Thread: buying a cockatiel

Get two (male and female) unless someone is home all day as they are a social creature, will talk with training and can live on a branch in the room so not necessary to cage them.

We had a single entity that imitated the bloody phone!!!!

When you get the bird take it straight to a vet & get it examined & dosed for parasites - do NOT trust the breeder's assurances that that everything is OK.

A friend got a cockatiel from a 'reliable' breeder then wondered why the bird started to look a bit off colour. Took it to the vet & found that it was lousy with just about every parasite it could have & it had major health problems as a result. The vet treated the bird & it lived for a few months before keeling over - the breeder just pleaded ignorance. Since then she has been given a 'rescue' lorikeet by the vet - it had an argument with a car & lost but lived minus one eye - they are getting on fine & the bird gets regular vet visits.

Cockatiels are relatively cheap and robust easy to look after parrots and they talk etc as well.

They are hard not to like.

That said - every man and his dog has one - bit like budgerigars.

I'd suggest give some consideration maybe to a princess parrot instead.







They are probably one of the prettiest parrots and not hard to look after train etc IF you get them young... and hand raise them!

I first came across them 30 years ago when I had a pair in a large 30 foot long outdoor walk in aviary.

The thing is these weren't hand raised, yet whenever you walked into the aviary, they would fly too you - land on you - walk all over your shoulders etc. For some reason (desert dwellers normally) they just don't seem to have any natural fear of humans. When you hand raise them - even less so. They will talk and do everything the cockatiel (weiro) will do.

Nowadays after decades of aviary breeding you can get color mutants of the princess (blue and yellow variants from memory) & white (Albino).







I just think the princess parrot has a more endearing personality than the cockatiel (weiro).

As always others mileage may vary.

But do get a young one and hand raise it if you want it 'bonded' to you.

Cheers