Both males and females make excellent pets, with the males being the ones who usually talk better and the females being the ones who are often more cuddly. Some people find that the male cockatiel makes a bit too much noise however, because they sometimes have a very loud song. They can also be excellent whistlers.
If you are getting a cockatiel for a pet and are trying to pick out a baby, you probably won’t know if you are getting a male or a female. Both sexes look the same until after the first moult in the normal grey birds and in the other colours, it is often difficult to tell even when they are adults. Generally, if the bird is quite vocal, chances are it might be a male.
With proper care and a good diet, cockatiels can and do live into their twenties. Please do not consider getting a cockatiel unless you are willing to care for him for his entire life. A good diet for a cockatiel would be very much the same as a good diet for the larger parrots (pellets/crumbles, seeds, vegetables, fruits).
The wild cockatiels in Australia are mostly the normal grey colour with the males having a yellow head and both male & female having the orange cheeks and the tall crest on top of their heads. Many colour variations have been bred in these beautiful birds that are readily available.
This is a picture of a normal grey colour male Cockatiel. Thanks to Maureen’s Flockintiels for the use of the photo.
Cockatiels are very social birds. They enjoy being with either other cockatiels (or other small birds as they are very easy to get along with) or spending time with their human. A tame bird should be out of his/her cage every day to spend with his flock. The cage should be large enough so he can flap his wings wildly without hitting anything and still have plenty of room for a variety of toys to occupy him.
Cockatiels are very fast flyers. Whether your bird's wings are clipped or not, you must be very careful to prevent your Cockatiel from escaping outdoors. This year, in my city an unusual number of cockatiels managed to fly out a door and were never found by their owners. There are many dangers in a city, from dogs & cats, to cars and even peregrine falcons. Possibly these birds were taken in by someone who did not feel the need to try to find the owner, but possibly these birds were killed. Unfortunately the owners may never know what happened.
After more than 20 years of Cockatiel ownership, I have decided to write an e-book about the care of these wonderful birds.
