I have a prevue hendryx flight cage for my three cockatiels. I don't have seperate cages for sleep. Make sure you have all nesscesities. They need pruning perches, I have a variety, crushed sea shell, cuttlebone perch, sanded perch & swing, a second shell perch, but it's a crappier version, a snack perch, then i have a rope perch and wooden ones. You can buy wooden dowels to use as wooden perches. Make sure it is untreated wood. They need variety and different widths of perches. They can uses perches at 1/2 inches and 3/4 inches. Cover his cage at night with a blanket. It's cold here so I use a few fleece blankets. He will also need a cuttlebone at all times. This is their calcium source.
I have a made a pvc play gym to on top of the cage to give them something to do when they are out.
If you adopt from a shelter you may not find a hand tamed cockatiel. This is very important because taming is not easy and I'm sure you don't want to go through it. I have tamed aggressive cockatiels and I have no desire to do it again. So, what to look for in a friendly bird? A bird who comes up to the side when he sees you. He needs to have interest in you. Ask to hold the bird before you purchase. You want him to be comfortable on your finger, or if he jumps to your shoulder that is fine, but if he keeps trying to fly from you that isnt good. Another thing is if they stick their hand in to get the bird and it runs to the back of its cage, this means the bird is afraid of people. It is easy to tame birds who are afraid of people aslong as they aren't aggressive. You don't want a bird that bites, it's hard to stop. One of my birds, Emma, runs from me sometimes but the second I get her out she sits with me for hours. I can't pet her though like I can with my hand fed cockatiel, Nala.
You will want to feed your bird a seed mix with veggies (like peas and broccoli), couscous pasta, whole wheat toast, etc. He may not be used to these so take the veggies and chop them up really small and lightly cover them in seeds to trick the bird to try them. I get frozen veggies and warm them up in the microwave, but you can get fresh too. For treats get millet and popcon kernals. Take the kernels and add alittle vegetable oil and put them in the popper. I have a microwave popper so I just throw it in for the same time I would with bagged popcorn. They can't have bagged popcorn because they cant have dairy not lots of salt. Birds cannot digest dairy so never feed anything containing dairy products. If you go on the website "cockatiel cottage" they have a huge list of safe foods. As I stated before, he needs a cuttlebone as well regardless of what you are feeding him.
As for flight suits, the flight suit is only held with velcro. The velcro doesn't always hold well and it can rub on the bird and make him uncomfortable. I had planned to get the aviator flight harness, it fits right to the body so there isn't any escaping. I decided not to because most states have mosquitoes that have a bird version of west nile. Check if your state does or not. It's very dangerous to them.
You cannot use any air fresheners with them. A glade plug in almost killed my birds. No plug ins, desolving gel balls, fabreeze, perfumes, candles, etc. These all have toxic fumes. Nonstick pans also contain toxic fumes when they are heated so try to avoid them.
You can make a variety of toys for your bird. Things like jute twine, sisal rope, muffin cups, straws, plastic pony beads (no glow in the dark, they contain a toxic chemical), only stainless steel or aluminum metals can be used. The others contain zinc which is deadly to them.
A toy I got for Nala was a kids oball. It is bpa free so it's safe if it were to be injected but trust me there's no way they will break it. Nala chews it like crazy. So you can search around kids toys for him and most are safe aslong as they are bap free and don't contain any gels or liquids.
I have had cockatiels most of my life so if you have any more questions feel free to message me or I will probably see your post on here.
