Food requirements of commonly kept parrots

Australian Parakeets eg.Budgerigar, Cockatiel Small seeds, eg. hemp, canary, millet, some larger seeds for larger species. Fruit, especially apples, pears, orange, grapes. Groats, wheat, lettuce, carrot, chickweed. Sprouted pulses.

Kakariki Sunflower seed, larger parrot mix (sunflower, safflower, pumpkin seeds etc). Look out for selective feeding.

Lovebirds Large seeds, small nuts,berries, apple and carrot. Green foods are popular. Soft fruits.

Ring necked parrots eg. Moustached parakeets, Slaty-headed parakeets, Alexandrines. Large seeds,small nuts,berries, apple, carrot.Green foods are popular. Soft fruits.

Cockatoos Large seeds (roseate cockatoos are prone to obesity so with these it is often better to use small seeds). Fruit, greens, soaked pulses. Provide wood to 'strip'.

Conures eg. Sun conures, Green cheeked & maroon bellied conures. Mixed seeds; enjoy fruit; like to bathe in large water bowls.

Macaws eg. Scarlet, Blue and Gold,Large seeds, nuts in moderation, small pine nuts for 'interest'. Enjoy soft fruits

Brush tongued parrots These have a long extensible tongue which is covered in papillae to collect pollen. They often crush flowers and lick nectar. Provide nectar, pollen, soft food, seeds, berries. Commercial lory diets.

Non-nutritional 'food' items are very important. Cockatoos like to strip wood - any fruit branches are suitable provided that they have not been sprayed with garden chemicals. It is sensible to give them a good scrub with an antibacterial cleanser such as Ark-Klens (Vetark) to avoid introduction of infection from wild birds. Hide dog chews can be drilled and hung from chains etc.

There are now excellent quality complete foods, however there is a strong drift away from this idea, suggesting that they are better used as seed substitutes, thus allowing the use of fresh foods and vitamin mineral supplements which certainly seem to improve breeding results. Certainly this encourages more normal behaviour patterns.