Considering getting a mate for my male cockatiel and breeding him.

DiscotheCockatiel

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2 male cockatiels
I have 2 male cockatiels, a 6 year old normal, and a 1-2 year old pearly pied (the pied isnā€™t visible but thatā€™s what he was sold as) the pearl, Storm has lost his pearls in the year that Iā€™ve had him. Iā€™m considering getting him a mate. Iā€™ve learned a lot about genetics and have done hours of research but I wanted to talk to people who have experience breeding cockatiels. I donā€™t think I have the time or skill to hand feed and was wondering if handling young chicks is ok? If I got a female I would get a 2ish year old tame pearl (and hopefully pied if it works out). I have a large flight cage and my birds are fed pellets and a Variety of different veggies, grains, and healthy seeds blended into chop. I will also add that Storm has been very hormonal lately and trying to mount my other male.
 

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Noahs_Birds

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You can handle chicks definitely, but I only recommend to start handling chicks at 2 weeks of age because it then reduces the risks of any complications with parents feeding them in a normal pattern etc. Don't feel bad when they first breed and they fail the first time around, young parents are always problematic but there are exceptions!
How big is this flight cage? You'll definitely need to separate males so one can be with a female because otherwise theyll get jealous and can kill chicks.
 

Owlet

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If you do not have the time or skill to hand feed I would advise against breeding to begin with. What happens if the parents reject the chicks or arent experienced enough parents to fully support the chicks?
 
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DiscotheCockatiel

DiscotheCockatiel

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You can handle chicks definitely, but I only recommend to start handling chicks at 2 weeks of age because it then reduces the risks of any complications with parents feeding them in a normal pattern etc. Don't feel bad when they first breed and they fail the first time around, young parents are always problematic but there are exceptions!
How big is this flight cage? You'll definitely need to separate males so one can be with a female because otherwise theyll get jealous and can kill chicks.
Thank you! The flight cage is 31in long, 52in tall, and 20in wide. I do have a separate cage for the other male I donā€™t think heā€™ll be a problem but itā€™s always better safe than sorry with parrots!
 
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DiscotheCockatiel

DiscotheCockatiel

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If you do not have the time or skill to hand feed I would advise against breeding to begin with. What happens if the parents reject the chicks or arent experienced enough parents to fully support the chicks?
Ok thank you. I will definitely have to learn more about hand feeding if I am to breed them and wonā€™t if it seems like itā€™s to much. If a chick was rejected I would definitely make time but I donā€™t want to do it on a regular with every clutch. Is hand feeding difficult or does it require certain training to know how to do it correctly. How often must chicks be fed?
 

Mikey&Levi

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Ok thank you. I will definitely have to learn more about hand feeding if I am to breed them and wonā€™t if it seems like itā€™s to much. If a chick was rejected I would definitely make time but I donā€™t want to do it on a regular with every clutch. Is hand feeding difficult or does it require certain training to know how to do it correctly. How often must chicks be fed?
It's not difficult but it's time consuming, you should do the proper research because a simple mistake can be fatal to the chick.
 
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DiscotheCockatiel

DiscotheCockatiel

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It's not difficult but it's time consuming, you should do the proper research because a simple mistake can be fatal to the chick.
Ok thank you I will definitely learn as much as I can about hand feeding before even getting a female.
 

Mikey&Levi

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Ok thank you I will definitely learn as much as I can about hand feeding before even getting a female.
You can get one right now if u want, hand feeding isn't something that you will necessarily need when breeding cockatiels, but it's still best to know in case the parents abandon their babies, which is very unlikely afte their first try. And you have plenty of time to learn even after getting a female because she will need time to know the male and mate and incubate the eggs, it's a long process.
 

noodles123

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Breeding is complicated and can become more complicated if the parents don't do their jobs properly. There is a lot of equipment etc and it is very time consuming. Have you also considered what you would do with the babies? They will mate if you do not separate them and that can lead to serious genetic issues.
 

Newfie-N-Tx

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Hello,
A few months after we got our male cockatiel I decided to get another cockatiel because he seemed so lonely. We werenā€™t really thinking about breeding them, and I am glad we werenā€™t since our female cockatiel seems less interested in him then she does us. Itā€™s kind of sad to watch him go through so much effort to court her, sweetly singing and dancing, for her to just scream at him and do what I am convinced the expression ā€œflipping the birdā€ comes from with flipping over perch hanging upside down, her red eyes glaring in silent rage. We keep them in separate cages because sheā€™s so aggressive towards him I donā€™t want to risk a feathers flying everywhere brawl breaking out.

What Iā€™m getting at is thereā€™s no way to know for sure if two birds will be compatible enough personality wise, to breed or even get along enough to house together. Although you never know, you could get females and have an adorable couple or two totally in love with each other, and eventually babies. Birds in love is one of the most beautiful things to witness. I only got to see it with two of our budgies and I still canā€™t get over how Iā€™m love they had been and how hard he grieved for her when she passed away.

I hope it works out for you and your two birdy boys with whatever you decide on.
 

Newfie-N-Tx

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Breeding is complicated and can become more complicated if the parents don't do their jobs properly. There is a lot of equipment etc and it is very time consuming. Have you also considered what you would do with the babies? They will mate if you do not separate them and that can lead to serious genetic issues.
Your right on this. All reasons why I wouldnā€™t intentionally breed my cockatiels even if they did get along and Iā€™ve had a lot of people ask if I would sell them babies from my albino (white face Lutino).
 
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DiscotheCockatiel

DiscotheCockatiel

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You can get one right now if u want, hand feeding isn't something that you will necessarily need when breeding cockatiels, but it's still best to know in case the parents abandon their babies, which is very unlikely afte their first try. And you have plenty of time to learn even after getting a female because she will need time to know the male and mate and incubate the eggs, it's a long process.
Ok thank you! Thatā€™s good to know! Iā€™m hoping to get him a female but Iā€™m still not 100% sure on it. I definitely think I should do more research to make sure I can handle it! šŸ˜
 
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DiscotheCockatiel

DiscotheCockatiel

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Breeding is complicated and can become more complicated if the parents don't do their jobs properly. There is a lot of equipment etc and it is very time consuming. Have you also considered what you would do with the babies? They will mate if you do not separate them and that can lead to serious genetic issues.
I will be selling babies once they are weaned. I donā€™t have the time or space to keep more than 5-10 cockatiels at a time.
 
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DiscotheCockatiel

DiscotheCockatiel

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Jul 1, 2021
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Hello,
A few months after we got our male cockatiel I decided to get another cockatiel because he seemed so lonely. We werenā€™t really thinking about breeding them, and I am glad we werenā€™t since our female cockatiel seems less interested in him then she does us. Itā€™s kind of sad to watch him go through so much effort to court her, sweetly singing and dancing, for her to just scream at him and do what I am convinced the expression ā€œflipping the birdā€ comes from with flipping over perch hanging upside down, her red eyes glaring in silent rage. We keep them in separate cages because sheā€™s so aggressive towards him I donā€™t want to risk a feathers flying everywhere brawl breaking out.

What Iā€™m getting at is thereā€™s no way to know for sure if two birds will be compatible enough personality wise, to breed or even get along enough to house together. Although you never know, you could get females and have an adorable couple or two totally in love with each other, and eventually babies. Birds in love is one of the most beautiful things to witness. I only got to see it with two of our budgies and I still canā€™t get over how Iā€™m love they had been and how hard he grieved for her when she passed away.

I hope it works out for you and your two birdy boys with whatever you decide on.
Thank you! I believe he will fall head over heels for her if I do get a female but if they cannot be housed together I do have a backup cage in case worst comes to worst. I still think I need to do more research to make sure I can take on all the problems that may arises.
 

Newfie-N-Tx

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Thank you! I believe he will fall head over heels for her if I do get a female but if they cannot be housed together I do have a backup cage in case worst comes to worst. I still think I need to do more research to make sure I can take on all the problems that may arises.
Defiantly do your research. I can imagine it would be easy to get in over your head. There can be quite a lot of problems that can come up. With both parents and babies if they have one. We had our female budgie pass away when an egg was stuck, I canā€™t think of the word for it right now... Due to lack of avian vets in area we couldnā€™t do much for her. (Thatā€™s another thing to keep in mind)We had no idea she was a female because both of them were so young when we got them and even then color mutations made it difficult to know until they were totally in love and it became hard to keep them apart with both depressed not eating. Everything we read about discouraging them mating failed. We thought if we were in same room watching they wouldnā€™t, boy were we wrong! They would do it anywhere anytime. It was a horrible experience, but we did learn from it and made sure when we got another to be certain he was a he.
 
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DiscotheCockatiel

DiscotheCockatiel

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Defiantly do your research. I can imagine it would be easy to get in over your head. There can be quite a lot of problems that can come up. With both parents and babies if they have one. We had our female budgie pass away when an egg was stuck, I canā€™t think of the word for it right now... Due to lack of avian vets in area we couldnā€™t do much for her. (Thatā€™s another thing to keep in mind)We had no idea she was a female because both of them were so young when we got them and even then color mutations made it difficult to know until they were totally in love and it became hard to keep them apart with both depressed not eating. Everything we read about discouraging them mating failed. We thought if we were in same room watching they wouldnā€™t, boy were we wrong! They would do it anywhere anytime. It was a horrible experience, but we did learn from it and made sure when we got another to be certain he was a he.
Iā€™m so sorry for your loss! Thankfully there are a few vets that are experienced with parrots!
 

Noahs_Birds

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You can get one right now if u want, hand feeding isn't something that you will necessarily need when breeding cockatiels, but it's still best to know in case the parents abandon their babies, which is very unlikely afte their first try. And you have plenty of time to learn even after getting a female because she will need time to know the male and mate and incubate the eggs, it's a long process.
Agreed. From all my experience as a breeder, cockatiels are as tough as nails and never had to worry about handrearing young ones. Very rarely youā€™ll have to intervene but it is handy to have a bit of knowledge on what to do if something bad happens. They do have occasional slip ups such as infertile clutches or may squash a chick in the box at a few days old, but, after about a week itā€™s pretty rare for parents to do anything bad
 

cytherian

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Dec 29, 2020
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Defiantly do your research. I can imagine it would be easy to get in over your head. There can be quite a lot of problems that can come up. With both parents and babies if they have one. We had our female budgie pass away when an egg was stuck, I canā€™t think of the word for it right now... Due to lack of avian vets in area we couldnā€™t do much for her. (Thatā€™s another thing to keep in mind)We had no idea she was a female because both of them were so young when we got them and even then color mutations made it difficult to know until they were totally in love and it became hard to keep them apart with both depressed not eating. Everything we read about discouraging them mating failed. We thought if we were in same room watching they wouldnā€™t, boy were we wrong! They would do it anywhere anytime. It was a horrible experience, but we did learn from it and made sure when we got another to be certain he was a he.
My roommate's female Eclectus ended up with an egg obstruction. She almost died. She certainly would have, if there hadn't been an animal hospital nearby. After the initial treatment and the follow up exams, the total cost? $6,000. o_O
 

Newfie-N-Tx

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Agreed. From all my experience as a breeder, cockatiels are as tough as nails and never had to worry about handrearing young ones. Very rarely youā€™ll have to intervene but it is handy to have a bit of knowledge on what to do if something bad happens. They do have occasional slip ups such as infertile clutches or may squash a chick in the box at a few days old, but, after about a week itā€™s pretty rare for parents to do anything bad
Our Cockatiels do seem to be far more independent than our other birds, and have no trouble communicating their needs. car alarm sounds when they think food is low.
Our girl had to be hand fed because for some reason her parents seem to reject their albino babies, so she was used to it when we got her. When we hand fed her it was easy to tell when she was hungry because of the ā€œbaby dinosaurā€ sounds she made. Whenever I go to the bird breeder where we got her for nail filings or wing clipping the cockatiel babies seem to do the same thing, being verbal and near frantic for their feedings. Even the ones who barely have any feathers. The breeder also says the same thing you did about them being hardier than some. I never had to stress with ours that she wasnā€™t getting enough as she was a glutton for it and eagerly took formula no problem.
Hand feeding our girl was a lot easier than it was with our Amazon who refused it and only thing that worked was singing to him to even get him to open his mouth (I have terrible voice but whatever works).
 

Newfie-N-Tx

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Iā€™m so sorry for your loss! Thankfully there are a few vets that are experienced with parrots!
Thanks. I wish there were more vets around here who see birds. The only one around here doesnā€™t take new patients very often so weā€™ve been on a waiting list for 4 months now. Thankfully we have appointments for them on Tuesday for check ups. After that experience I have been terrified with having female birds.
 

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