My Cockatiels

A little history first…

I never planned to breed cockatiels but they had other plans for me. I’m sure I have some terminology and names for the varieties wrong. Feel free write me, with corrections, suggestions or ideas.

I bought Pete from a lady that breeds cockatiels for a living. She had some rather unique birds in her flock.

Pete looks to be a common grey. I believe he is at least pied recessive. I thought the breeder said he was a pearl. I’m guessing, from his offspring, that he is a visible grey / pearl-pied. The breeder gave me a discount on Pete since he had an attitude problem. She hand raised all the babies but Pete was NOT taming like the rest.

I received Mickey and Sunshine from a friend in 1997 when she decided she didn’t want them anymore. She was told they were a ‘pair’; Mickey being the male and Sunshine the female.

Mickey is a visible pearl. If you do a little ‘tiel research, you’ll learn that males don’t stay pearly. Only the female does. So Mickey has to be a female. I think she has at least pied recessive.

Sunshine has a yellow body and white wings, no red eyes. I’ve read that this is called clear pied or pearl-pied, similar to lutino. I have no clue on his/her gender but I believe Sunshine is male.

I kept Pete in his own cage for years. Mickey and Sunshine came with their own cage. Both cages were in the same room, in sight, but out of reach of each other. They all seemed happy that way. While I was on vacation a few years ago, Mickey decided to lay eggs and sit on them. Surprise! She didn’t have a male courting her but she was going to lay anyway. I figured it was time for me to buy her a nest box. The floor of the cage was not going to do. Pete was showing interest in Mickey and doing his little courtship dance in his own cage. I put the three birds all in one cage and the rest is history.

Pete and Mickey have been laying and setting on eggs for a few years now, pretty much non-stop. They don’t seem to be doing very good at the fertilizing part. I leave the eggs in the nest box for a few weeks and then candle them. I toss out the ones that look empty aka yellow. The first few hatchings were upsetting. No one taught them what to do with the freshly hatched little wiggling ‘tiel! I certainly didn’t know what to do with them. Pete & Mickey finally did figure out how to feed and care for the babies and do a great job now.

I leave the babies alone for the first week after hatching. I just open the lid to be sure they are still alive. After two weeks, I feel better about handling them. They’re so funny looking (read ugly) and floppy! I start taking the babies out at about 10 days old (eyes still closed), getting them used to being held and touched. At two weeks, little feathers are coming out. At three weeks, they actually start looking like real birds and can, if motivated, do a good chicken imitation of flight.

Helpful Hints I’ve learned My ‘tiels Genealogy Chart