Nutrition & Diet for cockatiels and similar parrots

In progress draft Written by Jessica Fuhriman

Nourishing the body well is so important for health, as eating a balanced diet maintains good health and good health mediates the best quality of life.

Birds need food and water for energy and to upkeep their tissues and hydration.

A bird’s body is constantly maintaining itself. Water is constantly evaporating from the body. Proteins, enzymes, cell membranes, and DNA are constantly being turned over within cells. Tissues constantly regenerating by replacing worn out old cells with new ones. In order to upkeep the tissues of the body, your bird needs to eat nutritious foods that contain the building blocks that their body can absorb to replace the worn out components or even generate new cells and tissues.

Malnutrition occurs when the diet does not have enough of one or more nutrients, or even when particular nutrients are too plentiful. There are different types of malnutrition, and malnutrition can present itself in different forms:

• Not getting enough nutrients to maintain body mass
• Not getting enough micronutrients such as vitamins or minerals
• Being overweight or obese and developing diseases

Why does good nutrition matter?

If you do not feed a nutritious well-balanced diet, over time, malnutrition will negatively affect the health of your bird, and your bird will eventually get sick. Aside from it being pretty obvious that this would be a bad thing, it is also important to point out that veterinary bills are costly and veterinary services for diseases resulting from malnutrition are preventable expenses. Also, not feeding your bird a proper diet is not fair to your bird. They are not living in the wild where they are free to make their own decision on finding and choosing their food – they rely on you to maintain their health and it is inhumane to not provide them with a nutritious and balanced diet.

What Nutrition does my cockatiel need?

Cockatiels hail from Australia and are granivorous, meaning they are mainly seed eaters. However, cockatiels kept in captivity on an all seed diet tend to suffer shorter lifespans, so generally avian veterinarians have not recommended seed-based diets. Before we go further into best diet recommendations, let’s take an overlook of nutrients that are needed in the diet:

WATER – arguably the most important nutrient

Hydration is so important and the cells and tissues of the body need proper hydration to keep working in tip-top order. The cockatiel’s body tissues are made out of a considerable proportion of water. The body continuously loses water through evaporation from the skin and lungs and through excretion. While cockatiels can live awhile without food, they cannot live very long without water. Fresh clean water should be available at all times.

Learn more about providing water for your cockatiel – click here!

MACRONUTRIENTS

Macronutrients are proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. These are the nutrients that the body uses in the largest amounts, hence need to be consumed daily. It is important to feed your bird a balanced ratio of these macronutrients. With that being said, dietary research specifically for cockatiels currently remains limited, but advice can be gathered from studies looking at similar species of birds and diets that have resulted in longevity of cockatiels in captivity.

PROTEIN

Proteins are not only found in muscle, but are also present in every cell of every tissue type – from feathers to bone. As a life science researcher, I also like to highlight that proteins play essential roles within the cells, and healthy functioning cells lead to healthy tissues. Proteins make up physical structures of the cell (like the cytoskeleton for example) and also involved as signaling molecules that interplay within cells to regulate broader mechanisms like maintaining homeostasis or undergoing cellular division. Enzymes are proteins that function within cells play roles in metabolic pathways. So you can see that it is quite important to nourish the body with a proper amount of protein, to keep all of these biological mechanisms going and working properly.

Proteins are chemically made up of amino acids. It is important to know that there are essential amino acids that the cockatiel’s body cannot manufacture on its own. These are essential amino acids. Birds are unable to synthesize arginine, isoleucine, histidine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, valine, tryptophan, and threonine, and therefore, a bird’s diet must include protein sources that include these amino acids.

FATS

It is important for a cockatiel’s diet to contain some fat in their diet, they require essential fatty acids, such as omega 3/6. Consuming fats help a cockatiel’s body turn over or generate new lipids, which can be found within the membranes of the cells.

CARBOHYDRATES

Carbohydrates are those starches, fibers, and sugars found in foods. Carbohydrates can be found in nearly all foods in varying amounts. For example, grains, vegetables, and fruit are high in carbohydrates, whereas meats and dairy (which are foods that are not generally recommended for cockatiels) are low in carbohydrates.

Some carbohydrates are needed in the cockatiel’s diet, however not too much or too little.

When the body breaks down carbohydrates, energy is provided to the body. Energy allows your bird to partake in activities such as perching, moving about their environment, flying, etc, but also allows your bird to maintain its body temperature, respire to move air through their respiratory tract, maintain their heart beat, and keep their digestive tract going, etc.

MICRONUTRIENTS (Vitamins & Minerals)

(information in progress)