'Tiels

Anything unique about 'tiel care I might have missed along the way?

How common/uncommon is the white-faced mutation?

Can't really help with the tiel info, but I gotta ask: Is your question a foretelling of upcoming events?

Edit: Oops, guess I should have have read your other post further down. Sorry!

I wouldn't say it's uncommon. But, they usually cost the most when sold from a breeder.

If you do end up keeping the tiel, I think you'll find that it'll be a walk in the park compared to Scooter. They're the sweetest little perch potatoes.

I concur with Zaza.

Stryder is the calmest of our trio, and prefers to just sit and nibble on his toys or my hair than zip about the bird room.

He has taken to climbing their new Crawler and Rescue Rope though, and he does crawl upside down on the roof of his cage - weird cockatiel behaviour IMO.

I used to have a breeding pair of White Faced Cockatiels - I'm pretty sure I can't go back to the normal mutation - the White Faced Tiels are just so darn striking to me.

They look like dignified old men.

ScooterNScotty wrote:

Anything unique about 'tiel care I might have missed along the way?

That you will tell soon: I love that bird!

He does have a much smaller beak than the other two, and my husband thinks I have to be careful to buy the right size and texture of food. He's on Kaytee cockatiel seed/pellet mix from Petsmart at the moment, but I'll be trying to convert him to mostly decent quality pellets if he'll eat them. Wanted him to get recovered from his ordeal before making too many changes.

He's sweet, but definitely not as bright as the other two. He wanted his breakfast, but couldn't seem to figure out how to get into the cage from the top of it! On the plus side, this allowed me to reinforce him nicely for going into the cage from my hand.

He's very lonely in quarantine. He's definitely super social.

ScooterNScotty wrote:

He's sweet, but definitely not as bright as the other two.

Sounds like the kind of bird I need. I swear CB is dumb as rocks, but he's really too smart for his own good.

I think 'tiels just love to be loved... and love back. As far as diet, we feed ours just like the rest of them - lots of fresh fruits and veggies and Roudybush pellets. They love our mash.

Can't think of anything else... just hope he doesn't ever bite. When they do, they bite and HANG ON... FOREVER. I've had several bird bites now (actual bites, not warnings! LOL!) And of them all, I think pain-wise, 'tiels are one of the worst. (I don't care WHAT Capt says!) In the long run they don't do much damage - and they heal fast, but in the moment they hurt like a son of a mother of pearl!

He beaks when he doesn't want to step up off your shoulder, but I wouldn't call it a bite, more like a statement of "I like it where I am!". I spent a little time with him this morning sitting on the floor and getting him to step up off my shoulder and reinforcing it with talking to him and whistling at him. He likes whistling even though I am very bad at it!

Scooter's bites have been pretty painful, I cannot imagine that little beak could be nearly as bad... hope I don't find out!

Sorry- did I miss something? How did you end up with this new birdie?

Jody

It appeared on our window Saturday afternoon, and we've had no luck finding the owner. Tame, but not particularly trained. The cats were looking out the window and I went to see what was going on -- there was this little fella clinging to the screen under the bougainvillea. We assume he was attracted to the sound of the existing birds.

ScooterNScotty wrote:

He does have a much smaller beak than the other two, and my husband thinks I have to be careful to buy the right size and texture of food. He's on Kaytee cockatiel seed/pellet mix from Petsmart at the moment, but I'll be trying to convert him to mostly decent quality pellets if he'll eat them. Wanted him to get recovered from his ordeal before making too many changes.

He's sweet, but definitely not as bright as the other two. He wanted his breakfast, but couldn't seem to figure out how to get into the cage from the top of it! On the plus side, this allowed me to reinforce him nicely for going into the cage from my hand.

He's very lonely in quarantine. He's definitely super social.

Roudybush crumbles are a favorite for us.

And I also provide a seed mix, because from what I've read, cockatiels (and budgies) do better with a higher level of seeds in their diet. But, they can be seed junkies. I lucked out with Einstein, he'll eat anything now.

Tiels seem to be more of a flock oriented bird. Where as many other parrots mate for life,tiels seem to more communal. Yes they can be in a cage, but prefer to be out and about with a lots of birds/people.I've kept clipped tiels before and they got a long fine,just needs lots of enrichment.With clipped tiels ,i find i play with them more because otherwise ,when out (and flighted)they demand attention,non stop.(they need a flock of other birds). Clipping doesn't seem to stress them out too much, they just flap like hell and still get around. Males usually need to have about 7 primaries cut back to the secondarys before you really inhabit flight. I wouldn't do a "show cut " and leave the outside primaries.

White Faced are pretty common, need a hen?

Quote :

White Faced are pretty common, need a hen?

LOL,didn't know we needed the cock... let us move houses and then see!

I am currently birdy-sitting a 3 month old female tiel for a friend for 2 weeks...i have to say it is a delightful experience...she loves hanging out with me and being petted...she is fully flighted and the only problem i have is getting her back in her cage at night..IF and I say IF I was to buy one, would i expect it to act the same...are these tiel traits or is she one of a kind.


dusty

So far Blanco is much like that. Even as a sort of beside himself foundling, he's pretty easy to deal with. It seems like the thing he wants most in life is to hang out on a person and just hang out.

ScooterNScotty wrote:

So far Blanco is much like that. Even as a sort of beside himself foundling, he's pretty easy to deal with. It seems like the thing he wants most in life is to hang out on a person and just hang out.

Don't you just love it?

zazanomore wrote:

ScooterNScotty wrote:

So far Blanco is much like that. Even as a sort of beside himself foundling, he's pretty easy to deal with. It seems like the thing he wants most in life is to hang out on a person and just hang out.

Don't you just love it?

Enjoy!

So, more 'tiel questions. He's still only very occasionally vocalizing other than his "wheep" attention cry. I've heard him whistle/sing only a few times. Does this mean he's still not content?

He's not playing much with the toys I got. What toys are your 'tiel's favorites?

He's yet to bath. What bath mode is your 'tiel's favorite? Scotty likes his water dish (and no matter what I've offered in the way of bigger/better dishes, he still goes for the little one he drinks out of) and Scooter likes the sink, so we don't have a spray bottle. Yet.

So, more 'tiel questions. He's still only very occasionally vocalizing other than his "wheep" attention cry. I've heard him whistle/sing only a few times. Does this mean he's still not content?

When I brought home Einstein, it took MONTHS for him to start vocalizing. The breeder told me he had a lovely singing voice, but he didn't share it with me until several months after he was brought home. He was very quiet, but as time progressed, he became more and more vocal. Now, I feel like ripping out my ear drums because of him damned beeping.

I doubt he's unhappy. Just not quite adjusted. Give him time.

He's not playing much with the toys I got. What toys are your 'tiel's favorites?

Einstein didn't start actively playing with toys again, until several months after I brought him home. I doubt it was from a lack of toys at his breeders, as he had tons of toys from what I saw. I'm just assuming that he wasn't very comfortable. I kept switching his toys around, and eventually became quite the prolific toy preener. He still doesn't play as much as the budgies, but I guess it's just pure cockatiel laziness.

He's yet to bath. What bath mode is your 'tiel's favorite? Scotty likes his water dish (and no matter what I've offered in the way of bigger/better dishes, he still goes for the little one he drinks out of) and Scooter likes the sink, so we don't have a spray bottle. Yet.

Einstein HATES water. The only time I ever got him to bathe, was the hottest summer of last year. Only then did he not have a fit. No clue if this is a cockatiel thing or not.

My observations with the store's 'tiels at bath time has been that it's something that they learn. When I first started giving the breeder 'tiels baths, there was only one bird (a male) that would fluff up and enjoy his bath. Before long the hen that was in the cage with him was doing the same thing. A couple of months ago, in an effort to stop some chronic laying behaviors in several of our hens, I separated all of the pairs and put all cocks in one flight and all hens in another. Now 3-4 more of the cocks and 1-2 more hens have started enjoying bath-time - it seems they've all learned from the original pair when I grouped them together.

ScooterNScotty wrote:

So, more 'tiel questions. He's still only very occasionally vocalizing other than his "wheep" attention cry. I've heard him whistle/sing only a few times. Does this mean he's still not content?

Sometimes I believe, they do that to check your breaking point. How can you refuse take them out or pay attention, when they do that cry-call... Chico is perfect at doing that!

About showers, Chico loves it, but needs couple minutes to jump to shower. Mickey hates it.

And toys, hm... Mickey is shredding more than all the birds together. Chico's favorites toys is us...people. The only "toys" she likes are swings to sleeps on
I think, each bird has his own preferences.

this is Julie the teil that i am birdysitting for 2 weeks going on three...lol...and now my 22 month old grandson is coming for a week to be babysat by me...i think my hands will be full....lol

dusty

She's gorgeous!