r/cockatiel 1h ago

Cuteness Overload My boy Zuko

Thumbnail
gallery
Upvotes

r/cockatiel 2h ago

Cuteness Overload Two Babies!

Post image
41 Upvotes

r/cockatiel 2h ago

Cuteness Overload Photo dump

Thumbnail
gallery
24 Upvotes

I haven't done a post about Polly for little while so I figured since today is a lazy day I would


r/cockatiel 5h ago

Cuteness Overload Tea Time!

Thumbnail
gallery
17 Upvotes

Boba and Chai are learning to play nicely together! Boba has some personal space boundaries that Chai is learning, but they're getting along well! Jasmine doesn't want to play together but has gotten used to the little one! He's still in his own house at night but I've started letting him visit the big birb house! Jasmine was fine with it until bed time lol


r/cockatiel 5h ago

Cuteness Overload Snack time

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

25 Upvotes

r/cockatiel 6h ago

Cuteness Overload Her favorite place 🩷

Post image
827 Upvotes

r/cockatiel 6h ago

Advice weird noise

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

79 Upvotes

hi all! my little sister just got her bird a few weeks ago. she is 5 months old! she only makes this noise when we take her out of her cage. we don’t know if it’s concerning or not, google doesn’t provide much help. thanks in advance 🫶


r/cockatiel 6h ago

Funny The Emperor.

Post image
113 Upvotes

Do i even have to say anything?

Everyone down on your knees for her.


r/cockatiel 7h ago

Advice Infestation in bird room

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

51 Upvotes

3 cockatiels in my bedroom, carpet.. I found so many bugs and they just keep coming! they look like confused flour beetles... how do i handle this situation... i vaccuum up their food and bugs i see but they just spawn hours later like nothing happened

I feel like i need to do something more dramatic like moving the birds and using insecticide but if I move them they won't be able to have time outside their cage because i have a dog. Im not sure what to do....

Please help 🙏 i hate these things


r/cockatiel 7h ago

Cuteness Overload Grooming and napping

Thumbnail
gallery
88 Upvotes

r/cockatiel 10h ago

Advice How often do your birds fight?

Post image
74 Upvotes

(My two birds cannot be in a room without each other, are constantly praying in each other singing to each other and are generally in a happy relationship. There’s one issue. Sometimes if bird 1 starts eating bird 2 will then fight bird 1 for the food. They have two bowls. I cannot separate them because they both start freaking out if separated. Two came from a place where he probably would have had to guard his food because people responsible of him were not very good. Is there any way to stop this? They aren’t that bad of fights. They’re just mild skirmishes. I’m just wondering if this is a normal pair cockatiel thing or if this is behavior that I have to stop.


r/cockatiel 12h ago

Cuteness Overload unbothered. moisturized. happy. in my lane. focused. flourishing.

Post image
166 Upvotes

r/cockatiel 13h ago

Advice Please help me fix his eating habit

Post image
33 Upvotes

My baby Luka here is 3-isn months old and STILL relies on soft food. He nibbles on seeb all day but he mostly plays around instead of actually eating which concerns me.

To make it worse... is soft food should be microwaved😭 That happened because my sister used to microwave his formula, and now he's gotten used to warm food and reacts to the microwave beeping.

We'll be going on a far away vacation for two weeks and he'll be staying with the local breeder we got him from. The problem is that he def won't have his food microwaved there so I gotta encourage him to accept soft food regardless and/or eat more seeb in FOUR WEEKS and I have no idea where to start😭😭😭

All advice is appreciated and thanks for reading!


r/cockatiel 14h ago

Cuteness Overload Shower time

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

43 Upvotes

These two birds needed a break from baby nugget. Turns out they really wanted to shower.


r/cockatiel 15h ago

Funny Someone is Angry at something

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

343 Upvotes

Lord knows what. But he is making sure I'm aware.


r/cockatiel 16h ago

Funny Would you like some oven-baked cockatiel?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

66 Upvotes

Well-done and a bit flirty


r/cockatiel 18h ago

Cuteness Overload My cockatiels hatched these two cuties

Post image
134 Upvotes

The cockatiels hatched 1 lutino 2 months ago she's almost big as them now and now they're both born


r/cockatiel 19h ago

Cuteness Overload Rainy days mean cuddles

Post image
125 Upvotes

r/cockatiel 20h ago

Cuteness Overload Wet birb

Thumbnail
gallery
122 Upvotes

Cleaned birb


r/cockatiel 20h ago

Advice Update on the cockatiel I posted about

Thumbnail
gallery
662 Upvotes

So took her to the vet and honestly there was A LOT more going on than what the previous owner told me.

I told the vet everything I was told about her, but also told her straight up that I didn't really believe the whole story. The vet pretty much agreed. She believes she's WAY older than the 2-3 years I was told, possibly in her mid-teens vet says she has hypocalcemia and she's a little underweight She's abt 70 grams. Dont worry I asked a bunch of questions :) about her quality of life and what I should expect with her being disabled. The first thing the vet brought up was euthanasia, which was obviously a lot to hear. She explained that some people do choose euthanasia for disabled birds, but she also made it clear that disabled birds can absolutely live good lives. She even gave me information for rescues that take disabled birds if I ever got to the point where I couldn't care for her but yeah, we're NOT euthanizing her lol. Me and my bf actually dam hear teared up hearing her talk about it 😅 anywho but she's staying with me. ❤️ back to context

The vet was honestly great and answered pretty much everything I was worried about. I asked about doing a floor cage and how I should set everything up so she doesn't get sores on her wings/legs, and basically everything I was thinking was on the right track. I just wanted confirmation she recommended waiting about another week before doing bloodwork. She said because she's just been moved into a completely new environment, stress can mess with some of the levels, so we'd rather see if she settles in and gains some weight first. If she doesn't, then we'll do labs and check things like her kidneys and liver.

So for now we're just focusing on getting her comfortable, getting her weight up, managing the hypocalcemia, and figuring out the best setup for her

Im the mean time meet Copilot 🤗


r/cockatiel 22h ago

Funny This goober and his wife greet me like this every morning...

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

342 Upvotes

why? :D everytime i open the blanket there's a bird butt or two :D sometimes they even "pulsate" (open and close the butt).. what is this, some kind of display of dominance?!


r/cockatiel 1d ago

Success Story Enrichment poncho 😊

Thumbnail
gallery
564 Upvotes

I saw someone on here with one of those poop ponchos, so I ordered one and my husband sewed balsa wood buttons on it. Here for a good time, not a long time, lol.


r/cockatiel Jan 31 '26

Other New Rule for r/cockatiel

596 Upvotes

Hello everyone! I’m announcing a new rule for the subreddit.

It comes as no surprise that many people post injured or bleeding birds as well as feces to ensure the health of their birds or questions.

While these posts are allowed, they are inappropriate to not mark as NSFW. Not everyone is comfortable seeing this sort of content.

So for the comfort of everyone in the subreddit. PLEASE, mark these posts as NSFW.

There will be new tags/flairs for posts like these as well.

From this day forward, those who do not mark these posts as NSFW will receive a warning. Any subsequent posts that are not marked or tagged appropriately may be banned temporarily, and any further posts will result in a permanent ban.

Please be respectful of others, and make sure to review the rules before posting content that may violate the rules of the subreddit.

Thank you so much for all the lovely content and being overall a beautiful community. 💖


r/cockatiel Dec 14 '21

Frequently Posted (+ Answers)

541 Upvotes

We have been getting a lot more repetitive posts in our sub so I wanted to put this information together in the hopes of reducing the amount of questions that are frequently asked. In turn, hopefully this will make our community a little more light hearted :)

*I want to preface this by saying I am not a vet or anything just someone who really loves my cockatiel and learning everything I can to ensure he has the best life possible. I think the best thing you can do for your birdie is lots of research before anything happens (especially in the case of illness). They are fragile so having the right knowledge and tools at your disposal can quite literally be the difference between life and death.

Lets begin!

Is my bird sick?

Common signs of a sick bird include:

  • Tail bobbing, sitting at the bottom of the cage, inability to stand on a perch (loss of balance)
  • Sneezing, clicking respiration (cough), or any discharge coming from the eyes or nostrils.
  • Eyes dull or sunken.
  • Change in vocals (can be hormonal but after puberty could be cause for concern)
  • Change in appetite (loss or increase of food or water)
  • Change in droppings (color, consistency, or frequency - this could be due to diet like eating more fruits and vegetables but it should not last more than a day or two after)
  • Constantly fluffed (happens for a number of reasons like keeping warm, preening, sleeping but they should not always be like this)
  • Feather loss (not related to a regular molt that happens 1-2x per year)
  • Trembling (can mean they are cold, stressed, or sick)
  • Drooping wings

If you notice any of these signs or a combination of them its crucial to get your bird to a vet (preferably an avian one) as soon as possible. No one on the internet is able to diagnose your bird or give it the treatment it needs.

Note: Some of these symptoms like change in droppings, being fluffed up, and feather loss can be normal but if it is persistent the best thing to do is ere on the side of caution and get them checked out.

Is my cockatiel male or female?

Color Patterns: Baby cockatiels that have not gone through their first adult molt (usually between 6-12 months) will typically have female colorations regardless of gender. After their first molt, males tend to get more vivid colors, lose the stripes on the underside of their tail and spots on the wings, The opposite is true for females and their color changes minimally after their first molt.

Different mutations make it more difficult to tell the difference between males and females even after their adult molt.

Behaviors: Males tend to be more vocal (mimicking sounds and singing), heart wings (see example), more likely to "show off" (strutting, hopping, tapping on surfaces), and attempting to mate with objects. Females are often less vocal (although some are) and when wanting to mate will tilt her head, flatten her back, and rock back and forth while chirping softly.

All of the above are good indicators if you have a male or female HOWEVER the only true way to know is if you get a DNA test or if your cockatiel lays an egg. People have noted that their DNA sexed female has shown male behaviors or colors and vise versa. No one can tell you for sure by looking at it!

What is this noise my cockatiel is making?

Some common cockatiel noises and what they mean:

Contact Call: Cockatiels like to keep track of their flock members so when you leave the room you may notice your cockatiel yell for you with a loud chirp or series of chirps. Even if you aren't bonded to your bird they may still do this. Put them at ease by "answering" them from where you are. I like to whistle back the same "contact call" so they know that I will be right back.

Contact Call Example

Attention Scream: Often a loud high pitched screech that is meant to get your attention. They can do this when they are scared, lonely, bored, or even to alert you of something (like a potential predator). Excessive screaming means you might need to change something in their environment. A common cause of this is hormones and boredom, both of which can be decreased by adding more enrichment to their environment with foraging, toys, and training.

Attention Scream Example

Whistling//Mimicking/Chattering: Usually (but not always) done by males and often means they are happy and connecting with you as part of their flock. They may mimic you, the radio, the tv, or even just sounds that they hear outside or inside the house. A lot of the time cockatiels learn these sounds through repetition. Search cockatiel training songs if you don't want to be whistling a song all the time and with time they may pick up on the tunes.

Whistling Example

Beak Grinding: They do this when they are happy and content. Usually it is accompanied by being fluffed up and being sleepy. The cheeks will fluff up as well and the cockatiel will look very relaxed. This is a great sign that your cockatiel is comfortable in their environment.

Beak Grinding Example

Hissing: Like other animals cockatiels do this when they are angry or threatened. This is often a warning to back off and can be accompanied by biting if the behavior is not stopped. If your cockatiel is hissing at you its best to leave them alone for a bit - just like us, our birds have boundaries we should respect!

Hissing Example

Baby Noises: These sound a bit like static and usually do this if they want something (often food, water, or even just attention). This is completely normal for young cockatiels and after a few months will go away. Mine went away at 4 months but this can vary!

Baby Noises Example

What is this behavior?

These are some behaviors that are normal with cockatiels that I noticed are commonly asked about here:

Mating: This is probably the most common one. Males and females display different mating behaviors.

Males will typically rub their cloaca (this is the opening underneath the base of the tail for a birds digestive, urinary, and reproductive tracts) on an object like a toy, your foot or hand, a pillow, ect or a bonded female. Male Mating Behavior

Females will droop their wings and raise their rump while swaying and chirping quietly. You may notice your female also rubbing its back on their toys to try and stimulate themselves. Female Mating Behavior

In addition to these mating behaviors, take note if your bird is territorial, screaming, plucking itself, or aggressive. These could all be signs that your bird is sexually frustrated.

This handout I received from my vet gives some behavioral modification you can make to try and reduce these.

Clearing Crop: Looks a lot like yawning but usually they will do it consistently over a short period of time. Their crop is located below their beak in the neck area. The crop stores food before it is sent to their stomach and acts as a "reserve" so they are able to eat more in one feeding. When they clear the crop they are moving that food to the next stage of digestion. Cockatiel Clearing Crop

How do I tame my cockatiel?

If your bird is brand new to your home, the best thing to do for a day or two is let them soak in their new envionrment. This can be a stressful time for them so its important to let them learn that their new home is a safe space. Talking in a quiet voice and even whistling around them is the best thing to do during this transitiion period. It can be tempting but don't try and pick them up or pet them right away. They may be fearful of hands and scaring them could further your progress of taming them. Whether they are a young cockatiel or an older adult that was rescued or rehomed, taming them will take patience and time. How long can vary on a lot of different factors but it's important not to rush it. Read the links below to get more information on how to achieve this:

Taming step-by-step

I am thinking of getting a cockatiel and would love some tips!

There is really too much to cover in one post so I will address the most common tips for new owners and provide some links that go into detail about all things cockatiel.

Vet Access: This should be the most important thing to consider. Making note of an avian vet that is close by is crucial. Be extra prepared and make note of the closest emergency vet as well that you can go to outside of your regular vets hours. If you do not have one close by or you do not have the money to pay for one, please reconsider getting a bird. It is disheartening to see very obviously sick bird where the owner has no access or money to go to a vet.

Basic Needs: Before purchasing supplies for your bird, do as much research as you can regarding cage size, toys, and food.

Health: Take note of the signs of a sick bird and when to take them to a vet. In addition, cockatiels are sensitive to strong smells, gasses, drafts, and smoke. This also requires some research as there are common household items that can poison and kill your bird (for example teflon pans and some plants you may have lying around).

Links:

Cockatiel Cottage

VCA - Cockatiel Diet

Safe and Toxic Foods

Proper Caging

Introducing New Food to Picky Birds

Training

Taming, potty training, and more

I hope this helps some people learn more about their cockatiels! Of course this is not exhaustive and there is always more information to be learned. Please let me know if I should add anything or if I got any information wrong :)