Adding Fruits and Vegetables to Your Cockatiel's Diet
by Linda S. Rubin

People ask: "If I feed a well-balanced diet to my cockatiel, is it really necessary to provide fresh fruits and vegetables?"

The answer depends on what is contained in your "well-balanced diet." There are advantages in feeding a pelleted or extruded diet. While pelleted diets, in theory, are thought to meet the nutritional needs of our birds as best understood at this time, many manufacturers still recommend providing fresh produce to supplement the diet.

Fruits and vegetables add tremendous nutritional power to your bird's menu, and they act as challenging psychological devices to keep curious, busy beaks active and content. Unfortunately, we sometimes hear of neurotic behaviors and ingrained habits such as feather-picking activities being prompted by sheer boredom. Often times, the underlying cause to such behavior can be traced back to illness, an inadequate environment, or to malnutrition. A medical exam performed by an avian veterinarian will reveal if an illness is present. Adding produce to the diet can have a profound effect on stimulating a bird's playing environment, and on boosting a bird's nutritional intake.

Fresh food provides additional nourishment, and some produce are especially high in carotene, which is converted into vitamin A in the liver. Beta-carotene and other antioxidants are essential in guarding good health. Most seed diets are lacking in vitamins (with the exception of some of the B complex group), thus vitamin supplements and fresh produce can be critical in providing the level of vitamin A crucial to good health. Avian veterinarians frequently cite malnutrition, and especially vitamin A deficiencies, as a common culprit among their clients. The best defense then, is to provide a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables to gain as many nutrients as possible, while frequently offering those foods known to be high in carotene or vitamin A.

In general, the red-orange-yellow fruits and vegetables, and some of the green leafy vegetables, are the best sources of vitamin A. Carrots (with the tops), yams, hot or chili peppers, pumpkin, most of the squash family, and sweet potato are all high in vitamin A. It is best to serve carrots, peppers and sweet potato raw, since the process of cooking destroys vitamins; however, usually yams, pumpkin, and squash are better accepted when cooked.

Carrot greens, especially, are very tempting to cockatiels, and I have known few birds to refuse a long bundle of freshly washed carrot tops once they become a familiar item in the diet. Owners may also grow their own shoots by placing carrot tops in a shallow dish of water, rinsing and refilling daily, then present the tops once the new shoots have grown one to two inches. Carrots are inexpensive, readily available, and one of the best vegetables to feed for vitamin A. Many breeders feed carrots to their birds by the pound several times a week.

Dark green, leafy, raw vegetables which cockatiels can be trained to enjoy include: dandelion (including the flower), collard greens, kale, sprouts, spinach, turnip greens, Swiss chard, mustard greens, broccoli, escarole or chicory, beet greens, and bok choy. The first five items provide the richest sources of vitamin A; however the remaining items contain moderate levels of vitamin A along with other excellent nutrients. While some greens such as parsley are quite low in vitamin A, parsley does have the distinction of containing most of the amino acids which are the "building blocks" of proteins. Similarly, comfrey is the only land plant known to contain vitamin B12. Feeding a variety of green foods offers a number of nutrients.

One of my favorite vegetables to feed is broccoli, a rich source of fiber, with moderate amounts of vitamins A, C, riboflavin (vitamin B2) and calcium. After a thorough washing, I cut up the stalks and florets, and place them in stainless steel bowls containing pellets. The bowls are hung high near the upper branches on each flight. The birds eat the floret and enjoy chewing the stalks. Another high fiber food I serve in this manner is corn on the cob, which also offers other beneficial nutrients.

Fruits which are a rich source of vitamin A include: mangos, cantaloupe, persimmons, and to a lesser extent, apricots, nectarines, papayas, tomatoes and peaches. These fruits can be cut up and presented in a variety of styles until you hit upon the shape and size your birds prefer. Always be certain to remove fruit pits. Cherry pits are known to be deadly, and other fruit pits may contain trace amounts of cyanide and are dangerous to your birds. However, over the years, I have fed small amounts of pomegranate and seen birds eat apple seeds with no ill effect.

Wash all fruits and vegetables you serve thoroughly before cutting, dicing, slicing, or presenting them to your cockatiels. Make sure to wash all traces of pesticides or other sprays away by first soaking the produce in a bowl of cold water for a few minutes, while rinsing in between. Be careful however, not to oversoak, which over time can destroy vitamins.

Cockatiels can be taught to eat a little fruit. Some of my own pet and breeding cockatiels enjoy apple, orange, banana, grapes, mango, papaya, pomegranate, cranberries and blueberries, although other fruits are occasionally offered, depending on what the larger parrots receive that day. Training, however, should begin while the birds are young. Offer small pieces of fruit along with their vegetables on a daily basis, until you witness your birds ingesting these food items and not merely playing with them. I offer my cockatiels green food every other day, and fruit twice a week, once they are trained to eat these items.

Cockatiels won't learn to eat fruit or green food if they are unavailable to them. It often takes a number of trials before your bird may even sample such items. The trick is not to give up after a few days, or a few weeks. Be creative when offering fresh produce. Some cockatiels enjoy their greens served dripping wet in bunches, so they can waddle through them before eating, just as do their wild counterparts of Australia enjoying the wet grasses after a rainfall. Others relish their greens when hung creatively over branches and perches so they may work at nibbling the tasty offering.

One method to entice companion cockatiels to sample fresh produce is to fasten the greens into, or next to, the main feed cup. By placing produce near their favorite food source, the birds are more likely to sample, or at worst, move them out of the way with their beaks, thus end up tasting them. However, never make it difficult for your birds to reach their normal food source since starvation could have severe consequences.

Usually, the younger the bird, the easier it is to train it to accept new foods. If you have another bird already trained to eat fresh produce, then use this bird as your "teacher bird." Once the untrained bird watches the experienced bird enjoy his fruits and vegetables, it usually doesn't take long before he samples the same items. It may take several trials, but the work is worth the wait, knowing you are providing the best your bird deserves.

Provide fresh produce on a daily basis, until all your birds are regularly sampling these healthy items. It may take some time to train your birds to eat fresh produce, but once you do, you'll experience the bird owner's joy of watching your birds at their best.

Linda S. Rubin is an aviculturist writer, editor, judge and speaker, and has raised cockatiels and parrots for more than 20 years. She is president of the National Cockatiel Society and has self-published several books: Cockatiels: Breeding Smart, Guide to Cockatiel Color Mutations, and Cockatiel Genetics Made Easy. She may be reached at: Aves Communications, Dept. BTM, 93 Woodcliff Road, Chestnut Nut, MA 02467.