The best foods for your pet parrot to eat are fresh vegetables and fruit, along with pellets or seeds.
While the fresh items can be taken care of with the help of anything from apples and broccoli to passion fruit and corn-on-the-cob, seed and pellet mixtures can supplement these and help to ensure they’re getting their full range of necessary nutrients.
So we have reviewed the best parrot food mixes available to buy online, for a range of breeds and needs.
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Best Pellets
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Best Pellets
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Best Seed Mix
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Best Seed Mix
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Best For African Grey
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Best For African Grey
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Check Price |
These pellets are certified organic and have been made with human-grade ingredients to ensure a balanced, healthy diet.
There are no artificial colourings, herbicides, pesticides, preservatives or chemicals, and as every pellet is the same, selective feeding is eliminated. They’re an ideal maintenance diet product and are around 1cm in size so perfect for birds who like to hold food in their feet.
This size also appeals to birds, who are more likely to eat foods if they don’t have to work in order to consume them. It is suitable for medium to large parrots including Pionus, Amazons, cockatoos and macaws.
Harrisons is seen as the creme de la creme of bird food suppliers, so while this food could work out as a bit expensive versus the larger bags from other brands, it is the absolute best you can give your parrot.
A traditionally based food mix with striped and white sunflower seed, safflower seed, whole maize, whole oats, pale skin peanuts, monkey nuts, pine nuts, chillies, flaked maize, flaked peas, puffed maize, puffed wheat, naked oats, buckwheat, and red dari.
Perfect for use alongside fresh fruit and vegetables as well as any necessary supplements, it offers one of the most diverse mixes of seed and nuts available, which should work a long way towards giving your parrot a balanced diet.
This blend doesn’t contain any dried fruit, which will work for anyone who prefers to give their parrot certain fruits and vegetables freshly prepared (or if you think they’d pick this out and leave the rest).
It isn’t packed with sunflower seeds either, which is good as consuming too many can cause issues. Because it is a huge bag, it will last for ages and works out as great value.
These pellets contain nutritious, natural ingredients, which are all rolled into berry shaped pieces and coated with vitamins and minerals.
Not only are they eye-catching and sure to take your bird’s interest, but each piece contains the 40 essential nutrients which Dr T.J. Lafeber himself believed to be vital for a birds health. They also have sweet apricots, raisins and cranberries for a bit more of a taste sensation and some fruit content.
On top of a selection of fresh vegetables, it should be all you need to give your bird a balanced diet and are more exciting than a lot of other plain brown pellets out there.
A fruit and seed mix which is sure to be just as tasty as it is nutritious.
The mango, cashew nuts and walnuts all offer different textures and tastes to prevent your bird from becoming bored. This can lead to feather plucking, so if they are eating the same day in day out, this variety can stop them from becoming fed up with it too quickly.
It’s suitable for all types of parrot, thanks to the small pieces of food and balanced tastes. It is also good value for what you get, which should cut down on waste.
African varieties of bird, such as African Grey Conures, Large Conures, Small Meyers and Senegals, need slightly different requirements versus ordinary indoor bird food.
This is a complete pelleted diet, with good levels of calcium to ensure a healthy bird. It is also lower in fat than the pellets for other species, which is good as they are prone to obesity.
Each pellet is colourful and varied, so they won’t be eating the same plain food all the time, which can lead to boredom.
A blend of more than 20 human consumption grade ingredients including 5 different nuts and 5 different fruits, which gives your bird variety and quality all in one place.
It contains clipped oats, currants, pineapple, apricot, brazil nut kernels, walnut halves, peanuts, monkey nuts, pine nuts, chillies, rosehips, carrot, pumpkin seed, flaked peas, puffed maize, papaya, banana, medium striped and white sunflower, safflower and whole maize in all, which means there isn’t too much of one single ingredient to cause picky eating or any deficiencies.
It comes in a plastic tub, which keeps it nice and fresh compared to ones supplied in a bag. If you have a galah, it won’t be suitable but should be good for any other variety.
This variety of seeds, nuts, fruit and chillies will keep your parrot healthy and interested, which is vital for curing boredom and ensuring they don’t become too fussy.
It is a good value pick, without being too low-quality. Each piece of food is on the larger side so perfect for bigger birds, although smaller parrot varieties will likely also find it easy to eat.
Good for African Grey parrots, Indian Ringnecks and larger lovebirds, this mix of 17 different seeds and fruits is great for providing your bird with essential dietary requirements.
There is egg food to provide essential amino acids, plus supplementary vitamins and minerals. Added echinacea is added to boost natural immunity and the whole blend is enriched with honey and fruit juice for maximum palatability while maintaining natural ingredients.
All grains are quite small, which is usually perfect for birds as they are more likely to eat them all. Beaphar is a trusted brand when it comes to pet products, and this food demonstrates that.
Crunchy, fruit flavoured pellets which will appeal to any large bird, and provide them with 100% of their daily needs.
The pellets are all different sizes, colours and shapes, which provides variety and means they are less likely to be picky over what they eat or go off the pellets altogether after a time. This increased likelihood of eating everything means less waste, which is good for your parrot’s health as well as your purse.
We love the fact that there is added DHA Omega 3 too, to boost brain function and ensure you have one clever pet on your hands!
One of the biggest bags of seed available on the market, offering highly nutritious and high-quality ingredients.
It contains chillies, yellow egg bisc, peanut in shell, peanut kernels, safflower, superior oats, medium and small sunflower seeds and whole maze for variety. Perfect for caged birds who maybe aren’t as active as they would be in the wild.
We will say that there are quite a lot of sunflower seeds, and as parrots shouldn’t have more than around 12 per day, this food is definitely best as a seed mix for use sparingly, or if you’re willing to pick excess out.
Aside from the fresh stuff such as fruit and vegetables, shop-bought parrot food comes in two variations – pellet and seed mix.
Pellets are preferred as the main diet source, approximately 40-80% depending on breed and size, as they contain the nutrients needed for good health, with the rest made up of mostly vegetables and a small amount of seed.
Pellets have been around as a complete food for most indoor birds for over 30 years now.
The ones on sale now are much-improved on what was available years ago, as the understanding of a parrot’s diet has improved.
They’re often described as a maintenance diet product as they contain most of the vitamins, probiotics, calcium and other minerals needed daily, so a good portion of pellets every day will cut out the need for further supplements.
Pellets are available for all bird species. If you buy high-quality pellets, they shouldn’t contain too many artificial additives. But as they aren’t the most natural food for indoor birds, some may not take to them, and it could be easier to wean a young bird onto pellets rather than switching diets.
Seed mixes aren’t a complete diet for parrots, even though they seem like the more natural pick between these and pellets. Most vets recommend the latter as most of the diet, with a scattering of seeds daily.
If you choose to give your bird more seed and cut down on pellets, you will likely need to feed your bird additional supplements such as vitamins and calcium. They can also get these from greens, but you’d have to monitor the right balance.
Watch out for the content of sunflower seeds. Too many fed to a parrot can be fatal, by clogging their arteries. Around a dozen per day is fine, but this means you don’t want to buy a cheap seed mix which has been bulked up with sunflower seeds.
Some seed mixes now contain pellets too, making them an almost exclusive diet for your bird (but watch out for exact content and advice from brand to brand).
Parrots can eat larger pieces of food compared to smaller birds, but according to the Circus Diet study from Parrot University, pea-sized pieces are best as your bird’s brain is automatically focused on eating every item without thinking too much about how to do this.
This mostly applies to home-prepared food as most commercial is generally fine, but if you are concerned your parrot is not eating properly or is fussy, looking for pellets or seeds which are smaller is a great idea.
Bear in mind that some larger birds, particularly parrots, can ignore seeds which are too small if this is what they are given. It may take a while to find the right balance.
Many parrot foods will use human-grade food, which shows the best quality and usually cuts out the additional additives, preservatives and colourings. This is the best for your bird.
When looking for fresh food, you should also opt for organic where possible. Organic foods may have higher nutritional value versus ordinary, according to some research. This is because no pesticides and fertilisers mean a boost of vitamins and antioxidants.
Birds, just like other small animals, can often pick out their favourite parts of food mixes and leave the rest, leaving them suffering from malnutrition.
This is why, when buying pellets, purchasing a mix where all of the pellets are the same is a good idea. You can choose for them all to be the same colour or a mixture, but it is a good idea to avoid muesli mixes with pieces of dried fruit flakes or seeds in if your bird is fussy.
It doesn’t actually exist! Parrots need certain nutrients and vitamins every day, but this can vary from bird to bird and species to species, as well as during seasonal moulting and breeding cycles.
They can also source these from a few different places and food types, so it is hard to really say the absolute musts your domesticated parrot needs to eat.
But one thing is for sure – don’t try and replicate a captive birds diet with what they would eat in the wild. Wild parrots fly for miles per day and have to actively find food, but captive birds don’t.
So if your bird doesn’t get much exercise, they need to eat something low-fat. You really need to know what you’re doing and seek advice from vets when you start your bird ownership journey.
Portion size is crucial for captive birds. But you need to know your bird to know how much to give them. If there’s a lot of food left in the bowl the next morning, you’re probably offering too much.
Overfeeding is also a concern. Some will happily eat everything in front of them, and cases of bird obesity are sharply on the rise with poor nutrition to blame.
But do keep an eye if they are leaving food regularly, to ensure there isn’t a medical issue. You may wish to weigh them weekly, and a bird who has eaten well has bright eyes, shiny feathers and an active posture.
African Grey’s are vulnerable to both calcium and vitamin A deficiencies as well as obesity, which is why there are dedicated food mixes out there for them.
These will contain slightly higher levels of the nutrients as well as a bit less fat to combat obesity. They can also alter their diet in the wild to suit the fruit and seeds in season, so the mixes have usually been specially formulated to prevent picky eating.
Parrots love nuts, but you shouldn’t give them too many (just like with sunflower seeds). Giving them as treats or rewards is a good idea, so you may want to look out for a seed mix which doesn’t contain many.
Some people believe that it is bad to give them monkey nuts because of the risk of Aspergillosis (a lung disease caught from mould which is very hard to combat). But human grade peanuts should be safe, and keep them as fresh as possible.
