Can cockatiels eat sunflower seeds?

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With caution
Sunflower seeds · for cockatiels

Yes, but ration them — sunflower seeds are safe yet so fatty and addictive that parrots will eat them to the exclusion of everything else.

What it means for cockatiels

Because cockatiels are prone to fatty liver and vitamin-A deficiency, treat sunflower seeds as an occasional, rationed treat rather than a regular food — a little goes a long way for a bird this size. Offer a small, cockatiel-sized portion.

The full picture on sunflower seeds

Sunflower seeds are the potato chips of the bird world: high fat, high reward, low effort. A seed-junkie parrot eating a sunflower-heavy mix is on the road to obesity, fatty liver disease, and malnutrition — the classic diet problem in budgies, cockatiels, and conures.

See the full sunflower seeds guide or the Cockatiel diet guide for more.

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