Cockatiel requirements

[ThoseTwoKeets]

I may get a young cockatiel sometime soon, and so I'm trying to learn as much as I can about them. I have a few questions.

Is their diet different from a parakeet's?

Do they get along well with parakeets?

Since I have two male parakeets, should I get a male or female cockatiel?

Are cockatiels more needy than parakeets?

Since cockatiels are much bigger than parakeets, I was wondering if they could still eat wild bird seed like parakeets can.

 

[Tangie]

Welcome to the forums! It is great that you are educating yourself on Cockatiels before suddenly jumping right in without any research.

• The diet for a Cockatiel is not that different from other Parakeets. Seeds do make up a good portion of their diet, but they have to have some vegetables every day, and perhaps with some pellets. Since Cockatiels DO require seeds as part of their diet, I would focus on providing him/her with veggies more than I would pellets if you had to choose between either of them.

• The personality differs from bird to bird, but I would think that they would, Cockatiels are rather mellow. But, because Cockatiels are larger than your Budgies, I would closely supervise them whenever they are loose, and I would not house them together. So, I believe they could all coexist quite peacefully.

• I do not think it would matter what gender you decided on, and should just pick which gender you would enjoy better.

• I think it depends on the situation, and the bird. In your situation, I would think so. Because your Budgies are companions with each other, they may not need your company as much as a Cockatiel would, because it would not have another companion like the others do. But, they are not extremely needy, and I really enjoy them, so it is well worth it. But I am unsure what you exactly mean by needy, so hopefully I am answering this right!

• Yes, they can. They need some sort of percentage of seed in their diet, but I would not make it all of their diet.

Hopefully this helped, and if you have any more questions, I'll be more than glad to try and help you.

 

[gracebowen]

I have tiels and keets. I buy special food for both. Then I mix it together and put it in their food bowls. They are always eating out of each other's food so this way they each get some food made just for them. I also feed fresh foods every day. I feed in the am when they are hungrier and more likely to eat it.

They get along fine.