# Am I Ready for a Cockatiel?



## ThisAdamGuy (Dec 6, 2016)

Hey guys, I'm Adam and I've been thinking about getting a cockatiel for a while now. Currently, I live by myself in an apartment complex that's mostly quiet, I work a full time job where my hours change weekly, and I have a shih tzu that's pretty calm and laid back. I already have a place picked out where I could put the cage, and I can afford feed no problem. I just want to make sure I'm not overlooking anything. Do you think I'm ready to own a cockatiel?


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## SilverSage (Oct 19, 2014)

That depends on lots of things; can you afford hundreds in vet fees? How much time per day do you have for cleaning up after your bird? For spending time with him? How thick are your walls and how picky are your neighbors? What are your plans for the next 30 years? That's how long they can live. Do you have plans for keeping your bird and your dog safe from each other? How much money are you prepared to spend on keeping your bird occupied while you are at work?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## shaenne (Apr 19, 2014)

First of all, kudos for actually considering your position and readiness before getting a bird instead of just impulse buying like a ton of people do. "Buy now, ask questions later" is not the right policy to have when you're talking about a living being that is 100% reliant on you, so I have to commend you for taking the right approach.

As long as you're OK with potential vet fees (here at least, avian vets tend to charge more than regular vets because they're so few and far between) and are able to cover emergency vet costs (or be able to work something out with your vet), you should be fine. 

As a quick example, when Zoe was 6 weeks old (I hand raised her) I took her to the vet because I suspected she had a respiratory infection. The closest avian vet was 3 hours away by car, so I had to pay for fuel there and back. For a 10 minute visit, a couple of basic tests (no blood) and a 7 day round of antibiotics at 0.2ml per dose, the bill was approx $260.

Most of us who own birds work, I personally work part time but I will be working full time soon. It's not like we could afford to give them their luxurious lives if we didn't right? LOL. If you can make time to spend quality time with your bird before/after work it's all good. 

I personally like to utilize my weekend time with my birds by making batches of chop. They LOVE helping (and by helping I mean getting in the way and snacking on all the food) and I find myself chatting to them the entire time, stopping periodically to give them scritches and cuddles. Then at the end of it all, I have up to 3-4 months worth of freezable, healthy bird food. By spending time with them and making nutritious meals ahead, i'm killing two birds with one stone (pun intended)

As for clean-up, I spend maybe 5-10 minutes a day spot cleaning in and around their cages, and I do full cage cleans on the weekend that maybe takes 1/2 hour to an hour. But I also have an eclectus parrot that is messy as **** so my cleanup time takes a bit longer than yours would with just a singluar bird. Although don't underestimate how messy cockatiels can be.

For toys, buy some good, hardy ones as well as some shreddable/destructible ones. They LOVE tearing things apart. Do some research on foraging toys, too. All of these will help keep the bird occupied while you're at work. And I recommend buying quite a few to start with and keep adding to your stock every week or bi-weekly, so you've got plenty of toys to rotate in. Rotating toys (and their positions in the cage) can help keep the bird stimulated as well. My little girl Zoe gets bored as **** if I don't rotate her toys at least once every couple of weeks.

For the most part keeping birds is easy, you just need to be prepared for anything and everything. Above all, keeping them safe and healthy and being able to spend quality time with them is paramount for a happy, healthy bird.


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## moonchild (Jul 29, 2012)

SilverSage asks some important questions. It sounds like you could be ready for a cockatiel, but keep in mind a single bird will be lonely while you're gone. They're flock animals. You might want to consider getting two birds instead (if hand tame, they will still appreciate your company). Also, depending on how tolerant your neighbors are, keep in mind cockatiels are not the most quiet birds. They're certainly not the loudest, but they can and will be heard if they decide to sing or scream. My female tiel is constantly getting alarmed by things (microwave noises, crows outside, us cooking) and shrieks her head off sometimes for no apparent reason. It probably won't get you evicted, but there are quieter species out there if noise is a concern at all. Every bird is different though.


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## shaenne (Apr 19, 2014)

^ In a bird group i'm in on facebook, someone asked for advice about getting a bird for her epileptic, autistic son and one of the key points was "the bird can't be loud" and I just cringed. There was legit hundreds of people suggesting a hand raised cockatiel because "they are quiet, especially if you get a female". 

I pointed several times that hand raised does not mean quiet, and cockatiels are definitely not "quiet" birds. They are definitely not he loudest species, but they are very high pitched and very persistent. My Eclectus is quieter than my cockatiels. He lets out an almighty scream when he's not happy about something or if he wants fed (still on formula), but in overall noise he is MUCH quieter than my cockatiels.


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## ThisAdamGuy (Dec 6, 2016)

Thanks for the feedback, guys! I'm not worried about the noise. I play music in my apartment and nobody's complained yet, so I doubt they'd be able to hear/even care about the bird. I may be a little pressed for time cleaning their cage in the morning, but I shouldn't have any problem doing it after work. Would the time of day matter much for that? Like I said my dog's pretty chill, but I think it might still be a good idea to "introduce" them at the store to see how she reacts. What do you think? Good idea? Bad idea? I don't know of any private breeders around where I live, so I'll probably have to buy it from Petsmart or something, btw. Vet bills, I'm not too worried about as long as I'm not having to take him to the vet every week or something.

As for keeping it company, assuming it and my dog get along would having my dog near its cage while I'm gone be good company? Or will it need something actually in its cage with it?

Also, does anyone have any recommendations on what kind of feed I should get for it? How about toy recommendations, since that seems to be really important?

There are a couple reasons I think a cockatiel is the best choice for me. They're relatively cheap, compared to other breeds of parrots, so I won't have to break the bank in getting one. Also, my middle school science teacher had a room full of animals she let her students take home on the weekends, and my favorite was her cockatiel, Chase. He was like a dog with feathers, lol! That was more than ten years ago, but I've wanted one ever since.


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## shaenne (Apr 19, 2014)

Time of day for cleaning the cage doesn't matter at all, as long as you can spot-clean every day or at least every couple of days. It's easy enough to do after work. Sometimes I let mine go for a couple of days if they haven't been particularly messy.

As for your dog & the bird, even if you introduce them at the store and she seems OK, I would still keep them in separate rooms while you're at work. I have the most laid back, chill Labrador in the world and nobody would ever suspect him as a "bird dog" by nature, but when Zoe starts flapping in her cage he is the first one there to investigate what all the commotion is about and I wouldn't want to risk leaving him alone with her, even though she's in a sturdy cage. It's just not safe.

As for feed, I (and everyone else here) will highly recommend a fresh based diet with some pellets and SOME seed. Chop is the absolute best thing you can do for your bird, because even if they are picky eaters, they will find stuff in the chop mix that they like and if you make it fine enough, they'll end up eating all sorts of good food without even realizing it. Find a good pellet (I personally use Vetafarm Paradise pellets for my cockatiels) and a good mixed seed that doesn't have too many sunflower seeds. Making your own seed mix is extremely beneficial as you can pick and choose which seeds you'd like them to have more of.

For keeping it company while you're at work, provide lots of toys and things to do. As I said previously, research foraging toys because those are amazing for keeping birds occupied. Look up some DIY ones that you can throw together on a weekend, that's always really fun to do!


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Dogs and birds don't mix. I would never, ever trust my dogs with my birds. I actually had an incident some years ago after first bringing my dog home. My husband was cleaning the room the parakeets were in and our husky went into the room to see what he was doing. She picked up one of the parakeets, didn't bite it or squeeze it, just carried it over to my husband. By the time he noticed, the bird had a heart attack and died. The gentlest dog still has a prey drive and tiels are very much "prey."

It sounds like shaenne covered the food pretty good, as for entertainment, there's nothing wrong with leaving the tv on for your bird while you're gone or some music. You can even try playing bird sounds for it. Toys to keep it occupied will help reduce any loneliness it may have.


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## moonchild (Jul 29, 2012)

ThisAdamGuy said:


> Thanks for the feedback, guys! I'm not worried about the noise. I play music in my apartment and nobody's complained yet, so I doubt they'd be able to hear/even care about the bird. I may be a little pressed for time cleaning their cage in the morning, but I shouldn't have any problem doing it after work. Would the time of day matter much for that? Like I said my dog's pretty chill, but I think it might still be a good idea to "introduce" them at the store to see how she reacts. What do you think? Good idea? Bad idea? I don't know of any private breeders around where I live, so I'll probably have to buy it from Petsmart or something, btw. Vet bills, I'm not too worried about as long as I'm not having to take him to the vet every week or something.
> 
> As for keeping it company, assuming it and my dog get along would having my dog near its cage while I'm gone be good company? Or will it need something actually in its cage with it?
> 
> ...


The dog will not count as company for the bird; even if they coexist safely, the bird won't view the dog as part of his/her flock. This is how they live in the wild. 










If bonded to (a) human(s), they can be happy as only birds, but it's not their natural instinct to be alone. Petsmart, PetCo etc. generally do not sell handfed tiels, so forming a bond with your new bird if you get it from one of those places will take lots of time and patience. Not saying it can't be done, but the bird certainly won't be acting like a dog with feathers any time soon. It may be worth looking on Craigslist for tame birds being rehomed, or maybe traveling to a shelter or rescue to pick one up. There are also breeders who ship. You'll spend more, but depending on how you want your relationship with your bird to develop, it might be worth it. Out of curiosity, what area do you live in?


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