Food recommendations

[Safamirza🤍]

Hello, Hope you are doing well! I have a 1 year old, male cockatiel cockatiel named Kiko.

Can someone please recommend foods that provide lots of minerals and vitamins for birds? Kiko is a very picky eater and we are still trying to encourage veggies to him. Are there any other foods that might attract your bird and get them to at least try? I have heard that you can feed your bird eggshells for minerals. Is this true? How do we give it to them?

Also, if there is anyone who has dealt with very picky and stubborn birds when it comes to diet, can you please share your experience and how you got your picky bird on a veggie diet?

Thanks to anyone who replies!

 

[zERo]

Hello, Hope you are doing well! I have a 1 year old, male cockatiel cockatiel named Kiko.

Can someone please recommend foods that provide lots of minerals and vitamins for birds? Kiko is a very picky eater and we are still trying to encourage veggies to him. Are there any other foods that might attract your bird and get them to at least try? I have heard that you can feed your bird eggshells for minerals. Is this true? How do we give it to them?

Also, if there is anyone who has dealt with very picky and stubborn birds when it comes to diet, can you please share your experience and how you got your picky bird on a veggie diet?

Thanks to anyone who replies!

For calcium you can just grate cuttlebone into powder (or eggshells) and put it on whatever he does eat.
I took a few weeks for me to get my 3 cockatiels to eat chop, with them, I found the most success with mixing their seed and pellets into the chop, I started decreasing the seed over 2 weeks then all that was left was the pellets and chop and so forth, though it's perfectly fine to mix their pellets in their chop.
Have you ever made birdie bread? You can blend veggies and other healthy things into powder/liquid. There many great recipes on here.
Cockatiels are very picky, it's still challenging for me to get the oldest of the 3, Romeo to eat anything other than TOPs pellets.
Try everything, steamed, blanched, smoothie, big chunks, teeny chunks, string them up as toys, let him 'steal' from you, mash them with fruit, mix them with ground flax, try mashed sweet potato mashed with other veg.
Hope this helps

 

[HeatherG]

I found mixing green leafy vegetables with seed to work pretty well.

 

[Safamirza🤍]

For calcium you can just grate cuttlebone into powder (or eggshells) and put it on whatever he does eat.
I took a few weeks for me to get my 3 cockatiels to eat chop, with them, I found the most success with mixing their seed and pellets into the chop, I started decreasing the seed over 2 weeks then all that was left was the pellets and chop and so forth, though it's perfectly fine to mix their pellets in their chop.
Have you ever made birdie bread? You can blend veggies and other healthy things into powder/liquid. There many great recipes on here.
Cockatiels are very picky, it's still challenging for me to get the oldest of the 3, Romeo to eat anything other than TOPs pellets.
Try everything, steamed, blanched, smoothie, big chunks, teeny chunks, string them up as toys, let him 'steal' from you, mash them with fruit, mix them with ground flax, try mashed sweet potato mashed with other veg.
Hope this helps

I want to definitely try out birdie bread because Kiko is every interested in cake or cookie-like textured foods. (We obviously don’t let him eat cookies or cake)

Another thing Kiko goes crazy over are crunchy foods like chips. You cannot have a spicy chip around him. Last night he was trying to pry the chips out of our mouths! Are there any foods with similar textures that I can give him? Even as a treat, if it’s healthy or fine for him.

 

[Safamirza🤍]

I found mixing green leafy vegetables with seed to work pretty well.

what I noticed with Kiko was that he kept trying to peck his way around the chop and tried to find the seeds.

 

[SailBoat]

Getting an intelligent Parrot with nothing but time to change anything can be challenging.

An FYI regarding egg shells, we are talking shells from boiled eggs not raw eggs, please. The task is to grind them to a near powder and spreading it lightly over a liked food. This is a great calcium source, which also cuts normal trash disposal. There are a vast amount of seeds, oats, nuts that can be worked in the same way.

Veggies are interesting as different Companion Parrots have vastly different wants from graded, thin sliced, to different size and shaped chucks. Add to all of that the selection from food being; boiled, raw, etc.

Point being; never give up just keep providing. After all, the worst they can do is to not try it. Oh, just because they disliked it last month does not mean its forever off the table.

Always remember, just because our Companion Parrots leave it behind, does not mean that the Wild Critters just outside will not love it!!

 

[Safamirza🤍]

Getting an intelligent Parrot with nothing but time to change anything can be challenging.

An FYI regarding egg shells, we are talking shells from boiled eggs not raw eggs, please. The task is to grind them to a near powder and spreading it lightly over a liked food. This is a great calcium source, which also cuts normal trash disposal. There are a vast amount of seeds, oats, nuts that can be worked in the same way.

Veggies are interesting as different Companion Parrots have vastly different wants from graded, thin sliced, to different size and shaped chucks. Add to all of that the selection from food being; boiled, raw, etc.

Point being; never give up just keep providing. After all, the worst they can do is to not try it. Oh, just because they disliked it last month does not mean its forever off the table.

Always remember, just because our Companion Parrots leave it behind, does not mean that the Wild Critters just outside will not love it!!

Thank you for your wonderful reply! Just a question about egg shells: we eat boiled eggs almost everyday, so we can definitely use shells of the boiled egg, but: what about the membrane film that can be inside the egg shell after being boiled? Is that fine for him to eat?

 

[SailBoat]

Yes, as long as it is from a boiled egg shell.

 

[HeatherG]

I like to bake those egg shells in a low oven so they’re dry.

I’ve put them on my garden, too.

 

[JimsBrother]

My Beebe isn't interested in fresh fruit or veggies. He does like Bird Street Bistro, and his pellets. I also found some Nutriberries made just for 'Tiels that he likes. And an occasional Cheerio or three.

Any time I try to hand him food he runs from it. Sometimes I'll let him on the table while I'm eating and he'll peck from my plate. Seems to like making a mess with mashed potatoes.

 

[HeatherG]

My Beebe isn't interested in fresh fruit or veggies. He does like Bird Street Bistro, and his pellets. I also found some Nutriberries made just for 'Tiels that he likes. And an occasional Cheerio or three.

Any time I try to hand him food he runs from it. Sometimes I'll let him on the table while I'm eating and he'll peck from my plate. Seems to like making a mess with mashed potatoes.

Maybe stealing the food is more fun.

I’ve never had a problem with birds not wanting to eat offered food. I’m pretty sure Lucy would have gone through hell for a bite of donut. She certainly lost all her good manners. And last dinner I shared with Willow, he was VERY VERY NAUGHTY. Not my polite little man AT ALL.

 

[Safamirza🤍]

Maybe stealing the food is more fun.

I’ve never had a problem with birds not wanting to eat offered food. I’m pretty sure Lucy would have gone through hell for a bite of donut. She certainly lost all her good manners. And last dinner I shared with Willow, he was VERY VERY NAUGHTY. Not my polite little man AT ALL.

Kiko becomes sooo mean when it comes to food he will eat ANYTHING that my brother is eating and will peck on his mouth to get the food out

 

[LeeC]

For calcium you can just grate cuttlebone into powder (or eggshells) and put it on whatever he does eat.

I would recommend working with an avian veterinarian before offering calcium as a supplement. You can easily get their needed mineral ratios out of balance.

— Parrot Nutrition, Robert G. Black

Note, you often get better calcium uptake by being more careful of what you do not feed the parrot (avoiding certain leafy greens with phytates and/or oxalates).

In avian species that have been studied, harmful calcium levels are actually only slightly higher than required levels. Excess dietary calcium leads to minimal absorption of calcium (and other minerals) and elevated serum calcium. Prolonged hypercalcemia may lead to nephrosis and soft tissue mineralization.
— Calcium in the Avian Patient (LafeberVet) https://lafeber.com/vet/calcium-in-the-avian-patient/

Note, the soft-tissue mineralization referred to can be cardiovascular tissue, presenting as "hardening of the arteries", AKA, heart disease.

Edit: the soft-tissue mineralization can also be joint tissue, presenting as arthritis.

 

[HeatherG]

I would recommend working with an avian veterinarian before offering calcium as a supplement. You can easily get their needed mineral ratios out of balance.


— Parrot Nutrition, Robert G. Black

Note, you often get better calcium uptake by being more careful of what you do not feed the parrot (avoiding certain leafy greens with phytates and/or oxalates).


Note, the soft-tissue mineralization referred to can be cardiovascular tissue, presenting as "hardening of the arteries", AKA, heart disease.

Edit: the soft-tissue mineralization can also be joint tissue, presenting as arthritis.

I don’t think that this is common or very correct. Hardening of the arteries is rarely calcified.

And arthritis is not soft tissue mineralization, it’s loss of cartilage and inflammatory reaction.

I think supplementing calcium has not much danger. There’s such a range of calcium that can be held in the bones.

 

[LeeC]

I don’t think that this is common or very correct. Hardening of the arteries is rarely calcified.

Calcium Intake From Diet and Supplements and the Risk of Coronary Artery Calcification and its Progression Among Older Adults: 10‐Year Follow‐up of the Multi‐Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)

BackgroundRecent randomized data suggest that calcium supplements may be associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) events. Using a longitudinal cohort study, we assessed the asso

www.ahajournals.org

And arthritis is not soft tissue mineralization, it’s loss of cartilage and inflammatory reaction.

"Presents as" meaning it can be misdiagnosed as

 

[HeatherG]

Calcium Intake From Diet and Supplements and the Risk of Coronary Artery Calcification and its Progression Among Older Adults: 10‐Year Follow‐up of the Multi‐Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)

BackgroundRecent randomized data suggest that calcium supplements may be associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) events. Using a longitudinal cohort study, we assessed the asso

www.ahajournals.org

"Presents as" meaning it can be misdiagnosed as

Still don’t agree. Calcium from dietary supplements like oyster shell is different from high dose calcium supplementation. Association does not prove causation. Etc. etc.
The paper you cite is interesting and suggests further study but it does not prove that powdered calcium supplements cause calcification of arteries or joints. You made a big leap here. It’s a common mistake but it is still a mistake or misstatement.

Calcification occurs after very serious tissue damage that can’t be resolved. It’s not just from over feeding calcium supplements.

“Note, you often get better calcium uptake by being more careful of what you do not feed the parrot (avoiding certain leafy greens with phytates and/or oxalates).” This is true. ‘What’s preventing Ca++ absorption ?’ Is often the question to ask rather than ‘let’s feed much more calcium than bird can use.’

 

[LeeC]

Still don’t agree. Calcium from dietary supplements like oyster shell is different from high dose calcium supplementation. Association does not prove causation. Etc. etc.
The paper you cite is interesting and suggests further study but it does not prove that powdered calcium supplements cause calcification of arteries or joints. You made a big leap here. It’s a common mistake but it is still a mistake or misstatement.

Calcification occurs after very serious tissue damage that can’t be resolved. It’s not just from over feeding calcium supplements.

“Note, you often get better calcium uptake by being more careful of what you do not feed the parrot (avoiding certain leafy greens with phytates and/or oxalates).” This is true. ‘What’s preventing Ca++ absorption ?’ Is often the question to ask rather than ‘let’s feed much more calcium than bird can use.’

Hi, @HeatherG . I'm confused. What don't you agree with? I said, "presenting as". Even if correlation is not causation in this case, correlation is very important here.

I attended an annual cardiovascular-health seminar (actually on ARVD specifically) at Johns Hopkins a few times. I saw a presentation on research being conducted on mineral deposits in cardio vascular soft-tissue causing micro tears in the tissue that prompts cholesterol to be "sent" to do repairs, and that leading to stiffening and thickening. It's not key that we understand exactly how it happens to know that offering a parrot "extra" calcium has serious potential consequences. There is other research on the correlation and causation.

Effect of chronic hypercalcemia on the heart. An analysis of 18 necropsy patients - PubMed

Certain clinical and morphologic cardiac observations are described in 18 necropsy patients, aged 33 to 58 years (mean 45 years) (14 women), with chronic hypercalcemia (11.6 to 34.4 mg/dl [19.4]) from one to nine years (mean five years). Primary hyperparathyroidism was present in nine patients...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Calcium and Cardiovascular Disease - PMC

Circulating calcium is a risk factor for vascular disease, a conclusion arising from prospective studies involving hundreds of thousands of participants and extending over periods of up to 30 years. These associations may be partially mediated by ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Carotid Artery Plaque Thickness is Associated with Increased Serum Calcium Levels: the Northern Manhattan Study - PMC

Elevated serum calcium concentrations are associated with vascular calcification and cardiovascular disease. It is unknown whether there is a relationship between high-normal serum calcium levels and sub-clinical vascular effects. We investigated ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Could too much calcium cause heart disease? - Harvard Health

www.health.harvard.edu

Of course, you are welcome to disagree with all of those. :]

 

[LeeC]

The task is to grind them to a near powder and spreading it lightly over a liked food.

This is counter to the advice I've read. "Tricking" parrots into ingesting grit (by placing it on or in food) is quite different from a wild parrot "self-selecting" to ingest a bit of soil or clay (which is much finer than ground egg shells). The parrot likely does not want or need the grittiness or the high-calcium; yet, they will consume it to get the soft food.

I would treat such "grit" and/or calcium like salt. It should not be added to food, unless advised by an avian vet, for a particular parrot, based on low serum levels or better yet intracellular testing. Even then, it is probably more likely to be beneficial to remove the aforementioned plant toxins, to allow uptake of existing calcium, instead of adding even more calcium to the diet.

 

[HeatherG]

Supplemental calcium in a birds diet does not necessarily lead to chronic hypercalcemia.

Humans are not birds.

Have a nice life, LeeC.

 

[zERo]

Hey guys calm down!

I should've explained myself better, when I add calcium (ground cuttlebone) to my birds food it is once a week, very small amount, to just there breakfast, if not cuttlebone a little ground almond.

I feel partially responsible