Hello everyone!

[Moe_n_Joe]

Hi everyone, I enjoy this forum and have gotten a lot of great info from it so far. So I wanted to say hello and tell you about myself and my history with birds so far.

As a kid, our family's first pets were budgies. They came from a local pet store in our 80's small town, and we learned early on about the fragility of life, as one or two of them would die of fright in the awful cramped cardboard carriers that the store provided, or within a day or two of arriving home. There were two that thrived for some years though, Jupiter and Xavier. Jupiter actually got to be fairly tame toward us and would step up. Xavier was a chatty bird (not intelligible to humans) and a bit more of a grump and was likely to bite at fingers. Of course, looking back on things now, we were ignorant of how to properly engage the birds and enrich their environment, which is to be expected as we were little kids, and our parents had other problems to worry about, not that that's any excuse.

Since then, I'd always been fascinated with birds, and my adult life finally became stable enough that I could start thinking of providing a home for a bird. I spent a couple months on research and visiting a great local bird store in my current city of residence, where I interacted with some birds and was charmed by the baby cockatiels.

Still I was hesitant to buy a baby from a store, because I know how the world works. I know there is a surplus of animals that other people haven't been able to take care of. I decided I would lean toward adopting an adult bird if the opportunity came up, and I found a family on Craigslist that was moving and could not keep their bird, a friendly male cockatiel named Moe.

The circumstances were right so I went for it -- he came home about two months ago -- and I couldn't be happier with my choice. He is an absolute sweetheart and a fast learner. Also, he came gloriously unclipped, unlike the pet store babies. His family had been scared of his flight abilities, so they had mostly kept him in his cage, which is roomy, but unsuitable for flight. When I organized his environment and gradually built up his trust and confidence with perch training and little hops, eventually he became an eager pro at recalling across the room and flying on his own to get to and from his cage, hanging birdy-station, my arm or shoulder, etc.

So far he's also learned nod, wave, turn around, fetch to cup, turn over card, target flight to perch, and we're very gradually working on harness training. He is an enthusiastic and expressive whistler. I really just hope I can provide him anywhere near the amount of joy that he gives me on a daily basis.

[liz]

I had budgies in the 80s and yes it is a shame that we did not have more info. All I gave them was seed and treat bars. The kids shared their junk food and my dad always gave them some of the bread from his sandwitch. They were never let out of the cage.
My father had Hodgkins Lympfona. I put the cage on his side table for them to entertain him which they really did. He would push things like a crumpled piece of paper through the bars for them to play with and etc. He would start arguments with them and they would throw sunflower seeds at him. I feel so guilty for the awful care they got but console myself that they were happy and believed they were the center of the universe.

[Pajarita]

Welcome to the forum! Great of you to adopt instead of buying a baby! If more people were like you, we wouldn't have so many birds in need of a home. Now, if you REALLY want to give him a happy life, have him DNA'd (you could have a hen there) and see of getting him/her a mate. All the small species do 500 times better when they have companions and, in my personal experience, the 'they won't love you if they have another bird' is a myth.

[liz]

Welcome
Cockatiels are flockers and really like having a friend. If you get a female, follow the instructions and don't let them nest. It is very very hard to part with the babies. It is a lot easier to keep them from nesting.

[Elaihr]

Welcome to the forum! Great of you to adopt instead of buying a baby! If more people were like you, we wouldn't have so many birds in need of a home. Now, if you REALLY want to give him a happy life, have him DNA'd (you could have a hen there) and see of getting him/her a mate. All the small species do 500 times better when they have companions and, in my personal experience, the 'they won't love you if they have another bird' is a myth.

Like Pajarita says, the "they won't love you if they have another bird" is totally a myth. When I grew up I had lovebirds, a couple that was strongly bonded to each other. They were great as pets despite this, the only time it ever got troublesome was when they went into breeding, at which time they became a bit territorial, especially the female.

However, if you don't let your birds breed it's going to be more than fine with two or more. At the moment I have two Blue-headed Pionuses (two female birds) who get along really well, they preen each other, follow each other around, play together... But Penny, my first bird, still keeps me as her no. 1 choice of company, and Joy (who has Penny as her no. 1 choice) also comes to me to play, preen and just hang out. The only thing that's become "negative" since I got my second bird is that Penny seems less satisfied with my preening. I still get to preen her (she even asks for it) but not for as long, I think my clumsy fingers aren't as good for the job as Joy's little beak... Then again I don't really think of this as a bad thing, in fact I was getting frustrated that I couldn't help Penny with her feather sheaths (she was molting very recently) as well as I'd like so I'm only happy someone else can now do that for me ^^

To make a long story short, since I got Joy as my second bird Penny has become a lot more active, energetic and playful, so all the good things outweight the tiny detail that Penny no longer things I'm the best preener ever. I can live with that

[liz]

In my opinion, Cockatiels are the sweetest and most loving of all the parrots.
Cockatiels are flockers. From the cage only a few will step up. When they are out I am just part of their flock. They even tried to add my Love Birds to their flock but they were bully's. They even claim Myrtle. They can bond to each other and still be bonded to you equally.
Moe is adorable.