What Do I feed My Parent Tiels' and Babies?  

February 22nd, 2008   

*Have lots of food pics to be added*

There are a few things in their diet that have changed and will show in pics what I feed my parents & babies...

~~we are constantly learning and finding better food for them~~

"I am not against Kijiji nor other advertisers, just the people selling little baby cockatiels cheap & only for a profit. Most of these babies are not being fed the proper nutritous foods and live in terrible unclean conditions so I have written up how mine eat & live growing up, just for You "

"This is what We Good Breeders do for our Parent Tiels' and Babies"

 

These sweet Cockatiel Parents have such a big job in front of them when laying, sitting, and hatching these little eggs out, keeping the tiny babies well fed and taking care of themselves at the same time. They need a lot of help. Clean and well-fed birdies make happy healthy parents and babies!

My birdies live in a smoke free, well lit, clean evniornment with good air cleaners. The cages are not small breeding cages but of a good size, powder coated and colorful. Their cages are kept very clean with fresh food, water and lots of toys to keep them busy! They are in their own room away from the Galahs and Sammy the Cat. Sammy is good around them and loves them but... he is still a cat. It is a Happy room with lots of funny singing going on (have to get a clip of that!) and nice soft music. They are early to rise and start singing their little hearts out with happy funny songs and bedtime is fun for them, even the ones that are breeding! The boys always love to come out to visit Mom while the hens stay with the chicks. lol Figures. The lights are usually out by 8:30 pm.

At least a month and half prior to the nest boxes going up I start the parents on a regiment of extra vegetables, certain fruits, brown rice, etc. on a daily basis. And Of course plenty of cuttle bone and mineral block. You want healthy parents producing healthy chicks!

This continues while the boxes are up, producing their eggs with the chick inside and sitting on the eggs for 19 – 21 days is a lot of hard work for the parents. Just as the chicks are starting to hatch out I supply the parents with extra good food for them as well as the chicks. Warm too of course which makes it much easier for the parents to digest quickly along with their normal food so that they can feed the chicks immediately. They are not running around in a panic from dish to dish while the chicks are screaming at them for food. This also makes for less stressful parents, hence stress free happy baby chicks! This also enables the parents to have more time with the chicks, keep the chicks clean, their boxes clean and each other clean. Yes they do all of this and it is so cute to see. I will often see the Parents feed each other too. So sweet. They are such good Cockatiels that deserve the very, very Best! Every Cockatiel deserves the best foods possible available to them.

They also get their daily food that consists of Vita Cockatiel Formula Seed with Tropical Fruit, Zupreem Fruit pellets, breeders diet food, Millet, morning treat of Cheerios & various brans, grains, greens 3 times a week, fresh water all the time of course, cuttle bone, mineral block (pink) and they even have time for special treats once in awhile!

Just before it is time for me to start hand feeding the babies I will add Kaytee Original Pellets to the parent’s diet so that the transition to the Kaytee Exact Formula is better for the babies. There is no proof suggesting this is any better than not doing it but am sure it helps and all the better if it does! Not just a straight, quick change to the formula. This formula is fed straight through until Fully Weaned.

Once the babies are starting to be more active and learning to perch, and peck at seed on the ground they are usually fully feathered by now I will introduce their baby mash food which consists again of Brown Rice, blended vegetables, fruit, millet, and Kaytee Original Pellets (again) for them. I will slowly introduce seed. They will move up to their first small cage still with their stuffed soft teddy's. The Love these!!! Sill provided a large low perch, ladders with a few dishes low a bit later on as they feed from the bottom for quite awhile. Some are quicker then others to learn but are usually all at the same pace. You have to teach them and show them how to use ladders and eat from dishes and play with their toys. Also provide small "cockatiel interactive toys". They would be bored and their little minds won't develop properly much like humans if not given anything to play with and to stimulate their minds..they are Very smart little birds! After all they are Parrots. This will continue on as they start to fly. (fledge) As they learn to eat from the dishes and have no problems getting around the smaller cage they will be moved up to the next larger cage, in our case it is the Baby Bin! where they have Lots more room to play, have tons of bigger more stimulating interactive toys, ladders, swings and can even fly around a bit. At this point they have access to food in dishes, usually stainless steel is the best! Their seed, pellets ( a variety), fresh water of course, their rice bean and veggy mixture are placed in grown up birdie dishes and will introduce more pellets with the Cuttle Bone, Mineral block etc. You would be surprised at how early of an age they start to really go to town on the Cuttle Bone and mineral block! They need these as they are caged birds and do not get the minerals that they would normally in the wild. All this with of course cutting back on every 4 hours of formula, which by now hopefully, they are now just about finished with by the age of 2 months.They will let you know when they are tired of it with a little help from the Formula Mommy of course. I think they soon forget and start to refuse the formula with all this great food around! Let them do it at their own pace but they do need a little bit help because you sure don't want to be hand feeding at the age of 4 or 6 months old! lol Never force wean a baby though. This is not a healthy practice and does emotional not to mention pysically not healthy for them. It is a stressful time for them to place too much pressure on what you think they should be doing if they are forced weaned, if not kill them! Not a good thing to do at all. You want to keep it as less stressful as possible for them. After all they are still very much little babies even at the age of 3 months. Just because a baby is weaned it doesn't mean the bird is all grown up. Not at all! A Cockatiel does not reach their full maturity until the age of years when they reach full growth both mentally and physically.

I hope this gives you an idea of how my babies and Parents are fed and looked after!

**This is Very important for you to know if you would like to take any of my babies home. It is imperative that certain instructions are followed for the babies Health after they leave here. Taking a baby tiel into your home is a big commitment and is not to be taken lightly**

If you want the best! You have to give your Birdies the Best of Everything. And that also includes lots of kisses and cuddles!

Love & Enjoy your Birdies and give them the Very Best of Everything!

Nest Mommy Wendy,

Cockatiel Mountain

I Really have to give Sandy a Big Thumbs on how She and Des has brought up their 2 little tiels even though they have never owned a tiel in their lifetime! Thumbs up to you Sandy and lots more of my baby's new owners, Good job & thank you so much! I am so proud of you. Sandy has followed my diet to a tee and asked questions. You have to learn just as we all have had to learn at some point and that includes me too! Still learning and will for the rest of my life. Hats off to you girl and everyone that has left here with a baby. Kisses to your little Big guy & gal!!

Thank you Everyone for being such good new mommies and Daddys'!

Isn't this just too cute!

Just follow instructions of their diet and everything will be fine.

Thank you Sandy & Des for sharing your pics and stories with me and us!

Wendy

http:/cockatielmountain.com

 

p.s. Don't forget to give them plenty of fun Toys to play with too! There are many little things that Tiels will spend hours having fun with without spending a lot of money on..another fun thing is making them yourself! Tiels also Love to be involved in your making them...they are Very, very smart creatures.

  They also need Lots of Patience, Love and Playtime. A little love and spending time with a baby or 2 can make the We sure Love this Game and this nice soft Doggie!         biggest difference in the world! Have Fun!     

                 Never buy an Un-weaned Baby!                          

Thanks and I hope this helps you understand how much work, time & effort I put into all of my babies & the Parent tiels. Of course the babies and parents both work very hard too! If taken care of, fed properly & loved very much your new baby can and will live to be over 30 years of age! It is very, very possible & probable! Please have fun with your new little/big baby cockatiel! Your friend for life. Never yell at a cockatiel either, they will never ever forget. Cockatiels have a very long and good memory besides that is not very nice at all to yell at a little birdie or a big birdie!

Hope you enjoyed this page.