by Jennifer Jones
Cockatiels are easy to keep and care for and are renowned for their willingness to reproduce. If we pay attention to their basic requirements for housing, diet, and breeding conditions, many of the common problems sometimes encountered by their owners can also be eliminated.
Housing
Whether you breed cockatiels in a single flight or a communal flight is a matter of personal preference, but one pair to a flight will certainly prevent pairs from fighting over nest boxes, and you can be certain of the parents of the resulting offspring. If you wish to breed with several pairs, you will also need a larger garden to accommodate all the single flights. You will need a minimum of 6ft x 6ft x 3ft for each pair. A larger communal flight of 8ft x 6ft x 6ft would easily accommodate four pairs.
Construct the flights on a concrete or paving slab base to prevent vermin from entering, and double wire with aviary mesh of 1” x ½” 19g wire. This will prevent cats, birds of prey, etc., from attacking the cockatiels when they cling to the wire. Cover the top with plastic sheeting to prevent wild birds from contaminating the flight with their droppings, and screen two or more sides with plastic sheets to protect the birds from cold winds. This is essential when there are chicks in the nest boxes.
If you provide the birds with an indoor flight as well, this will be appreciated by those cockatiels that prefer to roost indoors and provide a refuge for the timid pairs when nest boxes are being fought over. Make provision to feed and water your birds from this inside flight as this will encourage them to use the indoor quarters. A 10-12 watt lamp left on overnight will also go a long way to prevent ‘night fright’ in your cockatiels. Cockatiels are notorious for being light sleepers and occasionally panic at any unusual noise or light during the hours of darkness, sometimes with tragic consequences.
Keeping and Breeding Cockatiels
by Jennifer Jones
Cockatiels are easy to keep and care for and are renowned for their willingness to reproduce. If we pay attention to their basic requirements for housing, diet, and breeding conditions, many of the common problems sometimes encountered by their owners can also be eliminated.
Housing
Whether you breed cockatiels in a single flight or a communal flight is a matter of personal preference, but one pair to a flight will certainly prevent pairs from fighting over nest boxes, and you can be certain of the parents of the resulting offspring. If you wish to breed with several pairs, you will also need a larger garden to accommodate all the single flights. You will need a minimum of 6ft x 6ft x 3ft for each pair. A larger communal flight of 8ft x 6ft x 6ft would easily accommodate four pairs.
Construct the flights on a concrete or paving slab base to prevent vermin from entering, and double wire with aviary mesh of 1” x ½” 19g wire. This will prevent cats, birds of prey, etc., from attacking the cockatiels when they cling to the wire. Cover the top with plastic sheeting to prevent wild birds from contaminating the flight with their droppings, and screen two or more sides with plastic sheets to protect the birds from cold winds. This is essential when there are chicks in the nest boxes.
If you provide the birds with an indoor flight as well, this will be appreciated by those cockatiels that prefer to roost indoors and provide a refuge for the timid pairs when nest boxes are being fought over. Make provision to feed and water your birds from this inside flight as this will encourage them to use the indoor quarters. A 10-12 watt lamp left on overnight will also go a long way to prevent ‘night fright’ in your cockatiels. Cockatiels are notorious for being light sleepers and occasionally panic at any unusual noise or light during the hours of darkness, sometimes with tragic consequences.
Breeding
Breeding cockatiels is a process that requires patience and understanding. It's important not to allow cockatiels to breed until they are over one year old and to restrict them to two rounds per year. Depending upon location and weather, April is usually the best month to put up the nest boxes. Provide more boxes than pairs and place them all at the same height. Use a large nest box made from half-inch ply, 11-inch square by 18 inches high, and line it with a compressed layer of dust-free wood shavings or hemp bedding, 4 – 5 inches in depth. This will help to keep the eggs and chicks warm. An average of five eggs are laid two days apart, and incubation is 19 days. The hen will start to incubate the eggs when the second egg is laid, so you can expect the first chick to hatch three weeks after the first egg is laid. Chicks open their eyes at around ten days and leave the nest box between four and five weeks. Their parents will continue to feed them for approximately another three weeks. Understanding and respecting this process will ensure the well-being of your cockatiels and their offspring.
Diet
Use a good quality seed mix for your cockatiels containing the following seeds: Canary, White and Yellow millet, Groats, Buckwheat, Hemp, Linseed, Niger and a little White or Striped Sunflower. Give egg food to your cockatiels twice per week all year round, increasing to two or three times per day during the breeding season when there are chicks in the nestbox. I make the following mixture fresh each day:
Bring 200 g of frozen peas, broccoli, sweetcorn and a little carrot to the boil. Drain well, lightly mash, and mix with approximately 200g of egg food.
This should form a dry, crumbly mixture. If the mixture becomes sticky, the vegetables have either been have strong bones and good muscle function. Calcium deficiency is often the cause of feather plucking, aggression and seizures in older cockatiels.
Cockatiels also enjoy a wide range of vegetables, and these should be as fresh as possible. Offer them carrots, cucumbers, celery, watercress, salad cress, broccoli, and fresh sweetcorn. If your birds are unused to such food, they may be suspicious at first but soon learn to enjoy it.
Water
It is essential to provide fresh drinking water in clean containers daily. If you breed on a colony basis, I recommend using a water sanitiser such as Birdcare's Aviclens’ to stop the spread of any illness.
Cockatiels love to bathe and shower, and when aviaries are enclosed, our Cockatiels can only enjoy a shower if we undertake to spray them ourselves. A simple plant sprayer from a garden centre is perfect for this task. During the breeding season, cockatiels also enjoy bathing, particularly the hens, when they brood the eggs. This usually takes the form of paddling rather than all-over bathing, and any shallow container will do: a large plant pot saucer, paint tray or a large dog bowl. Use ‘Aviclens’ in the waterboiled too long or haven’t been drained well enough.
Extra protein fed to breeding pairs will help to stimulate them into breeding condition, and rapidly growing young birds require a lot of protein for good growth. For this reason, I add 10g of Birdcare ‘Pro-Boost Super-Max’, a protein supplement, to every 100g of egg food, and I add to the egg food mixture Birdcare ‘Daily Essentials 3’ for extra vitamins, minerals and amino acids. The traditional way to provide calcium is from cuttlefish bone, but most of this passes through the body without being digested. It is very important to use a good quality calcium supplement such as Birdcare ‘Calcivet’ to ensure that hens do not become eggbound and that chicks as it will quickly become very dirty. Water contaminated with droppings or food can be dangerous as it is the perfect medium for germs to multiply and spread.