Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone! I am new here and i am a new bird owner. Yesterday i went to the bird show in Knoxville,TN, and i came home with a very sweet cockatiel! Her name is Lucy. She is about 8 weeks old, and as sweet as can be! Lucy is my very first bird. If anyone has any information about cockatiels then please tell me.

Thanks!
Catie & Lucy

There`s an awful lot of info on cockatiels out there, so if you have any specific questions be sure to ask away.
If you haven`t picked one up already, it`s a good idea to get and read at least one quality cockatiel/parrot book. There are a lot of bad ones, so be sure to buy ones that were written recently or that were specifically recommended to you.
I recommend Cockatiels for Dummies, Birds for Dummies and/or the Companion Parrot Handbook. The last one focuses more on behavior, and the first two are more general guides to choosing and keeping a bird.

Be sure your bird is on a healthy diet, and if she isn`t you`ll have to make the diet change gradual. A healthy diet should have a mix of pellets, veggies and seeds. If it`s healthy for you, it`s healthy for your birds. Veggies that`re vibrantly colored tend to have the most nutrients. Please don`t give your bird avacado, onion, mushrooms, rhubarb, caffine or alcohol, or salty/greasy/sweet foods.

For pellets, choose a brand that doesn`t have artificial dyes in it, as the colored pellets can contribute to feather picking, feather discoloration, or even cancer. I recommend Roudybush, Harrisons, Hagens or Zupreem Natural.

If you haven`t yet, I recommend getting your bird into an avian vet for a well-bird exam. It can catch problems before they become life-threatening, as well as establish a relationship with the vet and a baseline for the bird. When I got my first cockatiel his well-bird exam saved his life. The vet caught an infection early and it was easily corrected.

If you have any questions, don`t hesitate to ask. The cockatiel board tends to be more active than the beginners board, though.

Welcome! And goodluck with your little girl. Cockatiels are a lot of fun!

Ok thank you for that info!
What is a list of veggies i can feed her?
I read somewhere that i can feed her bananas. Is that true?

Thanks!
Catie

Oh and is it normal for her to eat constantly?

Thanks again!

They do eat a lot, on and off, through out the day. I wouldn`t call it `constantly,` but it takes up a lot of their time. Which is why it`s best to make their food interesting and entertaining if we can.

You can feed her just about any veggie you want. More useful is a list of things you CAN`T feed her: onions, rhubarb, avacado, mushrooms.

It`s a good idea to stick to veggies that have vibrant colors, or that you`ve been told all your life are good for you. Carrots, dark leafy greens, broccoli, squashes, sweet potato, peppers, etc... Just about anything is fine. But things like iceberg lettuce have little to no nutrition and shouldn`t be offered very often, if at all. They simply have no value as a food item.
Corn isn`t very nutritionally dense, but is a favorite. And corn-on-the-cob is good for mental enrichment (it makes a great toy) so offering it on occasion can be a lot of fun for your bird.

Goodluck!

Ok thank you soooooooo much!!! I am about to give her some carrots, and today i got her a cuttlebone to chew on, and whenever i hold her she goes straight for my necklace!Oh and it is really funny that whenever anyone walks into my room she chirps! Sometimes my mom walks by my room , opens the door, and says "Hi, Lucy!" And lucy will chirp back. Well thanks again!

Catie