Any cockatiel owners out there who can answer a few questions?

Question

I have 3 'tiels. I think I have 1 male and 2 females. The reason I think this is 'cause the male is very noisy, talks and whistles, is starting to breed with the supposed "females", and can be aggressive. The 2 females are VERY quiet and much more docile. My question is at what age do the females start laying eggs? I think the male is about 3 and the 2 females are a little over a year old at the most. He breeds with both of them! They all get along beautifully and I have a very large cage. I don't want to separate them. He seems to prefer the lutino female and she is older and a bit more dominant than my white face female. If I put the nest box in there, will he choose one and will this encourage them to lay eggs? I've sucessfully hatched lovebirds but I didn't handfeed, I let the parents take care of them. Do 'tiels share parenting responibilities? Is it possible they'll just ignore the other female or could they both lay eggs and all of them parent? (Continued)

My other question is about molting? They've all been losing a lot of feathers lately mostly the small ones. They don't look in great condition but I know they are healthy and I feed them a good diet. So , do they molt and if so, how many times a year and do they tend to mollt at the same times? Next question, can a male's vocab. increase as he ages? And finally, could I add any other types of birds with them since my cage is huge or could I add one more male for the other female or would my male try to attack since he seems to be possessive of both of them. What about parakeets, monk parrots, canaries, or finches? If I put a male canary near their cage but in a different one, could he teach my male to whistle new tunes? THANKS GUYS! If you want to brag about your birdies, I'd like to hear! And yes, I have tons of books on 'tiels but they did not discuss my questions much.

Answer 1

The noise level of your birds is not gender specific. Generally, if the birds are hand fed, they will make all kinds of noise to call you to them. They have bonded with people due to being hand fed. It is your attention they want.

If your male is a normal grey, as he matures, his head feathers will turn a brighter shade of yellow and the yello will dominate the front of his head. The females heads can also turn a pale yellow and not as pronounced as the male.

Cockatiels travel and live in flocks of hundreds if not thousands, in the wild. It is best to have one male per female so you won't overwork the male. Both parents care for the young and if the male is feeding two clutches of babies at the same time, his health will suffer. Regurgitating for that many babies is just not what he was meant to do. He needs time to eat just for himself. By all means, get another male and put two nest boxes in the cage.

If your cage and space is large enough, your best bet is to put the nest box on the outside of the cage and make an opening in the wires so they can access the nest from the cage. This serves two purposes. First, it will prevent the birds from roosting on top of the box - or trying to get between the top wires of the cage and the box. All birds want to get as high as possible - it's just part of their makeup. So having the box on the outside prevents this completely. Second, having the box on the outside allows you to open the box and sneak a peak from time to time without upsetting the whole operation.

For two pairs, place one boxe on both sides of the cage - at the same level. That way the couples won't fight over the higher nest. There shouldn't be a problem.

You can certainly put other birds in the same cage, however, be aware that not all of them can eat the same seeds. A finch would never be able to eat the tougher seeds that cockatiels or parakeets eat, but a cockatiel may try to hog all the finch food for themselves. The same holds true of canary food. That's a real concern when keeping a variety of birds in the same aviary. For that reason, it is better to keep the cockatiel breeding cage just for the breeding cockatiels. A separate flight cage for finches and canaries is okay, but make sure there are plenty of food and grit cups for all.

Generally, a breeding setup is one that houses pairs of one species and only one species. That's not to say it can't be done differently - but much depends on the size of the aviary. Notice I am using the term aviary and not flight cage or large cage. No cage is large enough to house breeding pairs of cockatiels with breeding pairs of parakeets and canaries or finches.

The last thing you would want is to have a parakeet try to butt his way into the breeding box for finches. Worse, the canary does not use a box - but prefers an open half-circle nest. Finches prefer a hooded wicker basket. This will prove to tempting a chew toy for the hookbills. You see where this is going to create problems in any kind of cage - regardless of it's size.

All birds will molt about once a year. Different species do it at different times of the year. Much depends on the temperature and lighting of your home.

Answer 2

I've raised lots of cockatiels so I'll answer as best as I can;
*Molting: Yes, they will lose feathers and it will look like they have dandruff. It's natural for them. Just keep plenty of fresh water and mineral blocks handy for them.
*Mating; I had one male and 2 females and he only mated with one female. The other female did everything to get his attention, but he just pecked at squwaked at her.
*Nesting boxes: The birds will lay eggs where ever there is a quiet space. Even if you used dish towels and clothes pins to make a private area, they would use that.
*Eggs: Both parents will share the responsibility of sitting on the eggs.
*Hand feeding: Some breeders will take the chicks away from the parents at about 4 weeks and start hand feeding them. Since I handled my birds everyday, I started hand feeding the chicks within the first week of hatching. The parents were always right there with me when I fed them and even the parents wanted to eat the baby formula. And the parents still cared and fed the chicks when I was at work.
*Gender: Males normally have the brightest orange spots and are the most talkative. As long as you keep speaking to the bird, he will always imitate what he learned from you, regardless of age.

Answer 3

Hey hows everything?

well i have 2 'tiels now but i had three i lost one it was heat breaking one of the birds i have now is the other birds daughter so i know a little about breeding.
one thing i really learned is that any new parent can get overwhelmed (i hoped i spelt theat and this right i cant spell very well at all) my birds leyed four eggs all fertile but only one chick was properally cared for i had read up on hand rearing but it was alot of work still!

i lost three of the abandoned babys the only one that lived was the one raised by mom and dad.






ok so if you do want to breed them (just know that after the children the male will still try to court) provide a good nest box he wil choose a mate and they will probally ley eggs no i dont know how the other bird will react she might even try to help with the eggs or chicks and there is a possibilty they might both ley.


cockatiels can be caged with other birds if introduced properally and normally dont get to territorial but there will be scuffling to find out the pecking order.

Answer 4

I've had 2 cockateil's, male and female at one time, now I'm just down to the female. She is the opposite of yours. She's the one that is very noisy. These 2 were given to me by a neighbor who actually had a female and male that mated and hatched the 2 that I had. I haven't raised any from the 2 actually having laid eggs. But the reason the neighbor gave them to me was, she said that there could only be one male and female in the cage for them to successfully mate and hatch. I believe you are suppose to give them a nest and nature will take it's course. Good luck in your success of hatching!

Answer 5

You need to place the male with the female you want him to breed with and remove the other female. Place a box in the cage up high if possible without a lid on it so you can look in at the eggs and later look in at the babies once they hatch and the parents get off of them long enough to give you permission to look in at them.
The cockatiels will allow nature to take its course the more you leave the breeding pair alone without you putting your hands in their cage other then food and water. Right now is a excellent time to offer them KAYTEE hand feeding formula dry and made up to feed babies with, they will pig out on it and when the babies are here they will feed their babies the stuff too. At 21 days or 4 weeks old you can pull the babies and place them in a quarium on top of pine shavings for hand feeding if you go that route to raise hand tamed babies. You can always place the aquarium on top of a heating pad to keep the babies warm inside of it. I use a little silverware basket about 3 inches wide 2 inches deep and 12 inches long upside down for them to stand on so they don't have to stand in their poop all night while you sleep, or in between cleanings.

Also birds molt 3 times a years. You see it sometimes and most of the time you dont notice at all. Thats a good time to spray them with water with a spray bottle to keep them clean and beautiful.

Answer 6

maybe you should put two nest box's in the cage if you dont want to seperate them, or get another male. i used to breed them and one female ended up going into another ones nest and pulled the babies out and killed them. they are all mature enough to breed now so make sure they have the nest box and some nesting material.
When cocatiels have eggs, the male sits on the eggs while the female feeds and has a time-out.
about the molting- check them for bird lice- there is a special spray you can buy for bird lice at any pet shop. goodluck with your breeding :)

Answer 7

males have yellow heads(also more collerful and have black under tails) and females have gray. laying eggs about 2-3 years,
if they are new it will take a bit for the male to learn to share responsibility in taking care of the baby bird so ou might loos a few. but wonce he learns he will help raise them and also he will probibly mate with both of them and both females will lay eggs..
molting means there michering and ready for breading. they molt once and loose old or dead fethers all the time but not all at once like molting just a few every weekes dont wory they will grow back and look full year round. they like to be spraid down with water but not during winter!!!!

Answer 8

Get the book, '' Cockatiels for Dummies ''. This will be good reference material to have on hand from experts about cockatiels....

You can also check online for info about cockatiels. I've given a couple of references below.

Good luck.