introductions

[jimdragontech]

I guess this is where we introduce ourselves. I am jimdragontech and my wife is furspinner. You may be hearing from her from time to time.
We have at the moment 7 ' tiels:Treeps and Coco, a mated pair, Salt and Pepper, thier latest, Sam and Tusu, their last and Senenmut (Senny for short)' and oddly because my wife is a retired Vet Tech, 7cats. The cats are fine with the birds, just curious, so, so far no surprises.
I find the diversity among the birds curious. Treeps is a normal male, Coco is a cinnamon female. Salt, Sam, and Tusu are pied (no real surprise there) but Pepper is just that: a dark cinnamon male, go figure. All the others are female except for Senny, who is a whiteface male.(he was a gift for parrot sitting).
Thus far only Treeps and Coco are breeders, not that we worry about it.But as for 'singing',Tusu and Sam do sing. Senny learns new words and uses them to try to impress Tusu, but so far no luck on his part.
So yes, 'tiels can 'sing'if they want to, but it really is just a repeated patterned whistle. As for getting them to talk, and they can whistle-speak, watch out.
You will probably find yourself learning 'to talk'their way.

[marieandchirpy]

Hi

Sounds like you have noisy household

Welcome to the boards

[White Wolf]

;DWelcome "HOME" I am so happy you have joined us and hope your having fun. Keep in mind that cockatiels are like potato chips...you can't have just one. I started out 25 years ago with one rescue and now I have over 40, lol and they just keep coming, lol

[cpardee]

Hello my name is Christy. I have one male tiel, my first. He will eat broccoli! Yay. But doesn't like being handled. boo. I'm going to look for handling/training tips

[marieandchirpy]

Hi Christy. How old is the bird?

[cpardee]

I got the bird at Petco so I am not sure of age. He had been at the store for 2 weeks. I have gotten him to take seeds from my hand and he is eating pellets. I am very glad. (I named him Brooklyn)

[marieandchirpy]

Then he's probably a year old. Getting him to eat seeds from your hand is a good start.

[cpardee]

Thank you.

[cpardee]

Has anyone had trouble with a simple step up command. I've been at it for 3 weeks. Much frustration and a few bites.

[marieandchirpy]

It will take a while for the bird to warm up to you and to step up to your finger.

[cpardee]

Brooklyn has discovered his voice. OMG. Seriously. BUt he does step up a few times onto a perch. I think the problem was my hand is a bit shaky.

[marieandchirpy]

Your hand shaking has nothing to do with it. It's simply a trust issue.

[cpardee]

LAtest thing I need to vent. Bird had to go back on seed. Goes thru screaming fits only quieted by seed eating. I still leave pellets in there, and he does have a few. But his main diet now seems to be seed and millet.

[marieandchirpy]

It's hard to convert a Cockatiel to a pelleted diet. Some people have to try more then one method to convert them. In the wild Cockatiel live on seed diet. Pellets are not found in the wild. I give my Cockatiel a diet of seed and pellets mixed together. Go easy on the millet. Captive Cockatiels don't get as much exercise as their wild cousins and millet can be very fattening. You could also try introducing other foods to him like grains, vegetables, and fruit. Vegetables such as broccoli have lots of vitamins in it.

[cpardee]

Whew. I have a moment of quiet. I feel like a new mother. I love that bird but the noise can be grating on the ears. THanks for your feed back. I have to realize this will all take time I guess.
CHristy