New advise with adoption of an older neglected cockatiel

Hi! I have made a thread introducing myself but I'll give a brief description. My name is Sharon and I have 10yrs exp in raising and caring for all sizes or bird, but I have yet to deal with what is considered a geriatric bird. I adopted a lutino cockatiel who is 15yrs old about two weeks ago now. I am apparently his 4th owner . He does not have any behavior issues, but I was told his s2nd owner died if cancer and his 3rd kept him in his cage for 6m before I got him. When I got him his cage was in deplorable conditions! It took days to clean (as I wanted to take things slowly). It is obvious that he was inches handled because he is not flighty and the few times I had to take him out if his cage with a perch he was familiar with stepping up. But of course, being new he doesn't trust me yet.

He had been kept on a seed only diet all his life and the last lady gave him all the sunflower seeds he wanted, but luckily he isn't over weight. He doesn't play with toys (all he does is talk to a bell on the end of one) and I wonder if he has ever even seen a cuttlebone. I would love to get him to eat pellet since i am really worried about his nutrition, which I am trying to introduce by a method listed on another form (turning the pellet into a powder and mixing with the seed and wetting to create a sort of seed cake). I have also been trying to offer veggies, cut into different sizes, but he has no interest yet. I can tell that he is, probably, unintentionally, eating some of the pellet prefer since his energy and feces have greatly improved since I started.

My question is that considering his age, and probably being set in his ways, should I just keep him in a seed diet and add vitamins to his water daily and continue the veggies? Or should I just keep trying the pellet switch? Would a more colorful pellet maybe entice him more or one with no dye? Are there any veggies that most cockatiels just love? I would also love to give him a bath since his poor tail and wing feathers are coated with black (I'm guessed from newspaper), but I don't want to stress him out too much too soon. Is this something I should address right away or is it ok to wait till we gain his trust more?

I'm sorry this is such a book! Thank you for any advise!

I like to give seed/pellets mix for my cockatiels as I find them does better on it. I feed a mixed fruits and veggies such as strawberries, kiwi, bananas, pomegranate, mango, grapes, carrots, broccoli, cucumber, and more....

My cockatiels are very fussy with food but they do like leafy greens (lettuce, spinach, silverbeet etc). I also put a slice of cucumber wedged into their cage bars and it gets their interest.

best not to remove seeds completely from his diet. for a few reasons. cockatiels can develop kidney disease if they have too much protein in their diet and too much pellets can cause that. it's best to keep pellets as a PART of the diet, but not the largest part. pellets should be 20-30% of the staple diet. the rest should be seed supplemented with veggies.

sprouting seed is extra healthy! so if you want to give seeds that way, its a very healthy alternative. but do not completely remove the seed.


sunflower seeds in SMALL amounts are healthy, so keep them limited to maybe like 4 a day.

Sunflower Seeds - Just Cockatiels!



also, with his age, it's likely best not to 100% change his diet because changing it can cause some problems as well. so slowly add things in, but make sure to keep the seed


would love to see photos of your new fid!

My cockatiels really love a beet mix that I made for the birds. They will attack it right away whenever I put some out. My mother freaked once because it looks like they lost their beak and are bleeding from all that purple. The tiels just wondered what was wrong with her

An example in case you try it! Usually its much worse looking than this one. The whole beak is usually covered and the surronding feathers stained with what looks like dried blood. So incase you try it and he likes it try not to freak the first time

Awe thanks guys! I don't want to take him completely off seed just try to get him to more variety. I am planning on sprouting some once I'm over this annoying stomach bug. Thanks for the tips! Every thing Ive tried to give him he ignores completely, but I'm going to keep trying! Keep the tips coming on what your tiels just go gaga over please

I've noticed what one bird may go nuts over, the other one not so much. It just varies....BUT one thing they will go gaga over is millet spray, nutriberries, and such.

You see one of my boys absolutely loves carrots, the other ones not so much....lol

I'm sure you've worked it out by now, but my cockatiel lived to be almost 25, so your new friend may very well have a lot of good years left!!!

A few years ago I switched Sunshine from seed to a mix of about 1/2 & 1/2 seeds (with as little sunflower as possible) and pellets. She was not happy about the switch to begin with, but I quickly learned that she HATED the fruity pellets (Zupreem) and was much more likely to eat the plain tan ones (Maybe they were more bland and closer to the flavor of her seeds?) Otherwise she loved leafy celery tops, apples, grapes, shredded carrots, and went nuts for popcorn! Some other favorites were millet, nutriberries, and the seed/honey/stick/treat/thing she got from Santa every year (and promptly destroyed)!

Good luck and I hope it helps!