Killing the Tiels

[NICrosis]

Probably an unpopular opinion here, but I can honestly say that I'm disappointed in Cockatiels.

They are the cartoon example of an inbred animal. Difficult to train, prone to random acts of ADD, and neurotic as can be. On top of that, years of inbreeding has made it impossible for them to provide their original functions. Their beaks are weak, and I have a hard time believing they're half as smart as they used to be. Not to mention, we've destroyed their life expectancy.

At this point, these birds bring me sadness. They're the most popular to sell and for kids, but they're just not good birds. They're blood is so watered down and broken, that I kind of wish, for their own good, they'd go extinct. Can we even breed these things to be as strong as they once were?

[GMV]

I love my bliss to death! He is not the brightest tool in the shed, but he is sweet, calm, and loving!
He is a happy go lucky angel. I agree i hate the inbreeding, though! look at how much damage it has done! cockatiels where one of the first birds to be inbred so they were being bred for a long time!
(i believe since the 1920s-40s)
There are also still wild tiels, that i would guess would make good pets.

[Wolf]

To tell the truth, with all the damage that we have done we are the ones that should go extinct !

[marie83]

To tell the truth, with all the damage that we have done we are the ones that should go extinct !

Hear hear, and indeed I believe we will go extinct one day but sadly think we will take everything else with us unless its because of some deadly virus that only affects humans. Even then though I feel the damage we have done has already gone too far, too many chemicals and other crap to leach out into the environment for centuries after our demise.

[Pajarita]

Indeed, we are a terribly destructive species... and we seem to have a wide streak of a death wish, too!

But I don't agree with the comment on tiels. Is the species weakened by our breeding, inbreeding and overbreeding? Yes, of course it is but this is true of any species we breed to be a human pet, large parrots included. There is no natural selection, we can't provide the social grouping, exercise and food they need to thrive and, even the ones that we don't inbreed (and I don't think there is a single parrot species where we haven't done it), we overbreed them, pull the babies from the parents when they are way too young and wean them much too soon - and, sometimes, to make matters even worse, we traumatize them for life by shipping them! It's not only tiels, it's every single species of parrot. What we have at home is nothing but a weak and bad quality copy of the wild animal.

But the tiels we have as pets are not as bad as you make them look. They are beautiful, sweet-tempered birds and, although they are not as healthy or as strong as their wild counterparts, you can improve things a lot with good husbandry.

[GMV]

Indeed, we are a terribly destructive species... and we seem to have a wide streak of a death wish, too!

But I don't agree with the comment on tiels. Is the species weakened by our breeding, inbreeding and overbreeding? Yes, of course it is but this is true of any species we breed to be a human pet, large parrots included. There is no natural selection, we can't provide the social grouping, exercise and food they need to thrive and, even the ones that we don't inbreed (and I don't think there is a single parrot species where we haven't done it), we overbreed them, pull the babies from the parents when they are way too young and wean them much too soon - and, sometimes, to make matters even worse, we traumatize them for life by shipping them! It's not only tiels, it's every single species of parrot. What we have at home is nothing but a weak and bad quality copy of the wild animal.

But the tiels we have as pets are not as bad as you make them look. They are beautiful, sweet-tempered birds and, although they are not as healthy or as strong as their wild counterparts, you can improve things a lot with good husbandry.

I could not agree more with every word you said! But their are a few parrots that are a few gens from wild. Homesapiens where the worst species to be on this earth.

[liz]

Tiels are little bitty beings. They are fragile and should never be given to a kid. They are passive and sweet with beautiful music or noise. I have two Amazons of different species and magnificent personalities. My Tiels all have different little personalities. Even though I keep them in a flock they know their names and the names of the others around them.

Sweetie, the matriarch, died recently. The others are kind of dysfunctional right now. Shadow is trying to hold dominance but does not have his mate to love him. He has bonded tighter to me because of it. Maggie will never replace Sweetie but I hope that she will comfort him some day.