How to Live With a Cockatiel

Cockatiels are charming, sweet, inexpensive and readily available pet birds. Living with a cockatiel takes some know-how, realistic notions, a strong immune system and a vacuum.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Cockatiel
• Cockatiel food
• Cuttle-bone
• Food and water dishes
• Parrot cage
• Parrot toys

1. To live with a cockatiel, first find the bird that makes your heart sing. Cockatiels come in a variety of colors, so do some research before looking for a bird. Hand-raised babies make the best pets, and will be brought up to accommodate your lifestyle. Often a bird will pick you.
2. Find the perfect place to put your bird and her extensive apparatus; it must be away from windows, heat sources and doors, in a location that can get disgustingly messy on a regular basis, but near the life of the house—kitchens are a bad idea.
3. When you bring your bird home, begin her life as you mean for it to go on. Iif you plan on handling her daily, do so; if handling will be occasional, don’t deluge her with loving words, then leave her yearning for your touch, heartbroken, lonely and penning a sob story memoir.
4. Visit with your bird daily to change food and water, clean the cage and check for continued good health. A sick bird will appear ruffled, sneezy and depressed.

Tips & Warnings

• Cockatiels are social birds, and you will be her family, mate and flock; be loyal to your bird, because she will be loyal to you--for 15 years.
• If your lifestyle isn’t allowing your cockatiel adequate attention, consider a cage-mate! Parakeets and small parrots can live with a cockatiel. Introduce them in side-by-side enclosures for a month before blending the households.
• Cockatiels love to be loved; scratching her head, under her chin and the back of her neck will delight her beyond reason and lead to love nips, leaving your fingers pinched and red.
• Introduce your cockatiel to your bird-sitter before you leave for vacation, so she won’t be left with a stranger in her midst, and develop nervous behaviors like feather plucking, beak rubbing or online shopping.
• Bird poop goes with no wardrobe; be sure to check your shoulder before leaving the house to avoid repelling others.
• Cockatiels are the messiest of all pet birds (though Canaries come in a close second), and scatter the most allergy-inducing dander and psittacosis-carrying saliva throughout the house. Watch for increased asthma, coughing, sniffling or unexplained bouts with pneumonia. Vacuum twice daily, wet mop often and clean the cage with gloves to reduce the chance of illness.
• A second-hand cockatiel, while a great idea, has the complication of a preexisting internal clock. Cockatiels are birds of habit. If the former owner was a morning person, your new bird will be, and you’ll have no choice, as your bird shrieks you into waking.
• A screeching cockatiel is not a pretty sight or sound; encourage your bird to vocalize in response to stimulation, instead of as recreation. Also, do not remove your bird for play after screeching or she will screech for release on a regular basis, leading to ear aches, annoyance, an eviction notice from the landlord and hate mail from your neighbors.