What to feed your Cockatiel: Seed Mix and Sprouting

There are several seeds in the bird market, my quest for the perfect mix for the cockatiel ended up in a simple word: "variety". The ratio and amount of which depends on the current need of your birds.

Millet: Eleven percent(11%) protein. Millets abound in B vitamins, folic acid, potassium, zinc, iron, magnesium and calcium.

Sun flower seeds: Contains essential fatty acids,great source of amino acids, dietary fiber, Vitamin E which is essential in breeding, folate, Thiamine and minerals: magnesium, copper, phosphorus, manganese, potassium, selenium, iron, calcium and zinc. For more info refer to SunFatter Seeds

Canary seeds: There is no definitive statistics on the nutrient content of the canary seed though isolated tests affirm that it may have one of the highest protein concentrations of the seed world.

Hulled Oats / Oat Groats: Hulled oats are semi-processed oats, where the shell has already been removed, oat groats, being raw and unprocessed, is said to have the most nutrients locked-in. Fortunately, the cockatiels beak can easily dehusk these seeds.

Hemp Seed: The multi-vitamins of the bird world. Said to contain the most complete of all the seeds mentioned, used to trigger breeding and well-being in the form of singing.

Sprouting
is an excellent fresh food that you can grow utilizing the seeds mentioned above. Sprouting presents an entirely new set of beneficial enzymes that is not unlocked in seed form. There are many complicated or tedious steps to sprout but it is quite easy, all that you need is a damp environment for the seed provided with proper organic antiseptic to prevent spoilage.

Step 1: Choose your seed mix.

Step 2: Wash and Rinse with water and organic vinegar(at least 20% vinegar,
apple cider can be a good choice), let the seed soak in it for at least 30
minutes.

Step 4: Place the seeds above a damp environment, preferably a foam with the same
mixture of water and vinegar. Place in a lighted place with no direct
sunlight.

Step 5: Make sure you check the moisture on the foam daily, depending on your local temperature. Expect to harvest and serve in no more than 4-5 days.

Choosing a Healthy Cockatiel

So you want to buy your first cockatiel, here is a guide.

Plumage. The plumage should have some sheen on them, overly fluffed-up birds indicates that it is probably ill, this may be common though during cold weather. The plumage should be smooth and arranged. Falling feathers may be a sign of molting, this is a extremely stressful stage to any bird and their immune system is weak during this period.

Vent. The feathers on the vent area should be devoid of dirt, it is an indication that the bird is suffering from diarrhea or sits on the floor too often.

Posture. A healthy cockatiel will have an alert posture, drooping heads and arched backs are indicators of health problems.

Eyes and skin. Eyes should be wide, full circle and alert, avoid watery or half closed, glassy eyes. Check exposed skins to avoid warts, scaling, boils and the like. These maybe an indication of mites and other bacterial or fungal infections.

Behavior. A healthy cockatiel is alert and inquisitive, the male sings when in the pink of health. Though cockatiels would rather sit and stare, it is agile when in motion, flight is also a good indicator.If you prefer a more domesticated bird, try to hand over a sunflower seed and see if its reaction.

Symmetry. Visually divide the bird vertically in halfand compare one side from the other, the better the similarities of the left to the right side, or vice versa, the better. The cockatiel should walk with complete balance, obese and ill birds would lumber about.

Age. Ask about the age of your cockatiel, purchase a bird not less than three months old. They are able to breed at the age of six(6) months but it is suggested to pair them at one(1) year of age. Cockatiels' average life span is 15-20 years.

Inspect the neighbors, aviary. Observe all the birds in the aviary. A visually healthy bird may show symptoms of illness days after they are broght home due to illness acquired from sick cage mates. Most bacterial diseases are air born so check the whole flock.

Cockatiel Egg Fostering Basics

Abandonment of the clutch, death of a parent or both and other emergency situations will push you to save the eggs and fostering is a luxury not all of us have. But if you are one of the lucky few, read on.

You have two options to save the brood. One is to incubate them artificially then hand feed, a rewarding but expensive and sometimes heart breaking experience as chicks which are hand fed from day one are prone to most diseases, lacking the immunity usually provided by the parents.

your next option is fostering. Fostering has been used to allow some species escape extinction. Society Finches are famous foster parents , when they see a clutch, the whole "society" will usually adopt and raise them. The world of the cockatiels aren't as lucky as the finches though, fostering is only possible to those who, at the same period, are also nesting.

So option one. Foster the abandoned clutch to another nesting pair of cockatiels. Make sure the difference in age between the original clutch and the one to be fostered is no more than three(3) days old. This is to avoid any great disparity in size of the chicks. The larger ones will out compete the late comers in food and when the difference is too big the parents will most likely shift to survival mode and sacrifice the smaller clutch.

Option number two. Foster the eggs to another close, similar sized parrot specie, most commonly the Budgerigar. Same as rule number one, observe the disparity in the age of the eggs. Remember that the count starts when the incubation starts. The cockatiel and the budgerigar has the same average period of incubation, eighteen to twenty one(18-21) days.

Option three. Fostering under the African lovebirds. They are so popular and although being smaller, they are excellent foster parents. Take note though that the chicks will be larger than their foster parents in two weeks so be ready to proceed with hand feeding after this period. They will be easier to hand raise at this stage with less feeding interval and better immune system.

Fostering under species of different sized parrots such as the parakeet; No breeder reported of any luck so better proceed with hand feeding.

Fostering will save you lots of time, money and most importantly, your clutch.

Cockatiel Mutation: PIED

The pied cockatiel has an irregular color pattern in comparison to the normal gray. The ratio and distribution of the colors defines if it is a Light pied, Heavy Pied or Clear pied.

Light Pied. The dark and gray hues dominate the yellow shades in the body. A gray cockatiel with some white markings at the back of the forehead is considered a "light pied".

Heavy Pied. This is a more favored mutation since the yellow color is proportionally more distributed than the gray, a specific balance of pattern is what breeders usually look for. The yellow will be replaced by white plumage if the bird is a white face.

Clear Pied. The absence of all the gray colors doesn't necessarily mean the bird is a lutino. A pied bird with no gray or dark color is called a clear pied. Dark eyes will reveal this phenomenon unlike the lutino which has red or pink. The entire bird will also be white if it is a whiteface mutation.

The Pied mutation is a recessive gene, if bred with a pure normal gray will produce one hundred percent (100%) normal gray chicks.

Red, White, Black and Yellow Millet

Which one to feed your bird? Which is more nutritious? Can they be mixed together? If then on what ratio. These questions lingered long on my mind as I am in the continous quest to find the best seedmix diet for my birds and here is what I uncovered: Millets contain at least 11% protein in weight, a vital ingredient in feather prodution as feathers are mostly protein in the form of keratin. Other nutrients include various types of vitamin B, folic acid and carbohydrates. Having no gluten, millets are known to have no allergic effect. Millet, aside from the canary seed should comprise at least 30% of your seedmix. You go to a super birdstore and suddenly found a variety of colors, with a price difference t almost 50%, white, also known as "pearl" being teh cheapest.
The fact is, laboratory nutrient tests on the millet is the same to all its colored varieties, thus, it oil boils down to choice. Your birds' choice.
I have honestly given them all those four types in one mix and one color stands out: The black millet. Stands out in the sense that it is the only think left in the plate, as much as possible, cockatiels or finches, they dont want to do anything with it unless starvation moves in. Given its relatively high price, my birds are giving me a great favor. The others are consumed fairly but not until the white "pearls" have pretty much ran out.
So there you have it: Winner of the royal rumble. Nutritious, cheap, readily available and very much popular to your cockatiels, the white aka "pearl" millet.

Visually Sexing Your Cockatiel

Visually Sexing Your Cockatiel is possible to most mutations except two, the Whiteface Lutino aka "Albino" and the Pied. These two radically eliminates the color markings to identify the female (albino) or mixes up all the color pattern (Pied) to provide proper identification.
Visually sexing your cockatiel is reliable after the completion of the first molt, which takes about 6-8 months of age. Before the first molt all of them look like girls.
The cock will have a bright yellow face mask with prominent cheek patches (except the whiteface). The hen will have a yellow face but of little surface area with the body color(usually gray) interloping parts of it including the cheek patch making it look duller than the male.

Barrings remain underneath the tail of the hen while they are absent after the first molt of the male.

Like the barrings, female cockatiels retain their spots under their wing where they are shed off by the male during maturity.

These spots and barrings are present even in the lutino. A bright light source will be necessary to visually identify the yellow/white barrings.

The Pearl's scalloped design while slowly shed off by the male during its first year while it will remain prominent in the female.

Combine these visual tips with your cockatiel's behavior and you have a relatively high chance of identifying the sexual orientation of your cockatiel.

Egg Binding, A Breeder's Approach

Egg Binding is a serious problem attributed to the inability of a bird to lay or expel its egg/s from its body.
It is observed that smaller birds including cockatiels are more susceptible to egg binding.
The usual cause of such inability is an abnormality in the egg's structure. Either soft shelled or abnormally larger in size, the stuck egg may kill your bird within seconds.
Lovely, my first cockatiel to succumb to egg binding, was all playful and active minutes before egg binding struck and killed her immediately.
The following are major causes of egg binding:

Lack of Calcium. Eggs are made of calcium. Being depleted of this element will cause hens to produce soft shelled eggs that are hard to expel. This happens when there is little or no calcium source within their diet, and even if there is a source, too many clutches laid within a small period of time will be too much for any small bird.

Overbreeding. More than two clutches a year places your bird at a high risk to encounter egg binding. Calcium and nutrient intake will not be able to catch up with the fast depletion of these nutrients due to excessive egg production.

Lack of Essential vitamins. Producing and laying eggs are stressful activities and Calcium is but a small portion of what a hen needs. Lack of other vitamins will lead to abnormally shaped egg that the cloaca is not designed to handle.

Age. A young bird, in the case of a cockatiel, below a year old, have a higher risk of egg binding due to the underdeveloped reproductive systems.

Prevention.

Apparently, given the list of causes, a responsible breeder can take steps to minimize it. Cuttlebone is the best and most trusted calcium source as it is natural, it also supplies necessary amount of iodine and most importantly, your cockatiels are more than willing to take them. They should always be available even when not breeding. Two or three times a week, soluble vitamins can be added to their water source. It is said that adding drops of vegetable oil to their seed dish can lessen the risk dramatically. For the overzealous breeders, remove the nest box after the second clutch to discourage further breeding until the next season.

Cure

Unfortunately, your veterinary is the only possible cure for your bird. Operation may be necessary and you don't have the tools for it nor the knowledge. The bird may be injected with calcium for cloacal contraction helping to expel the egg. With all these possible solutions the risk of losing your bird is still very high.

Always remember that breeding and egg laying is always an emergency situation. Do your best to stop egg binding before it happens.

Mutations: The "Albino"

The Albino Cockatiel is a misnomer, it doesn't exist. Rather, it is a combination of two mutations, the lutino and the whiteface. The combination resulted in a bird with no dark/gray plumage and no cheekpatch, creating the "albino" cockatiel. Due to this mix of two mutations, the albino cockatiel is priced above the normal or average mutation. The whiteface removes all the white in the bird, the lutino mutation removes all of the gray/black coloration, you end up with a white bird. The genetically correct name for it would be a "Whiteface lutino". The Whiteface Lutino or "Albino" cannot be visually sexed.

Mutations: The Silver Cockatiel

The Silver Cockatiel is a normal gray in dilute form. This mutation has distinct red eyes, a pink beak and pink feet. Male Silvers commonly have a yellow face and orange cheek patches after its first molt. Female Silvers will retain most of the patterns and features of a gray except that it is diluted presenting a silver color.

That is for the general description, a more in depth explanation needs more of your attention.

There are two known types of 'silver' cockatiels. This type of mutation can be acquired from one parent or both, making the single and double factor types. There is also a dominant silver and a recessive silver. The recessive mutation displays a light silvery color, they have red eyes like that of lutinos.

The double factors have lighter plumage than the single factor.

A dark gray cap on a silver bird shows that it is a dominant silver, the only prominent visual difference to a recessive silver aside from the fact that all dominant silvers have dark eyes.

Sexing the silver cockatiel is same as the normal, look for markings under the wing and tail, spots and barring represents a female on mature species.

Handfeeding cockatiels

Things to remember

When to Pullout

If you have a choice, chicks should be pulled out at 2 weeks of age. During this period the chick should be stronger, its eyes open, it would be easier to feed, domesticate and its immune system more complete.
Pulling out a chick younger than 2 weeks old is possible though not recommended. Uno, our first handfed bird was pulled out from the nest when he was 2 days old, he is a sour crop survivor. During this period until the second week you have to feed it once every two hours constantly with a watery solution of your handfeed mix with a rubber tube and syringe.

Brooding materials and sterilization

Others use an enclosed small glass aquarium, bottom lined with wood shavings then covered with newspaper. What works best for me though is a fruit basket more like of a wicker nest. bottom covered with newspaper and another layer of crumpled paper. This makes it easier(and cheaper) for me to clean up. the crumpled paper had to be replaced when soiled before the next feeding time.

Temperature Control

The younger the chick's age the more important this is. Young chicks don't have enough feathers to regulate heat properly, they still depend on their parents for their heat source, especially in colder places. If purchasing a heater is easy in your location, lucky you. The most commonly used improvisation though is the use of a lamplight. The distance of the bulb from the brooders' floor can be adjusted to properly meet the desired temperature which should be as warm(not hot) as a humans' breadth.

Handfeeding formula/mix

There are lots of available hand feeding formulas in the market. In our locale though, it is not that easily available. And yes there are proven options if you have a similar situation as mine. Baby foods specifically those which are made of fruits, cereals and the like are possible and sometimes, specially at chicks a week old or younger, safer. I purchased a handfeeding formula that is really good except that it is still grainy (not powdery like baby's food which is finer) and I'm not sure if my formula is not watery enough, choked one of my 4 day old chicks to death. Since then I only use Cerelac (Fruits and soya) for week old or younger chicks. Upon reaching the first week though, it is better to use the more balanced specifically formulated handfeeding solutions. You can notice that they grow much faster and fatter.

Preparing chick for handfeeding

Handfeeding Schedule

Wing clipping

I will make a stand on this as others try to play safe in the middle others oppose it, but one can say that when one is handfeeding chicks, this is almost a necessity.

Sour Crop on Handfed Chicks

This is said to be typically common on cockatiel chicks. One of the common culprits is cold food. This induces the fungi Candida to grow which is one its main causes, it can also be caused by bacterial growth. It can also be due to impaction, solid foods blocking the passage, though it should be a rare cause for handfed chicks since they are fed plain handfeeding formulas. This is a RED ALERT, time is definitely against you, our first handfed chick Uno survived it.

Nymphicus Hollandicus

KINGDOM  :  ANIMALIA
PHYLUM   :  CHORDATA
CLASS    :  AVES
ORDER    :  PSITTACIFORMES
FAMILY   :  CACATUIDAE
SUBFAMILY:  CALYPTORHYNCHINAE
GENUS    :  NYMPHICUS

SPECIES  :  NYMPHICUS HOLLANDICUS

Cockatiels are Parrots under the Cockatoo family, the smallest of these crested kind.