What Do You Feed Parrots? 15 Foods Perrots love

Raising a parrot is like carrying a baby in the house. Because similar to human beings, they also require proper nutrition, entertainment, and other necessities to grow up. Almost all professional breeders or bird owners offer a healthy diet based on parrot species like Monk Parakeet, Cockatiel, African Grey, Moluccean Eclectus, Macaw, and more. 

But what do you feed parrots? Is your diet routine similar to any professional parrot owner’s? If not, ensure you offer them nutrition-balanced crumbles or pellets, fresh veggies, fruits, plants, seeds, or nuts as a treat since breeders provide these foods.

Remember, malnutrition can be the root of any sickness in parrots! So, today we’ll provide some best healthy food tips for your newcomer parrot buddy to let them grow to be social and friendly, playful birds in the house.

What Do Parrots Usually Eat?

We claim parrot birds as scavengers that will eat anything they find nearby. Typically, parrots’ diet might vary based on the species, but they often prefer to eat fruits, vegetables, leaves, grains, nuts, seeds, or insects. Offering them these foods can be the best source of nutrition, and feeding them twice a day would be enough for their growth.

Fruits are veggies and first-impression food with low fat for the parrot to cover the need for vitamins and minerals. The best idea would be excellent quality pellets with fresh vegetables and fruits in the parrot’s diet. 

For example, small birds like monk Parakeet or Budgies can thrive on a blend of premium quality seeds, pellets, and veggies for having high metabolism and calorie intake. Bugdies will adore leafy veggies such as romaine lettuce, bok choy, spinach, broccoli, bell pepper, Swiss chard, and other foods. We also noticed parrots like cockatiels might like popcorn, lobster, eggs, asparagus, and even butter.

What Do Baby Parrots Eat?

Regurgitated foods are given on their diet for the little champ baby parrots. For more tips, we have some ideas below to feed your baby bird.

• Weaning a baby parrot onto soft food should be the priority, then moving on to pellets or other fresh foods.
• Birds like baby Macaw or other parrot species can consume fruits, vegetables, grains, seeds, nuts, or insects. 
• Since young birds often stay inside the cage, perches will be great to offer.
• Baby parrots can wean more easily onto the cup of prepared parrot food with hot water moistened than raw veggies or seeds.
• And make sure you feed your baby bird with syringes or a spoon.

What Is A Parrot’s Favorite Food: 15 Foods Parrots Prefer

Most specifically, parrots love fresh foods and vegetables as these foods are easier to consume. But they enjoy foods such as

1. Apple
2. Mango
3. Banana 
4. Grapes
5. Orange 
6. Papaya
7. Pomegranates
8. Carrot 
9. Beetroot 
10. Peas 
11. Sweetcorn
12. almonds
13. walnuts
14. sunflower seeds
15.  Coconut meat.

What Are The Types Of Parrot Diets?

Adding lots of vitamins and other nutrients to the parrot diet is vital. Therefore, we follow the veterinarian’s advice and the breeder’s way of feeding. For the parrot, you’ll have a wide variety of food ideas. Notably, most pet owners like feeding diets made of seeds or they feed pellets.

Besides all these facts, parrots we usually notice are in different categories, such as:

1. Florivores (fruits, seeds, nuts, berries, bark, roots).
2. Granivores (Seeds and grains).
3. Frugivores (fruits, flowers, nuts, seeds).
4. Omnivores (fruits, seeds, insects).
5. Nectarivores (nectar, pollen, seeds, or insects).

The percentage of seeds in the daily feeding routine should be at most 60% for seed feeding. On the other hand, if it’s about a pellet diet, it should be made of 75%. For more diet planning for your bird, make sure you take a look at the next section!

Fresh Fruits And Vegetables

Any parrot species, including Green Parrots, Cockatiels, Macaws, African Grey, Indian Ring Neck Parakeets, Lovebirds, and others, always love to eat fresh fruits and vegetables as a daily diet. We also enrich the pellet or seed diet with fruits and veggies as supplements.

Anyway, you can provide fresh fruits like bananas, oranges, melons, grapes, and some other fruits for their health benefit. Plus, you can add vegetables like shredded carrots, fresh pumpkin, zucchini, asparagus, or other items. Before that, avoid unhealthy foods for parrots like avocado, mushrooms, meat, alcohol, or other meals.

The bird also eats dry fruits that we include in many parrot food mixtures. While giving dry fruits, keep a few things in your mind:

• Since dried fruits don’t enrich with water, keep the water nearby for your parrot.
• A modest quantity of dry fruits should be given because dehydration might enhance the sugar level.
• Sulfur is unhealthy for parrots, so ensure you offer the fruit with no sulfur.

Also Read>>> African Grey vs Cockatiel

Seeds And Grains

Known as omnivore animals, parrots usually eat what humans consume, and parrots enjoy eating especially plants, grains, or seeds. Among all, safflower, buckwheat, millets, oats, and canary seeds are a few of the seeds we give to the bird. Most wild parrots include seeds and grains in their daily eating schedule, whereas pet parrots are kept in homes and enjoy a pellet diet.

On the other hand, sunflower or hemp seeds can be set aside, and the best would be offering canary, flax, or chia seeds at about 5 to 10%. Also, you can combine the pellets and seeds where gradually more pellets and fewer seeds are recommended.

Suppose when you have a lovebird, plain grass canary seed is perfect! Seeds shouldn’t be essential but can make up to 25% of the parrot’s diet. Additionally, you may purchase a particular seed mixture product, which can be a green parrot’s favorite food. You can also place a seed cup or dispenser inside the bird’s cage so the bird can eat anytime.

Pellets For Parrots

The best feeding advice for birds is commercial pellets or pellets with supplements. According to bird owners, they are made to give balanced nutrition. However, the pellet should be supplemented with fresh foods like fruits, vegetables, seeds,s or nuts to make a balanced diet.

Professional vets typically advise pellets for pet parrots. Additionally, putting pellets inside the cage will keep the bird healthy because having food access all the time in front of the bird is what they need for growing. However, while offering pellets, keep some facts in mind.

• A parrot’s diet should consist of 50 to 70% pellets.
• Vitamin-enriched pellets without artificial coloring or sugar are what we prefer.
• A small number of seeds, pieces of fruit, and vegetables with a bit of whisky can be healthy with pellets.
• If birds like the Australian King Parrot prefer nectar, softbill pellets will be great.
• Since older parrots frequently reject pellets, so offer pellets during their young age.

Offering Nuts

Big parrots, like macaw birds, typically love to eat nuts more than any other bird. The fat and protein content in nuts is very high. Therefore, give your bird some unsalted nuts in its daily diet. It would be better if you offer them nuts including

• Almonds
• Cashews
• Macadamias 
• Pecans
• Walnuts 
• Brazil nuts 
• Hazelnuts
• Shelled peanuts
• Pistachios.

Always ensure that the combined intake of fruits, nuts, and seeds is between 10 to 20% of their diet. And if you can, keep the nut’s shell remain. Wild parrots or pet parrots should both break the nutshell with their beaks. It’s because mental and physical stimulation is essential for the feathered friend.

Bring Berries

Berries can be another type of food you can offer to the parrot. We suggest berries enriched with beneficial health vitamins and, exceptionally, high in vitamins C plus K that will boost the bird’s immune system. However, you can offer berries like:

• Blueberries
• Raspberries
• Strawberry
• Blackberries
• Cranberries.

Beans, Sprouts, And Legumes

For moderation, besides the fruits and veggies, cooked beans can be a good meal for the parrots to have protein. Not only beans but also sprouting seeds, beans, or pulses are also the best source of protein.

The best would be selected beans such as chickpeas or mung beans and germinating sprouting seeds that release rich nutrients. However, within 3 to 5 days, you can expect at least 90% to sprout. But which beans will be ideal for them? You can offer beans like:

• Black beans
• Green beans 
• Kidney beans 
• Lentils 
• Plain tofu
• Chickpeas.

Give Cuttlebone 

Cuttlebone is a chalky type lightweight item that boosts the calcium level in birds. It can be given to the parrot as a supplement. Most probably, you’ll get 85% calcium in cuttlebone.

Parrots enjoy chewing cuttlebone; therefore scraping this into the soft food mixture would be great. Or you can search for toys or perches with cuttlebone. 

Insects or Animals

Sometimes, birds do eat insects or little animals. They have different food habits, so besides all the fruits or veggies, they might eat:

• Bird eggs
• Mealworms
• Caterpillars
• Grasshoppers 
• Lizards
• Hatchlings
• Snails
• Rodents
• Termites.

Give Them Treats

As a weekly item, offering treats to the bird helps them to grow more ideally. Yes, pellets, fruits, vegetables, seeds, or nuts are regular but give a variation like offering treats. Cheerios, grain bread and seeds, low sodium string cheese, walnuts, or almond are part of the treats.

Essential Nutrition Types For A Parrot’s Diet Chart

You cannot guarantee that your parrot will get the proper nutrition each day since offering all the necessary vitamins or minerals on time is only sometimes possible. But lack of proper diet will cause health issues or suffering throughout the entire life of the parrot. Therefore, you should always ensure the ideal amount of vitamin, protein, or calcium level in your food diet.

Nutrition Type	Problems Of Not Having	Benefits Of Having
Protein	It can make it difficult to fly or take part in other activities and ultimately they become tired and depressed.	Proper levels of proteins will ensure strong muscles and tissue.
Calcium	Causes health problems such as fractures, seizures, anxiety, soft or weak beaks, and some other problems.	Parrot’s connective tissues, plumage structure, and bone and beak forms will remain good by having calcium in their diet.
Vitamin A	A lack of vitamin A can cause faded feathers, breathing issues, scaly feet, or lack of mucus comes near the eyes, nasal passages, or throat.	For the development and repair of tissue, healthy bones, eyes, and hearing, Vitamin A is crucial!
Vitamin B	A deficiency of vitamin B such as B6, B9, or B12 makes it a challenge to digest food and take nutrition.	Keep the overall health good and help to deal with stress during periods like mating or moulting.
Vitamin D	Several sicknesses such as less egg outcome, brittle shells, oversized or soft beaks, seizures, spayed legs, knee, or fractures.	Hight amount of vitamin D confirms the presence of calcium. It produces whenever the oil reacts with sunlight and meets the need (fulfill the wild bird’s needs, not the pet parrot).

What Do You Feed Parrots: Safe And Unsafe Food List

So, you’ve learned free-feeding the parrot a good pellet diet. You sometimes give the parrot chopped fresh vegetables, fruits, seeds as carbs or fat, nuts, and some human meals. But what food for parrots at home is good, and what’s toxic for them? Let’s explore the facts in the chart.

Food Quality	Food Names
Safe	Pellets, corn, seeds, melon, banana, apples, kiwi, berries, cherries, Dates, Figs, Pears, Pineapple, Plums, Mango, Papaya, Strawberries, Peaches, Parsnips,  asparagus, cucumber, carrots, cabbage, Butternut squash, Kale, Dandelion greens, Pea pods, Cuttlefish and Oyster shells.
Moderation	Dandelion, grapes, whole grains, hard-boiled eggs, unsalted nuts, Dandelions, Chickweed, Hawthorn berries, beans (cooked), lean meat (cooked), potatoes (cooked), and fish (cooked).
Not Suggested	High-sugar food, high-fat meals, junk food, peanuts, dairy food, human food, and fried food items.
Toxic Food	Avocado, alcohol, coffee, tea, chocolates, fruit seeds, Mushrooms, onions, garlic, fruit seeds, and rhubarb.

Parrot Feeding Daily Chart

You must be thinking about the proper diet plan, right? No worries, since we have regular diet planning for every pet owner in the town.

Bird Size	Seeds	Pellets	Fruit or Vegetable	Treats
Small parrots such as budgies, lovebirds, canaries, or parrotlets	40-60% of total daily diet or75% commercial pellets	40-60% of total daily diet or75% commercial pellets	Small pieces similar to 1 to 2 teaspoons	A small amount in a week
Medium parrots like cockatiels, conures, caiques	1-3 tbsp. seeds or1-3 tbsp.pellets	1-3 tbsp. seeds or1-3 tbsp. pellets	Include 20-25% of a daily diet. (mixed chopped fruits and vegetables)	A small amount in a week
Large macaws, Amazon, Eclectus, cockatoo, African grey	2-6 tbsp. seeds or3-6 tbsp. pellets	3-6 tbsp. seedsor3-6 tbsp. pellets	Include 20-25% of a daily diet. (mixed chopped fruits, and vegetables)	A small amount in a week

Also Read>>> What is the difference between a parrot and a macaw

How Many Times Should I Feed My Parrot?

Feeding the parrot twice a day is enough for the health of your bird to remain playful and cheerful. But ensure you clean the remaining food after waiting an hour to avoid spoilage.

1 to 2 teaspoons of seeds daily will be sufficient for your parrot. Offer them pellets after they complete the bird seed or other foods in the morning. Offering freshly sliced foods or veggies can be given each day.

FAQ

In the next section, you’ll find some common questions related to the parrot’s food habits that should come into every reader’s mind. So, make sure you take a look at the Q&A part.

Closing Section

We hope this article has taught the daily food routine for your feather friend Mr. Parrot. So, next time you won’t have to ask what do you feed parrots for nutrition. The best advice from this writing you should take is to feed your bird pellets with a mixture of veggies, fruits, seeds, and nuts. 

Besides all the food, ensure you have checked all the charts we have included related to the routine diet, proper nutrition level, and the foods you should offer or avoid. And, if you have a parrot, remember to offer them the right food two times a day!