Do hand-raised and parent-raised cockatiels get along?

[JustJane]

I have a cockatiel that was not hand-raised, and he (based on his coloring and behavior, I assume he's male) has very little interest in people. I'm getting him a companion cockatiel (hopefully male) soon that I'll house in a separate cage. Does anyone have experience with this type of living arrangement?

 

[Catherine89]

Well my Male(Charile) was hand raised and my Female( sunny) was parent paised. As long as Charlie isn't hormonal they get along great. I think it will really be up to the birds rather hand raised or parent raised. They both have different cages and i will let them out together very rarely because sunny is a chronic egg layer. I figured a chronic egg layer and a hormal male will probably bring me lots of babys and i don't want that, they will flock call to
each other if i take one away from the room there in,so id say they love to have one another close by

I thought i would aslo add that Sunny is around 6-7
And Charile is 2

 

[Monica]

It honestly depends on the birds themselves.

I've had Casey, my cockatiel, for nearly 18 years. She's turning 18 in a week. She's gotten along with many other cockatiels through the years, both hand raised and parent raised. The majority of those tiels have since passed on or found new homes. I have two new foster tiels now and again, she's fine with them. Casey is hand raised.

 

[cassiesdad]

We've had that situation a few times in the past. Most of the time, the tiels reach an accommodation...they live close by, interact when they want, and go about their lives.

Now, if they were opposite sexes, you might get a bonding situation with eggs...but since you're planning for two boys, you won't have that going on...

 

[JustJane]

Well my Male(Charile) was hand raised and my Female( sunny) was parent paised. As long as Charlie isn't hormonal they get along great. I think it will really be up to the birds rather hand raised or parent raised. They both have different cages and i will let them out together very rarely because sunny is a chronic egg layer. I figured a chronic egg layer and a hormal male will probably bring me lots of babys and i don't want that, they will flock call to
each other if i take one away from the room there in,so id say they love to have one another close by

I thought i would aslo add that Sunny is around 6-7
And Charile is 2

Yep. I am definitely concerned about the possibility of chronic egg laying/egg-binding with a female cockatiel, which is why I want a male companion for Cheeky. Has Sunny laid any viable eggs?

I assume Cheeky is a male, but of course I'm not 100% sure about that without a DNA test. BTW, the closest place that offers DNA testing quoted $281 -- ridiculous. Cheeky's vet will test his DNA for $80, but it's a bit of a drive (at least a two to three hour round trip) from where I live.

Do you notice any behavioral differences (other than gender-related) or trust issues with your hand-raised vs. parent-raised birds? I've had Cheeky for 5 months, and he's nearly impossible to tame. He still doesn't trust us, and he won't even step up.

 

[JustJane]

It honestly depends on the birds themselves.

I've had Casey, my cockatiel, for nearly 18 years. She's turning 18 in a week. She's gotten along with many other cockatiels through the years, both hand raised and parent raised. The majority of those tiels have since passed on or found new homes. I have two new foster tiels now and again, she's fine with them. Casey is hand raised.

I like the idea of fostering birds, and I looked into it recently. There's nothing like that in my area, though, as far as I know. Does Casey form strong attachments to the foster birds or seem to miss them when they are re-homed?

 

[Monica]

Do you notice any behavioral differences (other than gender-related) or trust issues with your hand-raised vs. parent-raised birds? I've had Cheeky for 5 months, and he's nearly impossible to tame. He still doesn't trust us, and he won't even step up.

Please read through this.

"Self-Tamed" Cockatiels | Avian Avenue Parrot Forum

I like the idea of fostering birds, and I looked into it recently. There's nothing like that in my area, though, as far as I know. Does Casey form strong attachments to the foster birds or seem to miss them when they are re-homed?

Casey's only strong attachment to another bird was my first conure, a cherry head. Noel had no interest in becoming friends with Casey, and I was fine with that, as I knew Noel could seriously hurt (or worse) Casey. However, Casey wouldn't take "No" for an answer and became buddies with Noel. They often slept together, huddled up. Casey would often preen Noel's head, but never got any preening back. If Noel was eating food out of his foot, Casey would occasionally steal little bites here and there. Noel didn't care.

Since Noel's passing, she just hasn't warmed up to any other bird like she did with Noel. Instead, she views the other birds as part of her flock, and will contact call with them, but if they are simply gone one day, she just goes on about her life. She was hand raised from day one of hatching, from my understanding, so she doesn't exactly know how to "bird". She lays eggs, and she understands she's supposed to sit on them, but she can never figure out how to get a clutch of eggs underneath her, gives up and just walks off. She certainly doesn't understand that in order to get fertile eggs, she needs to be with a male cockatiel, which is all fine and dandy since I'm not interested in breeding and I imagine that if an egg did hatch, she'd probably freak out about the little alien that just showed up that's not supposed to be there!

 

[Catherine89]

Yep. I am definitely concerned about the possibility of chronic egg laying/egg-binding with a female cockatiel, which is why I want a male companion for Cheeky. Has Sunny laid any viable eggs?

I assume Cheeky is a male, but of course I'm not 100% sure about that without a DNA test. BTW, the closest place that offers DNA testing quoted $281 -- ridiculous. Cheeky's vet will test his DNA for $80, but it's a bit of a drive (at least a two to three hour round trip) from where I live.

Do you notice any behavioral differences (other than gender-related) or trust issues with your hand-raised vs. parent-raised birds? I've had Cheeky for 5 months, and he's nearly impossible to tame. He still doesn't trust us, and he won't even step up.

As far as viable eggs go i dont let them breed. She was also a chronic egg layer before we got Charile.The main difference with Sunny and Charile is sunny hates to be out of her cage. Charile loves to be out. Charile used to like being help but his hormones have got him acting like a little butt head. They are both sweet and trusting birds for the most part though. We where told sunny was a Male and thought so until she laid her 1st egg. Charlie was sexed for free by the breeder. Sunny did take a little longer to trust us ( about 1 yr). Charlie had trust from day 1 but my breeder was amazing.

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

Cockatiels are so flock oriented, they will join any other birds in flock behavior. My birds are free flight in my bird room, so my flock consists of all my tiels, one GCC, one PFLB, one RBP. It is usually a happy flock ex cept during tiel breeding season when all tiel males are competing for the hens. I love the flocking behavior.

Your tiels will instantly get along outside their cages and one day they will put theirselves away in the same cage, saying they are a flock.

 

[JustJane]

Cockatiels are so flock oriented, they will join any other birds in flock behavior. My birds are free flight in my bird room, so my flock consists of all my tiels, one GCC, one PFLB, one RBP. It is usually a happy flock ex cept during tiel breeding season when all tiel males are competing for the hens. I love the flocking behavior.

Your tiels will instantly get along outside their cages and one day they will put theirselves away in the same cage, saying they are a flock.

Thank you! That's definitely encouraging. BTW, because I'm a bit of a newbie, what do GCC, PFLB, and RBP mean?

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

If you hover the cursor over each abbreviation, the computer program will define them. RBP is RedBellied Parrot, PFLB is Peach Faced Love Bird. GCC is Green Cheek Conure. The tiels form the basic flock (I have 12), and the other birds join their behaviors.

 

[JustJane]

If you hover the cursor over each abbreviation, the computer program will define them. RBP is RedBellied Parrot, PFLB is Peach Faced Love Bird. GCC is Green Cheek Conure. The tiels form the basic flock (I have 12), and the other birds join their behaviors.

Thanks! I'm a bit of a newbie.