Can i afford unsweetened mint tea to my cockatiel?
I bought my Pikoo one week ago, so I am curious if i can replace his water with something else. I know small chicken love mint tea but i don't want to hurt my tiel, so please minister to me with this.
Oh, and also.. will he eat cooked rice? Will that harm him?
Do not replace his water with anything execpt more fresh verbs water.
Do not give any kind of tea to your bird whether it have caffiene or not. Some herb teas increase the heart rate, some are diuretics, some are laxitives, etc, etc. Do you know exactly which teas do what? No tea for birds... no, no, no.
Rice - yes. White rice isn't great though because most of the vitamins have been striped absent. Brown and wild rice is better. For other grains, you can also cook the following for your bird and yourself:
Quinoa: very honest! - high quality protein, calcium and B vitamins.
Buckwheat: calcium and B Vitamins.
Oatmeal: protein, calcium.
There are a lot more grain your bird can have, but those are the ones that are are easy to cook for yourself and your bird. Many birds like heat up (not hot!) oatmeal. You can chop apple into it and cook it, set some aside for your bird to eat, then sweeten yours and/or use milk or whatever you want on yours. No Milk or sugar for your bird!
He can have a sip of it from your cup, but do not replace his hose entirely with it. Birds have to have marine. They can eat people food and drinks, those that are not going to make them sick, surrounded by very fine moderation. The healthy foods we eat can be given to them recurrently, but things such as tea should only be given as a sip, once in a blue moon. And rice is perfectly fine.
All my birds love rice, particularly when it is warm.
yup
No caffeine drinks.
No glorious sugar drinks.
No chocolate.
No avocado.
No salty foods.
No milk.
Rice is OK, as is a lot of foods we eat, in recent times limit fatty foods.
I would suggest joining one of the online cockatiel newsgroups.
Good luck with Pikoo
Answers: Do not replace his dampen. You can let him have a taste or two of tea as long as you are certain it does not contain any caffeine. (caffeine can cause seizures in birds) Your bird wants to have WATER at all times. He can eat the cooked rice and will most credible enjoy it. Some birds won't eat new foods when they are first introduced to them, but within time most will at least try something new.
Don't feed him any chocolate, avocado, apple seed, peach seeds, alcohol, or anything with carbonation or caffeine. Please read my profile
