How to Care for Kakariki: Diet, Cage and Breeding

Written by the Birdsville team. Last updated October 2026.

Kakariki are bright green, fast moving little parrots from New Zealand, full of curiosity and personality. They never seem to sit still, and watching one race along a perch or dig through its food bowl is half the fun of owning one. This guide covers how to care for a kakariki: diet, cage and aviary setup, enrichment, breeding and the health problems to watch for.

Tame hand raised kakariki with green feathers and a red crown standing on a person’s hand — Hand raised kakariki are friendly, curious and easy to tame

Birdsville regularly sells hand raised kakariki, along with all the food, cages, toys and supplies they need. Visit us at 684 Botany Road, Alexandria NSW 2015, or shop online through Petsville with delivery Australia-wide.

Kakariki Quick Facts

Scientific names: Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae (Red Crowned) and Cyanoramphus auriceps (Yellow Crowned)
Other names: Kakarikis, New Zealand Parakeets, Red Fronted and Yellow Fronted Parakeets
Native to: New Zealand
Adult size: about 23 to 28cm, 50 to 110g
Lifespan: around 10 to 15 years
Diet: small parrot seed, pellets, plenty of greens and vegetables
Housing: a long cage with daily time out, or ideally an aviary at least 3m long
Noise: moderate, with chattering and the occasional loud call
Talking: some learn a few words
Clutch: large, often 5 to 9 eggs and sometimes many more
Experience level: suits first time parrot owners who have time to spend with them

Kakariki as Pets
Red Crowned and Yellow Crowned Kakariki
Essential Supplies
Cage and Aviary Setup
Toys and Behavioural Enrichment
Diet and Feeding
Water and Bathing
Vitamins and Calcium
Handling and Bonding
Training
Common Health Problems
Worming and Parasites
Cleaning
Household Dangers
Choosing a Healthy Kakariki
Sexing Kakariki
Breeding Kakariki
Record Keeping
Holiday Care
Transport
Mixing With Other Birds
Boarding
FAQ
Recommended Vets and Links

Kakariki as Pets

Kakariki are one of the most active pet parrots you can own. They run, climb, hop and scratch around the floor of their cage much like a little chicken, digging through their food and bedding for anything interesting. That nonstop energy is what makes them so entertaining, and also why they need plenty of space and things to do.

Hand raised kakariki are friendly and inquisitive. They tend to be more interested in exploring than in sitting still for a cuddle, but they bond well with their owners and enjoy being part of what’s going on. They are quieter than many parrots, are not big chewers of furniture, and are easy to feed, which makes them a great choice for someone stepping up from a budgie or cockatiel.

Red Crowned and Yellow Crowned Kakariki

There are two main types of kakariki kept as pets.

Red Crowned Kakariki

The Red Crowned Kakariki is the one we usually have at Birdsville. It is bright green with a red forehead and crown, a red stripe through the eye and red patches on the sides of the rump. It’s the larger of the two, at around 27cm.

Yellow Crowned Kakariki

The Yellow Crowned Kakariki is a little smaller, around 23cm, with a narrow red band across the forehead and a golden yellow crown. We sometimes get Yellow Crowned Kakariki in, as well as cross bred birds.

Colour Varieties

Kakariki are also bred in colour mutations such as pied, cinnamon and lutino. Pied kakariki, with patches of yellow through the green, are especially popular. What we have in store changes, so call us or check our socials to see which colours are in.

Essential Supplies for Kakariki

You’ll find all of this, and much more, in-store at Birdsville and online at Petsville.

Cage and Housing

A long cage for medium birds, with bar spacing of about 1.25cm (https://birdsville.net.au/cages-accessories/cages/cages-for-medium-birds/)
Natural branch perches in a range of thicknesses
Newspaper or paper bedding for the tray
Cage cover

First Aid

Digital scale in grams
Styptic powder
Heat lamp

Travel

Carry cage

Worth Considering

Vetafarm Spark Liquid for moving day (https://petsville.com.au/products/vetafarm-spark-liquid-50ml)
Vetafarm Breeding Aid (https://petsville.com.au/products/vetafarm-breeding-aid-100ml)

Cage and Aviary Setup

Kakariki are very energetic and are best suited to an aviary. A walk in aviary at least 3 metres long gives them room to fly properly, and many keepers say kakariki are happiest of all in a long planted flight.

If you keep your kakariki in a cage, choose the longest cage you can, at least 90cm long, and give it time out every day to fly and explore. Length matters more than height, because kakariki fly back and forth and also spend a lot of time on the floor. Pick a cage with secure doors, as these clever birds are quick to slip out of an open door.

Because kakariki love to scratch and forage at ground level, a deep tray or a floor covered in clean paper bedding gives them something to dig through. Change it often, as they spend so much time down there.

Setting Up a Kakariki Cage

Choose a bright room where the family spends time, away from the kitchen and draughts.
Fit natural perches at different heights, leaving clear space to fly between them.
Place food and water dishes high, away from perches, plus one foraging dish on the floor.
Hang swings and a few toys, but don’t fill the cage so full that there’s no room to move.
Add a bath dish, as kakariki love to splash.
Cover the cage at night for 10 to 12 hours of quiet sleep.

Toys and Behavioural Enrichment

Kakariki are busy, clever birds, and a bored kakariki can become noisy or stressed. Good enrichment keeps them fit, happy and easier to tame. Our full range of hanging toys, foot toys, swings, ladders and perches is on Petsville.

Foraging: this is their favourite activity. Hide treats in shredded paper, cardboard boxes, paper muffin cups or a foraging toy, and scatter some seed on the cage floor so they can scratch for it.
Floor play: give them a tray of clean paper bedding, seeding grasses or wheatgrass to dig through.
Swings and ladders: kakariki love to climb and swing, which builds strength and balance.
Balls and foot toys: many kakariki enjoy chasing small wooden or plastic balls.
Bathing: offer a bath every couple of days. Most kakariki dive straight in.
Natural branches: fresh, unsprayed eucalyptus, bottlebrush or fruit tree branches give them something to strip and climb.
Toy rotation: swap toys every week or so, so each one feels new again.

Diet and Feeding

Kakariki are good eaters and will eat a wide variety of food. A healthy kakariki diet is built on a quality small parrot seed mix and pellets, with plenty of fresh greens and vegetables every day.

For the best results, we recommend feeding three things together: a basic mix such as our Basic Small Parrot Mix, a Birdsville Blend such as Tropical Small Parrot, and parrot pellets such as Vetafarm Parrot Maintenance or Paradise Pellets. Birdsville seed and Birdsville Blends are bagged fresh on site from quality ingredients, with such a high turnover that nothing sits on the shelf for long. Be wary of many supermarket and chain store mixes, which are often full of low quality grains and filler seed that affect the health and vitality of your bird.

A good diet matters even more if you plan to breed, because kakariki raise big clutches.

How Much and How Often to Feed

Adults: offer about 1 to 2 level tablespoons of seed and pellets a day, plus a dish of fresh greens and vegetables each morning. Blow the empty husks off the seed dish daily so you can see how much is really left, and remove fresh food before evening.

Young birds: newly weaned kakariki eat a lot. Keep seed and soft food available at all times while they grow.

Breeding birds: add egg and biscuit every day while chicks are being fed. By 5 weeks old, chicks eat as much as their parents, so food use rises quickly.

Weigh your bird every week. A steady weight tells you the amount is right.

Fruits and Veggie Guide

Vegetables

Spinach, silverbeet, broccoli, capsicum, green beans, peas, corn, carrot, sweet potato, pumpkin and celery. Kakariki love their greens, so offer plenty.

Fruits

Apple, pear, berries and grapes in small amounts.

Treats and Extras

Millet spray, sprouted seed, seeding grasses and a little egg and biscuit.

Avoid Entirely

Avocado, onion, chocolate, caffeine, alcohol, and salty or fatty food.

Water and Bathing

Fresh, clean water must always be available. Change it every day, and add Aviclens to help keep it clean. Kakariki love bathing and will often splash in their water bowl, so give them a separate bath dish a few times a week.

Vitamins and Calcium

Add a vitamin supplement such as Vetafarm Multivet to the water once or twice a week. Every bird benefits from a regular vitamin boost, whatever its diet.

We recommend Vetafarm Calcivet for every bird, especially those kept indoors or out of direct sunlight, as it supplies calcium and vitamin D3. A cuttlebone gives an extra calcium source. Calcium is especially important for hens, which lay large clutches.

Close up of a yellow kakariki with a red crown and a little green on the face — Kakariki also come in colour varieties, including yellow and pied birds

Handling and Bonding

Hand raised kakariki are friendly and curious, but they are busy birds and often prefer exploring your shoulder or the couch to sitting still on your hand.

When you first bring your kakariki home, let it settle for a day or two before handling. After that, spend quiet time together, such as letting it sit with you while you read or watch TV. Young birds need rest, so don’t overdo it in the first few weeks.

Daily contact keeps a kakariki tame. Too much handling can stress a young bird, while too little lets it drift back to being wary. Always supervise time out of the cage, as kakariki are fast, curious and quick to get into trouble.

Training

Training helps a hand raised bird become a well behaved family pet. Three simple rules:

Reward good behaviour.
Ignore unwanted behaviour.
Never punish your bird.

Start with “step up”. Hold one finger against the lower chest, say the cue and reward your bird the moment it steps on, with a little millet or a favourite green. Repeat a few times, then ask for several step ups before each reward, and gradually swap food for praise.

Kakariki are quick learners and can be taught to come when called, to return to their cage and even a few words. Keep sessions short but frequent. See our guide to training your parrot for more (https://birdsville.net.au/pet-bird-advice-and-training/bird-training-clicker-training-parrot-body-language/).

Common Health Problems

Kakariki are generally hardy, but like all birds they hide illness. If your kakariki sits fluffed up, stops running about or stops eating, act quickly. Read more in our Common Bird Illnesses guide (https://birdsville.net.au/common-bird-illnesses/).

Worms

Because kakariki spend so much time scratching and foraging on the floor, they can pick up worms more easily than many parrots. Regular worming and a clean cage floor are important.

Bacterial and Fungal Infections

Spoiled food, dirty water and damp, dirty floors can all cause infection. Keep fresh food fresh, change water daily and clean the floor often. If your bird looks fluffed and quiet, keep it warm straight away with a heat lamp and see an avian vet.

Egg Binding

Hens lay big clutches, which uses a lot of calcium. A hen that strains, sits fluffed on the floor or wags her tail may be egg bound and needs a vet urgently. Calcivet, a cuttlebone and good nutrition help prevent it.

Beak and Feather Disease

PBFD is a virus that can affect any parrot, spreading through feather dust and droppings. There’s no vaccine, so good nutrition, a clean home, low stress and quarantine of new birds are the best protection.

Stress

When I was a zoo keeper, eliminating stress was one of our most important jobs, as stressed animals get sick more easily. Kakariki need room to move, things to do and a calm settling in period when they come home.

Injuries

Kakariki are fast fliers, and indoors they can hit windows, mirrors and ceiling fans. Close windows and curtains, switch fans off and supervise every flight. Take any injured bird to a vet straight away.

Worming and Parasites

Worm your kakariki a few weeks to two months after bringing it home, and check the timing with our team when you buy. Recently weaned birds have delicate gut bacteria that need time to develop. After that, worm every 3 to 6 months, and more often for aviary birds that forage on the ground.

Lice and mites are easily controlled with a bird mite and lice spray. Remove food and water, spray the bird, cage, perches, nest box and toys, and keep the spray away from the eyes and mouth. Follow the directions on the bottle.

Quarantine any new bird for 4 to 6 weeks before it meets your other birds.

Cleaning

Daily

Change water, blow husks off the seed, remove leftover fresh food and refresh the floor bedding.

Weekly

Clean the cage tray, perches, dishes, toys and bath. Weigh your bird.

Monthly

Disinfect the whole cage with a bird safe disinfectant such as F10, and replace worn perches and toys.

Household Dangers

See the Avoid Entirely list in the Fruits and Veggie Guide for unsafe foods. Around the home, also watch for:

Dogs and cats, which must always be supervised around birds, however friendly they seem
Ceiling fans, windows, glass doors and mirrors
Fumes from non-stick cookware, aerosols and smoke
Zinc, copper, bleach, oven cleaner, glue, paint and insect spray
Open water, from sinks to coffee mugs
Electrical cords
Draughts, one of the biggest causes of illness in birds
Small gaps behind furniture, where curious kakariki love to squeeze

Choosing a Healthy Kakariki

When choosing a kakariki, or checking your own, look for these signs of good health.

Eyes: bright and clear, with no discharge, swelling or redness.
Body condition: as a bird handler, every time I touch a bird I feel its keel bone, the breast bone where the flight muscles attach. A sick bird loses weight here first, and because birds burn energy so quickly, they can go downhill fast. Check your bird’s keel regularly.
Beak and mouth: clean, not overgrown, with no sores.
Nostrils: open and free of discharge.
Feathers: sleek and complete.
Vent: clean, with no staining.
Feet and legs: clean, with smooth scales.
Appetite: a keen eater is usually a healthy bird.
Behaviour: active, alert and busy.
Weaning: buy a fully weaned bird that eats on its own, unless you have hand raising experience.

If wings are clipped, both should be clipped evenly, never just one. Birdsville offers wing and nail clipping in-store (https://birdsville.net.au/wing-clipping-nail-clipping/).

Sexing Kakariki

Males usually have a larger, broader head and a bigger beak than females, which is easiest to see when you compare birds side by side. These differences can be subtle in young birds, so DNA sexing is the most reliable way to be sure. DNA Solutions can sex your kakariki from a few plucked feathers sent by post (https://dnasolutions.com.au/animal-dna-testing/).

Breeding Kakariki

Kakariki are not a difficult bird to breed. A simple nest box like a cockatiel box works well, around 20 x 20 x 35cm. Put at least 5cm (2 inches) of nesting material in the bottom, and hang the box up high in the aviary. If you’re breeding in a cage, mount the nest box on the outside and cut a hole in the wire so it doesn’t take up room inside. Birdsville has cages with a ready made opening for a nest box.

The hen usually lays her first egg about 2 weeks after mating. Kakariki are famous for big clutches, usually 6 to 14 eggs, laid every second day, so the chicks hatch at different times and vary in size. Incubation takes about 19 to 20 days. I once had a hen raise all 14 babies, which is incredible and very rare. You are doing well if 8 chicks survive.

Chicks start to grow pin feathers at about 3 weeks old, and by 5 weeks they eat as much as their parents. They leave the nest at around 5 to 6 weeks and can feed themselves at 6 to 7 weeks. If you ring the chicks, use a ring with a 5mm internal diameter.

Feed egg and biscuit daily while chicks are being raised, and keep Calcivet and a cuttlebone available for the hen. Vetafarm Breeding Aid helps support breeding pairs. Give your hen a rest after a clutch or two so she doesn’t wear herself out.

Record Keeping

Keep a simple record of your bird’s weekly weight, worming and mite spray dates, vet visits, pairings, egg dates and chick numbers. A sudden drop in weight is often the first sign that something is wrong.

Holiday Care

Seed doesn’t spoil, but fresh food and water do, and kakariki get through their food quickly. Arrange for someone to visit every day to change water, top up food and remove leftovers, or book boarding.

Transport

Use a secure, ventilated carry cage. Remove water during the trip and offer it when you arrive. Keep the trip short, avoid direct sun and never leave your bird alone in a car. A little Vetafarm Spark Liquid in the water after a move helps with energy and settling in. Birdsville sells a range of carry cages (https://birdsville.net.au/carry-cages/).

Mixing With Other Birds

Kakariki usually get on well with other birds of a similar size, such as cockatiels, and with doves and quail in a large aviary. Watch them with small finches, especially while breeding, as kakariki can become protective of their nest.

When introducing a new bird, use what I call a soft release cage. Put the newcomer in its own cage inside the aviary for about two weeks, so the birds can see and get used to each other before it’s let out. Complete the 4 to 6 week quarantine first.

Boarding

Going away? Birdsville offers bird boarding in Sydney with staff who know kakariki (https://birdsville.net.au/parrot-bird-boarding-sydney/). Bring your bird’s usual food so its diet doesn’t change.

Pied kakariki with patchy yellow and green feathers and a red forehead in an aviary — pied kakarikPied kakariki mix yellow and green, and every bird’s pattern is a little different

Kakariki FAQ

Do kakariki make good pets?

Yes. Hand raised kakariki are friendly, curious and very entertaining, and they are easy to feed and quieter than many parrots. They are extremely active, though, so they need a long cage or aviary, daily time out, plenty of toys and foraging, and an owner who enjoys a busy bird more than a cuddly one.

What do kakariki eat?

Kakariki eat a quality small parrot seed mix with pellets, plus plenty of fresh greens and vegetables every day, such as spinach, broccoli, peas, capsicum and sweet potato. Add a little fruit, millet spray as a treat and egg and biscuit during breeding. Avoid avocado, onion, chocolate and cheap filler seed mixes.

How long do kakariki live?

Kakariki usually live around 10 to 15 years with good care. A quality seed and pellet diet, daily greens, clean water, regular worming and plenty of exercise all help your bird live a long, healthy life. Because they forage on the floor, keeping their cage clean and worming them regularly is especially important.

Why do kakariki scratch on the floor?

Kakariki naturally forage on the ground in New Zealand, scratching through leaf litter for seeds and food. Pet kakariki keep this habit and will dig through their food bowl and cage floor. Give them a tray of paper bedding or seeding grass and scatter some seed so they can forage safely.

Can kakariki talk?

Some kakariki learn a few words or short phrases with patient daily practice, but they are not strong talkers like African Greys. They are better known for their chattering and soft musical calls. Repeat simple words often in a cheerful voice and reward your bird when it tries to copy you.

How can you tell if a kakariki is male or female?

Males usually have a bigger, broader head and a larger beak than females, which is easiest to see with two birds side by side. These differences can be subtle, especially in young birds, so a DNA test from a few plucked feathers is the most reliable way to know for sure.

Hand Raised Kakariki at Birdsville

Birdsville has been Sydney’s bird specialist since 1985. We’re a small business that does things in a big way, and because nobody tells us how to run our shop, we keep our birds, seed and supplies the best of the best.

We regularly have hand raised kakariki in store. Visit us at 684 Botany Road, Alexandria NSW 2015, on the corner of Gardeners Road, servicing the Eastern Suburbs and Inner South Sydney. Come in or call (02) 9669 1766 to see which kakariki we have in, or shop seed, pellets and toys on Petsville (https://petsville.com.au/collections/shop-small-parrot-products) with delivery Australia-wide.

Follow us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/BirdsvilleRosebery/), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/petsvillesydney/) and TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@birdsvillepets) for photos of the babies coming through and live updates.