Want to Buy, New to Tiels

[Tielster]

Well, Hi everyone, My friend kindly gave me the URL of this forum when i mentioned to her that I was interested in buying a Cockatiel. I really have no idea what to do though- where to buy, what kind to get, what to feed etc and I want to keep my bird safe ( an alive bird is a good bird!) and happy, so I thought i'd get some help before I blindly went out and purchased the first one i saw! Does anyone have any hints for me at all? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am located in Sydney.

[~*~Lori & Specks~*~]

Breeders are a good place to start, most care about how they hand raise their birds.... I bought Specks from a pet shop, she was in a tiny cage with about 6 other birds, she's the one that came running to the cage door as if saying help me...lol So I took her home...

The look of your bird depends on what your after really,I know you want one like Specks...but there's a wide choice out there....

But I'm going to leave it up to the experts...

[lovemytiels]

Hi Tielster, when looking for a baby tiel make sure it is bright eyed, active & has good feather formation, nothing ratty looking. It is also a good idea to watch the bird to make sure it is cracking seed by itself as too often baby tiels just mimic eating. Pet shops are okay but but can be expensive. If you can find a breeder that would be better, but there is not a great deal around at the moment. I would recommend buying a h/reared tiel over an avairy one as they are much easier to train, plus they already have human interaction. There are still a couple of breeders outside Sydney that are advertiing h/reared tiels, but make sure the baby is fully weaned as you need experience at feeding babys. As to diet the younger they are the easier it is to get them to accept new foods. A good seed Mix is esssential. Also a calcium supplement & mineral & vitamin supplement is essential. You can buy these in pre made bells. Veggies, & any fruit you can get a tiel to eat is good (tiels are not big fruit eaters, only seem to like green apple. Sprouted seeds is top of my list for feeding tiels as sprouting releases more of the available vitamins, minerals, & protein. My tiels also like a good grainy bread which they all get a bit every day. They also like rice bubbles as well. I also like to put natural gum branches for them to chew on too as perches. Some of the veggies I use are broccoli, bok choy, corn on the cob, capsicum, chinese bean sprouts, chillies, endive, spinach, grated carrot. I don't feed lettuce, celery (only the leaves of celery) as they contain too much water. No onions or tomatoes either. There are many other things you can feed your tiel, but this is just a basic list. Hope this helps & we have other people on this great forum who might be able to offer more advise. Cheers for now Anna

[Tielster]

Thankyou for the tips Anna. How much should I be feeding my bird? Will it be okay left home alone while i am at school and at work if it is by itself with the radio on? I have heard that some birds become destructive and such.

[lovemytiels]

Hi Tielster, with a lone bird, they have a good supply of seed & then I just make treat bowl full of goodies every day. How much goodies is really up to how much a bird will eat. I usually remove the treat bowl at the end of the day. Yes radios can help, but make sure you provide lots of different kinds of safe parrot toys & some gum branches to chew on. Now I have heard that when radios don't work, that people have faced the birds cage & turned the TV on. Don't really knows if that works but it has been suggested to me as it keeps them company . Sometimes lone birds can suffer from seperation anxiety if the person is not there all day & that is a really hard problem to try & fix unless you get 2 birds at once ;D ;D. Hope this helps. Cheers Anna