I feed my Umbrella Cockatoo a mixture of the Lafeber pellets & Nutriberries. She grinds the pellets into small pieces, so I am not sure how much she is actually eating. I need to pack up her food for 2 weeks of boarding and I want to make sure I give her enough. I give her about 1/2 cup of pellets daily with about 10 Nutriberries along with a few other foods. Is this sufficient for my 34 year old female Umbrella?
Thanks for reaching out to Ask Lafeber.
For a healthy adult Umbrella Cockatoo, pellet-based diets are typically the foundation of the diet, even if the bird crushes or “mills” some of the pellets before swallowing them. Many parrots naturally grind pellets into fragments as part of normal eating behavior, so seeing crumbs doesn’t necessarily mean she’s wasting most of the food.
A practical approach for a 2-week boarding stay is to base the amount on what you normally offer rather than what appears to disappear.
Umbrella Cockatoos typically eat roughly 1/4 to 1/2 cup of pellets and pellet-based foods per day, though individual birds vary based on size, activity level, and what other foods they receive.
If you’re feeding a mix of Lafeber pellets and Nutri-Berries, I would suggest packing:
Boarding facilities are usually happy to return any unused food.
If you have a few days before boarding:
That will give you a much more accurate estimate for your specific bird.
If you typically provide:
per day, then for 14 days you might pack:
plus a little extra.
Let the boarding facility know that she pulverizes pellets. Experienced bird caretakers understand this behavior and can monitor:
