Cockatiel questions? ?

Question

1. how big of an enclosure do i need?

2. how big do they get?

3. what do they eat?

4. how do i clip their wings?

5. can they be handled without clipped wings?

Answer 1

1.  A cage with 1/2 inch bar spacing that is at least 24x24x24 inches.

2.  About 12 inches from head to tail.

3.  They should be fed a variety of things, including seeds, sprouted seed, pellets, healthy human food (see list on my site of toxic foods), fruits, veggies and many other things!

4.  Unless a vet or good breeder shows you how, have this done for you at a vet's office.

5.  yes, with training, but it is reccomended to start with clipped wings.

6.  They need to fly around.  This helps them keep from becoming overweight and you can train them to fly from you to another person, or to a cage or playgym.  Flying is essential for their health.

Answer 2

1. At the very least, a cage must be big enough at least for the bird to stretch its wings all the way out without the feather tips hitting the sides of the cage, and at least twice as tall as the bird (from head to tail tip). This is the smallest a cage can be, ideally it would be larger; bigger is always better where birds are concerned.

2. If you look at a cockatiel in a pet store, that's how big they get; about a foot long including their very long tail. They don't grow any bigger once you get them home, they reach adult size about the time they fledge and retain that size for the rest of their lives.

3. Birdseed is the most common diet of pet cockatiels, but it's best to look for a mix that includes both birdseed and pellets (which look like small bits of pet kibble or dry cereal, often in bright colors) because pellets contain nutrients that are necessary for a bird's health, whereas seeds conain fat and little else. It's also a good idea to offer a bird fresh, cleaned veggies, such as bits of broccoli, cauliflower or carrot; nothing beats fresh veggies when it comes to keeping a bird healthy, although it can take a while before a bird starts eating any new food.

4. Wing-clipping is rather like clipping your nails, except you use a pair of scissors instead of nail clippers. If you look at a bird's wing you will see that on the outer edge of the wing, there are two 'sets' of feathers: one set of feathers that follow the bottom edge and have blunt tips, and a second of feathers that run along the end and have pointy ends. The second set are known as primaries; to clip a cockatiel's wings you cut about a half inch off the end of each primary feather. It's generally best to have a hand towel around the bird and hold it that way, as most birds hate being held with a passion (because it is so much like being grabbed by a predator) and will bite for all they're worth. And no, clipping a blood feather will not kill the bird; just dip the bloody tip in some baking flour to stop the bleeding.

5. Of course a bird can be handled without clipped wings; clipping a bird's wings doesn't automatically tame it, it just prevents it from flying all over the place. A bird will be frightened/wild until it is hand-tamed, regardless of whether or not its wings are clipped, and a bird that is already hand-tamed will not revert to being wild if its wing feathers grow out.

6. You can't really train a bird not to fly around; if a bird isn't clipped and it feels the need to fly, it will do it, regardless of whether you want it to or not. However, a bird that is hand-tamed and no longer afraid of people isn't very likely to fly willy-nilly because it knows it has nothing to fear, so there is no reason to exert itself. There is the odd exception, though; one of my 'tiels was a spaz and would take off for no apparent reason, often startling our other bird into flight too. I just kept his wings clipped; that's the best course of action with a random flier, since it's the one thing that does deter a bird who wants to fly from doing so.

Answer 3

PLEASE do this first...

Find a *good* exotic specialty animal shop that specializes in birds.  You will get great advice AND a healthier and more socialized bird.  You should ask them all of these questions.  But some absic answers.

A "medium-is" cage at least.  Something the size of a larger parkeet cage intended for two or more parakeets.  There are recommended bar spacings for every kind of bird.  Too wide and they can stick their heads through and get caught and injure or kill themselves.  Again a good bird pet store will knwo the right sort of cage.

Cockatiels are generally 5 or so inches from toe to crest give or take an inch or two.

Diet is very important in the health of your brid so thats a great question...

If at all possible, feed your bird a formulated bird pellet diet.  We've had great luck with Harrison's pellets with all our smaller hookbills, even the diabetic one.  (The Harrisons is so well balanced nutritionally that we havetn ahd to give him insulin shots, thank god.)    You can give your bird *most* fresh vegetables or fruits in chopped up pieces if he will eat them as a supplement.  Do not give him onion or avocado.  These are bad for birds.   Do not over-do the fruit as it has natural sugars.  You can also give your bird millet sprays as an occasional treat but recognize that these are "bird candy' and he or she shouldnt make a regular diet of them.

Do NOT feed your bird bird seed if you can help it.  Seed fed birds generally pick and chose the seeds they like the best out of the mix-- which are all the fatty and least nutritious one.  if your bird comes already eating seed you may be stuck as it may refuse to eat pellets.  (this is ANOTHER reason to buy your bird from someone who knows how to raise them properly.)  If the bird is already on seeds you can try switching it to Nutriberries which are a composite of seeds and pellets.  if it takes to the Nutriberries it *may* be possible to switch it from there to pure pellets, but it may not be.

When changing a brids diet it is *very* important to monitor their feeding.  Little birds can starve themselves amazingly quickly if they refuse to eat what theya re offered.  A good way to monitor this is to change the paper daily and "count poops' if the p**p count drops way lower then before for more then a day, I'd worry and probably declare the experiment a failure and go back to the seeds.

It is best that someone show you how to clip their wings who knows how and can help you learn.  Again, a good bird specialty store can teach you.  Otherwise your vet can.  Its not hard but it takes knowing where to cut and where not to cut, and how to hold your bird's wing outstreatched without hurting it.  When we do it at home, I prefer to o it as a tow person job for the bird's safety.  my wife holds her tiel with his wing out and i do the snipping.

Although a bird *can* be handled without its wings clipped, its like they know they have the upper hand.  in general they will give you a lot more grief and hop/fly away a lot if they know they can.  Especially when first establishing a relationship with your bird, clipped wings really help.  Even our birds, who have all been with us for years, will act up a bit when they know they can fly.

If you want to handle your bird I again go back to who you get the brid from.  A bird that is handled early by humans is more likely to accept handling then one that wasn't.  The shop we got our hand-tame birds from gets them as soonas they can be seperated from their parents and keeps them in incubator boxes hand feedingd them with syringes til they are old enough to eat pellets.  A bird raised this way is much more likley to be comfortable with you handling it.  If they will let you come into the shop and help feed your baby bird before he comes home (as ours does) its even better.

Answer 4

1: A simple cage would work, not to small though it needs to be atleast medium size with horizontal bars or a ladder for climbing.

2: Not very, if you stretch out your pinky and thumb from tip to tip thats the size from head to tail approx (but i have a big hand so a little bigger)

3: Needs good cockatiel mix with seeds/pellets and occasional fruits n veggies but no avocado

4: Take it to the store/vet to get its wings clipped you might clip a blood feather and kill it.  My local pet shop clips the wings and nails for $4.

5: I wouldnt recommend putting them in a room with a fan but yes.