Parrot Feeding Calculator
Daily food by weight for your species — split into pellets, fresh food and the treat ceiling.
https://calculators.nirajiitr.com/pets/bird-feeding-calculator
How it works
Small birds eat far more relative to their size than large ones, because heat loss scales with surface area while food intake scales with mass — a budgie gets through around a tenth of its body weight a day, a macaw closer to a twentieth. That is why a single spoon-per-bird rule fails badly across species. On top of that, a flighted aviary bird burns considerably more than a caged one, and a bird feeding chicks more again.
daily food = body weight × species share × activity factor- body weight
- Weighed on a gram scale, not estimated
- species share
- Daily intake as a percentage of body weight
- activity factor
- 0.9 caged, up to 1.35 when breeding
- treat ceiling
- 10% of intake — a maximum, not a target
Worked example
A 90 gram cockatiel with daily out-of-cage time.
- 1Cockatiels eat about 8% of body weight daily: 90 × 0.08 = 7.2 g
- 2Typical activity, so the factor is 1.0 — still 7.2 g
- 3Pellets at 70% of intake: 7.2 × 0.7 = 5.0 g
- 4Treat ceiling at 10%: 0.7 g, leaving 1.5 g of fresh vegetables
About 7 grams a day: 5 g pellets, 1.5 g fresh greens and no more than 0.7 g of seed.
Frequently asked questions
Why is an all-seed diet such a problem?
Seed is high in fat and very low in vitamin A, calcium and several amino acids, and birds selectively eat their favourite seeds and leave the rest — so the diet is even narrower than the mix suggests. The result over years is fatty liver disease, vitamin A deficiency and poor feather condition, and it remains the commonest underlying cause of illness in pet parrots. Seed belongs in the treat allowance; pellets, which cannot be selectively picked through, should be the staple.
How do I convert a seed-addicted bird to pellets?
Slowly, and while watching the scales. Birds can starve rather than recognise something unfamiliar as food, so never remove seed outright. Mix a small proportion of pellets in and increase it over weeks, offer pellets first thing when the bird is hungriest, and eat them yourself in front of the bird, which genuinely helps with a flock animal. Weigh daily during the transition: any sustained drop means back off and involve a vet.
Should I leave food available all day?
For most companion parrots, yes for pellets — they self-regulate reasonably well on a food they cannot gorge selectively. Fresh food is different and should come out after a few hours, because it spoils quickly and cultures bacteria, especially in a warm room. The birds most at risk of obesity from free feeding are the ones on seed, which is palatable enough to overeat considerably.
What foods are actually dangerous?
Avocado, chocolate, caffeine, alcohol, onion and garlic in quantity, and anything containing xylitol. Fruit pits and apple seeds contain cyanogenic compounds. Separately and more urgently, fumes from overheated non-stick cookware kill birds within minutes and give no warning — it is the single most common preventable cause of sudden death in a pet parrot, and worth removing non-stick pans from a house with birds entirely.
How often should I weigh my bird?
Weekly for a healthy adult, at the same time of day and ideally before the first feed, on a gram scale. Birds hide illness extremely well as a prey-species instinct, and weight loss is very often the first measurable sign — usually appearing well before any visible change in behaviour. A trend of several percent down over a couple of weeks warrants a vet visit even if the bird seems fine.