Bird Food Calculator: How Much to Feed Per Day
Birds waste half of what you serve and hide it when they're underfed, so "the bowl looks empty" tells you nothing. This calculator works out what your bird actually needs from its body weight and metabolic rate, then converts it into real-world portions.
How the calculation works
A bird's daily energy need scales with metabolic body weight, not linearly with size: a budgie needs proportionally far more fuel per gram than a macaw. We estimate maintenance energy as roughly 129 × kg0.75 kcal/day (the mid-range of published avian maintenance estimates), then split it across the diet avian vets recommend:
| Component | Share of calories | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Formulated pellets | ~60–75% | The nutritional backbone: complete vitamins, minerals and protein |
| Vegetables & greens | ~20–25% | Vitamin A, fibre, foraging enrichment; low calorie so portions look generous |
| Fruit | ~5% | Sugar-dense: a garnish, not a staple |
| Seeds & nuts | ≤10% | Fat-dense treats; ideal as training rewards, ruinous as a staple |
Then we show two numbers: what your bird will actually eat, and the larger amount to offer, because hulling, cracking and enthusiastic flinging mean a third to a half of served food never gets swallowed.
The seed-only problem
Seed mixes are the potato chips of the bird world: birds love them, and a seed-only diet is the leading cause of obesity, vitamin A deficiency and fatal fatty liver disease in pet birds. If your bird currently eats mostly seed, convert to pellets gradually over weeks: abrupt switches can cause a bird to simply stop eating, which is dangerous at small body sizes.
Bird feeding FAQ
How much should a budgie eat per day?
A budgie eats roughly 2–3 g of dry food daily. Offer about 1.5–2 level teaspoons of pellets plus a small pile of chopped vegetables, with seed limited to a treat. If the weekly weigh-in is stable, the amount is right.
How much should a cockatiel eat per day?
Roughly 4–6 g of dry food eaten. Offer about 1.5–2 tablespoons of pellets plus 1–2 tablespoons of chopped veg, seeds as treats only.
My bird's bowl is empty every day. Is it eating too much?
Not necessarily: hulls and crumbs make consumption look bigger than it is. The gram scale is the only honest referee: weigh weekly at the same time of day. A sustained ±5% change in body weight is your signal to adjust.
How do I switch my bird from seed to pellets?
Gradually, over 2–8 weeks: mix increasing pellet proportions into the seed, offer pellets in the morning when hungriest, and never starve a bird into compliance: small birds can develop life-threatening problems within 24–48 hours of not eating. Your avian vet can supervise stubborn cases.
What foods are dangerous for birds?
Avocado (often fatal), chocolate, caffeine, alcohol, high-salt foods, and fruit pits/apple seeds. Also non-food: overheated non-stick (PTFE) cookware fumes kill birds within hours. Bird households cook on stainless or cast iron.
How much do birds eat a day?
Small birds eat a lot for their size: maintenance energy is about 129 × (weight in kg)^0.75 kcal a day, which works out at roughly 2 to 3 g of dry food for a budgie, 8 to 12 g for a cockatiel, 25 to 35 g for an African grey and 40 to 60 g for a large macaw, plus vegetables. Offer more than that, because a third to a half of what you serve is hulled, dropped or flung; the calculator gives both the eaten and the offered amounts.
How old is your bird, really?
Convert bird years to human years with species-specific data: the answer changes everything about how you feed a senior.
Bird age calculator →Related calculators
Sources: Merck Veterinary Manual, Nutrition in Psittacines & Pet Birds; Association of Avian Veterinarians client guidance; avian maintenance energy estimates from published avian medicine references. Portion equivalents are approximate (1 tsp pellets ≈ 3 g). Last reviewed August 2026.