just some questions on cockatiels

[budgzie]

hi everyone!
well I am thinking of getting a cockatiel so i have some questions:

1. is taking care of a cockateil any differnt from looking after a budgie? only differnt food and cage right?

2. are they more friendly than budgies?

3. how to you tell there gender?

4. do they get along with budgies?

5. are they as loud as a budgie?

6. how long does it take to finger trian, is it longer than a budgie?(is it smarter?)
thats it right now please answer!

[KDK241]

I have budgies and tiels and I think my tiels are easier to care for. At least they don't make as much of a mess...most pellets that are made for budgies can be fed to tiels also. My tiels started out eating budgie pellets.
I only have one tame budgie and that is Marley. He is usually more active then my tiels. My tiels are happy to hang out on me but Marley is always on the go and can never seem to sit still for longer than a couple of seconds.
Telling the gender of tiels can be difficult and long to explain. This should help Sex of our Cockatiels - Help!!
My female budgie is very agressive to my tiels and even though Marley is not agressive to them at all, the tiels are all scared of him. They can be out at the same time and they have never had any fights but they keep their distance.
All 7 of my tiels are a lot quieter than my budgies but it all depends on the bird.
All the tiels I got were already finger trained but hadn't been handled in awhile. If you get a hand-fed baby tiel, it should already be tame and finger trained so there is nothing to worry about. If you do get an untamed tiel, it depends on the bird as to how easy it will be. I wouldn't say that tiels are smarter than budgies but males are better talkers and whistlers. My budgies can find food in record time though compared to my tiels when I hide it.
I love my budgies but the tiels are my favorite. They enjoy interacting with me more.

[Ashling]

My tiels and budgie live in the same cage, so they pretty much have the same care requirements!
Their friendliness depends on how they are reared- as always, you'd do best to get a young hand reared male cockatiel.
Their gender is pretty hard to tell, especially Lutinos! Usually the girlies have bars under their tails and duller colours, but it's easy to make a mistake. Get a DNA tested baby to make sure cause males are more likely to talk/ whistle well and are generally nicer... of course there are some mean males and sweetheart girls though!
Um... YES they can get along with budgies! I have kept em both in the same cages/ aviaries for nearly 8 years! It all depends on the birds, and how well they've been socialised with budgies- but if a tiel were to grow up around budgies, he'd be ok with them.
They can both be quite noisy, but I find the tiel's call to be more pleasant than the budgies, and not so harsh.

I guess they take the same time to train- not much difference. I think budgies might be a tiny bit easier... but as usual it depends on the bird!

[Monica]

1. is taking care of a cockateil any differnt from looking after a budgie? only differnt food and cage right?
Cockatiels may require larger cages, however they can be fed the same foods. I feed all my tiels, budgies, and bourke a mix of Sweet Harvest Cockatiel no sun seed mixed with a canary seed mix. On top of this they get Zupreem Natural Pellets - Cockatiel size, although in the future I may buy the budgie/finch sized pellets for the tiels/budgies/bourkes. They all (or most) also eat veggies, cooked rice, cooked beans, cooked eggs, bird bread, etc.

2. are they more friendly than budgies?
Not necessarily... It depends on how well socialized and tamed the birds are, parent raised or hand raised.

3. how to you tell there gender?
Besides males being more vocal than females (in most cases), you cannot visually sex young cockatiels, as males will appear like females... and in the case of some mutations, such as pieds and inos (lutinos and albinos) you cannot easily visually sex cockatiels. Reading the guide to sexing cockatiels that I posted in the above thread that was linked to will certainly help identify the sex of an older bird.

4. do they get along with budgies?
Unless they grew up together I DO NOT recommend putting budgies and cockatiels in the same cage... some people have been able to do so without problems, but in most cases, budgies are just too pessimistic and hyper active for the more passive cockatiel. Now if we are talking about a flight cage or aviary, then it may be possible to house the two species together without issues.

5. are they as loud as a budgie?
In my experience, the budgies are louder than the cockatiels are... mostly in the amount of noise they make, not in how loud the noise is. Budgies usually tend to make more noises throughout the day, however, if one of the tiels here decides to sing (ATM there is only one male, and he's the only singer, if he ever feels up to it), he CAN be louder than the budgies... but in the amount of noise he makes, he's quieter than the budgies.

6. how long does it take to finger trian, is it longer than a budgie?(is it smarter?)
I'd have to say that most budgies are probably more curious than cockatiels are.... although there are some pretty curious tiels out there, too! Taming and training them all depends on the bird, as well as how much time you put into them as pets.


If you are interested in getting a cockatiel, I don't suggest getting one any younger than 6 months if handraised, if parent raised maybe 12-15 weeks at the youngest? I got my first cockatiel Casey when she was 6 months old and I've never had any screaming problems with her. However, I have talked to many people who have bought handraised cockatiels younger than her, and they all had to go through a phase where the cockatiel screamed nonstop for weeks to a few months, which drove the owners crazy.

You'll also need a separate cage for the cockatiel, I recommend going no smaller than 2' square. Tiels love toys with pony beads, leather, popsicle sticks, etc.


And, if you want your budgie to be tamed, I'd suggest working with your budgie now and taming him/her before getting a cockatiel.

[tielfan]

The cockatiel flock call is a piercing shriek that hurts your ears if you're standing close by, but from a few feet away it isn't annoying unless the listener is especially sensitive or unless you happen to get a bird that does it constantly. Most females don't make much noise and the males have a pleasant song.

[budgzie]

ok thanks guys!