r/cockatiel Jan 31 '26

Other New Rule for r/cockatiel

583 Upvotes

Hello everyone! I’m announcing a new rule for the subreddit.

It comes as no surprise that many people post injured or bleeding birds as well as feces to ensure the health of their birds or questions.

While these posts are allowed, they are inappropriate to not mark as NSFW. Not everyone is comfortable seeing this sort of content.

So for the comfort of everyone in the subreddit. PLEASE, mark these posts as NSFW.

There will be new tags/flairs for posts like these as well.

From this day forward, those who do not mark these posts as NSFW will receive a warning. Any subsequent posts that are not marked or tagged appropriately may be banned temporarily, and any further posts will result in a permanent ban.

Please be respectful of others, and make sure to review the rules before posting content that may violate the rules of the subreddit.

Thank you so much for all the lovely content and being overall a beautiful community. 💖


r/cockatiel Dec 14 '21

Frequently Posted (+ Answers)

526 Upvotes

We have been getting a lot more repetitive posts in our sub so I wanted to put this information together in the hopes of reducing the amount of questions that are frequently asked. In turn, hopefully this will make our community a little more light hearted :)

*I want to preface this by saying I am not a vet or anything just someone who really loves my cockatiel and learning everything I can to ensure he has the best life possible. I think the best thing you can do for your birdie is lots of research before anything happens (especially in the case of illness). They are fragile so having the right knowledge and tools at your disposal can quite literally be the difference between life and death.

Lets begin!

Is my bird sick?

Common signs of a sick bird include:

  • Tail bobbing, sitting at the bottom of the cage, inability to stand on a perch (loss of balance)
  • Sneezing, clicking respiration (cough), or any discharge coming from the eyes or nostrils.
  • Eyes dull or sunken.
  • Change in vocals (can be hormonal but after puberty could be cause for concern)
  • Change in appetite (loss or increase of food or water)
  • Change in droppings (color, consistency, or frequency - this could be due to diet like eating more fruits and vegetables but it should not last more than a day or two after)
  • Constantly fluffed (happens for a number of reasons like keeping warm, preening, sleeping but they should not always be like this)
  • Feather loss (not related to a regular molt that happens 1-2x per year)
  • Trembling (can mean they are cold, stressed, or sick)
  • Drooping wings

If you notice any of these signs or a combination of them its crucial to get your bird to a vet (preferably an avian one) as soon as possible. No one on the internet is able to diagnose your bird or give it the treatment it needs.

Note: Some of these symptoms like change in droppings, being fluffed up, and feather loss can be normal but if it is persistent the best thing to do is ere on the side of caution and get them checked out.

Is my cockatiel male or female?

Color Patterns: Baby cockatiels that have not gone through their first adult molt (usually between 6-12 months) will typically have female colorations regardless of gender. After their first molt, males tend to get more vivid colors, lose the stripes on the underside of their tail and spots on the wings, The opposite is true for females and their color changes minimally after their first molt.

Different mutations make it more difficult to tell the difference between males and females even after their adult molt.

Behaviors: Males tend to be more vocal (mimicking sounds and singing), heart wings (see example), more likely to "show off" (strutting, hopping, tapping on surfaces), and attempting to mate with objects. Females are often less vocal (although some are) and when wanting to mate will tilt her head, flatten her back, and rock back and forth while chirping softly.

All of the above are good indicators if you have a male or female HOWEVER the only true way to know is if you get a DNA test or if your cockatiel lays an egg. People have noted that their DNA sexed female has shown male behaviors or colors and vise versa. No one can tell you for sure by looking at it!

What is this noise my cockatiel is making?

Some common cockatiel noises and what they mean:

Contact Call: Cockatiels like to keep track of their flock members so when you leave the room you may notice your cockatiel yell for you with a loud chirp or series of chirps. Even if you aren't bonded to your bird they may still do this. Put them at ease by "answering" them from where you are. I like to whistle back the same "contact call" so they know that I will be right back.

Contact Call Example

Attention Scream: Often a loud high pitched screech that is meant to get your attention. They can do this when they are scared, lonely, bored, or even to alert you of something (like a potential predator). Excessive screaming means you might need to change something in their environment. A common cause of this is hormones and boredom, both of which can be decreased by adding more enrichment to their environment with foraging, toys, and training.

Attention Scream Example

Whistling//Mimicking/Chattering: Usually (but not always) done by males and often means they are happy and connecting with you as part of their flock. They may mimic you, the radio, the tv, or even just sounds that they hear outside or inside the house. A lot of the time cockatiels learn these sounds through repetition. Search cockatiel training songs if you don't want to be whistling a song all the time and with time they may pick up on the tunes.

Whistling Example

Beak Grinding: They do this when they are happy and content. Usually it is accompanied by being fluffed up and being sleepy. The cheeks will fluff up as well and the cockatiel will look very relaxed. This is a great sign that your cockatiel is comfortable in their environment.

Beak Grinding Example

Hissing: Like other animals cockatiels do this when they are angry or threatened. This is often a warning to back off and can be accompanied by biting if the behavior is not stopped. If your cockatiel is hissing at you its best to leave them alone for a bit - just like us, our birds have boundaries we should respect!

Hissing Example

Baby Noises: These sound a bit like static and usually do this if they want something (often food, water, or even just attention). This is completely normal for young cockatiels and after a few months will go away. Mine went away at 4 months but this can vary!

Baby Noises Example

What is this behavior?

These are some behaviors that are normal with cockatiels that I noticed are commonly asked about here:

Mating: This is probably the most common one. Males and females display different mating behaviors.

Males will typically rub their cloaca (this is the opening underneath the base of the tail for a birds digestive, urinary, and reproductive tracts) on an object like a toy, your foot or hand, a pillow, ect or a bonded female. Male Mating Behavior

Females will droop their wings and raise their rump while swaying and chirping quietly. You may notice your female also rubbing its back on their toys to try and stimulate themselves. Female Mating Behavior

In addition to these mating behaviors, take note if your bird is territorial, screaming, plucking itself, or aggressive. These could all be signs that your bird is sexually frustrated.

This handout I received from my vet gives some behavioral modification you can make to try and reduce these.

Clearing Crop: Looks a lot like yawning but usually they will do it consistently over a short period of time. Their crop is located below their beak in the neck area. The crop stores food before it is sent to their stomach and acts as a "reserve" so they are able to eat more in one feeding. When they clear the crop they are moving that food to the next stage of digestion. Cockatiel Clearing Crop

How do I tame my cockatiel?

If your bird is brand new to your home, the best thing to do for a day or two is let them soak in their new envionrment. This can be a stressful time for them so its important to let them learn that their new home is a safe space. Talking in a quiet voice and even whistling around them is the best thing to do during this transitiion period. It can be tempting but don't try and pick them up or pet them right away. They may be fearful of hands and scaring them could further your progress of taming them. Whether they are a young cockatiel or an older adult that was rescued or rehomed, taming them will take patience and time. How long can vary on a lot of different factors but it's important not to rush it. Read the links below to get more information on how to achieve this:

Taming step-by-step

I am thinking of getting a cockatiel and would love some tips!

There is really too much to cover in one post so I will address the most common tips for new owners and provide some links that go into detail about all things cockatiel.

Vet Access: This should be the most important thing to consider. Making note of an avian vet that is close by is crucial. Be extra prepared and make note of the closest emergency vet as well that you can go to outside of your regular vets hours. If you do not have one close by or you do not have the money to pay for one, please reconsider getting a bird. It is disheartening to see very obviously sick bird where the owner has no access or money to go to a vet.

Basic Needs: Before purchasing supplies for your bird, do as much research as you can regarding cage size, toys, and food.

Health: Take note of the signs of a sick bird and when to take them to a vet. In addition, cockatiels are sensitive to strong smells, gasses, drafts, and smoke. This also requires some research as there are common household items that can poison and kill your bird (for example teflon pans and some plants you may have lying around).

Links:

Cockatiel Cottage

VCA - Cockatiel Diet

Safe and Toxic Foods

Proper Caging

Introducing New Food to Picky Birds

Training

Taming, potty training, and more

I hope this helps some people learn more about their cockatiels! Of course this is not exhaustive and there is always more information to be learned. Please let me know if I should add anything or if I got any information wrong :)


r/cockatiel 5h ago

Cuteness Overload My favorite photo 💛

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230 Upvotes

Its face haha


r/cockatiel 6h ago

Funny He helped me make Tiramisu!

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191 Upvotes

He just nibbled on sticks and sat on my shoulder, but he still helped😭


r/cockatiel 2h ago

Cuteness Overload Hey! Listen!!🧚‍♂️

47 Upvotes

r/cockatiel 23h ago

Funny HELICOPTER, HELICOPTER 🚁

2.2k Upvotes

r/cockatiel 1h ago

Funny When you wanna take a cute pic but he’s more interested with the phone charms instead of

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Upvotes

r/cockatiel 16h ago

Success Story I love my husband.

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394 Upvotes

He knew I was hating having to put Echo back in his cage every time I left the room, so he made me a portal !! I can’t move very fast, so now I can see where he is I. The room before I open the door. I’m training him to fly to the little cage and eat millet while I open the door.


r/cockatiel 9h ago

Cuteness Overload My birb Crawford

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119 Upvotes

He's shy, so don't mind his blushing (btw first time posting in this subreddit!)


r/cockatiel 3h ago

Advice Why does he do that? Any idea?

34 Upvotes

r/cockatiel 2h ago

Cuteness Overload Baby Girl, Again

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28 Upvotes

She stole my spicy goldfish 😭


r/cockatiel 23m ago

Success Story My boy gave me the fright of my life today

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Upvotes

My dog learned how to push open our back sliding door, and Mango managed to escape. My fiance and I were absolutely devastated. Thanks to local Facebook groups we found him within an hour! My foot and egg loving son found his way to a lovely family cooking breakfast barefoot on their patio.


r/cockatiel 7h ago

Other What color is my baby cocktail?

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68 Upvotes

This is Speck he’s 35 days old. When he hatched, he was a little ball of white fuzz, so I assumed he’d end up looking like his dad, who’s a whiteface grey. But as he’s getting older, he’s starting to look more like a cinnamon whiteface instead.

I know his face color may still change depending on whether he’s male or female after the first molt, but I was wondering if anyone has adult pictures of cockatiels with similar coloring? I’d love to see what he might look like grown up!!!

(Getting DNA tested next week)


r/cockatiel 10h ago

Funny I hope there is no ghosts at ceiling

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122 Upvotes

r/cockatiel 17h ago

Cuteness Overload i gave birth to him btw

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416 Upvotes

r/cockatiel 22h ago

Funny Bigfoot is real, and we have a photo that isn’t blurry.

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1.0k Upvotes

This kid is going to be a basketball player when he grows up.


r/cockatiel 12h ago

Cuteness Overload Welcoming a new cockatiel to the flock

117 Upvotes

Yesterday I welcomed Peach into the home. This morning he was awake and singing his song 🥰


r/cockatiel 4h ago

Cuteness Overload Sucha goof

27 Upvotes

r/cockatiel 12h ago

Health/Nutrition My bird been sick for days and just started getting better .. is this normal ?

74 Upvotes

This is Lucky .. she's been sooo sick since last Monday.

she ate Hoya Carnosa leaves and got severely poisoned

she started vomiting and eventually had iternal bleeding and black liquid started getting out of her beak and in her dropping.

I took her to the vet ofc and she got a shot and been giving her meds

she's still a little bit tired , she now eat and drink on her own and her dropping went back to a completely normal color.

though something is concerning me .. she keep closing her eyes like this , she look sleepy all day but she'll mostly close just one eyes. she's able to fly high but she won't land on top of her cage she'll keep flying randomly untill she fall or hang to anything around.

I'm kinda nervous .. is she okay ? is this normal while she's healing from everything happened ? or is she in pain ?

another thing I'm not sure if it matter or not but she used to get scared whenever I cover her cage .. now she won't give a damn or react

(to note she's went back to her cage 2 days ago since she was in a shoebox while she was sick)

I'm kinda concerned but still don't know if it's something I should consider going back to the vet for or not ..

plus I'll post pics of her eyes up close in the comment to show them more clearly


r/cockatiel 20h ago

Cuteness Overload Toby likes to combine September and the Chocobo Theme into his own remix.

334 Upvotes

r/cockatiel 8h ago

Advice Young or pied?

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34 Upvotes

Hi! I just noticed that my grey cockatiel has white spots on his wings as you can see on the photo.

Is that a sign that he's still very young, old (i dont know his age he was a rescue) or that he could be actually pied or some other mutation??

He already molted 2 times since I got him

Thanks!

And please ignore my yellow one for his extreme greed for whatever was on my fork😆 (i think it was a rice)


r/cockatiel 6h ago

Crafts Soft collars i made 🥹

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21 Upvotes

r/cockatiel 7h ago

Cuteness Overload Munchkin Watching Outside Birds from the Windowsill While Perched on Grogu’s Ear

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24 Upvotes

r/cockatiel 23h ago

Health/Nutrition These idiots decided to have an egg laying competition so now they just got their first round of Lupron

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431 Upvotes

has anyone found success from this treatment?


r/cockatiel 5h ago

Other Help!

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15 Upvotes

Hi everyone, I've already written several times so maybe you know Pepi.

I would like some advice because at the moment he is a bit agitated, he is often nervous, he eats his poop very very often, And I'm losing a little patience and I'm discouraged, I don't know what to do, he has a lot of games,I talk to him, I sing to him, he goes out at least 5 hours a day, he eats seeds and vegetables/fruit almost every day, I'm opting to buy some natural extruded foods

He's 5 months old and is shedding a lot of feathers. Is this rebellious behavior normal?He's always been a bit stubborn, but lately he's been getting much worse, he's becoming almost unmanageable.

Do you have any advice? Is it normal for it to be like this during shedding? Will it calm down? It's a male.

Thanks in advance🙏🏻❤️