cockatiel babies

[elamar]

Our cockatiels have had their first successful babies. 2 chicks have survived for three weeks now. They are the ugliest/cutest little alien looking babies! Very much the ugly duckling story. Hard to believe these little creatures will turn into beautiful cockatiels in just another 3 weeks! They change so much every day - they look just like their daddy. The daddy is a pied and the mommy is a lutino (all yellow). I hope the picture comes through. It's just like spring - new life! Have a nice day to all.

[KarenAnne]

They are so cute..they don't even look real. Congrats on your new babies!!

[dg2901]

How cute!
I have a one and a half year old pied cockatiel.

Congrats grandma!
:)
D

[VickiB]

They really are cute! How big are they? -It's hard to tell from the photo.

Vicki

[luvsterriers]

Are those the kind of birds that have red cheeks and that yellow crest that goes high up on their heads? They talk and sing a lot?

Anna

[elamar]

My cockatiel babies are now six weeks old and look like adults! Their feathers have come in and they have the orange cheek pads and yellow crests. One looks just like the Dad - a pied. The Mother is actually a yellow lutino. The other baby is a pearly pied pattern. They are still badgering Mom the be fed and do that annoying whining sound! I brought them to a monthly bird club meeting and people kept thinking they were sick because the sound they make! Nope, they are just hungry and want Mommy to feed them. Dad got smart and walks away when they start to whine! I'll try to post a picture of them now down below. Hope this thing works. By the way, usually only the male cockatiels can talk and whistle! Most females just chirp although rarely there are females that talk. Our male whistles the "smilin' bob" theme, plays peek-a-boo and can say I love you. It's so cute when he does it.

[luvsterriers]

The pics you just posted of your birds, are 6 week old babies, or the parents? I can't tell between male and female of these type of birds. Do the males have more red cheeks?

Anna

[elamar]

The newer photos I posted are the babies - I wanted to show how much they changed in three weeks. We can't tell yet if they are male or female. It usually takes until about 6 months old to tell, more by behavior than color. Cockatiels come in alot of different color variations - there are even some now without the orange cheek pads. There is a blood test available to definitely tell the sex, but that is mostly used by professional breeders of show birds. My birds, while cute, are more of the "mutt" variety. They are not the size required to show. Plus there are all kinds of specs they look for in show birds. Our female mother bird is a lutino, which means she is entirely bright yellow, with orange cheek pads. The males look exactly the same! Our male father is a pied, which is grey and white and yellow with orange cheek pads. Once again, females look the same! The main way to tell is usually only the males talk or whistle. Our male plays peek a boo and says a few things. Our female is a mute. The babies will go through a major molt at about 6 months olds and can change color at that time. One other behavior to watch for is males like to tap their beaks when they want to make a point. It's very funny that our male will tap me on the ear or rap on the table top to get our attention. I'll try to post of a picture or two of the parents below.

[br.tyler74]

The babies are so cute. I would definitely love to have a cockatiel but my girlfriend does not like them at all. Maybe I will show her the pictures of the babies and she will change her opinion. It would be cool to have a male and a female one because I would love to have such babies. Hopefully my girlfriend changes her opinion.

[elamar]

I hope you can convince your girlfriend to get a cockatiel. They are cute little parrots that always look like they are smiling! There are so many advantages to birds over other animals, especially if you have IC. Cockatiels are great because they are smaller parrots, and they are fairly quiet - they don't make the huge screams like some of the larger parrots. They have an average life span of 25-30 years. You don't have to take them out for walks, so you never have to worry about the weather! If you are hurting bad, they make great little companions, mine love to sit on my shoulders throughout the day or when I nap, the two adults sleep on either side of my head on my pillow. Yes, they do randomly poop, but their poops are fairly small and just drop straight down (some parrots life their tales and spray, so watch out for that!). You just need to keep the cage clean for them - basically change out the newspaper at the bottom daily and give them clean water and fresh food. My birds are of the "mutt" variety and cost around $125 - $150, depending on the coloring - my lutino (all yellow one) is more expensive since that coloring is more desirable. I have not had to take my birds to the vet, and don't have to register them. They cost so much less than a dog or cat, and now that they have reproduced, can pay for themselves! We still have the two babies. I don't have the heart to sell them - one is for my youngest daughter anyhow, and since only two survived, they are strongly bonded. I just can't be sure yet if they are male or female. We think they are brother and sister so unfortuantely at some point I will need to get rid of one. I belong to a bird club, and there are alot of cockatiel breeders there. A few have agreed to trade birds with me if I need to. I want to have two males so I don't get overwhelmed with too many babies. Apparantly cockatiels are about the horniest birds in nature and will reproduce as fast as they can. We already caught the parents starting to breed again and have had to separate them- no such thing as birdie birth control! Since I have the one breeding pair, I don't want to chance having brother/sister mating. The other breeder would love to trade anyhow since it broadens their gene pool. With cockatiels, generally only the males talk. Mine does. He also whistles tunes - his latest one is the "Smilin Bob" theme! You do have to becareful about getting a single bird. They are very social and need to be out of the cage whenever possible. If you work, I would recommend getting two birds so they can keep each other company if you are gone alot. Sometimes a single bird will only bond with one person and attack everyone else, so with two birds, we don't have that problem. The bird shop where we bought ours kept telling us that if we had two birds, they wouldn't bond with us, and if we had a male, he wouldn't talk, since the cockatiels would bond with each other and only "talk" to each other. That's a bunch of bull!!! Both our adult birds bonded with us and can actually go to anyone, even my kids and their friends, and they don't bite. The babies are a bit of a different story. They are 10 weeks old now and are fully weaned. They don't seem to like us too much!! We have been handling them since two weeks old and I thought they would get used to us, but they still seem skittish around us and don't like to be held alot. They still cry to be near the parents and will only let us pet them and scratch their necks if Mommy is next to them. I am hoping they will grow out of that and work with them on basic things like "stepping up". All birds need to learn the trick of stepping up onto your finger when you put it in front of them. It becomes an automatic thing after a while. The only other issue we have with them is the flying. We have to keep their feathers clipped or they like to take off! I have been more brave in that department. One of the bird club members showed me how to do it, and which feathers to cut so you don't injure the birds. Sometimes I'll cut their flight feathers and two days later they'll be flying again! Check out your local library for books on cockatiels and parrots in general before you buy one. I hope maybe your girlfriend will change her mind. We have a huge bird store in our town, that only sells birds. They have thousands of birds there that are out in the open and you can walk around and pick up the birds and interact with them. Some birds love to come right up to you and be held while others may scream and bite. It's a real blast going there. We go there to buy food, and my kids love it. You wouldn't believe how much some parrots cost - they have some there that are over 30 thousand dollars! Sorry for the long ramble. Just wanted to share some good points with you. Really do read up on the subject first and be careful about buying from those big pet shops like petco or petsmart. I've read alot about their birds being diseased. You can go on line to places like cockatielcottage.net for good research and stories and photos. There are tons of breeders that sell birds on line. You can probably find a local breeder to work with. Some do raise "show quality birds" which are more expensive. If you just want one as a pet, make sure you tell them so they are not trying to push the bigger, more expensive birds on you. Good luck to you.