# Need help with new Tiels I've adopted!!



## angelmommy24 (Nov 20, 2011)

Ok a friend of mine ended up moving yesterday and was trying to sell her tiels but with no response she was going to just Let them go  So I offered to get them from her. I picked them up (they are in a wired cage about 2 1/2 ft high and about 3 maybe 4ft long) with about 18 total tiels in the cage. I got them home last night and put them down in my basement where there is heat to keep them warm and quartined. I checked them over and all seem to be in fairly good health (looks like a wf/split pied must've been plucked as a baby as he his bald on top) other then that they appear to be in good health but the cage for them is just to small (IMO) as I was looking at them I noticed a one grey split pied has what it looks like his bottom beak a abnormal growth and it looks like he is carrying around a small stick in his mouth pointing up but it's not its part of his beak. I asked her about this and all she said was oh- I usually cut that with toe nail clippers WTH! I feel bad for the little guy- these birds have been living in this small cage for about 3 years (they're all between 4-6 years of age- feed only cockatiel seeds and they all drink out of a water bottle to funny as I didn't know cockatiels drank out of a water bottle there is 2 large perches & 3 toys in this cage and apparently have all been mating- as she pulled down the (1 nestbox she kept up) that had 9 eggs in it and threw it out) she said she only kept 1 nestbox up for all the tiels and they would all lay in the same box WTH! I got them settled in last night and will check on them when I get home she also never covered them up at night as she kept them outside in a shed so now I need some advice my husband is going to try to get something built for them because he said the first thing I said was that is just inhumane- that is to small for them- but with him home with the triplets who are just under 3 years old I'm not sure he'll be able to get much of anything done & I am not off until Tuesday  Im sure they're just breeding away but I have not put a new nestbox up and don't intend to I want to get them situated comfortable and in the future maybe right now I want to work on getting them to a better place.. also only about 3 a tame the rest are not. Ugh  they are all very beautiful from Cinnamons- to WF, to WF splits- to Lutino pearl, to Pied/pears, to pearls to normal grey I also noticed a few of the birds have have coloring/spots on the head and or neck I hadn't seen this mutation what does that mean??


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## angelmommy24 (Nov 20, 2011)

I meant to add that in the basement I have them set up right in front of a window also


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## angelmommy24 (Nov 20, 2011)

*picture of the cage/cockatiels*

So I snapped these 2 pictures it just shows what they're in


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

My first thought is how many are related? When ever I acquired a group of cockatiels I always assumed they were related, whether they were or not, and repaired them with birds I had or new mates.

Also, a suggestion, you might want to separate them into several smaller cages. If you don't have any you may need to buy some. The reason why is so that you can monitor them better, especially the droppings. And if one succumbs to the stress of the change of new environment, etc. the bird is confined with a smaller group and that group can be watched for further problems.

Also, some good clear pixs of the beak problem with the one bird. And yes, a clippers can be used to trim it.


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## angelmommy24 (Nov 20, 2011)

OK I'll take a picture when I get home.. It just didn't look normal  poor little guy yes I have a few small cages I can put them in 3 so I'll need to get atleast 3 more as I don't want to put more than 3 in the same group... I feel so bad for them


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## mishkaroni (Jan 6, 2012)

I just wanred to comment about the water bottle.  I had always seen them in the bird aisle but until I adopted a pair a few years back, my birds drank only from cups. The two birds I adopted came with an amazing cage with a water bottle. Once I was able to allow all my birds to socialize, my new ones showed mine what ot was. Since cockatiels are curious, it was only two weeks and they all learned to drink from it. Now the only water dish I have is for the baby and my 3 month old. Otherwise, my birds learned a water dish is bath time. I bought a baby bottle brush to keep the water bottles clean. But I love the water bottle! Instead of cleaning their water dishes multiple times a day from their mess, or even their cage from the times they've dropped the dishes, it's less hassle.


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## angelmommy24 (Nov 20, 2011)

Yes I am going to buy a few for my other tiels since I don't intend on putting my tiels in with these cockatiels and they are in quaretine right now. What really bothers me is that she kept them all in this cage and put 1 nest box up for them to breed and lay- that is not right.. I didn't want her to let them go in the wild as they would not survive and I'm hoping with alittle TLC they'll all come around.. I know they're scared of a new enviroment- My husband has been texting me all day trying to come up with a way to get the cage built- he knows how he wants to do it & I told him what to get Hardware cloth, wood, etc.. he's also going to make a door entry front & back.. is it ok to have the aviary outside for the tiels?


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## mishkaroni (Jan 6, 2012)

It's so great you took them in. I can't believe how some people treat their pets. They really aren't just animals to sit pretty for us to look at a few minutes of the day. Absolutely saddening the condition they were allowed to live. I have a very large cage and a few smaller cages for my 11. The doors are always open, except at night, and they choose which cage to go in. Unfortunately for me 8 always choose the big cage, while 3 choose a smaller. Eh, that's their choice though! 
I also can't understand the thought process she had in considering putting them to death, oops, I mean being let go. I hope she doesn't home any more birds with what you posted. 

I've read and have seen outdoor aviaries. As I live in an apartment, clearly not an option for me. I'll leave that to the experts on here


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## DyArianna (Aug 7, 2011)

I just got a headache reading your post! lol  Well hopefully you can get everyone squared away and monitored to see just exactly what you are dealing with. I hope you don't get too stressed out over this. It will be interesting to find out genders and true mutations and because you are unsure of relations or not.. maybe your husband could build you cages to separate males from females. And you have to name them! lol If you already have a few cages that you can start using to separate them.. you can post pics of each one and we can try and help you out with gender and mutation. Wow.. I still have a headache! lol Just can't imagine. Thank you for taking them in though!! I think if I brought home a cage with 18 birds in it.. my kids would have me committed. 

Anything more I can say is.. KEEP US UPDATED!  Oh by the way.. you can officially wear the crown of CRAZY BIRD LADY.


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## angelmommy24 (Nov 20, 2011)

She also had 2 macaws outside she was getting rid of but way to big for me- She had posted for a month trying to sell them- I dunno- but I couldn't see them just let go and had to really talk my husband into letting me get them. He agreed with the terms of ME taking care of them which is fine by me I have 2 Large cages about 5 ft tall and 2 smaller cages my tiels are split up 2 to 3 and they are let out to fly... in the cage at night to sleep


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

I am not a fan of water bottles, and have had them be the cause of renal failure on birds that ate pellets and not enough water. If you do try to convert your birds be observant to make sure they are drinking and not playing with the end of the bottle. In addition to when breeding the birds will need a dish of water to wet their abdomen feathers daily to take moisture back to the nest. Water bowls fail in this regard, and can contribute to trapped in shell eggs if the humidity is low.

Also....the new birds would benefit from some large dishes of water to get in and bath.


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## angelmommy24 (Nov 20, 2011)

I'm going to stop at the store since I need to get a few cages & grab a few large bowls to put in the cages so they can get in to bath my other tiels have birth baths in the cages Im also going to get more toys because 3 toys just isn't enough for that many tiels.. My tiels have a swing a piece 2-3 hanging toys & ropes/perches through out the cage plus a mirror in each one.. I'm goign to see if they'll take some veggies also wish me luck.. also some toasted bread with alittle butter


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## angelmommy24 (Nov 20, 2011)

LOL girl right now I feel like it! LOL! but I have enough room my house is almost 8,000 sq feet and I have almost 10 acres of land.. so I can accomidate them just fine. Plus my triplets just LOVE LOVE LOVE the cockatiels they love to have them walk around and give them kisses although these guys are gonna need A TON of work I did find out that 4 of the birds are related.. I'll try to get pictures of them... hope they don't bite to hard  I just couldn't see them let go.. heart breakening..


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## angelmommy24 (Nov 20, 2011)

DyArianna said:


> I just got a headache reading your post! lol  Well hopefully you can get everyone squared away and monitored to see just exactly what you are dealing with. I hope you don't get too stressed out over this. It will be interesting to find out genders and true mutations and because you are unsure of relations or not.. maybe your husband could build you cages to separate males from females. And you have to name them! lol If you already have a few cages that you can start using to separate them.. you can post pics of each one and we can try and help you out with gender and mutation. Wow.. I still have a headache! lol Just can't imagine. Thank you for taking them in though!! I think if I brought home a cage with 18 birds in it.. my kids would have me committed.
> 
> Anything more I can say is.. KEEP US UPDATED!  Oh by the way.. you can officially wear the crown of CRAZY BIRD LADY.


Oh my I need to come up with names :wacko: LOL!


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## angelmommy24 (Nov 20, 2011)

Ok I just got home and Im wondering if I should give them 1 more day to settle in they seem to have calmed down from last night I got home at about 8:30pm I also noticed a few of the pieds (look like my Athena but yellow tail feathers and at the crest top of head and near the eye is black spots big what on earth is this? 3 of the tiels have the same color markings any ideas?


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## angelmommy24 (Nov 20, 2011)

Oh and I apparently can't count it's 21 tiels and I will get pictures slowly in the next few days once I get them all situated right now when I even put my hand near there cage they fly to the opposite site and oh they like to hang upside down or at least 2 do weird? Is that normal they just use there feet and turn there head upside down


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Everything that you're describing is normal...Snowball and Daisy both hang upside down all the time. As for the pieds with the markings, no two pieds are exactly alike. Dirty-faced pieds (hubby calls them racoons) will have grey feathers on their face, the pattern of it is individual to each bird. But I can't wait to see the pictures. I would say though that if they're calm, it might be a good idea to separate them for their own health and sanity. I wouldn't want to be locked in a bedroom with 21 other people at night!!!!


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## angelmommy24 (Nov 20, 2011)

Ugh your so right this is the cage they've been living in  I'm gonna feed my boys and try to get them moved key word try lol baby steps for me my first concern is to get to ur tiel with the abnormal beak where it looks like his beak is also growing upwards to try and get a picture posted


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Good idea, just in case its something bad. Since not many of them are tame, you might have to towel them this once to get them moved. It will probably cause less stress in the long run.


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## angelmommy24 (Nov 20, 2011)

Yeah I've down the towl thing before with Athena because he's not tame and it took one time to draw blood I need my husbands help so hopefully he's up to this tonight


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

If dealing with all these birds turns out to be overwhelming, a local bird club might be able to help you find homes for some or all of them. Here are a couple of links listing NC bird clubs:
http://www.netpets.org/birds/birdclub/regclubN.html
http://birdmart.com/clublist.html

A bird rescue might be able to help too:
http://bird.rescueme.org/NorthCarolina
http://www.parrotchronicles.com/departments/rescuelist.htm#NORTH_CAROLINA

There might be more out there, I stopped looking after I'd found 2 links in each category.


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## angelmommy24 (Nov 20, 2011)

Tielfan thank you very much I will definitely look at them if they get to over whelming at the moment I have moved 12 of the birds leaving 9 in the cage they are currently in which is much better and boy was that a workout I've got them lined up next to each other and will take pictures of them in the next few days I want to give them time to adjust and not stress them out anymore tomorrow I'm going to try with some millet which I doubt they've ever had also I'm going to add cuttlebone and see what they do with some buttered wholewheat toast and some Swiss chard since this is the fresh veggies I currently have on hand. All other veggies are frozen or canned they are only used to seeds so well see I had to get a few extra water bottles to attach to the extra cages as they are used to drinking out of the water bottle and food dishes and added a small dish in each cage with water for them to use to bath i want to add more toys also for them they are beautiful and sweet and I know with some TLC they'll come around


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## sunnysmom (Sep 23, 2011)

It breaks my heart when I read how some people take care - or don't take care- of their tiels. It was great of you to take these birds in. Poor little guys. I'm glad they now have a nice home. (And yay for your husband! I can just imagine having that conversation with my fiance...... honey, I want to take in 21 tiels.... Of course, once he learned of the conditions, I think he would have said yes too. )


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## kimm (Feb 9, 2012)

Oh my goodness, How heartbreaking. She kept them in a shed? Awful! Those poor birds. What an amazing heart you have to take them in. Thank heavens for people like you. As much as its a lot to take in right now, Congrats on your new additions. They are all so pretty.


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## angelmommy24 (Nov 20, 2011)

Aww thank you kimm and sunnysmom yes once my husband saw the living conditions he said that isn't right that is just inhuman I still need to get pictures and post them


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