Cockatiel Nests?

Question

I was wondering if it is okay to put in a piece of cardboard for the birds to chew up and put into the nest? As long as it's pretty sanitary it's okay right? Please & Thanks

Answer 1

Cockatiels generally do not build nests with matierial like cardboard or paper. In the wild they will chew a hole in a log and nest in that. Pet bird breeders should add a square wooden nest box to the cage. Be sure it is intended for cockatiels, as it will need to be of a minimum size. It's been a while for me, and I didn't do a through search but one site sells boxes for 'tiels that are 10"x11.5"x12" (http://www.futurepets.com/Nesting_Box.htm) I usually put a couple of inches of pine shavings in the bottom of the box to cushion the eggs and soak up the babies wet droppings. Made it easier to clean too. But the birds themselves never added to the nest.

Now, Lovebirds do build nests within their box. Mine used to cut strips of the newspaper lining their cages. The strips would be about 1/4 inch wide and about four to six inches long. They were always very uniform. Then the birds would tuck the strips into the feathers on their rump so they looked like indian headresses. Of course 95% of the strips would fall out as they tried to squeeze through the hole in the nest box. Any strip that fell out of their tail was then no good. Defective and suspect. Never to be used again. Lovebirds are soooo messy.

So if you want to add clean cardboard to the cage for them to chew on, go ahead. An Eclectus parrot of mine actually loved inch wide pieces of paper towel rolls as a toy. If given the choice though, you might rather give them something of benefit to chew on like carrots or broccoli stalks. At least those have nutrition.

Answer 2

Cardboard would be fine for the bird to chew up. We give our parrots the rolls from inside toilet papers and paper towels. They have fun with them. As long as the cardboard is clean !!

Answer 3

My birds like newspaper. The ink of newspaper is vegetable dye. (black and white only)