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Hello. I am a long time owner of Cockatiels. Currently I only have 2. I have a 7 yr old female (Petie) and a 8 mo male (Pipsqueak). I am wanting to start breeding, but I have no clue where or who to talk to about breeding. I am looking for general information. Petie has never been around other cockatiels, and Pip was raised and handfed with several other tiels. I have read that you shouldnt pair males and females that are more than a year or two apart. I have also read that you can pair them when they are several years apart, but not to do so till the youngest one is at least 1 to 2 yrs old. Right now I am not sure what is correct. Anyone that can offer some advise or knowledge it would be appreciated greatly.

Your male is way too young to breed and be a good parent. At 8 months old, he is a teenager, just through puberty. Wait a few more years before deciding to breed him. At that point, your hen may or may not be fertile. I've heard that you shouldn't breed a hen after 8 or so years old.

If you are really wanting to breed, I would purchase a hen to pair with him for that purpose. Make sure you get a hen that is from good stock, otherwise you will end up with tiels that aren't quite what people want. Look for coloring, uniform markings, and a full crest. Look for one that is parent raised as well, that came from parents that did not pluck.

I don't actively promote breeding of tiels however. Here is my $0.02, fair warning, this may seem offensive to you. However, after years of trying to help people on here who ended up with too many tiels, plucking parents, sick chicks, and even dead chicks, I feel it is warranted.



Warning: this line of questioning may seem offensive, but if you are not ready to answer these questions honestly to yourself, you are not ready to breed in my opinion. Keep in mind, this is coming from someone who has had a 20 year love affair with cockatiel owning/breeding and all it encompasses. Two of my current flock are rescues/re-homes from horrible situations.

One, Ash, came from a home where the people got "free" bird and didn't care for it. He is the last one of four birds from this house, the others didn't make it. He was starved, some would say tortured, had a broken foot that could no longer be repaired, and has trust issues with humans because of the abuse and neglect he suffered at their hands.
First, why do you want to breed? Do you have top notch birds or are they pet store quality? Are you aware that there are hundreds of unwanted cockatiels and budgies out there that are in shelters and rescues because they can't find homes?

Are your birds on a proper diet? Cockatiels can not all seeds, but not all pellets either. They need a constant supply of fresh healthy foods as well, which needs to be removed after 1-2 hours to prevent bacterial growth.

If you are wanting to breed budgies, did you know that they do better without pellets? A pelleted diet has too high of a protein content for their little bodies.

Also, if you are breeding budgies in the state of California, Colorado, and Connecticut, did you know that they must have a traceable state registered closed band on in order to be sold, traded or bartered legally in the state?1 2 This makes many of the budgies that are sold in small pet stores illegal. What will you do with 5+ chicks that you can never legally sell?

Next, are you aware that you need to wait until the birds are at least 2 years old before they should breed? What will you do if the hen is egg bound? What will you do if they refuse to feed? Can you spend 4-10 weeks hand feeding the chicks around the clock?

Do you know the signs of crop burn, other crop problems like slow or sour crop?

Do you have an emergency avian vet you can go to in any emergency with the chicks? What will you do if they get an infection or aspirate the formula? What if they don't wean on time? You cannot force wean a bird and expect it to be healthy.

What will you do with the chicks when they are grown? They don't sell for much, so you won't make money breeding them.

Not all breeders are wild, but they won't be cuddle bugs either. They will be bonded to each other, not you.

What will you do if one or both parent birds pluck the chicks? Not only does this make the chicks look ugly, but it causes them to use needed caloric energy growing feathers a second or even a third time instead of growing. This could stunt their growth permanently. At this point, you will need to pull the chicks and handfeed, even if you didn't plan on it in the beginning.

Last but not least, what will you do if your hen becomes a chronic egg layer? Constantly laying and depleting her system of needed nutrients? Are you willing to do what it takes to get her healthy and keep her that way, even if you can never breed her again?


1. Information on banding gained from Winged Wisdom Magazine 11/06
http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww5eiii.htm

2. History Of The Leg Band Originally used to trace the movements of wild birds, leg bands today are used to identify a pet bird’s origins By richard Schroeder

Yeah I would personally not be breeding with the 7 year old hen anymore.
Over here some of the breeders I have spoken to have said they won't breed their hens after they reach the age of 5, also to ensure the chicks are a good size and not undersized.

Breeding your birds can and will be stressful for you, you need to be home during the day to top up their food, I normally feed the parents 3 times a day when they chicks are still little.
Things can go wrong, chicks can die, the parents might abandon the nest, they might not feed them properly, they might pluck, all the things Christie said.......
I nearly got caugh out this year with my hen not feeding the babies for a good day after they fledged, not sure why, she seemed to be in la-la land as she just kept flying around and staring into space when she was perched
Her mate had attacked the babies when they were 2 weeks old and he had been removed for that reason but luckily had been put back that day and he ended up feeding the chicks.
Mum went back to normal the next day though and has been feeding them fine but all of this has made me decide that I won't breed with them again, there is no reason in my opinion why they can't live "happily ever after" without breeding.
I also realised I should have been more prepared to intervene if it had been necessary (to handfeed I mean) as last year the parents did an ace job but this year obviously something changed
I have another pair with an older hen, she is about 2 1/2 to 3 years old, her mate is only young, just turned 1.
I was not going to breed them till next year but she was very very clucky and a few people said they should be okay.
Now he has indeed been fine, great in fact, but they only ended up with 1 fertile egg out of 6, I am assuming it's because he was too young
Next time I WILL trust my instincts
When I got my first tiel, I never had any intention to breed, I do enjoy my new "hobby" though but yeah, it is a hobby, there is no money to be made from tiels
So not being able to breed my birds, would not be a huge issue to me
I just enjoy having a few aviaries in my garden with a bunch of noisy birds
I only allow my pairs to have 1 clutch a year, it is hard on them, they do look worn especially if it's a larger clutch. Good luck though, whatever you decide to do

Thank you all for soo much information, and so quickly. I have searched the internet for so many hours to find very little on breeding. I have found alot of information about the origin, diet, breeding habits, and behavior. I was told of this forum by a friend and shop owner who has a few tiels. I will look into getting Pip a mate more towards his age, hopefully I can find another bird with the temperment and coloring as Petie has. Again Thank you all for the information.

I'm glad that you found us helpful! Feel free to stick around the forum as well. I came here back in 1999 or 1998 when I wanted to breed my pair of tiels. After several unsucessful tries by that pair, Ash, the rescue managed to fertilize one egg. I found that my hen was abusive to chicks, and I have been actively keeping them from breeding since. She has only laid 1 egg since then.

I would check in your area for breeders, that way you can choose the bird that works best for you, and one that you like the coloring of. A good breeder will also help you DNA test a young chick to tell if it is male or female before you bring it home.

Christie's post is right on the money.
I too wanted to breed tiels. I kept two babies and gave two to a bird shop. One (of 5 babies)was deformed and had to put down. Unfortunately I had to learn that lesson the hard way. I also ended up having to hand feed my babies since the parent tore at the babies. It is stressful, exhausting, nerve-wracking and extremely time consuming.
Yes, it is so joyful to see thoughs beautiful little babies. Most of my birds are rescues. As much as I love the babies I know there are enough unwanted tiels in need of homes.
I see nothing wrong with breeding tiels but just as Christie suggested just do your research. google: cockatiel cottage and cockatiel castle for info on babies.
Best wishes either way