' 3.5 tablespoons plus dried carrot chips covering the top of the seeds so he has to eat those to get to the seeds. The breeder we had said to give him fresh fruit/veg in the mornings especially if you are giving apples/pears etc (high fructose fruits) as the natural sugars keep them awake. Our bird also adores watercress and grated carrots, we give these to him in the mornings when we are replacing his seed/pellet mix because we know he will eat it because he's hungry- it's a neat trick especially if you're struggling to change diets. Generally his seed/pellets are in the cage all the time apart from fruit and veggie time and communal eating time (he has a plate of veg on table while we eat our own human food!)- as flock animals they really like this.

Also 5cm of spray millet a day and a honey stick twice per month. If you are really concerned you can buy drops to go in his water but their are mixed reviews about these and we only gave them to our cockatiel to give his immune system a boost when we first got him. If you use these you must change the water AT LEAST twice per day or it encourages more bacteria.

During molting they need calcium and protein rich foods like kale, broccoli leaves or watercress. You can also feed them plain scrambled egg or very small amounts of plain cooked chicken breast (vet recommended this).

It's really up to you and do gather opinions but each bird has their likes and dislikes you just have to create a good balance for them. Also our tiel is quite small but he eats a LOT! He could just be that way but if you're worried always go back and visit your vet

[marie83]

I'm not a fan of free feeding anymore. The only benefit to it that I can think of is that if you get held up, bad traffic, finish work late etc, the bird is not without food. The benefits of meals is that its easier to monitor food intake, more hygenic, birds more likely to sample certain foods if it is hungry + many more reasons.

If you can I would probably feed 3 meals a day until he is a better weight but two would be ok I should think. I've built up a birds weight on 2 meals a day before now.

I prefer pellets as a base diet, I feed at least 2 different veg and 1 piece of fruit per day. Twice a week they get sprouted seeds or a sprouted pulse mix and twice a week they get a small portion of dried seed. Occasionally they will get the odd bit of boiled egg, wholegrain pasta or brown rice etc as a treat.
Whatever you decide to feed I would highly recommend sprouting some seed or a pulse mix up as they are very nutritious and contain a fair amount of protien to help build your bird up.

Some birds will stay light though no matter what you feed, I had a rescued 'tiel called Jack who was the most pitiful, scrawny looking thing ever, he never weighed more than 67g no matter what we tried. As long as all medical conditions are ruled out and body functions are normal then it may just be how he is. If he doesn't start putting on more weight though definitely take him back to the vets for testing just to be on the safe side.

[liz]

Shadow is my smallest cockatiel. The others are so much bigger but he is beautifully shaped with smooth feathers and a beautiful voice. He is a happy little talker and sings every morning and night. He is just a little bird. The others treat him equal and I dearly love him.

[Payton Leeroy]

Shadow is my smallest cockatiel. The others are so much bigger but he is beautifully shaped with smooth feathers and a beautiful voice. He is a happy little talker and sings every morning and night. He is just a little bird. The others treat him equal and I dearly love him.

About how much does Shadow weigh? I wanna see if Little Dragon is a good weight. We did a smear test with his poo that came back clean, but since he was so weak and underweight when I ended up with him we haven't done any blood work yet.

[Grey_Moon]

I'm always a natural pellet-free person---but thats up to you.

However, I'm pretty staunch about scheduled meals outside the cage because it encourages better eating habits like being less picky. It also keeps the cage cleaner and keeps the food more hygenic as it isn't sitting out all day or contaminated with poop/toys bits/feathers or water. Its fresh and prepped. Also, it helps counteract a cagebound bird because it associates coming out with good stuff.

If I were you I'd split that into two meals, feed the less desirable stuff as breakfast (like pellets) and the other stuff (veggies/fruits) as dinner.
Feed as much as he will eat in one sitting (usually cockatiels eat somewhere in the neighbourhood of 3-4 teaspoons so 1-2 teaspoons per meal). Adjust to add more if he polishes it off completely, but reduce it if he ends up flinging/wasting half of it etc. Of course if he polishes it off, then you add more, then he starts wasting most of it...then you know its too much.

Dry seeds/nuts/eggs etc for me should be kept as occaisional snacks or treats. 45% of his diet should be veggies/fruits (with most of it veggies). The other 45% is some sort of pellet/sprout/cooked grains and legumes/birdie bread combo (up to you). The remaining 10% is where the other stuff comes in.

He doesn't need food all day.

My cockatiel was a little guy too (about 80 g when healthy)---he was sick with giardia as well for a long time so it probably stunted his growth as a chick. Keep in mind that wild type tiels (not in terms of colour mutation, but genes) are in the 65g range---the show/breeder varieties have been bred to be bigger and more colourful.
Don't focus on a number so much as his condition.

[Payton Leeroy]

I'm always a natural pellet-free person---but thats up to you.

However, I'm pretty staunch about scheduled meals outside the cage because it encourages better eating habits like being less picky. It also keeps the cage cleaner and keeps the food more hygenic as it isn't sitting out all day or contaminated with poop/toys bits/feathers or water. Its fresh and prepped. Also, it helps counteract a cagebound bird because it associates coming out with good stuff.

If I were you I'd split that into two meals, feed the less desirable stuff as breakfast (like pellets) and the other stuff (veggies/fruits) as dinner.
Feed as much as he will eat in one sitting (usually cockatiels eat somewhere in the neighbourhood of 3-4 teaspoons so 1-2 teaspoons per meal). Adjust to add more if he polishes it off completely, but reduce it if he ends up flinging/wasting half of it etc. Of course if he polishes it off, then you add more, then he starts wasting most of it...then you know its too much.

Dry seeds/nuts/eggs etc for me should be kept as occaisional snacks or treats. 45% of his diet should be veggies/fruits (with most of it veggies). The other 45% is some sort of pellet/sprout/cooked grains and legumes/birdie bread combo (up to you). The remaining 10% is where the other stuff comes in.

He doesn't need food all day.

My cockatiel was a little guy too (about 80 g when healthy)---he was sick with giardia as well for a long time so it probably stunted his growth as a chick. Keep in mind that wild type tiels (not in terms of colour mutation, but genes) are in the 65g range---the show/breeder varieties have been bred to be bigger and more colourful.
Don't focus on a number so much as his condition.

I'd LOVE to get him away from eating much pellet or dried seed, but so far we've only convinced him to try a couple of vegetables and strawberry's the only fruit I've successfully gotten him to eat [though he did munch away on it for QUITE some time.] Meal times would probably help with this though, so hopefully I'll be able to introduce more and more healthy foods into his diet! He's always very interested in what I'm eating, and this morning while I was eating strawberries and blueberries and melon he started flying over to me, decided against it, turned and landed back on his cage! I was still super impressed with him for doing any flying on his own, and maybe I can start getting him to fly over to me and sit with me for dinner every day. It'd be a good way to make myself eat better foods too!

What's bird bread though?

When I get back from vacation next week I'll switch him over to meals and more healthy foods, but while the neighbor is watching him [and for free too!] I wanted to keep things as simple as possible. We're also going to visit the vet again once I think he's strong enough to have some blood drawn so we can do more tests on that and possibly x-ray his feet as well. *Sighs* So far he's worth $300. We'll see if he can pass how much I spent on the dog the first year I had him!

[Grey_Moon]

Bird bread is pretty much what it sounds like.

You can use ground pellets as a flour, or make your own mix, or buy a commerical birdie bread. You can add all sorts of goodies to it. The warm texture can help them accept new things.

[Eurycerus]

I'd LOVE to get him away from eating much pellet or dried seed, but so far we've only convinced him to try a couple of vegetables and strawberry's the only fruit I've successfully gotten him to eat

But that's great! I would focus a tad more on vegetables because they are more nutritious (depending). Steamed carrots and sweet potato (served refrigerated) is a fav of my parrot, and corn. She'll eat peas, and edamame beans too, but less frequently. She does get a small serving of apple a day but I focused more on getting her used to vegetables first. I need to actually stop being lazy and make birdie bread.

[Grey_Moon]

Agreed---you wouldn't believe how many people can't get their birds to eat *ANY* veggies or fruit.

I cheat with Jacko though I'll admit. Everything gets pureed together in a warm mash potato consistency---then she can't be fussy and it all tastes sorta warm gloppy sweet so she likes it.
Play with temperature, texture and consistency.

Sometimes they like it boiled but not baked or fresh or cool, or hot..or whatever.

If I gave her a bowl of straight cold chopped veggie/fruit...



It'd be EVERYWHERE! Except in her body.

She's a pretty adventurous pig and will take a bite out of anything (live mealworms and canned sardines anyone?) but something about fresh veggies texture just doesn't float her boat.

Her current mix is pumpkin, kale, dandelion, broccoli, green peas, figs, kiwi and promegranate.
The month before (there's a bit leftover so she gets a mix) was carrots, kale, collard greens, broccoli, watercress, banana and mango.

Half of these things (mostly the greens) she'd never eat or would pick/nibble and throw prefering to pig out on the stuff she knows/likes if I fed her just cut up cold chunks.

But because its pureed and warm it all goes down well