I’m going to buy baby cockatiel in two days. They are about a month old. I’ll buy them from a breeder. Any advice on how to take care of them. I have got their nest box and cage ready. Any advice on how to take care of them?
Hi Jaweria,
If you have never hand fed cockatiel chicks before, then I would not recommend that you take a one month old chick to hand feed. To begin with, you do not need a cage yet. When you say you have a nest box, do you mean a wooden box where the adults lay their eggs? If so, you don’t need this, either, and I will explain more below.
What you do need is a brooder – this can be a clear plastic box with a vented lid or an aquarium. You also need a heat source, because at a month old, the chick isn’t old enough to maintain his body temperature. The brooder needs to be kept at a constant, ideal temperature which changes as the chick gets older. At 4 weeks, it probably needs to be kept somewhere between 85-99 degrees F. So you need a thermostat and heat from above such as lights or a heating pad. You also need a good hand feeding formula designed for pet birds, and the tools to feed the chick, such as a syringe. The formula has to be mixed for each feeding and any extra must be thrown out. You should never re-heat the formula. It must be fed at the right temperature and consistency. If it is too hot, it can burn the chick’s crop which will kill him. If it is too cool the chick can’t digest the food and it can get a sour or impacted crop – both of which can kill him. If the formula is too thin, he can get it in his lungs which again is usually fatal and if it is too thick, it won’t digest properly. Yeast and bacterial infections are very common with handfeeding chicks, so you have to disinfect everything, and be able to take him to an avian vet at any signs of illness. If he stops eating, then something is wrong. You should never try to force feed a chick. Cockatiel chicks can be very fragile and difficult to hand feed successfully. Even the most experienced breeder can lose a handfeeding chick with no warning. It’s actually illegal in many States in the US to sell un-weaned chicks of any species. I would strongly advise you to put a deposit on the chick so the breeder will hold him for you, and not pick him up until he is weaned.
Going back to the nest box, only adult breeding birds need a nest. They only use it during breeding season and then you take it down once the chicks have left the box. If you are wanting to breed your chick eventually, he will not need a nest box until he is old enough to breed and has a mate – so this would be two years. You can’t give a young bird a nest box or it can try to breed when it is too young. For breeding, a male cockatiel needs to be a minimum of 18 months old and the female needs to be at least 2 years old. Once you pair birds for breeding, they will not be pets anymore.
If the breeder is a reputable breeder, then they should have no problem with keeping the chick until it is weaned. You will have to pay a little more, but it will cost less to do that than what it will cost to buy all of the supplies you need to hand feed a chick. And you will know the chick will be healthy and survive if you let the expert hand feed it. The bird will be just as tame either way as long as the breeder knows what they are doing.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
