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Food for your bird: how to choose

Diet is the number-one health lever for your bird — and the product family with the loudest marketing. Our guides compare product types, teach you to read a label and give realistic price ranges, so you feed right without paying for the packaging.

The key point : An all-seed diet is the classic mistake: quality pellets, greens and fresh fruit make up a modern ration — with supplements stepping in during the moult.

Read first

• Cockatiel diet: pellets, seeds and how to switch
• Budgie and canary diet: seeds, pellets and fresh food

Our dedicated guides

• Too many sunflower seeds: the mix mistake that threatens your bird's health

  A seed mix too heavy in sunflower seeds drives obesity, fatty liver and atherosclerosis in cage birds. How to fix the ratio without frustrating your bird.

• Cockatiel diet: seeds, pellets, and fruit

  Feeding a cockatiel well: the limits of an all-seed diet, the value of pellets, the share of vegetables and fruit, and preventing obesity in this bird.

• Feeding an Amazon parrot: moving past an all-seed diet

  What does an Amazon parrot eat? Why an all-seed mix leads to obesity, the place of pellets, vegetables and fruit, and the forbidden foods.

• Feeding a Senegal parrot: avoiding fatty liver

  Is the Senegal parrot prone to obesity? Why this small parrot copes poorly with excess fat, and how to balance its diet.

• Toxic Foods for Cockatiels: Avocado, Chocolate and Everyday Traps

  Which foods are toxic to a cockatiel? Avocado, chocolate, salt, seeds: the list of household dangers and the right prevention habits.

• Macaw Diet: Managing Fat and Avoiding Obesity

  How do you feed a macaw without making it obese? The share of fatty nuts, a pellet base, the risk of hepatic lipidosis, and portion benchmarks.

• What a Budgerigar Eats: The Ideal Ration

  What should you feed a budgerigar? The share of seeds and pellets, leafy greens, calcium and the mistakes to avoid for a healthy budgie.

• Toxic and forbidden foods for canaries and small birds

  Avocado, chocolate, salt, fruit pits: some common foods are dangerous or even deadly for a canary. The list of banned items and the basics of a safe diet.

• Switching from seeds to pellets: the gentle method that works

  Why and how to switch a budgie, cockatiel or parrot from seeds to pellets: a gradual 4-to-8-week transition, with brands and prices.

• Egg food for birds: when to feed it and which one to choose?

  Breeding, moulting, winter: when to give egg food to a canary or budgie, which recipe to choose in 2026 and at what price (4 to 12 €).

• Cuttlebone and mineral blocks: which one does your bird need?

  Calcium, iodine, beak wear: what cuttlebone and mineral blocks are for, how to attach them in the cage and which to favour for each species.

• Fruits and vegetables safe for birds: the complete list

  Which fruits and vegetables can a budgie, cockatiel or parrot eat safely? The list of safe foods, the toxic ones and the right amounts.

• Toxic foods for large parrots (African grey, Amazon, macaw)

  Some everyday foods are dangerous, even deadly, for large parrots. Here is the list of forbidden items for the African grey, the Amazon and the macaw, and what to give instead.

• Millet spray: a top treat for budgies and canaries, to dose with care

  Millet spray is irresistible to small birds, but it is a rich treat to limit. Its benefits, its pitfalls and how to use it as a reward and enrichment.

• Feeding a toucan: avoiding iron overload (avian hemochromatosis)

  Toucans and other captive frugivorous birds are especially prone to an iron storage disease often linked to diet. How to build a ration that limits the risk.

• Lovebird (Agapornis) diet: the ideal daily ration

  Lovebirds are often fed an all-seed diet out of convenience, at the expense of their health. Balanced ration, safe fruit and veg, supplements: the guide to feeding them right.

• Kakariki diet: building the ration of this foraging parakeet

  Pellets, measured seeds, daily greens and ground foraging: how to feed a kakariki while respecting its fast metabolism and digging instinct.

• Cockatoo diet: preventing obesity in a greedy bird

  The pet cockatoo is a prime candidate for obesity and fatty liver. Pellets, rationed seeds, foraging: the strategy to keep it fit.

• Sun conure diet: pellets, tropical fruit and rationed seeds

  What does a sun conure eat day to day? Pellets as the base, fresh tropical fruit and limited seeds: the ration that avoids both deficiencies and weight gain in this small parrot.

• Organic or standard bird seed: is the extra cost worth it?

  Organic or standard seed for your birds? Organic limits pesticide residues, but freshness and the mix composition matter more. Analysis and prices.

• How much does a budgie cost per month? The real budget line by line

  A budgie costs 20 to 35 € per month: seed, vegetables, toys, cage liner and a vet fund. The real monthly budget in detail and tips to reduce it.

• Ring-Necked Parakeet Diet: What Goes in the Bowl Beyond Seeds

  Large and opportunistic, the ring-necked parakeet needs more than a plain seed mix. Diet basics, portions and the obesity traps of this sturdy parakeet.

• Zebra Finch Diet: What This Tiny Exotic Really Needs

  Finch seed mix, greens, egg food during breeding: what actually belongs in a zebra finch's feeder, and why a cuttlebone is never optional.

• Vitamin Drops in a Bird's Water: A Real Overdose Risk?

  Vitamin supplements poured into the water bowl without precise measurement: why this common habit exposes a bird to overdose risk, especially with vitamin D, more than it fixes a real deficiency.

• Is Grit Actually Useful for a Seed-Eating Pet Bird?

  Budgie, canary, zebra finch: should you offer grit alongside seed, or is this barnyard-era habit unnecessary for a pet bird?

• Why Does My Parrot Refuse Every New Food? Understanding Food Neophobia

  An unfamiliar vegetable ignored, a new fruit shunned for days: food neophobia is a normal trait in parrots. Understanding this mechanism helps you diversify its diet.

• Why Does a Wild Parrot Spend Hours Foraging, Against Just Minutes at the Food Bowl?

  In the wild, a parrot spends a large part of its day searching for, cracking open, and handling food. At the food bowl, that drops to a few minutes: a shortfall that explains much of the boredom seen in captivity.

• Pellets Versus Seed Mixtures: What Avian Nutrition Research Shows

  A landmark study in avian nutrition compares the common deficiencies of seed-based diets to the intake provided by formulated diets. It explains why vets recommend pellets.

• Why Do Parrots Invent More Ways to Get Food? What Feeding-Innovation Research Shows

  By tallying hundreds of published cases, a study found that bird species with the largest brains relative to body size invent the most new ways to feed — parrots and corvids leading the list.

• Monthly food budget for a macaw: what should you really set aside?

  Pellets, fresh fruit, nuts and supplements: the full breakdown of a macaw's monthly food budget, and why cutting corners on quality costs more in the long run.

• Cockatiel Food Budget: What Does Its Monthly Menu Really Cost?

  Food budget for a cockatiel: seed mix, pellets, fresh fruit and vegetables. A real breakdown of monthly costs.

• Leafy greens for birds: which to prioritise, which to limit?

  Spinach, lettuce, chard, kale: not all leafy greens are equal for a bird. What to know about oxalates and vitamin A before building the plate.

• Stone fruit (peach, apricot, cherry, plum) for birds: what precautions to take?

  The flesh of stone fruit is a treat for most birds, but the pit itself carries a specific risk. What to know before offering any.

• Coffee, tea or spilled alcohol near a bird: the feeding mistake that can turn serious

  A sip of lukewarm coffee, the dregs of a cup of tea, or a glass of wine left within beak's reach: what these everyday drinks actually do to a bird.

• Cockatiel: vitamin A deficiency, warning signs and moving to pellets

  An all-seed diet exposes a cockatiel to vitamin A deficiency. The signs to spot, what species-specific studies show, and how to switch to pellets without overdoing it.

• Table scraps and dinner with guests: the food mistake that can kill a bird

  Letting a bird peck at leftovers seems harmless. Yet avocado, and also excess salt or sugar, are real and well-documented dangers. What to know before your next dinner party.

• Which pellets should you choose by age: juvenile, adult or senior bird?

  A juvenile parrot pellet isn't the same formula as an adult or senior one. What avian nutrition research recommends at each life stage.

• How Much Food Should You Give a Bird Each Day?

  How much seed, pellets or fresh food should a bird eat each day? Guidelines by size and signs that a ration needs adjusting.

• Canary budget: what does this little singer really cost every month?

  A study on starling birdsong shows a carotenoid supplement boosts singing and health markers. What that means for a canary's real monthly food budget.

• Budgie goitre: when a healthy-looking menu supplies no minerals at all

  A documented outbreak in 400 budgerigars: 45 fell ill, 15 died within two to three months. The diet involved a commercial mix, broccoli — and zero mineral supplement.

• Tap, Bottled or Filtered Water: Which Should You Give a Bird?

  Tap, bottled or filtered water: which should you give a bird, and how often should you change it? Guidelines to avoid common mistakes.

• Does chilli burn a bird's mouth? What the chicken receptor shows

  Birds eat chillies that mammals spit out. A molecular biology study explains why — and why that is not a reason to feed chilli to a parrot.

• Rainbow lorikeet diet: a nectarivorous menu unlike most parrots

  Unlike budgerigars or African greys, the rainbow lorikeet feeds on nectar and pollen. That single fact changes everything, from digestion to the risk of vitamin A excess.

• Toxic Foods for Birds: The List You Need to Know

  Avocado, chocolate, salt, caffeine: which foods are dangerous or even fatal for a bird, and why must they be avoided completely?

• Supplements During the Moult: Helping Your Bird Rebuild Its Plumage

  Egg food, vitamins, baths and rest: how to support your canary, budgie or parrot through the moult with the right supplements.

Food breed by breed: every bird profile covers this product family with that species’ own figures.