New baby cockatiel!

[Faraaz]

Hello Everyone,

After the awful and sad death of my bird Truman (about 3 months ago) I have decided to get one last bird after my bird era ends. A cockatiel. . I always wanted one, they are so cuddly and so loving that I am really happy to take him home. I actually put a deposit on him 1 month ago when he was like 1 week old. Unfortunately they breeder had 1 left and they always auction off the last one starting at $150 which I find really, really odd. Anyways, I won the auction for $665, a really expensive bird which I did not expect to get but whatever. After waiting countless days I finally got him to bring home. I named him Wiki because he is really smart and loving. He also surprisingly comes to me when I whistle. He can't fly yet, the dumb breeder clipped his wings.

**Pictures coming soon*

Anyways, since I got to play with him twice a week before he came home, he wasn't scared at all to come out, he actually hates his cage which leads me to the question I have.

How to get a hand-fed cockatiel in the cage? My cockatiel wont go in his cage, and if I get lucky to get him into his cage, he goes nuts. I'm afraid that he is going to brake his legs flying and keep bumping into the cage walls.

Some Methods I tried to use to get him in is cage:

- Put a Millet in his cage
- Give him some head rubs if he goes in his cage, he LOVES head rubs, he would rather have a head run than a millet
- Put his favorite toys in his cage, He loves to forage
- Target him into the cage

I cant figure out anything else.

Second Question, Do you guys have a cockatiel? What is their favorite toy? I need some toys to give my bird.

Regards,
Faraaz

-Edit-
"She" has been DNA sexed and his transforming from a he to a she!

[Faraaz]

Update:
My cockatiel says hi under his cough I didn't think this would happen so early! Also I am really scared when he hits his Adolescence stage! When will this occur?

[Wolf]

Why is the bird coughing? What have you done about it ? What happened to the other cockatiel ? And what happed to Truman ?

[Faraaz]

Why is the bird coughing? What have you done about it ? What happened to the other cockatiel ? And what happed to Truman ?

Wow. A lot of questions.

Why is the bird coughing?
No, she isn't coughing, her saying Hi is very, very unclear so I just used coughing as a word to back the statement up.

What happened to the other cockatiel ?
I never had another cockatiel. If you mean my other Parakeet... she is my sisters she doesn't like me and loves my sister. She got the parakeet to do everything kili could do.

What happened to Truman ?
He got Pacheco's Disease, deadly to all birds. Took him to the vet, vet gave me the sad news.
More info about the disease.
http://www.petmd.com/bird/conditions/urinary/c_bd_Pacheco_disease

[Wolf]

Postby Faraaz » Sat Jun 07, 2014 12:41 pm

Hello Everyone,

Long time no seen! I have recently put a deposit on a Cockatiel which is being hand-fed and is coming from my local pet store. I will recieve the cockatiel in 2-5 Weeks. I now need help on purchasing a new cage and naming the cockatiel. I asked the lady at the petstore for an ideal cage and she showed me one of her cages. I thought it was over-priced and went online for another cage. I found this cage http://valuecrate.com/pcpt18.html and I thought it would be a good and reasonable cage to purchase. I just need to confirm that this is a good cage and it is ideal of a cockatiel. Also I need a name for my new baby, if you want to help these are the requirements:

- It should not be a common human name
- It should be a name which is suitable for both a boy and a girl
- Must be reasonably short
- Easy to pronounce easily
- Should be interesting and original
- It would be nice if it resembles the size and beauty of any Cockatiel

I also need someone with experience with Cockatiels to tell me what toys they need or if they even play with toys. I also need a good pellet diet to feed my bird.

Thanks is advance if you help me with anything!
- Faraaz


This one, what happened to it?

[Wolf]

I owe you an apology as I ignored your questions, because I was too intent on finding out about the other birds, and while I want to know, it doesn't give me the right to not answer your questions either.

I think that the best way to get your new bird to go into its cage is simply bribery, by that I mean place its food and water in the cage and let it go in on its own. I also think that I would consider this birds basic make up and that tells us that cockatiels always do much better when they have a companion. Any way, don't close the bird in the cage for now, but only give food and water in the cage and let it enter and exit for a few days before you try to close the cage and see if this will allow it to calm down. I would also remove all toys and leave only two perches. one being the highest one and one closest to the food and water. The bird may well be afraid on something that you have inside the cage and not the cage itself.

Let me know if any of this helps.

[Pajarita]

Hmmmm, lots of points to make...

First of all, I don't know where you are located but over $600 for a cockatiel?! They give them away for free or less than $50 around here in Craig's list but maybe you are in a country where cockatiels are expensive although they are not anywhere close to that amount in my country and Australian birds are real expensive there!

Cockatiels are not considered cuddly but, if yours is, congratulations! I hope he doesn't change as he grows up. Cockatiels don't have puberty issues, though, so you can relax about that.

Food: he needs two kinds of fresh soft food every day plus leafy greens and seeds for dinner.

Cage: I don't know what kind of cage you have or where it's located but I've never had a single problem putting a tiel in a cage. They are very mild-mannered and not too active birds so, add this to the fact that they love their food and you get a bird that goes eagerly in the cage to eat. But the cage needs to be a welcoming place to eat, rest and sleep so it needs to be large, with branches as perches (mine love to chew off the little tips of the smaller branches), high up (they do NOT like been below your eye level) and in a spot where there isn't too much human traffic but where they still get the benefit of their company.

Toys: my tiels don't play with many toys, they like to chew paper and pull threads of the grooming toys but that's about it.

[Faraaz]

Postby Faraaz » Sat Jun 07, 2014 12:41 pm

Hello Everyone,

Long time no seen! I have recently put a deposit on a Cockatiel which is being hand-fed and is coming from my local pet store. I will recieve the cockatiel in 2-5 Weeks. I now need help on purchasing a new cage and naming the cockatiel. I asked the lady at the petstore for an ideal cage and she showed me one of her cages. I thought it was over-priced and went online for another cage. I found this cage http://valuecrate.com/pcpt18.html and I thought it would be a good and reasonable cage to purchase. I just need to confirm that this is a good cage and it is ideal of a cockatiel. Also I need a name for my new baby, if you want to help these are the requirements:

- It should not be a common human name
- It should be a name which is suitable for both a boy and a girl
- Must be reasonably short
- Easy to pronounce easily
- Should be interesting and original
- It would be nice if it resembles the size and beauty of any Cockatiel

I also need someone with experience with Cockatiels to tell me what toys they need or if they even play with toys. I also need a good pellet diet to feed my bird.

Thanks is advance if you help me with anything!
- Faraaz


This one, what happened to it?

Breeder doesn't ship to NJ when I asked her if they can ship the bird, the lady said yes but the boss said no.

Hmmmm, lots of points to make...

First of all, I don't know where you are located but over $600 for a cockatiel?! They give them away for free or less than $50 around here in Craig's list but maybe you are in a country where cockatiels are expensive although they are not anywhere close to that amount in my country and Australian birds are real expensive there!

Cockatiels are not considered cuddly but, if yours is, congratulations! I hope he doesn't change as he grows up. Cockatiels don't have puberty issues, though, so you can relax about that.

Food: he needs two kinds of fresh soft food every day plus leafy greens and seeds for dinner.

Cage: I don't know what kind of cage you have or where it's located but I've never had a single problem putting a tiel in a cage. They are very mild-mannered and not too active birds so, add this to the fact that they love their food and you get a bird that goes eagerly in the cage to eat. But the cage needs to be a welcoming place to eat, rest and sleep so it needs to be large, with branches as perches (mine love to chew off the little tips of the smaller branches), high up (they do NOT like been below your eye level) and in a spot where there isn't too much human traffic but where they still get the benefit of their company.

Toys: my tiels don't play with many toys, they like to chew paper and pull threads of the grooming toys but that's about it.

Really wanted a hand-fed bird from the bird store. Plus the bird store only had 1 lutino left and they always auction the last cockatiel off because of the high demand of cockatiels in my area. Also they wouldn't get another set of cockatiels for a month so, yeah. Also my cockatiel loves foraging, ripping news paper, breaking soft woods, chewing on cards (when we play cards he always chews on them), loves plastics toys, loves getting millet hidden in newspaper balls, and LOVES to cuddle and have head rubs and beak scratches

I owe you an apology as I ignored your questions, because I was too intent on finding out about the other birds, and while I want to know, it doesn't give me the right to not answer your questions either.

I think that the best way to get your new bird to go into its cage is simply bribery, by that I mean place its food and water in the cage and let it go in on its own. I also think that I would consider this birds basic make up and that tells us that cockatiels always do much better when they have a companion. Any way, don't close the bird in the cage for now, but only give food and water in the cage and let it enter and exit for a few days before you try to close the cage and see if this will allow it to calm down. I would also remove all toys and leave only two perches. one being the highest one and one closest to the food and water. The bird may well be afraid on something that you have inside the cage and not the cage itself.

Let me know if any of this helps.

No worries, its alright. Will be trying this out to see if it works.

[Harpmaker]

How to get a hand-fed cockatiel in the cage? My cockatiel wont go in his cage, and if I get lucky to get him into his cage, he goes nuts. I'm afraid that he is going to brake his legs flying and keep bumping into the cage walls.

I clean my bird cage with water, brushes and paper towels. Needless to say, this takes a long time. My hand-fed Meyer's Parrot climbs in and out of the cage the whole time (all doors open) to see what I'm doing, "attack" the paper towel I'm using, and steal any unattended damp paper towels she can get her beak on. All the toys and perches come out for cage cleaning, so there is less to be wary of.

Maybe if you spend a lot of time doing something inside and around the cage, your 'teil will get curious or jealous and pitch in. Leave the doors open when you are done and try bribery as Wolf says. If your breeder kept babies in an aquarium or something, it may not have seen a cage before, and needs you to show it that cages are safe.

BTW, disinfecting is different. To use steam or chemicals I have to lock my bird in her travel cage to keep her at a safe distance.

[Faraaz]

How to get a hand-fed cockatiel in the cage? My cockatiel wont go in his cage, and if I get lucky to get him into his cage, he goes nuts. I'm afraid that he is going to brake his legs flying and keep bumping into the cage walls.

I clean my bird cage with water, brushes and paper towels. Needless to say, this takes a long time. My hand-fed Meyer's Parrot climbs in and out of the cage the whole time (all doors open) to see what I'm doing, "attack" the paper towel I'm using, and steal any unattended damp paper towels she can get her beak on. All the toys and perches come out for cage cleaning, so there is less to be wary of.

Maybe if you spend a lot of time doing something inside and around the cage, your 'teil will get curious or jealous and pitch in. Leave the doors open when you are done and try bribery as Wolf says. If your breeder kept babies in an aquarium or something, it may not have seen a cage before, and needs you to show it that cages are safe.

BTW, disinfecting is different. To use steam or chemicals I have to lock my bird in her travel cage to keep her at a safe distance.

Yup, My bird was kept in a fish tank when the breeder had him. Good advice, I will try this.