new cockatiel owner!!

[mufffy]

after lots of consideration, i have gone from lovebirds to budgies to cockatiels and i’m honestly so happy i went for them. i’m getting my little girl next week and i just wanted to ask for advice before she moves in. i will attach picture of her cage and her. please let me know if anything is wrong and constructive feedback is very much welcome!! thank you <3

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[Pajarita]

Well, the cage is WAAAYYYYY too small for any aviary bird but, even if it was of a good size, it looks as if the bar gauge is too wide for a tiel but it's difficult to tell without something next to it to compare the size to (I am using the plastic toy hanging there as point of comparison -which, by the way, will not work for a cockatiel).

Also, how do you know it's a female? Because the bird on the picture looks like a male whiteface to me...

Are you planning on getting another tiel to keep it company? Tiels are intensely flock oriented and are never really happy when alone.

[mufffy]

Well, the cage is WAAAYYYYY too small for any aviary bird but, even if it was of a good size, it looks as if the bar gauge is too wide for a tiel but it's difficult to tell without something next to it to compare the size to (I am using the plastic toy hanging there as point of comparison -which, by the way, will not work for a cockatiel).

Also, how do you know it's a female? Because the bird on the picture looks like a male whiteface to me...

Are you planning on getting another tiel to keep it company? Tiels are intensely flock oriented and are never really happy when alone.

the cage would only be for sleeping (she is hand tame so will be able to fly in my room) , but it is 60cm by 55cm and the bar gauge are 1.5cm wide. thank you for letting me know as i only want the best for her. i will also look into new toys as i want her to be happy and safe. i will double check with the breeder if she is female or not but she seemed pretty convinced she was female. i didn’t think of getting another one but i will do now. thank you for your feedback and please let me know if i can do anything else.

[Pajarita]

Hmmm, I am no expert but, in my personal experience, female white faces have actually an all grey face or a bit of white with grey patches, pearls or even little lines - when the face is all white, like the bird on the picture, it's usually a male. Not that it makes any difference but males will call and call and call and call all the time during breeding season (and all year round if you don't keep them to a strict solar schedule with full exposure to dawn and dusk and on a low protein diet) if they don't have a mate while females will also call for a mate but the call is different... just two notes and very monotonous (can drive you nuts ).

When it comes to sexing tiels, you usually have to wait until they are more than 6 months old unless they are a sex-linked mutation or an albino in which case you need to have them DNAd.

One more thing, having them loose all day long is a wonderful thing but unless they live in a dedicated bird room (a room that is ONLY for birds with no human furniture or anything in them), it's dangerous. Birds should never be left loose and unattended in a human room. It's dangerous.

[mufffy]

Hmmm, I am no expert but, in my personal experience, female white faces have actually an all grey face or a bit of white with grey patches, pearls or even little lines - when the face is all white, like the bird on the picture, it's usually a male. Not that it makes any difference but males will call and call and call and call all the time during breeding season (and all year round if you don't keep them to a strict solar schedule with full exposure to dawn and dusk and on a low protein diet) if they don't have a mate while females will also call for a mate but the call is different... just two notes and very monotonous (can drive you nuts ).

When it comes to sexing tiels, you usually have to wait until they are more than 6 months old unless they are a sex-linked mutation or an albino in which case you need to have them DNAd.

One more thing, having them loose all day long is a wonderful thing but unless they live in a dedicated bird room (a room that is ONLY for birds with no human furniture or anything in them), it's dangerous. Birds should never be left loose and unattended in a human room. It's dangerous.

according to the breeder she is a white-face pearl and she’s pretty confident she’s female. sadly i don’t have a room i could dedicate for her but i will try and make sure she is out for 4-5 hours minimum when i get home from school and whilst i am not there she is entertained. my parents don’t want me sexing them as they do not want to look after and raise baby’s. thank you for responding again, what do you think of the measurements of the cage? i’ve done some more research and those measurements are kind of the minimum size of cage for tiels. thanks again

[Pajarita]

If she is going to be in a cage all day long except for a few hours in the pm, you need to get her a flight cage - the kind that is on a stand.

As to letting her out when you come home from school... well, that's going to be a problem because, in the winter, it's already night at 4 pm and they need to follow a solar schedule (which means that they go to sleep once it gets dark outside) or she is going to produce sexual hormones all year round which causes them pain and frustration. It will work at the beginning (while she is a baby and a juvenile) but, as the years go by, she will become overly hormonal, will call incessantly for a male and, eventually, will become a chronic layer because cockatiels are one of the most opportunistic breeders of the parrot world. So think about this very carefully because chronic layers end up dead from eggbinding.

[mufffy]

would a cage like this be good?https://www.amazon.co.uk/PREVUE-PET-PRODUCTS-SP42614-3-%20Flight/dp/B00SK7HOUO/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=cockatiel+flight+cage&qid=1571689590&sr=8-3. i’ll need to convince my dad to buy the bigger one but if not i’ll try and save up the money.

[Pajarita]

No, that cage has a good height but it's too narrow and not deep enough - and it has no stand (cages need to be high up so, when you are standing next to them, the bird can perch at your eye level -having a human looming over them stresses them out).

I was referring to a cage like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Wrought-Flight-A ... es&sr=1-21

I personally like my birds cages to be white, cream or platinum colored. I don't like dark cages... they feel claustrophobic to me with the dark bars.

[liz]

I wait until they are a little older. If it just tweets it is female. If it sings it is male.

Your best bet is to find a male to rescue. A male and female will bond. Two males wil bond.

[mufffy]

I wait until they are a little older. If it just tweets it is female. If it sings it is male.

Your best bet is to find a male to rescue. A male and female will bond. Two males wil bond.

I live in the UK, and i’ve been looking for quite a while on quite a few adoption websites and i can never seem to find cockatiels. I see plenty of other birds but my parents don’t want anything bigger than a tiel, i will keep and eye out though and if my bird turns out to be female, can I have her and a male without them breeding?