13 Best Nutrient-Rich Vegetables For Healthy Parrots

Published by Joseph Calabrese on

Pellets and seeds alone are not enough to meet a parrot’s dietary needs.

To live long and healthy lives, parrots need a range of nutrient-rich vegetables and fruits.

Without proper nutrition, parrots will become deficient in essential nutrients.

Below are 13 of the best vegetables you can feed your parrot, you’ll also learn the benefits and nutritional content of each vegetable which you can use to help supplement your bird’s specific dietary needs.

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1) Carrots

best vegetables for parrots
(Image Credit: Pixabay)

Carrots are a good vegetable to serve on a regular basis.

By feeding carrots, you’ll be serving your parrot a healthy amount of the following nutrients:

  • Vitamin A
  • Vitamin C
  • Vitamin B9
  • Vitamin K1
  • Fibre
  • Potassium
  • Biotin

Birds who need a higher vitamin A intake should eat carrots often.

You can serve carrots raw, steamed, or mashed, however, carrots can lose some of their nutritional value when cooked.

For this reason, I suggest giving your parrots raw carrots most of the time.

All parts of the carrot can be served, including the green tops, just make sure you wash before serving to remove any pesticides.

2) Green Beans

best vegetables for parrots
(Image Credit: Pixabay)

Parrots like to have fun with green beans as they can rip out the pea pods from within the bean.

Not only is it highly nutritious, but beans are also great foraging foods!

My cockatiel absolutely loves removing and eating the pea pods.

When eating green beans, your bird will be receiving a good amount of these nutrients:

  • Fibre
  • Vitamin K
  • Variety of B vitamins
  • Folic acids
  • Phosphorus

Green beans can be served raw or boiled with little difference in their nutritional value.

3) Peas

best vegetables for parrots
(Image Credit: Pixabay)

Most parrots will enjoy the soft texture and delicious flavour of peas.

Fresh peas or peas from green beans and snap peas are a good source of the following nutrients:

  • Vitamin C
  • Vitamin A
  • Vitamin B
  • Vitamin E
  • Zinc
  • Epicatechin
  • Catechin

Peas can be safely served to your bird raw or cooked.

Studies have shown that peas have a higher vitamin content when fed raw, but they have a higher mineral content when cooked.

I like to add peas to all my chop mix recipes as my cockatiel loves them.

4) Cauliflower

best vegetables for parrots
(Image Credit: Pixabay)

Part of the cabbage family, cauliflower is one of the best vegetables you can serve your parrots due to how many vitamins and minerals are found in just small amounts.

Cauliflower is a good source of the following nutrients:

  • Antioxidant vitamins
  • Fibre
  • Variety of B vitamins
  • Vitamin C

100 grams of cauliflower will give us humans 100% of our recommended daily intake of vitamin C, just imagine how beneficial 10 grams would be to our parrots.

However, the vitamin C count drastically drops when cooked, as do antioxidants.

For this reason, I suggest serving cauliflower to your parrot raw.

5) Broccoli

best vegetables for birds
(Image Credit: Pixabay)

Another delicious member of the cabbage family, broccoli is often a favourite among parrots as they enjoy picking off the little green heads.

Broccoli is a great source of the following nutrients:

  • Calcium (good for breeding birds)
  • Vitamin K
  • Vitamin A
  • Vitamin B6
  • Iron
  • Potassium
  • Phosphorus

Broccoli also has a considerable amount of protein.

You can serve this vegetable to your parrots raw, boiled, or steamed, however, boiling broccoli can remove up to 90% of its nutritional value.

Your parrot can feed on all parts of the broccoli, including the stalk and leaves.

6) Kale

(Image Credit: Pixabay)

Kale is a super healthy food for your parrots.

Most birds enjoy chewing on the stem as it has a satisfying crunch to it.

Kale is a great source of the following nutrients:

  • Vitamin A
  • Vitamin K
  • Calcium
  • Fibre
  • Folate
  • Vitamin C

Raw kale contains more nutrients, while steamed kale will contain more minerals and antioxidants.

Your bird will benefit greatly from both preparations of kale.

7) Snap Peas

(Image Credit: Pixabay)

Sugar snap peas and snow peas are great vegetables to regularly serve your parrots.

They have a very satisfying crunch which birds often enjoy, snap peas are also rich in these nutrients:

  • Beta-Carotene
  • Vitamin A
  • Potassium
  • Vitamin K
  • Vitamin C

Snap peas can be served to your bird raw or cooked with little difference in their nutritional value.

I feel that most birds would prefer eating them raw due to the crispy texture.

8) Corn

(Image Credit: Pixabay)

Many parrots enjoy the juicy taste of corn, if you feed them the whole cob, they’ll have fun picking off the corn pieces before eating them.

Not only is corn delicious, but it’s also a fun and edible toy!

Corn is high in the following nutrients:

  • Natural sugars (safe for birds)
  • Fibre
  • Antioxidants
  • Lutein
  • Vitamin C

Parrots can eat regular corn and sweet corn with no problems.

However, corn should not be fed too much as it has a high natural sugar content similar to fruit, which can be bad in high amounts.

It’s best served raw but can still be beneficial when eaten cooked or steamed.

9) Spinach

(Image Credit: Pixabay)

Spinach is a leafy favourite among most parrots, typically smaller birds such as budgies and cockatiels enjoy them as healthy training treats.

This leafy green is available all throughout the year in supermarkets.

Spinach is high in the following nutrients:

  • Potassium
  • Lutein
  • Calcium
  • Vitamin A
  • Vitamin K
  • Fibre

Spinach can be served fresh out of the packaging after a good wash.

Other than the fact that cooked spinach contains more beta carotene than raw spinach, there are no big nutritional differences between raw and cooked.

It’s recommended by experts to serve spinach in moderation.

10) Arugula (Rocket Leaf)

(Image Credit: Pixabay)

Arugula, also known as rocket, is a minty flavoured green leaf that is very healthy for your parrots.

Rocket leaves are a good source of the following nutrients:

  • Vitamin A
  • Vitamin K
  • Vitamin C
  • Calcium
  • Magnesium
  • Potassium

Arugula can be served raw or cooked with little difference to its nutritional value.

My cockatiel loves chewing on the crunchy stems of the rocket leaf when I clip it to the cage.

11) Asparagus

(Image Credit: Pixabay)

Asparagus is among extremely healthy vegetables that often get underused when feeding parrots.

This giant stalk can easily be clipped to the cage after a thorough wash.

Asparagus is rich in the following nutrients:

  • Vitamin K
  • Vitamin A
  • Folate
  • Fibre

Asparagus can be served to your parrots cooked or raw.

Most people prefer to boil or cooked this veggie to soften it up before eating.

However, this isn’t necessary for parrots as their strong beaks can easily chomp through the toughness of raw asparagus.

In fact, they probably enjoy the challenge.

12) Beetroot

(Image Credit: Pixabay)

For some reason, many people believe that parrots cannot eat betroot and that it’s a toxic food.

This is simply false.

In fact, many birds enjoy the juicy taste of red betroot and its leafy green tops.

Beetroot is a good source of the following nutrients:

  • Folate
  • Vitamin B9
  • Nitrates
  • Manganese
  • Vitamin C

Now, according to thesprucepets.com, nitrates are not good for parros in high amounts.

Since beetroots are naturally high in nitrates, I only recommend feeding it in small amounts every now and then.

It’s not something you should feed your parrot regularly.

Beetroot is best fed to add some variety to an already healthy diet.

It’s probably best not to add to your bird’s daily chop mix.

13) Romaine Lettuce

(Image Credit: Pixabay)

Although most types of lettuces are not recommended for parrots due to their low nutritional value, romaine lettuce is the exception.

Romaine lettuce is one of the most nutritional lettuces that contain a high amount of the following:

  • Vitamin A
  • Calcium
  • Iron
  • Vitamin C

It also has a notable amount of protein.

Romaine lettuce can be fed raw or slightly cooked with a minimal difference in nutritional value.

Most leafy greens can be easily clipped to the cage.

What Other Vegetables Can Parrots Eat?

The vegetables mentioned above are some of the most healthiest foods you can feed parrots.

However, there is a whole range of other delicious veggies that birds can eat.

If you want to know what other vegetables you can serve your parrot, I suggest reading the full list of safe and nutritious veggies for birds.

Also, read the full list of safe fruits to feed birds.

Both these articles list literally ALL safe fruits and vegetables for parrots.

What Vegetables Can Parrots NOT Eat?

Although parrots can eat most vegetables with no problems, there are a few foods you need to avoid feeding.

These vegetables are either toxic or deadly to birds in small or high amounts:

  • Rhubarb
  • Avocado
  • Mushrooms
  • Onions

View the complete list of toxic foods for parrots here.

Random image of my bird

Short Summary

The 13 healthiest vegetables to feed birds are:

  • Carrots
  • Green Beans
  • Peas
  • Cauliflower
  • Broccoli
  • Kale
  • Snap Peas
  • Corn
  • Spinach
  • Arugula (rocket)
  • Asparagus
  • Beetroot
  • Romaine Lettuce

All of these veggies are great when added to a chop mix.

But you can also feed these individually as they can be clipped to the cage or presented on a skewer.

I always give my cockatiel vegetable mixes on a skewer:

Good luck feeding these to your bird.

Hopefully, they aren’t too fussy 🙂

Read this post if you have trouble introducing new foods to your bird.

Sources

Categories: Nutrition/Diet

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