Since ancient times, grapes had been one of the favorite fruits of the masses. However, in this particular instance, you want to know, can cockatiel eat grapes?
With its perfect bite-sized shape, it’s one of those fruits that once you start eating, it’s hard to stop… This also applies to cockatiels too, so yes, cockatiels can eat grapes and will!
Are Grapes Good for Cockatiels?
Grapes can be an amazing energy booster for pet cockatiels as they have a high concentration of a natural sweetener called fructose.
Grapes are full of Vitamin C for health and stress, Vitamin A to help chickens with growth, and Vitamin B6 to prevent poor growth and nervous behavior.
Nutritional Content of Grapes
Cockatiels love grapes as they’re a real energy boost but only feed them as a treat because they’re too high in natural sugar (fructose) to be fed regularly.
| Typical Values | Per 100g |
| Total Fat | 0.4g |
| of which saturated | 0.1g |
| Carbohydrate | 17g |
| of which sugars | 16g |
| Fiber | 0.9g |
| Protein | 0.6g |
| Salt | 2.0mg |
| Vitamins and Minerals | |
| Vitamin A | |
| Vitamin B6 | |
| Vitamin C | |
| Magnesium | |
| Calcium | |
| Iron |
Grapes also contain other necessary minerals such as copper, manganese, and potassium which could help in the development and growth of your cockatiel.
Due to the levels of fructose, overfeeding your cockatiel with grapes can make your bird overweight or obese which could lead to other potential problems.
How to Feed Grapes to Cockatiels?
Store-brought grapes, especially the cheaper variants, will most likely still contain traces of harmful pesticides that could potentially endanger your cockatiel’s life.
It’s always best to buy organic grapes to feed to your cockatiel and although they can be expensive, at least you know there are no harmful pesticides on them.
Whether you buy regular grapes or organic grapes, you should still rinse them to help remove any dirt or bacteria from people picking them up or during transportation.
The seeds inside the grapes can be classified as a choking hazard for your birds so you should also remove them beforehand or you can buy seedless grapes for convenience.
Consider slicing up the grapes into smaller pieces so that smaller cockatiels could easily eat them as well.
Just make sure that you are using a clean knife to avoid introducing deadly parasites or diseases to your lovely feathered pets.