tips on breeding cockatiels?

[cockatielfan17]

hello does anyone have any tips to kindly tell me im planning to breed my cockatiels i know how to breed them and i did my research but if u have any tips or something that has helped u plz tell me this is gonna be my first time breeding cockatiel but i have experience breeding other birs but i dont know if there the same if u have anything to tell me plz post thank you

 

[lene1949]

Why do you want to breed cockatiels... There are lots of cockatiels in rescue facilities, and my guess is that it's because these birds are over bred, and there are not enough homes for them...

Haven't you posted this question before?

 

[Spiritbird]

Yes Lene we have been here before givng this member messages about not breeding these birds. Our best advice is not to breed them at all. If you hoping to make money from breeding that will not happen.

 

[Codyandme1]

It seems to me that cockatielfan17's question was if we had any kind tips for him or her and not if we had any criticism.have you ever heard the term if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all?

Anyway, back to the breeding, i had a breeding pair until the female recently flew away so I have some experience, first of all, once she lays the eggs don't mess around with anything and make sure she gets extra calcium(that goes for any species so you should already know that),it's a good idea to get the parents used to you checking the nest box frequently, my birds didn't really get used to it so I hid a camera in there. if the parents are tame then that's even better, longer daylight hours will enconerage breeding aswell as warmer weather, a tip I can give you on the calcium is to clean and bake old egg shells from the kitchen, crush them into very small prices and sneak it into their seed,
I honestly can't think of anything else apart from that it is good to get to know your birds.
Hope that helped!

 

[chadwick]

I totally agree with Coday....Cockatiel fan did not ask the question for criticism..If there isn't anything nice to say or you can't offer and advice it would of been better not to comment at all.....Our job here is not to chase members off the forum..I believe there is another member on the forum or a couple who are breeding cockatiels and they were not met with such criticism! Just my opinion!

 

[cockatielfan17]

thank u very much u guys are so nice but i understand how they feel about me breeding my birds after all there are homeless birds out there

 

[MikeyTN]

I did explain how I ended up with baby Tiels in the first place. Not that I wanted babies, it just happened. I am forced to remove the mother into solitary to stop them. I did put my two cents in there asking the reason why he wants to breed so badly but never got an answer. The only thing he said is his pet shop would buy babies from him. I didn't raise them because someone asked me to. Its nature taking its course. Plus I have a long past experience in raising baby Tiels. If your doing it because of profit or someone asked you to, your doing it for the wrong reason!

 

[cockatielfan17]

no i want to breed them so i can take care of the babies the guy told me if they had babies if he could have one for himself because i am going to handfeed them and he has no time to handfeed his babies and im not making any money from doing this he just said he wants one for him self and i even asked him if he was going to sell it he said it was for himself orginally he wanted a handfed conure but couldnt find one so i told him if he wanted one he could have one if they had babies

 

[MikeyTN]

Once they start, they would keep going! Its not a one time deal!!!

 

[MikeyTN]

Im not against breeding! Im not saying there's anything bad with a individual who wants to breed. But think of long term and the wellfare of the parents and youngsters.

 

[Codyandme1]

Look.... Does anyone here own a hand reared bird? If you do then you should know how lovely they are to be around, they don't bite, they sit on your shoulder, they're good with kids and in general are good to have as household pets, no wonder they're in such popular demand, now it seems pretty obvious but does anyone know how how we get hand reared birds, that's right we rear them from when they are babies, but how do we get babies.... We breed.

 

[shesocalifornia]

Breeding and handfeeding cockatiels is very simple but extremely demanding. I did it once and decided that was enough. I couldn't sneak in the house without six babies screaming at me the instance they saw me. lol. They were the lutinos and very beautiful but I placed them in the paper as handfed and had a hard time selling them. I finally gave them away to some friends. I would rather have them go to good homes than some that had purchased them. They showed up to buy a bird they knew nothing about with no food and no cage. I just couldn't watch my babies that I had invested so much time in go to people like that. It was an experience though. I pulled out the nest box after that. No more breeding and sold the pair when I moved to wyoming. I had purchased some books on breeding cockatiels that was very helpful. Maybe that would be your best bet. Good luck and have fun.

 

[MikeyTN]

Look.... Does anyone here own a hand reared bird? If you do then you should know how lovely they are to be around, they don't bite, they sit on your shoulder, they're good with kids and in general are good to have as household pets, no wonder they're in such popular demand, now it seems pretty obvious but does anyone know how how we get hand reared birds, that's right we rear them from when they are babies, but how do we get babies.... We breed.

Like I was saying, I'm not against it. BUT it is something to think about. YES it is absolutely demanding like the last poster said! This is what I used to do years ago! I stopped breeding because there are sooooo many of them out there, with the breeders that just breed them without training or interaction, that's when you have issues. I TRAIN each and every single babies I raised. I do not let them go unless they're fully trained. I just got done rearing more chicks recently, one was not very people friendly and one was not weaning so I kept them both and kept handfeeding and training the other one on a daily basis, it takes a lot out of a person who works A LOT! Plus I have other animals to care for. And no I'm not selling out my pair, I love them both and they're wonderful parents, we just separate the mother to be solitary. I also work with each individual new owners about the care that their new baby needs. Like I've said, with my pair having babies was not planned, it just happened. Since there are so much of them out there, why add to the problem? An adult parrot can be JUST as affectionate as a baby can!!! We just adopted another mis-treated tiel whom we name Scooter. She's missing a toe and have scabs on her head from being attacked or something happened to her where she have no crown. I was told she was NOT friendly. She hop right onto my hand the moment I got home. She screams for me to take her out every night. She even flies to me when I hold my hand up. As long as your willing to train and able to work with them, they can be just as sweet as babies! But the foremost thing is you MUST understand birds! Most of the birds we own were NOT babies when we got them. I trained each and every single one personally as my partner does not know how. Dixie the too did NOT come out for her previous family that had her for years and she was stuck in a dark laundry room with poor diet and rusting cage. The reasoning was because they have children and she bites. She does NOT trust hands as she was abused by her first owner before these people. I trained her to step up onto a perch and she will climb up on your hands afterwards. We give her kisses, pet her, etc. As she does NOT attack us. I can go on and on and on about all my babies that I work very hard on training them. Anyway, my point is as long as your able to work with one and take your time in training them, they would love you just as much as a baby would. They were babies once, but because of stupidity of some owners, they become wild, violent, etc. Plus not being socialized as youngsters does not help either as some breeders just breed them and sell them without ever having any interaction with them. I've been doing this for a very long time and I feel very sad for those birds without homes.

 

[Codyandme1]

Yes, that is true and I do agree with you MikeyTN, but not everyone is that patient, has the time or knows how to properly train an untame bird, and it is not ok to just breed birds willy-nilly without a purpose or a proper good home ready for them.

Also, do you live in the states? Because I'm in Australia, and over here cockatiels are only just becoming popular, many people over here are still quite interested in budgerigars.

Your saying you used to breed cockatiels, perhaps you should share some tips with cockatielfan and get this thread back on topic?

 

[lene1949]

.............
Also, do you live in the states? Because I'm in Australia, and over here cockatiels are only just becoming popular, many people over here are still quite interested in budgerigars.

Your saying you used to breed cockatiels, perhaps you should share some tips with cockatielfan and get this thread back on topic?

Ahhh... goody... I have been looking for some history of the cockatiel as a pet in Australia... You say they've only just become popular... In history 'recently/just' can mean many years... Australia is a very young country, so is America....

If you look back a cockatielfan17's posts, you'll see that Mikey has been very patient, and answered repeated questions about breeding, sexing and handraising...

 

[Codyandme1]

.............
Also, do you live in the states? Because I'm in Australia, and over here cockatiels are only just becoming popular, many people over here are still quite interested in budgerigars.

Your saying you used to breed cockatiels, perhaps you should share some tips with cockatielfan and get this thread back on topic?

Ahhh... goody... I have been looking for some history of the cockatiel as a pet in Australia... You say they've only just become popular... In history 'recently/just' can mean many years... Australia is a very young country, so is America....

If you look back a cockatielfan17's posts, you'll see that Mikey has been very patient, and answered repeated questions about breeding, sexing and handraising...

I'm sure he has, I'm just taking into consideration that he is an experienced breeder and may or may not have some tips to give cockatielfan relating to this topics original question.

Look, can we all just agree to disagree?