Hi from Australia

[JanLou79]

Hi I just got a cockatiel after our unfortunate loss of Stanley the princess parrot.. Gizmo is gorgeous and we are starting to get along great. I have read a lot of info and spent month making sure we have the right bird for us. I would love to hear more from cockatiel owners about they're behavior and things I can do to help Gizmo be happy and healthy.
We bought gizmo home yesterday and is eating and drinking. We're not sure of sex yet, as it's only 12 weeks old, but so far has seems to be adjusting to our household well.
Stanley had his wings clipped quite severely when we got him and could not fly. Gizmo can already fly so I'm a bit wary of letting him out, so any tips would be awesome. I don't want him cooped up in his cage for ever!
Thanks

[Pajarita]

I can help you with diet, disease, etc but I can't give any tips on how to keep a single pet tiel happy because I've never had or will have one. Maybe somebody else on the forum can help...

As to his flying, just make sure the room is birdproof and that nobody will be opening a door until the bird is back in the cage -if you let him out two hours before sunset, he will learn to go back into his cage for his dinner but, for this to work, you cannot free-feed the protein food (dinner). Also, been that it's so very young, please make sure that it gets two kinds of soft foods fresh twice a day.

[kikikakariki]

hello and welcome i have no experience with s but most of the time australian parrots go crazy over eucalyptus bottlebrush paperbark and poa grass and witch part of australia are you from i am from melbourne victoria

[JanLou79]

Thanks for the replies. I bird proofed the room this morning after watching him pace his cage and I couldn't leave him in there all day again. I'd been able to pay him through the bars and I knew he stepped up so I closed all the doors and let him out. He was really good. Had a little fly around but mostly stayed on my arm enjoying scratches and sunflower seeds.
He hasn't eaten any of the fruit or veggies I've offered yet, corn Apple peas and banana. I'll keep persevering though. I'll need to shop first lol!
I'm from nth east Vic about 2hrs out of melb. My other bird loved fresh gum branches and grass seeds in bunches in his cage. I used to watch the eastern rosellas, cockies, galahs, monk parrots and several others to see which grasses and trees the preferred and pick them. Hours of entertainment! I plan to do the same for Gizmo.

[Wolf]

Sounds to me as if you figured out mos of it and seem to be doing well, I would ,however, make one suggestion and that is to hold off on training for your first month and concentrate on bonding with your bird.

[Pajarita]

I've never had any luck with tiels and fruits. Of the over 50 ones I've had, there was the grand total of 2 that ate apples -and that was it, just a bit of apple and nothing else -well, with the exception of pomegranate seeds which I guess could be considered fruits. But they LOVE greens with a passion and corn on the cob, baby peas, chopped broccoli, and cooked and finely cubed carrots (they never want to eat the raw ones) as well as the yellow/orange squashes like butternut, pumpkin and, their favorite, spaghetti squash which I just cut in big pieces (they love the little 'spaghetti' strings in it).

[JanLou79]

Thanks Parjarita, I bought some baby Bok Choy and softened some broccoli for him tonight for tea and he went mental! I got him snow peanuts too and he loved those. Got a pomegranate but I'll try that in a couple of days. Seriously falling in love. He makes such gorgous noises when he's being scratched and has started flying to my arm looking for company. I'm holding off on training for now to get to know him and him me. But I have my chop stick and clicker ready!

[Pajarita]

Make sure the pomegranate is ripe because they always sell them too green -I sometimes have to wait an entire week before they are ready. When the skin is beginning to look a bit dry and darkly colored and when they 'give' a bit when you squeeze them, they are ready. If I may make a suggestion (I learned the hard way and walked around with stained hands for years ), cut it in half and put both halves inside a bowl filled up with cold water and, while they are completely submerged, break the halves into smaller pieces and, at the same time, separate the skin from the inside -this 'inside' will have that white skin it uses as partition for the seeds- and, with your fingers, kind of gently 'scrape' the seeds off. The white skin will float and the seeds will sink to the bottom of the bowl so all you have to do is drain it (you will have to add some more water and drain again until all the 'white' is gone). Voila! Pomegranate seeds ready to serve without a single stain on your fingers. Oh, and don't worry when you see poop that looks as if he was bleeding internally

PS. You don't need to 'soften' the broccoli, they like it raw and crispy -they also like leafy greens like romaine lettuce and, most particularly, red Swiss Chard (mine go nuts for it but they don't get it every week because it's very high in oxalates).