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The Good, The Bad and The Ugly about Cockatiels

BirdyLove

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I certainly believe cockatiels are loyal pets and are such a wonderful experience to have em and as I own a cockatiel, they defiantly love the attention.

image.jpg Milly and Crew
 

Sophia101

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I just recently (almost a year ago)got two female cockatiels. They werent my first choice in bird basically we found some VERY friendly canary winged parakeets in the pet store and wanted them VERY badly but they were five hundred dollars for two of them and them ofcourse we had to save up for other costs. Well we got to one hundred dollars working for our neighbors doing odd jobs and ofcourse we got antsy. So we decided to look online for birds. We didnt use a breeder or anything. We found a woman close by who had two to many birds. She gladly accepted one hundred dollars and mom lent us money for the other supplies. That night instead of letting them addapt to their new home we took them out and played with them. You see these were our first birds and we knew NOTHING about bird keeping. We made SO MANY mistakes. Then my sister decided she was bored with her cockatiel and gave her to me. I was in shock! I could barely pay for the first bird and now another was thrust apon me. Worse yet my original cockatiel Reda began to nip and bite me with no warning. She was beginning to act like Stella and Stella was NOT nice! My sister I love her but she is a terrible bird owner and shes stubborn and when I try to tell her what she was doing wrong she would get mad and kick me out of her room. So I decided to find training tip for the birds. They had been in the same cage before and were bonded. They freak out if I take one out before the other. I found tips online on a great website (cockatiel cottage) and began to work. Reda was taught not to nip within a few days but Stella still nips to this day. i still have not given up though. Anyways thats how it went for me but overall:

The Good: They are very friendly and love to be held and cuddled. Stella is a bad example because she was never loved even when she first came to my home. My sister scared her when she hissed nervously and runs at the cage to freak them out. Yes she was almost the same age as me. Reda loves her head scritches and will fall asleep with me rubbing her little crest. How did I get Reda to trust me you ask? Well she was a mess when I got her. I thought she was in molt but she wasnt. She had been ripping her own tail feathers and wing feathers off. I thought it was Stella picking on her but when her tail feathers finally started growing back I saw her rip them out. They havent grown back since. She was terrified in her old home. A new puppy barking a new baby reaching into the cage and an awful bird owner with WAY too many parrots in way too small of cages. Well basically she had pinfeathers growing in her crest and they just wouldnt go away. So I researched it and figured out that the hard outside of the pinfeathers was just sitting their cause Stella doesnt groom her. I helped her out by grooming her and she's loved me ever since. :p

The Bad: Well I cant think of too many about Reda although the mess is bad. I sweep up once in the morning and once at night and that goes away easily. Sometimes theyll let off a long round of shrill chirps but that is VERY rare. Only when they cant see each other or if my parakeet Luna Belle is chirping. Stella is nippy and hard to tame. My friends are terrified of her as is my mom but she doesnt bite me too much and when she does I use my special secret training technique. :p

The Ugly: They are dusty! The dust is awful! My mom cant be around them for very long and when they lived in my living room she was sneezing ALL the time! I honestly cant think of anything else. The mess isnt bad enough to be ugly and the training? Simple!

Overall I think these are amazing beginner birds and I think someone with experience would love their small cute chirps rather than the usual shrill chirps of the bigger birds!

Owned by~ :tiel4: Stella :tieln: Reda :phros: Luna Belle
 

BirdyLove

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;) OMG my little sister is always scaring Angel too and Angel hisses. + When I give Angel a head scratch she loves it and falls asleep!
:omg:
 

Sophia101

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Yeah but I just expected my sister to be more responsible around birds I mean she IS after all a teen. Yeah Reda loves her head scritches. :p

Owned by~ :tiel4: Stella :tieln: Reda :phros: Luna Belle
 

Willow12

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Medina Ohio
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Holly
Love what your wrote Ann! every bit last word is very true! my Daisy she was mean when I first got her this month will be a year I have had her and she use to bite me hard! now she does not do that and yes tiels are Loud!. She is loud in the mornings and my mom thinks she is in pain lol and I said no they are just really loud lol I did a lot of looking up information and talking a breeder of 25 years that knows birds. Because tiels are not for a starter bird so true! the more info you get the better chance you will have owning a tiel or any bird for that matter!. :smuggrin: :heart:
 

Lady Jane

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I have not had Luca for very long and I find myself spoiling her. Cocktails are very sweet birds and I love him or her in my life.
 

Gracie unicorn

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Do u know how u said there not a starting bird well true but they are good birds to start with but also can't be one as well. :lol:
 

Gambitlover

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Tinni
I have a seven months old male lutino pearl cockatiel and guess what? he's extremely quiet. He chirps once when it's night, chirps once when it's morning. He's so sweet and adorable, and enjoys mist baths. I named him Gambit because he's so suave when it comes to his looks...he's always preening when i come close to his cage :lol: :heart:
 

Veggielover

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Annie
I have a cockatiel and so does my roommate. I think mine may be a boy, but I am not sure. My roommates may be a girl because of the bar markings on it's tail feathers. I believe they are 10 months old. We just got them, but they are soooooo quiet. They don't make any noise unless I say, "HI!" and then mine makes some chirps. Mine is a little territorial and tries to bite my roommate and boyfriend. When they bite, it doesn't hurt at all. But he adores me. He even flies down from his cage to snuggle with me when I am sitting on the couch.

The pet store I got them from clipped their wings, so I brought them outside on the patio. They were sitting on their perch and 2 hummingbirds flew up to them to check them out. It was the neatest thing!
 

atomicfriday

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I have a male pied Cockatiel who is just a hoot, and a personality in his own. I am 25, and found him on a powerline outside our house when I was 8! He was whistling away hanging out with the mourning doves, and with some whistling of our own (and seed) convinced him to come down and hop on a finger. That being said he is at least 17 years old and still going strong, despite our lack of knowledge and fed him an all seed diet. He has always been beautifully feathered and robust. He likes to hang out with me on the couch and will serenade his heart out to me for a good ten minutes before he will chill out and preen. He loves giving me kisses. He hates fingers and will only step up if you close your fist and offer your arm, he also does not tolerate scritches. He has his curmedgeon old man antics where randomly he will squawk at you and open his beak acting real tough but its all show... he never bites. He is not nearly as dusty as my CAG of whom I have to clean my coffee table and TV stand every other day. His mess is far less compared to him and my late pionus was also messier.

IMO he is a perfect bird. He is never loud and only gives alert calls when someone is at the house. The dogs might be ignorantly asleep and not care, but Romeo is always on top of it.
 

JayByrd

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I decided to add a post to this discussion. We recently adopted three cockatiels about 4 months ago, and we had one special needs 'tiel before that. We have three males, and one female, though one of the males "sophie" was named as an egg, as the original owners decided it was a girl. Sophie is our special "girl". she has no toes on her feet, and she is abit smaller then the other three. but she is happy, and has thrived since the other half adopted her about 6 months ago.

The good: they are absolutely entertaining. whether how they interact with us, or just each other everything they do is funny. With the exception of Tooie, all the 'tiels love attention. they love rubs and scritches. They love being on shoulders, and if we leave the room, they will even come down the hallway, crests up as a pack looking for us.

the bad. they can sometimes be nippy, or scream at the top of their lungs for extended periods of time, and there is no pleasing then. we call it "tiel fits" but despite how loud they can get, and the sometimes unexpected nips and bites they are great birds. they also have a tendency to poop on us. they don't care. they just do it, several times if you let em.

the ugly. I can't say any of their behaviour is "ugly"
 

blewin

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Fortunately, the poops are tiny. They drive my mother in law nuts, tho. The ugly is definitely the "I'm bored" scream. Followed by the "HELLO, I'M BORED" scream, followed by the "I WANT TO HANG ALL OVER YOU I WANT TO HANG ALL OVER YOU I WANT TO HANG ALL OVER YOU" scream.

My mother in law has started to threaten Buddy with the tv off if she doesn't stop. Apparently, that works. :lol:
 

Sophia101

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Fortunately, the poops are tiny. They drive my mother in law nuts, tho. The ugly is definitely the "I'm bored" scream. Followed by the "HELLO, I'M BORED" scream, followed by the "I WANT TO HANG ALL OVER YOU I WANT TO HANG ALL OVER YOU I WANT TO HANG ALL OVER YOU" scream.

My mother in law has started to threaten Buddy with the tv off if she doesn't stop. Apparently, that works. :lol:
Haha that's so cute! My birds have never really screamed for more than a couple seconds. My IRN does most of the screaming which is enough for all three of them. :lol:
 

JayByrd

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Rebel bird is a mess sometimes. Sometimes he's the affectionate, wants pets and love 'tiel. other days you cant even get him to step up. and when you do, he hisses, and wants to bite..such crazy birds
 

Odin

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Odin is new to my household, I love him intensely!!! This is a great thread, thank you for the information. I don't find Odin particularily dusty at all, and I have OCD when it comes to cleaning.... Although I have had to rein in my cleaning because Odin needs to spend time with me! I don't find he is loud at all, although when he is out, he doesn't tend to make a lot of noise. He makes more noise when he is in his house.
 

retajomi3

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Gold Coast, Australia
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I have a flock of 3 beautiful cockatiels, Mei (1yr, female), Valor (3yrs, male) and Bazza (6yrs, male).

I'm going to start with where it all began... It was a sunny Christmas day and my ex in-laws came over for lunch and brought me a pair of reject cockatiels by surprise. (BIRDS ARE NOT PRESENTS, I WAS NOT PREPARED) Baz and Monty. They were both 4 years old and deeply in love, I was their third owner as Baz was a vicious bird and Monty had broken hips. Monty flew off and my poor little fella was depressed for a long time, until I decided to take on a baby.

Mei joined us about a year ago, she'd only just gotten her feathers and I raised her from there. She's a lap bird, there is nothing she loves more than kisses, cuddles and being mummy's sleeping mask. She's the Cathy Freeman of the bird world, she runs lightning fast... And doesn't understand the point of flying, even though she has the precision of a hawk. My housemates joke about how she thinks she's people, and that she doesn't know how to bird.

I've slowly trained Baz out of biting, and he is the most lovable little critter on the planet, he barks, meows and says hello, along with a variety of other noises.

A few months ago, Valor joined us as resident butt kicker. He's the boss and thinks he's got charm, though Mei isn't interested in the slightest.

Now I've covered the good, let me start on the bad...

HOLY COWS THEY BITE HARD. Valor hates me (he has issues with women), HE LOVES TO BITE MY NOSE, he knows he's got a good shot because I'm kissy and love a good snuggle. As for Baz, he's learned through persistence that biting gets you nowhere, and ends up with a wet crest.
I wake up every morning at the crack of dawn to the sound of excited male cockatiels, and a very confused and sleepy Mei. THEY ARE SO DAMN LOUD. I live in an apartment that is strictly no pets and my birds just can't help waking up my housemates.

Gotta love them though, there is nothing I look forward to more than feathers up my nose, kisses and lots of singing ❤
 

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Odin

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Awww they are so cute!!!
 

Jaguar

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I've been a tiel mom for a year now, so I guess I can participate! Keep in mind both of my boys were hand fed and well socialized as babies, so I got a good head start that someone working with a rescue or second hand bird may not get.

The good:

Friendly - this is probably the biggest one. My boys are so happy to just be with people, especially Miles. So far they have not been afraid of any of my guests... heck just yesterday they were climbing all over my mom after just meeting her 20 minutes prior. They really want to be with us, want to be involved in what we're doing... admittedly their persistence in being a part of EVERYTHING can get a bit annoying. And wherever one goes, the other has to come too! But you gotta love it.

Predictable - they are very easy to read thanks to their handy built in mood indicator (crest)... I have never been bitten by either of my tiels, because I can always tell what they want long before they have to bite to get the point across.

Stable - my guys are always chipper, always down to come out of the cage, very even tempered... of course, age and hormones could affect this down the line, but for now, they are consistent and reliable.

Easy to please - they're happy just to hang out and get some scritches or peck around on the carpet. Of course, that's not to say you don't need to engage them with foraging and training, but they are not going to destroy your house out of boredom.

Vocal - boys especially love to whistle and talk. You can teach them songs, phrases... Phoenix can say upwards of 10 phrases (not in context, of course) and it is absolutely adorable when he tells himself to step up on his perches or gives you an exaggerated MWAH! after a kiss.

The bad:

Dusty - This is something everyone's made aware of before they get a dust producing bird, but you don't really understand how bad it is until you actually have them. Prepared to have a thin layer of dust and feather dander on EVERYTHING... dusting daily is a must, as is an air purifier. Your lungs will thank you later on.

Vocal - This can be a bad thing, too... mostly for boys. They do not stop making noise! They are chattering, whistling, talking, and singing nearly all day. It's a pleasant noise, to me, but when they've been whistling nothing but "if you're happy and you know it" for the past 4 hours straight... it can start to wear you down. And good luck having a phone or Skype call if they're in the same room - their piercing tweets will drive almost everyone nuts.

Picky - They can be tough to feed. They love seeds... pellets and fresh foods are a constant struggle. Greens and carrots are about the only thing I can get my guys to eat on bad days.

The ugly:

Hormones - This is the only ugly I've experienced with my tiels so far. These guys can have some serious hormonal issues. Chronic egg laying in females, masturbating, regurgitating, screaming... Phoenix is going on 4 months of extremely hormonal behaviors and sometimes it is really difficult to deal with, but we hope that in time, he'll settle down.

All in all, they are AWESOME little guys. I think everyone should have a few. :D
 
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