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Hi Everyone!
I just joined a few minutes ago. I have been a bird lover all my life and have had many birds. Right now I am down to just one bird, my cockatiel named Chester. Believe it or not he is 25 years old and still going strong. My first cockatiel names Razzy lived to be over 17 years.

Wow! What a timely post. I was going to come in and ask about my tiel too. What do you feed yours?I feed Rowdy bird-which he doesnt really like, mixed with some seed and then lots of fresh veggies and grasses and stuff. I am really into feeding a varied diet but no junk. I am curious what you feed as it is obviously working!

Welcome to Bella and Birds

Amelia

Glad you joined us itsmeagain.

I'd love to see a picture of your Chester. I have a Chester too - but mine is an Irish Setter

Yes, please tell us about your cockatiel's diet - Its not unusual for tiels to live into their twenties - and sometimes even into their thirties - but he is certainly a senior citizen.

Amelia - please tell us more about your tiel too - pictures would be great of your guy too. Don't be worried about him not liking the pellets. Cockatiels are seed eaters in the wild (both fresh & dried) - along with berries, greens and even a bug or two once in awhile. I always had small pellets (crumbles) mixed right in with the seeds & sometimes mine ate them & sometimes they didn't.

Hi all-nice to see more tiel owners joining this discussion. I feed mine seeds (no sunflower) and pellets mixed (I mix 2/3 seed/1/3 pellets. Most of the time I mix with Zupreem Avian Entree Harvest but sometimes with just the Zupreem small fruity pellets. They really like the Harvest pellets but the boys like one kind and Ladybird likes the opposite so sometimes I give it to them as a treat and then switch treat cups! I also give them fresh veggies & fruit daily and then once/wk they get 1/2 millet spray and a BIRDIEBREAD Cone or Muffin.

Hi,

I am new to this forum and nice to see this post. I thought of sharing my experience and would like to take some help.

I adopted a male grey cockatiel in October 06 when he was 1 month old. As soon as I brought him home, I took him to the vet. They performed all required examinations and declared that he is a very healthy bird.

1. He is named as 'Abhi', which he likes very much.
2. I didn't like to have his wings clipped - so he is full flight.
3. We let him stay at least couple of hours in a day outside his cage. He flies around the living room couple of times and then would sit on our shoulders as long as he can. Or he jumps on the dining table or coffee table, when we eat and likes to eat what we eat(we're vegetarian).
4. We give him seeds and veggies. He loves seeds; but eats very little veggies
5. He always knows when my car enters the garage and starts calling me non-stop until I go to him and respond - which is so cute. When nobody is around in the living room, he will start calling until one of us turn to him - but this is not the case always, as he sits quietly as well and preens - In other words, he's NOT annoying anyone.
6. He jumps on our fingers instantly every time when we open the cage door and runs to our shoulders without issues.

The only problem is - we haven't tried to pick him / hold him in our hands even once so far. Now we would like to pick him gently, so that we can trim his long nails - but If I take my hand near his back, he flies away from me and comes back and sits on my shoulders. Once he sits on the soulder, it's impossible to get him back on my fingers as he refuses. If I try again, he tries to bite me (very gently - not a hard bite - just to disagree).

We want to pick him in our hands, so we an trim his long nails periodically. I searched several websites - most of them suggest clipping the wings - which we don't want to do.

Any advise is greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Sundar.

Hi Sundar.
A lot of birds do not like to be held. In order to hold him you may have to catch him while he is in his cage and he just might bite you when you do that.

Another option is to clip his nails while he is on the cage bars inside his cage. You can offer him a treat to come to the spot you are & when he gets there quickly and carefully cut one nail. Just do one. Later that day or the next day do another nail and so on.

If he has various sized natural branches in his cage and/or a sandy perch, he may never need his nails clipped.

Hi and Welcome guys!

Hi Sundar & Adhi!

Wow, Adhi sounds identical to Cricket (my brat) normal grey cockatiel LOL

This particular mutation of tiel do tend to be more sensitive to being handled. They really don't like it at all, they love company without being handled. Try & hold them & they can become a nightmare.

For trimming the nails I would suggest getting a t-towel to wrap him in gently to trim nails. I do this for my tiels wing trimming, he's a real devil so he has a regular wing trim. I towel him in a t-towel because its light, you can still feel him & not worry about holding him too hard. Anything thicker than a t-towel may cause problems.

For finger training you can try the basic "step up" method for him. Have him on a basic t -stand perch or on his cage, no background noise or anything that could distract him, fingers to his chest with a command of "step up". Do this every single time you want him to step up onto your finger. Completley ignore all bites as he steps up. Training while he's in front of you & not on your shoulder will help too. For the time being while he's learning, refuse him entry to your shoulder! If he lands on your shoulder, be MORE persistant than him & get him off!! He won't wanna give in so you shouldn't give in either, be more stubourn than he is. The "step up" command once tought gets impregnated into their brains so when ever you say the words, "step up" the bird automatically lifts a foot to step up before it thinks about biting or anything else. This prevents a lot of agro & having a normal grey tiel myself, I know how naughty & uncontrolable they can be.

My tiel also bites just to disagree, it's never a hard bite. But I completley ignore this, as if it didn't even happen. I'm sure with the normal grey males, 99% of the time they have to have the last say on every argument with you....

I don't think picking him up in your hands will ever work, it's just one of those things cockatiels don't particularly like & don't seem to get used to either.

Trimming the nails: are you sure they need trimming? Are they looking like they're making it hard for Adhi to walk? Getting stuck on carpet? Or are you just feeling the nails on your skin? With the correct natural branches & lots of things for the tiel to do (playgym) should prevent nails getting long in the first place. If they're not looking bad to walk in then your tiel is probably fine. A nail trim is not the norm for any parrot/cockatoo species unless there is no natural filing perches for him or there is something wrong with him.

Wing clipping is a personal choice. Many people recommend. It's got to be upto you in the end. There can be as many pros & cons in clipping as there are in flighted tiels. If the flighted tiel suits your household then stick with this.

Tiels are usually recommended for clipping because of their naughtiness!! They can be real terrors when they have the independance of their wings. A wing trim basically brings them down a peg or two. Once they're trained to what you want from them they can have their wings grow back. Remember, the wings DO always grow back if you choose to clip for a reason.

Oh how wonderful that your Tiel is 25.
I am owned by 3 Tiels (among a Flock of 13). Gus, my normal Grey is 10, and doesn't think he is a bird. He talks all day long and has loads of 2 and 3 word phrases he says. He is very bonded to me and greets me every morning when I uncover his cage with Kisses...he will get as close to me as possible (my lips) and make the kissing sound...he also does it if I ask him for a kiss and every night as I am covering his cage
Then J.B> (Jo's bird)is a Whiteface male who is 10yrs old too. He says "Hello" and gives morning and nightly kisses too.
And then there is Thumper, he is a normal Grey and 'only' 4yrs old. Thumper says "Hello" and "hey Thumper", gives the morning and nightly kisses and loves to get scritches.
They are on a diet of Zupreem fruity pellets and Higgins Medium hookbill at about 1/3 pellets and 2/3 seed in the cages 24/7, plus lots of fresh veggies/brown rice or long grain/wild rice, fruits and birdy breads. Jo