What Treats Can Parrots Eat?

Fresh fruit, vegetables, nuts and seed sticks all work as parrot treats, as long as they stay additions to the daily food and not the main meal. A treat is something handed over for a reason: a step up onto the hand, a trick, a minute of company. The rest of the day belongs to the regular diet.

Pellets, seeds and where treats fit

The Merck Veterinary Manual steers pet bird owners toward a pelleted diet with fresh vegetables and fruit, and it says seeds should not make up most of a bird's diet. A treat sits on top of that. It does not replace any of it.

Seeds are the part that needs care, because they are the part birds love most. Anyone who has put a mixed bowl in front of a parrot has watched it sort the bowl: the pellets get dropped on the floor and the sunflower seeds go first. The Merck Veterinary Manual describes seeds as high in fat, and that is the trade off in one line. Seed treats are the ones a bird works hardest for, and they are dense, so a few go a long way.

In practice, count them out. Put the day's treat seeds in a small cup in the morning, and when the cup is empty the treats are finished. A dish that refills itself is a meal, whatever the bag calls it.

Pellets are the dull part of the plan, and that is as it should be. A new bag goes in best mixed a little at a time into the old one, not swapped overnight. The treat habit is easier to build once the main food is settled.

Fruit, vegetables and nuts

Fruit and vegetables are the easiest treats to find, since they are already in the kitchen. Apple with the core cut out, berries, melon, a slice of mango, shredded carrot, broccoli florets, peas in the pod and cooked sweet potato are all foods a parrot will take from the fingers. Cut them to a size the bird can hold in one foot, because many parrots hold a piece that way and nibble around the edges.

Wash everything, and take away what is not eaten after a few hours, since wet food left in a cage turns quickly. Offer a new food beside a familiar one. A parrot that does not know a food often treats it as a toy first, and the first few tries end up on the floor.

Nuts are the same trade off as seeds in a bigger shape. Plain, unsalted nuts in the shell, such as walnut, almond or pecan, make the bird work, and the work is much of the point: a bird cracking a shell is busy for a minute or two, where a shelled nut is gone in three seconds. Roasted and salted nuts from a snack aisle are made for people, so look for the plain ones.

For a training session, the treat should be small enough to swallow in one go. A pea sized piece of nut or a single sunflower seed keeps the lesson moving; a whole almond ends it, because the bird will sit and work on it.

Foraging treats and treat sticks

A foraging treat makes the bird earn the food. The simplest version is a walnut or a few seeds wrapped in a twist of plain paper and dropped into a cardboard cup, so the bird has to pull the paper out, unwrap it and find the reward. It costs nothing, and a bird that has never seen one will often spend longer on the wrapper than on the nut.

Shop bought treat sticks work on the same idea. Seed, fruit or nut pieces are pressed onto a stick or into a ring that hangs from the bars, and the bird works along it a bite at a time. Turn the stick over and read the label for what holds the pieces together, since some are bound with a sweet coating, and that is worth knowing before one goes into the cage every day. The bird treats collection lists what is in stock.

Birds that like to shred do well with these. A parrot that tears the corner off every cardboard box in the house will enjoy a cup of crumpled paper with a few seeds buried in it, and the mess is the point. Sweep the paper up when the bird is finished; it takes a minute, and it keeps the game going for another day.

Millet is the other classic, a spray of seed heads still on the stem. It has its own page, spray millet for birds, because the quantities matter more than the idea.

Foods to keep away from birds

The list of foods that do not belong in a bird's dish is long enough that it should come from a veterinary source and not from a treat shop. VCA Hospitals says avocado should never be fed to birds and lists chocolate among the foods to keep away from parrots, and the Merck Veterinary Manual's pet bird section covers feeding in more depth than one page here can. Read those before offering anything you have not seen named as fine.

One working rule for the kitchen: if a food comes with sauce, salt or sugar on it, it was made for people, so the plain version is the only version to offer.

Sniff and Shift freeze dries and air dries its treats in small batches in Malvern, Pennsylvania, for dogs and cats, so nothing from that line is suggested for a parrot. For a house with a dog or cat as well as a bird, treats for every animal in the house sorts the whole site by animal.

Common questions

How many treats can a parrot have in a day?

Keep them a small share of the day and count them out in the morning so the dish does not refill itself. The Merck Veterinary Manual puts a pelleted diet first, so the treat is what comes after that. For a number that fits one particular bird, ask a licensed professional who cares for that animal.

Should nuts be in the shell for a parrot?

In the shell is better as a treat, because cracking one keeps the bird busy for longer than a shelled nut does. Choose plain, unsalted nuts. Salted and roasted snack nuts are made for people.

How do I get a parrot to try a new food?

Offer the new food next to one the bird already likes, and keep the piece small. Some birds copy the person beside them, so eating a bite of the same vegetable where the bird can see you may help. Take away what is left after a few hours.

What is a foraging treat for a parrot?

It is any treat the bird has to work for, such as a nut wrapped in plain paper inside a cardboard cup. The bird pulls, unwraps and searches before it eats. It turns a three second snack into a few minutes of work.