Diet
Parrotlets don’t just eat seeds. They need a well rounded diet for optimum nutrition. Their diet should consist of mixed seeds, vegetables (preferably fresh), fruits (preferably fresh, but less fruits than vegetables because of the sugar content), beans/legumes, sprouts, herbs, spices, grains, supplements (calcium from a cuttle bone and a mineral block and other supplement powders), and pellets. Fresh fruits and vegetables not eaten within the first two hours should be discarded. Below you will find a list of safe and unsafe foods for your parrotlets. But you should always do research before you give your birds food, and also try to buy the best that you can get. Just like with humans, it's best to buy organic, or as close to organic as you can get, because just like with humans, pesticides can be carried into their bodies and cause health problems
Here is a sample diet of what I feed my birds: I feed Higgins Sunburst Cockatiel seed blend. They have a bowl in their cage filled 24/7. Four to Five times a week I offer Birdie Bread or Birdie Chop in a separate dish. It's best to offer in the morning when they're most hungry, but sometimes I'll put a bowl in at night before bedtime. Some prefer to eat it in the morning, some prefer it at night, but if you offer fresh veggies at night make sure to pull it after a couple of hours and don't allow to spoil, or else it could lead to a sour crop. I also offer Nutriberries every day to every other day in their seed mix. Many won't eat them without being crumbled up. None of my birds really like pellets so I don't normally feed pellets. During the week if I scramble some eggs for myself I'll scramble some up for them. I use coconut oil to fry it up in and use no other seasonings. Sometimes they'll eat everything and then sometimes they won't. They are just as stubborn as they are cute, so when feeding various things do not get discouraged if they don't eat it. Just keep trying, persistence will pay off. If not, throw it outside for the squirrels and birds outside. Nothing goes to waste in my household. All extra seed that drops to the bottom of their bins during cleaning day gets thrown out in the yard for the outside animals.
Safe & Unsafe Foods
Safe vegetables include: alfalfa, arugula/rocket, artichoke, asparagus, beets, bok choy, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage (red/green/chinese), capsicum, carrots, cauliflower, chard, chickweed, chicory/radicchio, chili peppers, collard greens, corn, courgette, cress, cucumber, daikon radish, dandelion leaves, eggplant, endive, escarole, green beans, green peas, jicama, kale, kelp, kohlrabi, lettuce (dark green/red leaf/romaine), mustard greens, okra, pak choy, parsnip, peas (green/snow/sugar snap), peppers plus seeds (red/green/banana/bell/chili/jalapeño/serrano/hot/sweet), pumpkin plus seeds, radish, rapini, romaine lettuce, rutabaga, spinach (feed occasionally), squash (yellow/acorn/butternut) plus seeds, spinach (in small amounts), sweet potatoes (not regular potatoes), swiss chard, tatsoi, turnip greens, watercress, yams, zucchini.
Fresh fruits include (note that all pits and seeds of fruits should be avoided as they contain arsenic and other toxins): apples, apricots, bananas, blackberries, blueberries, cactus fruit (prickly pear), cantaloupe, cherries, clementines, coconuts (feed occasionally), dates, damson, dragon fruit, fig, gooseberries (feed occasionally), grapes, greengage, guavas, honeydew, jackfruit, kiwi, kumquat, loquat, lychee, mandarin, mango, mulberries (feed occasionally), nectarine, oranges, papaya, passion fruit, paw paw, peaches, pear, persimmon (ripe), pineapples, plantains, plums, pomegranate, raisins (soak first), rambutan, satsuma, starfruit, strawberries, tangerines, watermelon.
Safe plants/herbs include (in small amounts): acacia blossoms, basil, calendula, chickweed, chicory, coriander, dill, fennel, oregano, parsley, sow thistle, thyme
Safe Spices: aniseed, cayenne pepper, celery, chili, cinnamon, cumin, dill, fennel, paprika, red pepper, turmeric.
Safe Grains & Flours: almond, amaranth, barley, buckwheat (whole), coconut, garbanzo, kamut, millet, oats (whole not rolled), quinoa, rye, spelt, sweetcorn kernels, teff, wheat
Safe Seeds: alfalfa, annual meadow grass, cabbage, canary, canola, chia, clover, fenugreek, flax, hemp (must crack the husks prior to giving to them), kale, meadow foxtail, millet, millet sprays (used for training or treat), mustard (yellow, red, and black), niger, orchard grass, perennial ryegrass, poppy, poverty brome, pumpkin (must soak and germinate first), radish, rapeseed, red clover, rough bluegrass, safflower, sesame, soft brome, sunflower (shelled for parakeets), velvet grass, timothy grass, yorkshire grass
Safe Legumes (these are to be either cooked or sprouted, not hard and dry. Also many beans are toxic to birds, so don’t experiment): adzuki beans, black-eyed peas, chickpeas (garbanzo), green peas, lentils (all types), mung beans, yellow peas
Safe Nuts: almonds (feed occasionally), brazil nuts (feed occasionally), cashew, hazelnut, macadamia nut, pecan, pine nut, pistachio, walnut.
Other Safe Foods: blackstrap molasses (feed sparingly), eggs (hard-boiled or scrambled, with or without the crunched up shell), mealworms, chicken (fully cooked and unseasoned and only a small amount like a fingertip’s worth every 2 weeks), cooked pasta (in moderation and unseasoned), cooked quinoa (in moderation and unseasoned), cooked rice (in moderation and unseasoned), tahini.
Avoid these vegetables, fruits, plants, herbs and other ingredients, as they are toxic: alcohol, avocado, barnyard millet, black locust, blue/green algae, breakfast cereals, caffeine, calla lily, castor bean, celery, chocolate, christmas cherry, cockspur grass seed, coffee beans, chocolate (including beans), dairy products, diffenbachia, dill, dried beans/legumes, eggplant (ripe fruit ok), elephant’s ear, ergot, fennel, foxglove, fried foods, fruit seeds/stones/pits/pips (from apples, apricots, cherries, lychees, nectarines, nutmeg, peaches, pears, and plums), garlic, ginger, greasy foods, japanese millet, jerusalem cherry, jimsonweed, junk foods, leeks, lily of the valley, locoweed, milkweed, mistletoe, mushrooms, nightshade, nutmeg, oak, oleander, onions (all onions), peanuts, pearl barley, philodendron, poinsettia, pokeweed, potatoes, rhododendron, rhubarb, rolled oats, salty foods, sugary foods, tea, tobacco, tomato leaves/vines/stems/fruit, virginia creeper, water grass seed, yew.
Picky Eaters: Birds are notorious for being picky eaters and it takes persistence and finding the right way to get them what they need. If they won’t eat the raw fruits and vegetables as a whole, you can try chopping them up in a food processor. If that doesn’t work, you can try slightly steaming the veggies or you can look up how to make bird bread where you can make a safe bread filled with vegetables, seeds, eggs, and other safe foods.
Seed Mixes
These are some of the seed mixes that I recommend. There are plenty of seed mixes out there that are good, but there's also some that are very bad that have added dyes. Do the research and find out what's best for you within your budget. I alternate between these two and mine do great on them, however they don't like some of the food in the Vitaseed mix. These are not my images below.
Pellets
Some birds eat pellets just fine, but some will refuse. I have tried mixing the pellets in with the seed and they completely ignore them. So I take the pellets and crush them up and put them in my birdie bread. I will only recommend one brand, and that is RoudyBush. These are not my images below.
Nutriberries
My birds LOVE Nutriberries. Sometimes they won't eat it whole and I have to crumble it up in their seed mix. I try to mix it up and get a different flavor each time so they get a well rounded diet, but I will say they prefer the papaya and pineapple one. These are not my images below.
Vitamins and Minerals
Parrotlets need a daily vitamin and mineral. You can get that with a mineral block and a cuttlebone, but breeding parrotlets need a little extra. Also if your bird is molting or plucking there are medicines that you can buy to help with that.
Hand Feeding Babies
I believe in letting nature take it’s course. These birds have instinctively raised their babies for centuries. They know what they’re doing. Hand feeding is not something that you should take lightly. I am prepared in case my parents decide they don’t want to feed, but I prefer to let them do their thing. So for the first few weeks of their lives, I don’t even mess with them, unless the parents decide not to raise them. I start hand taming them once they are old enough to leave the nest. I have read the back and forth of whether hand raising and feeding the babies makes them bond better, and I honestly don’t know the benefits of it having never done it. From what I've read, a baby that is parent-raised are healthier, and it is my goal to breed healthy babies. But there are valid arguments for both sides. However, I only hand feed when necessary. There are also so many things that can go wrong during hand feeding. Everything has to be the right temperature and mix. If you want to do it, then you need to do tons of research, and see if you can find someone that can teach you how to do it. These are not my images below.
