Feeding our pets is one of those things that can begin to feel automatic at a certain point, and yet at the same time it’s one of the most vitally important parts of their care.
Cockatiels are no different; they need a carefully formulated diet in order to maintain a happy and healthy body.
But with so many options out there, it can feel difficult to decide which is the best kind of food to give to your cockatiel.
Today, we are going to break down our picks for the best food for cockatiels, for those on a budget or those looking to splash some cash on fancier feed.
Let’s dive right into it.
| Our Award | Name | Image | Check Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best Overall | Psittacus Micro Complete Diet | 
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| Best Budget | Kaytee Supreme Cockatiel Food |         |
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| Best Premium | ZuPreem Smart Selects Bird Food |        |
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Psittacus Micro Complete Diet – Best Overall
Starting off we have our pick for the best overall food for your cockatiel, the Psittacus Micro Complete Diet feed.
This is one of the best and most popular formulated feeds out there, designed for smaller birds like parakeets and cockatiels.
This is a feed that goes a long way to simulating the kinds of foods that would be available to a cockatiel in the wild, and so straight away this makes it a great option for your cockatiel.
It’s suitable for both young and fully mature cockatiels.
This food is designed to constitute the complete diet that a cockatiel would need.
If only for the sake of their mood, though, it’s also great to supplement this food with fresh fruits and vegetables.
However, you can rest assured that this feed is a nutritionally complete diet for your cockatiel in terms of the feed it should have available to it at all times.
Most cockatiel owners would always encourage feeding them regular treats in the form of fresh fruits and vegetables, and that there really is no formulated feed like this that is truly nutritionally complete—but this is about as close as you will get!
It is made with only the highest quality ingredients.
It uses natural flavors to make it highly appealing to your cockatiel, as well as the highest nutritional density.
It is completely free of GMO, as well as free from any artificial colorings or antioxidants.
It’s all natural.
This is really ideal for your cockatiel as these synthetic ingredients can cause major problems in the long term as well as simply making the food less appealing to them.
The content of the feed is incredibly varied.
It contains primarily cereal grains which should always form a key part of your cockatiel’s diet.
It contains dehydrated alfalfa, tubers, roots, as well as oleaginous fruits.
The feed is rich in countless different minerals and naturally occurring antioxidants, which will keep your cockatiel overall very healthy and happy.
This is our pick for the best overall food for cockatiels.
- A nutritionally complete feed that provides 80-90% at least of your cockatiel’s overall diet.
- Completely free of synthetic antioxidants and artificial flavorings, meaning it will both taste better and be better for your cockatiel’s health.
- Highly varied contents with plenty of cereal grains and minerals for a really healthy overall diet.
- While the food does approach nutritional completeness, you should always supplement formulated feeds like this with fresh fruits and vegetables.
- Some complain that the smell is quite bad and indeed bad enough to sometimes put their bird off—though this is rare and usually does not completely put them off.
- Lacks seeds which are also a vital part of your cockatiel’s diet.
Summary
Overall, then, this is a fantastic feed that your cockatiels will love.
While it is about as close to nutritionally complete as a formulated feed can be, most cockatiel owners would always encourage supplementing dried feed with fresh fruits and vegetables to ensure that your cockatiel is getting the full range of benefits from what it is eating.
Beyond that, though, this food is our pick for the best overall food for cockatiels, and you certainly cannot go wrong with it.
Kaytee Supreme Cockatiel Food – Best budget
Next up we have our pick for the best budget option for cockatiel food, the Kaytee Supreme Cockatiel Food.
This food is again highly varied in terms of its contents and is among the most popular and widely purchased formulated cockatiel feeds out there.
It’s also highly affordable while at the same time not cheapening out on the quality of the food or cutting corners anywhere.
It can often be daunting to purchase cheap food, as you may worry about the contents for your bird’s health—but you need not worry about that here.
This brand comes recommended by veterinarians, so you can rest assured that despite the affordable price point, you are still getting quality food.
This wholesome, high-quality mix comes packed with just about everything you could possibly want to get into the formulated feed part of your cockatiel’s diet.
It contains white millet, seeds of many different kinds such as canary grass, safflower, sunflower and flax, it contains grains like oat groats and wheat, red millet, as well as many other things like corn, soybean meal, cured alfalfa, and plenty more.
There is in this feed just about everything your cockatiel needs outside of the variety in the treats like fruits and vegetables.
The food is completely free of artificial colors and flavorings, which again is something that you may understandably be concerned about when it comes to the cheaper options of food.
This feed is all-natural, so you don’t need to worry about your cockatiel eating excessive synthetic ingredients.
The protein is all-natural, as well as the fiber, oils, and whole grains.
Your cockatiel will love this food, and as long as you supplement with fresh fruits and vegetables, then this will provide your cockatiel with the backbone of its diet if not with everything it needs.
This is certainly the best choice for those on a budget.
- Highly affordable while at the same time delivering high quality, nutritionally complete feed for your cockatiel.
- Free of artificial ingredients such as colors and flavorings, bringing a natural flavour that your cockatiel will love.
- This brand comes highly recommended by veterinarians so you can rest assured it is a safe and quality feed.
- One common complaint is that the packaging has burst during transit.
- Some suggest there is not as much variety in the actual product as what is advertised.
Summary
So, if you’re on a budget or even if you have money to spare, you really can’t go wrong with this cockatiel food.
It is highly affordable but it doesn’t achieve this by being anything less than ideal and high-quality food.
It provides plenty of variety and balance in its nutrition without breaking the bank, and your cockatiels will love it just as much as the expensive stuff.
Again, as long as you’re careful to ensure you’re providing fresh fruit and veg on top of the formulated feed, this makes a great feed for your cockatiel.
ZuPreem Smart Selects Bird Food – Best Premium
If you’re looking for the best food that money can buy, our choice for the best premium option for food for your cockatiel is the ZuPreem Smart Selects feed.
This choice is certainly a good deal more expensive than most options on this list.
That’s for good reason however, and you absolutely get what you pay for with this excellent feed.
This feed is formulated specifically for small birds like cockatiels and is one of the healthiest and most nutritious food blends available.
This blend is made up of pellets, seeds, as well as dehydrated fruits and vegetables.
It is also abundant in whole grains.
You’ll find all sorts of different things in there, such as proso millet, grass seeds, ground corn, oat groats, safflower seeds, and dried cranberries, as well as lots of minerals and supplements to ensure that your cockatiel is getting the best possible range of nutrition that it needs.
This premium food is really set apart by the abundance of fruits and vegetables in it.
While fresh fruit and vegetable are still important to a good cockatiel diet, again, this feed goes as far as it possibly can toward a complete nutritional profile.
This food, then, makes the perfect foundation for your cockatiel’s diet.
It provides virtually everything they will need that is not fresh food.
It is formulated with cockatiels in mind and it is an incredibly high-quality product.
Including pellets in a cockatiel’s diet is a really great way to make sure that they are never deficient of a given mineral or vitamin; this can be quite tough to do ordinarily.
Formulated pellets are much less common in the more budget options for your cockatiel’s food, so we can’t recommend this one enough even despite the somewhat heftier price tag.
The great thing about this food is that it makes shifting a cockatiel’s diet much easier.
If you have a cockatiel who has never eaten pellets before, it may be difficult to get them to eat pellets later on.
But this feed is great for exactly that; it is so appealing to your cockatiel that they will easily shift off their established diet and start getting all the brilliant nutrition provided in the pellets of this feed.
If you’ve got the spare money to spend, then this is perhaps the single best choice for cockatiel food out there.
- Highly nutritionally varied and packed with all sorts of vital nutrients that you might struggle to get into your cockatiel’s diet through other means.
- Great way to switch even adult parrots to a pellet based diet if they have never eaten pellets before, for all the benefits that come with that.
- Extremely popular even with the pickiest cockatiels, making it a great option for cockatiels that don’t like other food.
- Quite a bit more expensive than other options on the list, which could make it less accessible to some.
- You will still need to supplement this with other foods, both fresh vegetables and some other seed feeds.
Summary
So, again, if you’ve got the money to spend, then this is probably among the best feeds out there for cockatiels.
It provides if not the majority of their diet then certainly the backbone of it, and so with a few supplementations you can get virtually everything your cockatiel needs out of this food.
The price is nothing to balk at, though, so that’s something you’ll have to account for—once you get your cockatiel used to this, they’re not going to want to go back to something else!
Daily Blend Diet Bird Nutrition – Alternative budget
As an alternative budget option, next, we have this Daily Blend Bird Nutrition.
This food comes in as a highly affordable option while once again you are not cutting corners on the quality of the feed.
This feed is again specifically formulated for small birds like cockatiels, and you can be sure that your cockatiels will love this popular feed.
Again, this is one of the most highly rated small bird feeds out there, so you know you are getting quality.
It is again an all-natural mix of virtually everything you could want out of a formulated feed: millet, oat groats, buckwheat, sunflower, safflower and canary grass seeds, soybean meal, corn meal, and lots of mineral supplements.
This feed is also specially formulated with orange essence, which provides a great, natural flavor boost as well as all the associated health benefits that come with the addition of orange.
The feed is rich in vitamin C, which is really important for your bird’s health in many different ways.
This makes this particular feed really unique as this addition of the orange essence is not something you will see very often.
Indeed, orange plays a big overall part in this feed and that makes it great in both nutritional value and flavor for your cockatiel.
Again, as usual, as nutritionally dense as this food is, for an ideal diet, you will still want to supplement this feed with fresh fruits and vegetables as well as other foods.
This feed is packed with lots of natural minerals, but it lacks pellets, so you may want to consider mixing it with a pellet-based feed as well.
But this is of course not to say that the food is lacking; cockatiel diets are just more complex than any one feed could possibly hope to meet.
This food, despite its affordable price, uses only the highest quality products in production.
Everything is again all-natural and free from artificial flavors or supplements, so there’s no need to worry about issues with excess synthetic ingredients.
At such a low price, you really cannot go wrong with this fantastic product.
- Highly affordable for those on a budget, but you don’t have to be concerned that the low price means the quality of the feed suffers in any way.
- Orange essence provides a great flavor and odor which will encourage your cockatiels to the food and they will love it even more for this unique addition not often found in other feeds.
- Specially formulated for small birds like cockatiels so you know you’re getting exactly what your birds need.
- Some complain that their birds will not touch this food for one reason or another. Birds certainly can be picky, but in general it does go down very well.
- Some suggest it does not come with the citrus smell on which it seems to pride itself—though this is a rare occurrence.
Summary
So, again, if you’re looking for something of a more affordable option, then this feed is another great choice.
It is cheap and affordable without achieving that low price by simply cutting corners on what is in the feed.
The food is nutritionally about as complete as formulated feed without pellets can be, so this can still form the backbone of your cockatiel’s diet. At such an affordable price, again, you cannot go wrong with this food.
Sweet Harvest Cockatiel Bird Food – Alternative Premium
Finally, we have an alternative budget option, this Sweet Harvest cockatiel bird food.
This is not quite as expensive as our other premium option, but still quite a bit more than the other options on this list.
But again, with that premium price, you are getting a premium product.
This premium seed mix packs as much nutrition into its formula as you could want out of a feed of its kind.
It has plenty of variety in its ingredients, including white proso, safflower and canary seeds, oat groats, buckwheat, raisins, carrots, papaya, spinach, and many supplements for things like vitamin E, zinc oxide, and calcium carbonate.
As you can see, then, this cockatiel food comes with lots of premium ingredients that you won’t get in the cheaper options.
Your cockatiels will love dried fruits and vegetables like raisins and carrots, and they come with lots of additional health benefits for the premium price you are paying.
There is also no filler in this feed, so even though you’re paying more, you are getting more value out of the food for it as there is less waste in the food.
This food will help to promote bright feathers and healthy skin when combined with the usual supplemental items of fresh fruits and vegetables.
It is triple-cleaned to ensure that there is no unexpected or nasty foreign debris in the food, which is always better for your peace of mind.
It is also nitrogen flushed for freshness, so your cockatiels will definitely find it much more appealing.
Most importantly, too, again this food is formulated with all-natural ingredients enriched with natural vitamins and minerals.
There are no artificial flavorings or supplements so you can once again rest assured that your cockatiels are getting the best possible nutrition out of this food without any additional worries.
If you’re looking to try a different option with money as no object, then this is another good option to try.
- Nutritionally rich and packed with a diverse range of dried fruits and vegetables which will be a great addition to your cockatiel’s ordinary feed.
- The enrichment of minerals and vitamins in this food will promote healthy feathers and skin, making your parrot both look and feel a lot healthier.
- With no filler, there is virtually no waste in this feed—so despite the high price point, you are getting the same value for money.
- More expensive option which may put some off, though the price point certainly reflects the quality of the food.
- Some complain of an unpleasant smell from the food though this may be down to distributors selling food past its expiry date.
- Some customers have reported finding bugs in the bag on arrival. This, though, is again very rare.
Summary
Again, if you don’t need to worry about saving money on the food you feed to your cockatiels, then this makes a great option for you.
It is packed with the usual suspects in terms of seeds and cereal grains, while also providing great benefit to your parrot in the form of exotic fruits and dried vegetables.
It’s more expensive than the other options and that’s something you’ll have to keep in mind in the long term, but you are definitely getting value for money in this feed.