cockatiels

Nyan Cat

Hi all. My pet cockatiel (9) passed away. He was a very happy chappy with incredibly bright cheek patches and was always singing. I even forgot how old he was. Id love another at some stage and wonder has anyone here ever kept them in pairs? Barney was very affectionate and i know if i had a pair the bond with me would be weaker but i wonder if others have found theyre happier in a pair?

moses13

Nyan Cat wrote: »

Hi all. My pet cockatiel (9) passed away. He was a very happy chappy with incredibly bright cheek patches and was always singing. I even forgot how old he was. Id love another at some stage and wonder has anyone here ever kept them in pairs? Barney was very affectionate and i know if i had a pair the bond with me would be weaker but i wonder if others have found theyre happier in a pair?

I have 4 cockatiels in an aviary and they are as happy as larry. I did adopt a pair and they had to stay indoors over winter I was told they had a very close bond. In fact one was getting bullied terribly. I now have a single indoors and he talks loads and comes out each evening while we watch tv and seems to be very content. I also do boarding and I have heard from many people that have two in a cage that one was boss and when one died the other flourished! So maybe the answer is if you want 2 have them in 2 cages side by side so that they have company but also have the security of their own space.

Nyan Cat

Thank you. I'm leaning towards one alright. I have a large parrot cage but I'd never get two cages in. Perhaps one is best. I read that they can get on with other species too but they never say what species!

FoxyVixen

Was in a hospital in Australia where they had a massive aviary as a form of therapy for patients to get away from their stay. They had about 8 cockatiels, 15 zebra finches, 4 quail and god knows, there was a heap of budgies.

They all seemed to get along just fine, even perching beside one another. Though in this instance they did have a large enough area to fly about in as well as differant housing. Whereas having them in a cage might have a differant affect. Closer quarters causing tension perhaps?

moses13

FoxyVixen wrote: »

Was in a hospital in Australia where they had a massive aviary as a form of therapy for patients to get away from their stay. They had about 8 cockatiels, 15 zebra finches, 4 quail and god knows, there was a heap of budgies.

They all seemed to get along just fine, even perching beside one another. Though in this instance they did have a large enough area to fly about in as well as differant housing. Whereas having them in a cage might have a differant affect. Closer quarters causing tension perhaps?

Yes my outdoor cockateils live with numerous budgies and parakeets and they all get along fine because they have plenty of space.

Sigma Force

Hen budgies can turn nasty even with space they can be pretty territorial, our tiel lost an eye to a hen budgie, I would never again (despite me researching and most advice saying you can keep them all happily together) keep tiels with budgies. While the male budgies were sweet and friendly towards the tiels, hen budgies can be nasty little madams.

>>yes our avairy was more than big enough.

Keep species with their own and only if they have bonded well. IMO.

Beaver1

I have cockatiels in my back, i used to have budgies but I seen a Budgie pull the beak off a cockatiel in flight, Budgies can be a very visious bird during breeding season, I have cockatiel and african grey as pets in the house and they get on great to-gether.

Nyan Cat

Thank you all. I stuck with the one as that's what I know how to handle... I dunno if he's a whiteface pied pearl cinnimon or what have you. He's white. Got some grey or maybe it's brown on his wings..... His names spooky - less obvious than Casper! (has nothing at all to do with my love of the the x files(!))

He hAsnt whistled - apart from once. Im assuming spooky is a he cos I know iyts hard to sex a girl ESP before the first molt (he is 6 months)
Not hand reared. He's getting used to us. Backs away very little now. I haven't tried to handle him yet to let him settle first. I know I'll be pecked a lot. I looked like i was attacked by a cheese grater the first few weeks I had barney (my old tiel)

Outkast_IRE

Nyan Cat wrote: »

Thank you all. I stuck with the one as that's what I know how to handle... I dunno if he's a whiteface pied pearl cinnimon or what have you. He's white. Got some grey or maybe it's brown on his wings..... His names spooky - less obvious than Casper! (has nothing at all to do with my love of the the x files(!))

He hAsnt whistled - apart from once. Im assuming spooky is a he cos I know iyts hard to sex a girl ESP before the first molt (he is 6 months)
Not hand reared. He's getting used to us. Backs away very little now. I haven't tried to handle him yet to let him settle first. I know I'll be pecked a lot. I looked like i was attacked by a cheese grater the first few weeks I had barney (my old tiel)

Your doing the right thing giving him time to adjust to you , when you feel hes ready for the next step what i do usually is leave their seed bowel run empty and leave them go a small bit hungry then you put you hand into the cage with a nice treat on it like a piece of fruit etc.

This has worked well for me alot of the time , i keep my hand still and after a lot of hesitation and walking to and fro the bird will usually eventually take the treat and that works well as a first step