Cockatiels
 

Would anyone be interested in cockatiels that live in or around New York? They are greys :) Can be trained to mimick words and do tricks

AWWWWWWWW! I love Cockatiels. I had a pair growing up.

Me 2, I love them so much and they are so friendly

Aww, they are so pretty.. I've been debating getting a bird for some time now. I'd possibly be interested if I wasn't so far. Oh well.

Why are you getting rid of them?

No I'm not getting rid of them...I have 5 and I'm keeping them all :D BUT I breed them so I will be selling most of the babies...I will prob. keep one. I handfeed the babies myself and wean them so they are the friendliest as can be, the ones bought at petstores are wild and crazy cause they are not handfed, mine would be very friendly :) Well if you're ever in NY I guess let me know if you're interested ;)

I have been considering it. I have a male and female now. My female, JuJu, flirts with my male, Cosmo, all the time. But he is definitely date challenged! When she flirts, he runs to his mirror and has his way with himself and his perch. He says about 60 words, phrases and songs and is a total ham. JuJu is just a sweet little girl that does her own chirps - no words. I have always wanted babies. She has laid so many eggs, I can't count them, but they are all duds because Cosmo doesn't have a clue what he is supposed to do.:rolleyes: I'm just not sure I want another set of feathers to clean up;) . How do you deal with all the bird seed and feathers, anyway?

I hear ya! There aren't feathers anywhere. The seeds tend to fall on the floor, well they used to but now we have a cage skirt, it goes around the bottom of the cage so that no food falls out. Especially when I give them treats they like to drop them on purpose :rolleyes: so now they can't :p I never planned on breeding, it just happened. Ever since I was 3 yrs old I had a cockatiel. He was the BEST cockatiel ever, I mean he was like a dog! He would follow me, protect me, wake me up in the mornings, eat off my plate, drink my lemonade, etc., he would talk, never ever flew away, I mean he was the best. When he died :( I always had to get another cockatiel but none compared to him. So I got a female and we ended up getting another male, the female was older so we didn't think they would get together, well they did and we ended up handfeeding the babies and weaning them. Then they KEPT having eggs and I kept feeding the babies, etc and that is how I ended up breeding them. The female died sadly so I haven't bred in a while but since I have 5 now(long story, they are not the babies) and they're all related I am going to get a female and try to breed again. The ones I have I believe are all males :rolleyes: It takes a lot of time but it's such a good feeling to see the babies grow and know that you helped in doing that :) So your's never sit on the eggs? Usually they know to do that after the 1st time. Your pair sound so cute :)

5!! Are they loud?

You'll have to post when they have babies.

I will :) No they're really not loud most of the time. Mostly they sing in the mornings and sometimes in the afternoon, 2 of them bark sometimes and one of them whistles at me when i walk by or pick something up lol They have diff. songs so they sing them instead of being loud and annoying but if they do get loud i just cover them for a bit and they get quiet.

awwwww...I've always wanted a bird since I was little and have never had one. I'm so jealous.. But at least I got a yorkie :) What kind of songs do they sing? Do they each know particular ones? You should really do a video of one (or more) singing and post it on here..I'd love to see it since I really know nothing about birds!

I really need to get a camcorder so i can take videos. And you are lucky to have a yorkie :) They sing their own songs, they make them up. They learn them from their parents. 2 of them I bred and gave them to my mom's friend, they are brothers and while they were at her house they learned the same tune so they both sing it. She gave them back to me cause she is moving and can't take them with her. The other 2, one i gave to my sister but her husband was allergic to it and she had to give it back, the other i always kept. They both learned the tune off the father, which is the 5th one. So them 3 sing the same tune and the other 2 sing the other one :)

I loooove cockatiels!! My mom has a female, and she is so awesome! :) My mom has her trained to do all kinds of little tricks. Those cockatiels in the pictures are gorgeous!!

Mine sit on the eggs and protects them fiercely - but since Cosmo is gender challenged, he nevers fertilizes them. I have a skirt on my cage, but they have seed spitting contests to see who can get them the farthest! Cosmo makes all kinds of animal sounds (barks, clucks, crows, meows, etc). We taught Cosmo songs like Andy Griffith, Jingle Bells, Beethovan's 5th, but he just puts them all together and makes up his own with parts of all the songs in them. And he picks up his own words without us teaching him like "Whatever!", "Can you hear me now?" and the telephone ringing. He also yells at Krysten just like I used to when she was running late for school. He loves to learn and play games like dropping things and saying "Uh Oh". They both used to be out of the cage alot but the cat we had could care less about them. In fact, they would tease him. Cosmo says "Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty". But the 2 cats I have now have way too much interest in them, so I have to lock them in another room to let the birds out. And they love to eat off my plate, too. I never thought birds could be so much fun or have such personalities. If there were only moltless ones, they would be perfect;) .

Awww Cosmo sounds like such a cutie and smart bird. I wish I could see him. He sounds a lot like my Timothy, who died. He used to catch up on things fast. Yes birds are a lot of fun, you just have to get them young so you can train them or get the right one. Usually the male cockatiels are the ones that talk the most. Females are known to do a lot of tricks but both can do both. I love them. If they're sitting on the eggs then they are getting fertilized. The mom may just be throwing out eggs that have nothing in them though so that may be why. You can do a test to see if there are babies in them by putting them in front of a light bulb and see if you see something inside. I used to do that and it worked. Do it when both mom and dad are not on them and so they don't see you do it. :)

I candled every egg before I did anything and waited the full incubation time so she wouldn't keep relaying and get weak. She would lay up to 11 eggs at a time. I thought the male had to fertilize the egg before she laid it. At least that's the way my friends birds did it. Cosmo won't go near her when she is flirting. The first 2 pics are JuJu and the second is my little ham, Cosmo. He calls himself Squirrely Baby and every morning he says "Good Morning Stupid Bird" to me to let me know he's awake.

Awwwwwwww they are so pretty.
We had one called Charlie. He had the run of the house when I was home.
It was like having a dog follow me around. He sat on the sink while I did dishes and on the side of the tub when my youngest daughter took a bath.
We also allowed him on the table to eat with us. He loved pasta, sauce and all. LOL He was a love. When my daughter graduated and went on to college I gave him to my girlfried who had several. I cried my eyes out but just could
not give him all the attention he got so use too.
A year or so later I went to her house for a gathering and a ruckus came from her sun porch where they were kept. He remembered my voice and was
going bonkers in the cage. We had to let him out and he was all over me.
I couldn't believe it. I started crying all over again. They are so smart.
Much like Yorkies!:p

That's amazing! Charlie recognized your voice! I'll bet he was so happy to see you. They have to have great memories to remember all the things they do. They are such characters.

I had a cockatiel when I was about 5.. he was the cutest bird and would follow us around the house. We found him actually, outside of our apt complex. My mom left the window open one day, and he was gone like the wind :(.. He was a little escape artist. His name was Charlie <3 He would say "morning Judy (my mom's name) and he just picked that up from listening to my dad.. it was so funny :)

I'd love to get another one day, I think it's so cool that you breed them! :)

Aww, I'm sorry your little Charlie got away. So many of them do. That's why so many are just found outside. Charlie must be a popular bird name. The girl that gave JuJu to us had an African Grey named Charlie. They love to learn but they are so good at picking up things on their own.

OMG! I'm cracking up! That is HILARIOUS!!!!!!!! :yelrotflm :lol tears :yelrotflm :lol tears :yelrotflm

I wish you were closer!!! I'd love to see pics of the babies!!!!

me 2! Yea females can do a lot of tricks..they are so fun! and thank you, that is my Sunshine, he is really a ray of sunshine, he's a total doll. He's my favorite!

how long do they live?

hmm idk what's going on there. If the egg is fertilized then you will see like a vein type thing inside, if it's not then it will just be empty. Are you sure Cosmo is a boy? lol sometimes they just flirt with each other just because. Cosmo sounds like so much fun! I want to keep a baby boy for myself to teach him to talk. The ones I have now just make animal noises and one says pretty bird in spanish and my name but that's about it because they weren't mine to train. I just bred them and gave them away but they all ended up back in my hands. Here is a link to a good site about breeding them, etc.
http://www.cockatielcottage.net/
Btw they are gorgeous! They would have gorgeous babies!

If taken care of well they can live up to 25 years

Yes they are kinda like dogs. My godmother has an african grey who even eats meat!! She talks soooo much it's incredible. She makes a telephone ringing noise then she answers it herself by saying hello and proceeds to have a conversation with herself, of course you don't know what she's saying but it is sooo funny! At least you gave Charlie a good home. It's amazing how they remember you after so much time! They are very smart.

Wow! I've been really considering it but I don't know much about birds. Well nothing actually :) Plus I have 2 cats. So I don't know????

Are they real messy?

Wow you're so lucky you found him. I never found a cockatiel. My mom found a parakeet one time. We had those also but we gave them away. They can talk a lot too but very quietly. Growing up after my Timothy died we had several cockatiels, one of them also flew out the window. She was just gone one day when we came home. It is nice to breed but time consuming too.

I can tell you about them and send you some information and tips if you want. I only know about Cockatiels and Parakeets though. I don't know if it's good to have them if you have cats though unless they are kept in a diff. room. My sister has a dog that actually killed her cockatiel. They came home and it was dead on the floor, it got out of the cage. Now she has another one but they keep it outside in a cage, she lives in Florida so the weather is nice for it. Plus it's all gated in. They are a little messy but you can put a skirt around the cage to prevent the seeds from falling out and they can be trained to only do their business in the cage, that's if you let them fly free in the house but with cats and dogs I wouldn't lol. My dogs actually like my birds. Well London does, she gets happy and just smells them. Teddy thinks they are toys so I keep him away. :rolleyes:

There is a cockatiel forum just like YT that is great. And the unfertilized eggs that JuJu laid were just like chicken eggs. You could see the yolk in them and if you crack them open, they are the same. No veins, no baby birds. It was my understanding that the male fertilized the eggs right before they were laid - they do actually mate and it is very noisy:rolleyes: . That's the part Cosmo avoid. He is definitely a male. The first egg JuJu laid was while I was cleaning and she was riding around on my shoulder. She started making strange noises and I felt something hit my calf. I looked down and there on the rug by my foot was an egg! Thank goodness it landed on a rug. She hasn't laid any eggs since I put them both into a extra large cage. But she still flirts. She will strip Cosmo's crest for him, but he won't do her's so I do. And both of them will eat just about anythingand they love chicken and bacon.