Cockatiel parrot

Cockatiel parrot description:

The Cockatiel, Nymphicus hollandicus. The second-most-popular pet parrot, it is usually easily available. They originate from the drier areas of Australia.The "wild" coloring is mainly gray, with orange cheeks patches; the male has a bright yellow face, the female has a muted yellow face and barred tail feathers.

Juveniles look like females. However, in captivity a great many color mutations have been developed; The common Pearls, Pieds, Lutinos, and Cinnamons, as well as somewhat less-commonly available Whitefaces, Silvers, "Albinos" (really Whiteface Lutinos), Pastels, Fallows, and Yellowfaces. And more!

Cockatiels are usually around 11" long and from 75 to 125 grams; however, show birds can be considerably larger.

How long does cockatiel parrot lives

Cockatiel parrot life span Varies quite a bit. Most birds live around 10 years; however, on a good diet and with good care, you can expect your bird to live up to 20 years, and there are some reports of birds living to 25 years.

Cockatiel parrot for sale:

Price: You can buy a cockatile parrot anywhere from $30 to $300 for the very rare mutations.

A hand-fed, weaned bird of the common color mutations (grays, pieds, pearls, etc.) from a breeder usually costs around $40 to $70. Birds from pets shops cost up to $100.

Buying: Cockatiels are very easily available birds; both from breeders and pets shops. The breeder is usually, but not always the preferable choice, depending on what breeders and pet shops you have to choose from!

The ideal bird is a hand-fed bird that is just weaned and is obviously friendly; wanting to step up onto your hand, etc.

Actually, parent-fed or untame tiels generally aren't all that hard to tame, when compared with many birds, however I would not consider this a project for a beginner; especially considering sweet hand-feds are easily available and not really that much more expensive.

Cockatiel parrot diet:

Cockatiels can be picky about what they eat. When choosing a cockatiel, try to find one that already eats pellets. However, unfortunately, many breeders and pet shops feed their birds seed and not pellets. If you can't find a bird that already eats pellets, at least find one that eats a variety of other foods (fruits, veggies, etc.). Not only will they be healthier for the varied diet, but they will probably be more accepting of you switching them to pellets - which you should do!

Cockatiels on a seed-based diet tend to have vitamin defiencies and are often overweight; both problems can cause serious health problems. Cockatiels, being smaller birds with small beaks even for their size, usually prefer smaller-sized pellets and other foods.

Some birds have problems tackling larger pieces; once I switched my small female cockatiel to a larger size pellets when I ran out of the smaller ones; I didn't realize she couldn't eat them (I saw her, as usual, by the food dish most of the time), until I noticed she'd lost quite a bit of weight! It wasn't yet life-threatening (especially consider how over weight she was to begin with...), but it could all to easily have been.

Try to keep a cockatiel's diet as varied as possible; many different types of fruits, veggies, pasta, rice, and lots of other things should be included. Most cockatiels dislike citrus fruits, and most adore cooked corn (which shouldn't be fed too much, because it's mostly water and not all that nutritional).

Cockatiel parrot cage:

Most cockatiel parrot cages marketed in pet shops are too small. Try looking at the "parrot" cages (most of which are too small for mid-sized parrots!). The cage should be *at least* 18" x 18" x 20"; and that's only if the bird spends very little time in it. There's a nice cage by Prevue that's about 20" x 20" x 27", that usually sells for $80 to $100; this is a nice, roomy cage for a cockatiel.

Cockatiel parrot toys and other supplies:

Cockatiels aren't hard players like Lovebirds or Conures, however they do enjoy toys. You will not generally see them climbing on or hanging from toys; they more "passive" players, and would rather sit quietly picking at beads or twine or bells. Perches should be natural and of varying lengths; these are wonderful for cockatiel feet and toenails, plus they provide a little extra added entertainment, because the bird can chew the bark off.

Cockatiel parrot grooming:

As with all parrots, keep those wings clipped! Cockatiels are probably the number one bird when it comes to escaping. They're quick, long-winged flyers, and can quickly disappear over the horizon. Clip those wings! Also keep the nails trimmed back.

Cockatiels are often seemingly dislike bathing; usually, it's because they're not used to it. Relatively few breeders routinely bathe their birds (and hence their babies, to get them used to it), which is a shame because a cockatiel that's used to bathing, often loves it! Most all cockatiels prefer bathing "by spray bottle"; some enjoy showering with their owners. Try spraying you bird a little, in it's cage; most will try to move away from the water at first, but as long as the bird isn't panicky and scared, keep trying.

Cockatiels that are enjoying bathing may look scared; spreading out their wings and moving quickly around - but they really are enjoying it! Cockatiels are "dusty" birds, much like cockatoos. This dust helps keep their feathers in good condition,but it can also aggravate some allergies, and you should probably keep your cockatiel's cage away from electrical and other equipment that could be damaged by extensive dust.

Routinely bathing your tiel significantly cuts down on the dust. Another problem that some tiels are prone to, are "night frights". For whatever reason (sudden light or movement, or sometimes for apparently no reason at all), sometimes cockatiels get scared at night, and trash around in their cage, panicky. They often end up hitting and damaging blood feathers - feathers that are still growing and still have blood in the shaft - and this will cause bleeding.

Extensive bleeding can even lead to death. Blood feathers that are still bleeding when you find them should be pulled out - it seems scary, but a quick tug will do it. You can try and prevent night frights by placing your bird's cage in a room that doesn't get much activity at night, and has no other "moving things" (like others pets) in it. Also, many people have found a small night light helps immensely.

Cockatiel parrot noise level:

Cockatiels are generally regarded as quiet birds, and, for the most part, they are; particularly when compared with larger, louder birds. However, this is not to say they're silent; and they are a little on the loud side when compared with budgies or canaries. They can and sometimes do utter high-pitched, somewhat high-volume whistles. The males, and to a much lesser extent, the females also will whistle to themselves, you, other birds, or mirrors.

The males will do this quite a bit; the females only rarely, and then it's usually for "their own personal pleasure", rather than the males which do it as courting - and often pick odd things to do it to! My first cockatiel was a male who took great pleasure in whistling long tunes to my feet. It got to the point that I was careful not to move my feet around in sight of him unless I wanted to elicit "full courting mode". As I remember he was particularly fond of feet in socks. :-)

Cockatiel parrot talking ability:

Cockatiels aren't known as excellant talkers, however some will talk - nearly all males. The females generally show little or no interest in talking. With some training, many males do learn a few words, and some become quite good, although their voices are scratchy and hard to understand in most cases. They are really much better whistlers; again, the males in particular.

Cockatiel parrot  behaviot and personality:

Cockatiels are usually very sweet, very laid-back, very easy-going birds. Cockatiels that are well-used to many people handling them generally do not become one-person birds, although they may. They are very cuddly birds for the most part; and very, very devoted to their owners. I wouldn't call them overly intelligent birds, although most show the occasional spark of "brilliance"; for the most part, they have a one-track mind, and it's usually focused on their owner (with food, and toys coming next, in that order - depending on the individual cockatiel, of course!). They're really wonderful birds; one of my first, and always one of my favorites.

Cockatiel breeding:

Cocktatiel parrot: Male or female? As I mentioned above, males cockatiel are the talkers and the whistlers. They are also usually prefered for their brighter coloring (tho personally I've always the females' more subdued coloring and "zebra striped" tails). But, consider females as well - they're usually the cuddlier of the two; they also tend to be less moody (both males and females are prone to a little grumpiness when tired or if they just woke up "on the wrong side of the perch", however). Both make wonderful pets; personally I could never decide which I prefer.

Cockatiel breeders:

If you're looking for a first parrot, cockatiels are perfect. A hand-fed tiel is the perfect introduction to the "joys" of pet-bird owning; it will show you how devoted a bird can become to you (much more so than most other pets), and also how devoted *you* must become to *it*! But really, anybody looking for a really sweet, gentle, devoted bird with fairly low volume (I say that as my male cinnamon is making noise galore upstairs), and a pretty low price tag, would do well do consider a 'tiel.

Oh, and they do make pretty good family pets; as I said, with enough handling by everyone in the family, they generally do not become one-person birds. Most also get along fairly well with kids, if they've been raised with them (and/or if the kids are calm around them). However, kids tend to find them somewhat boring, because most will not allow any real "petting"; that kind of over the back stroking kids like to use. However, if the kids are calm and don't mind just sitting and holding the bird, cockatiels rarely mind.