Cockatiels can eat corn, yes. Cockatiels can eat various foods, and they will love pecking on corn kernels and even plucking it out from the cob. Corns are highly nutritious, and your pet will surely get some nutrients from it. Since corn can be one of the healthy grains you can easily find, it can be great for your pet.
Corn is one of the grains you can find as ingredients in most feeds. Thus, it’s no wonder why cockatiels can take delight in it.
Still, you may want to learn a little bit more about corn before feeding some to your pet.
Let’s take a look at it!
Contents
Can cockatiels eat cooked corn?
Yes, cockatiels can eat cooked corn. Cooking corn makes the kernels soft and easy to eat. Thus, not only is it ideal for us, but it’s also great for our cockatiels.
One thing you should remember when feeding cooked corn is to avoid adding anything.
While cooked corn is safe, it doesn’t mean you can feed any kind. A simple boiled or steamed corn is safe.
However, adding anything such as sugar or butter, doesn’t make it ideal for cockatiels.
As long as you feed it plain and simple, cockatiels can enjoy cooked corn without harm.
Now, how about an uncooked one? Is it safe?
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Can cockatiels eat raw corn?
Although cockatiels can eat the cooked corn, it doesn’t mean they can’t eat it raw.
Raw corn is an excellent food for birds, and it’s something your cockatiel will love all the more.
Raw corn, compared to cooked, has that crunchy texture that your pet will love.
These birds would even delight in dried corn kernels since it’s usually the ones you can find in bird seeds.
Another positive note about raw corn is that it retains most of the nutrients for birds to enjoy.
If there’s one thing you should do, it is to make sure that the raw corn is safe and clean.
Thus, it would be best to offer raw corn after washing it and making sure it’s free from any dirt.
Can cockatiels eat canned corn?
Canned corn is a safe food for a cockatiel, but only as long as it contains no chemicals or artificial preservatives.
Most of the canned corn has some sweet syrup that accompanies it. Whether it acts as a preservative or an additive for flavor, that’s not ideal for cockatiels.
For this reason, when feeding canned corn, make sure it’s free from additional flavors and chemicals.
Moreover, if you can’t help feeding such, it would be best to wash the corn first and have it dried before feeding.
If you have any other corn alternatives, it would be best to switch with that one instead of canned.
When feeding cockatiels, it is ideal to stay on the safe side by offering a natural feed.
Can cockatiels eat raw corn on the cob?
Cockatiels love to peck on their food, and so they would find raw corn on the cob a great snack.
As I said earlier, cockatiels won’t find it challenging to eat raw corn. Thus, it won’t make any difference if they eat some on the cob.
If you have raw corn, you can offer it whole and allow your pet to pluck each kernel off.
Still, when feeding raw corn on the cob, you may want to watch out for your pet bird for a while.
Although most raw corns are easy to eat by birds, some are extremely hard.
If you see your pet struggling, it would be best to help out a little by plucking the kernels yourself.
If you want, you can soak the cob in water for a few minutes to let it soften a bit. Soaking and allowing it to become soft for a little makes all the difference, especially for our pets.
At the same time, don’t let your pet snack on a whole cob. While it is safe for these birds, it’s not ideal for allowing them to snack on the entire cob.
The best thing to do would be to cut the cob into smaller pieces and offer them to your pet. This way, you can be confident your cockatiel won’t be overeating corn.
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How much corn can cockatiels eat?
Cockatiels shouldn’t eat too many corn snacks. Like all other birds and animals, they should have a balanced diet of a few things.
Along with all other snacks, corn should only make 10% of their daily food intake.
The most significant percentage should be pellets, making up a total of 60% of their daily diet. The remaining 30% should be for vegetables like carrots and fruits like grapes or raisins.
The key to a good diet is always balance. For this reason, you should limit feeding corn snacks to not more than once a day.
Further, it would be best if you didn’t feed corn as the only treat or snack. Consider getting a variety of options like nuts, fruits, and seeds.
Risks of feeding your cockatiel corn
There isn’t much risk in feeding corn to your cockatiel. Still, you may want to be cautious of these two things:
Too much corn is not ideal.
As I said earlier, corn should only be snacks, not taking more than 10% of your cockatiel’s diet. As soon as you offer it in moderation, you won’t likely go wrong with corn.
Feeding cooked corn with added flavor can be harmful.
There are many ways to cook corn, and most of it includes adding flavors to it.
While these flavors enhance the taste of corn for us, it can’t be a delight for our pet cockatiels.
For this reason, always make sure you offer corn without any seasoning, especially if you’re offering a cooked one.
Adding small amounts of corn to a cockatiel’s diet should be alright. You can let your pet snack on corn as long as you keep it safe for your pet to eat.
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Summary
Cockatiels can eat corn, and it can be a great source of nutrients for your pet. Corns are rich in different nutritious components. Further, it also offers various vitamins and minerals. The only thing you should be mindful of is the starch content. It would be best to take it as a reminder to limit corn only as a snack or treat.
Cockatiels need a balanced diet, and corn can be handy in this aspect. As long as you maintain a balanced diet for your cockatiel, feeding corn can be a healthy option once in a while.
Resources
Image Credits:
- Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash
- https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2018/01/14/22/40/bird-3082777_960_720.jpg
