Here are some of the most informative and useful posts from the Tiel Breeders List. Most of the posts contain brief tips and suggestions from list members. For further information on any topic please see the articles section, or the links page to other cockatiel websites.
All the information provided on the list and at this site are the opinions and experiences of the individual authors and should NOT be a substitute for proper veterinary care.
Breeding Behaviours
From: "Pauline Nolet" tielbreeders@yahoo.com
I believe in Australia there is more of a wet season and dry season than a winter/summer. Cockatiels in good health will usually breed anytime there is plentiful food and a long enough period of daylight. With supplemental lighting and a good diet tiels can be bred at any time of year. They should still only be allowed to have 2 clutches per year, possibly three if all the babies are pulled young for handfeeding. Molting tiels should be allowed to rest and not bred until the molt is complete. I have babies year-round, but rotate the pairs so that each pair gets plenty of rest in between clutches.
Pauline Nolet
tielbreeders@yahoo.com
From: "Nancy Moore" dnmoore@webtv.net
Infidelity among cockatiels is common. They are not like eagles but more like humans (sigh).
There are two solutions. Either do as many breeders do and separate the tiels into a "hen" pen and a "men" pen and the babies get the "play pen" naturally. Then there is no temptation and abstinence makes the heart grow stonger. I also put my (not going to mess this up) pairs in a pen and usually it works out fine. This does mean no bachelors or bachelorettes just pairs. In any situation if you have odd ball birds it usually means fighting or tramping around!
Nancy Moore
Emerald Isle Aviaries
dnmoore@webtv.net
From: "Heike H. Ewing" heike@ionet.net
There are degrees of compatiblity and bonding. I have some pairs that are very compatible and tightly bonded - they won't split up even in a flight with lots of other birds, and if one dies the other grieves for a while before it will accept another mate.
I have other pairs, however, that will mate and raise babies but are only loosely bonded, and if either of the pair happens to find somebody they like better, they'll switch. I have a few birds that have had several mates but now have a tight bond with their current mate and probably won't switch again unless I force them to. I also have one male that will happily mate and raise babies with ANY hen - if he weren't already named Toby I think I'd call him Studmuffin! LOL!
One of the best ways I have found to create a tightly bonded pair is to put the two birds together when they are very young (just after weaning) and leave them together in a separate cage (without a nestbox) until they are old enough to breed. Growing up together seems to cement the bond.
Heike Ewing, Bear's Den Aviary / "BearsDen" on IRC
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Eggs & Incubation
From: "Heike H. Ewing" heike@ionet.net
A cockatiel egg should hatch 18 days after it begins to be incubated. Some hens don't start setting the eggs until they have two or three (this leaves less age difference between the chicks and generally more will survive as a result), in which case you must calculate the hatch date from the day she starts setting, not the day the egg is laid. An egg that isn't incubated doesn't start to develop; cockatiel eggs can be "stored" for up to six days and still hatch.
I usually candle the eggs to tell if they are alive or dead (live eggs are reddish and you can sometimes see movement; dead eggs look brown or greenish inside.) If you only have a regular flashlight to candle with, you can see better if you do it in a dark room. However, I would give up on them 25 - 27 days after the LAST egg was laid if I couldn't tell by candling.
Heike Ewing, Bear's Den Aviary / "BearsDen" on IRC
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Housing Babies
From: "Heike H. Ewing" heike@ionet.net
Chicks from 1 - 5 days old should be kept about 90 - 95 degrees. 6 - 10 days, about 85 - 90 degrees. 11 days to 2 weeks, 80 - 85 degrees. After they start to feather, you can gradually reduce the temperature. When they are mostly feathered in except under the wings, which feathers last, they can be at room temperature.
Heike Ewing, Bear's Den Aviary / "BearsDen" on IRC
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From: "Heike H. Ewing" heike@ionet.net
A real brooder is best because it has a thermostatic heating unit, but I do also use a regular drugstore heating pad under one of those plastic "critter keepers." However, I tape over most of the open mesh lid to help hold in the heat and humidity. You need to have a source of humidity in the brooder, btw. An open bowl of water that the chicks can't reach will work.
You can buy a heating coil that will fit into the top of a ten-gallon aquarium for about 50 - 60 dollars from several different places. That's a relatively inexpensive option. Another idea is to put two "critter keepers" together, one inside the other, with water in the bottom one that is heated by a submersible aquarium heater.
Heike Ewing, Bear's Den Aviary / "BearsDen" on IRC
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Weaning
From: "Heike H. Ewing" heike@ionet.net
I start giving them spray millet and cheerios at about 3.5 to 4 weeks, and by 4.5 to 5 weeks they have pellets, cereals, seed mix, and fresh foods offered to them. I give them everything because I never know what the people will try to feed them, regardless of what I *tell* them to feed.
It is not necessarily true that they will be weaned at 7 or 8 weeks. I've had some go 12 weeks or longer. I never force a baby to wean, I stop feeding them only when their crop is consistently at least half full of food that they have eaten on their own, every time I try to feed them, for three or four days in a row. If they miss a day and take a feeding, I start the count over. This is called "abundance weaning," and they have "real" food available to them in plentiful quantities during the entire process. I think this way is kinder to the chicks, and I have fewer "regressions" after sale than people who "force-wean," in my opinion.
Heike Ewing, Bear's Den Aviary / "BearsDen" on IRC
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From: "Heike H. Ewing" heike@ionet.net
When they are fully feathered in, or after the first time they try to fly, they move from brooder to baby cage. In the baby cage there are perches, swings, a variety of toys, weaning foods such as cheerios, pellets, and seed mix, and a small, shallow dish of water. Fresh foods such as chopped veggies or bean mix are offered in the early evening because of my work schedule.
When I see them really eating on their own, I drop them to two feedings a day, morning and night. When they start refusing the morning feeding, I drop it. But I don't drop the night feeding until they haven't needed it for at least 3 or 4 days in a row. That is, I check the crop every night when feeding the others. If the crop is at least half full, I don't hand feed. If the crop is empty, I feed. Every time the baby takes a feeding, the "count" starts over, so I don't call it weaned until it has gone 3 - 4 consecutive days without needing a feeding.
The whole idea that, if given a choice, a baby cockatiel (or other parrot) would choose to keep on being hand-fed is a fallacy in my opinion. I've had one or two that took a very long time, but most wean by 7 or 8 weeks, and some wean younger. I think it's important to let the baby go at its own pace and wean according to its own internal schedule. I think babies that are forced to wean by some external schedule or calendar turn out more insecure, less confident, more nervous and flighty, and more likely to have behavioral and/or "psychological" problems later in life. JMO!
Heike Ewing, Bear's Den Aviary / "BearsDen" on IRC
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Revised: October 11, 1999
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