Quick-Care-Guide for Country Born Feathered Friends' Babies:

Nutrition:

Please keep me on a healthy pellet diet.  I was raised on ZuPreem Pellets and these are the pellet food I am used to.  Pellets are balanced well for both nutrition and digestion.  Seed is also a great alternative and are not all bad for me if you choose to switch me to seed for whatever reason.  Seeds can make a good treat, but please do not feed me any seed developed for outside birds!!! This is very important because outside bird food has preservatives and other additives sprayed on them to keep them somewhat weather resistant...it would be best for me not to have these in my system!

I also enjoy many fresh foods which are really good for me as well!  These include sprouted bird seed, chopped apples, carrots, sweat potato, greens, and many other things.  Check the internet or contact Country Born Feathered Friends if you question whether a certain food type is good for me to have or not.  Please do not let it hurt your feelings if I don't get excited for these fresh foods right away.  If I am not used to having them on a somewhat regular basis, it may take me a bit to get used to them and learn to love them!  Be sure to put these in a separate dish from my regular diet and remove them from my cage when I am done with them or before they spoil.

Fresh water is also very essential to my health; please make sure I have a source of clean water at all times.  Also, don't forget about cuttlebone and millet!  Millet is a great little snack that is good for me and helps keep me busy.  Cuttlebone is important for different minerals and also my digestion.

Cage:

Please at least give me a cage with enough room to stretch my wings all the way and run around a bit.  Cage size is somewhat debatable, but exercise is very important for my health.  If I don't get out of my cage at least once a day for a few hours, please provide me with a larger cage to get my needed exercise!

Toys are also important to keep me entertained.  Please rotate these and replace them as needed so that I don't get bored.  These will help me to exercise and keep me busy.

Home Safety:

When I am playing around the house, there are a few things I need you to remember to keep me safe!  Please keep an eye on me.  I can be very curious and love to get into trouble, but I don't know how to keep myself safe.  (Be gentile about how you introduce me to new things around the house including noisy things like the vacuum, other pets, and new people: watch my body language to judge my comfort level.)

1. Open water: This can be a huge danger to me.  This includes glasses of water, vases, fish aquariums, and even the toilet!  If I fall in and can't get myself out, I will drown!  Please keep these things out of my way or closed tightly when I am out and about.

2. Electrical cords: Keep an eye on me if I'm playing on the floor or near any electrical appliances including computer cords.  These things may be appealing to me to chew on but are very very dangerous!

3. Plants: Some plans that you may keep around our house could be toxic to me!  Please do some research and find out if the plants sharing our living space will be safe for me to be around.  If they aren't, please keep a close eye on me if I am in the same room with them or try to keep them out of my reach!



 

I am in no way saying that this is all you need to know about taking care of a cockatiel or all you may need to know to be successful as a cockatiel parent, but these are some important and common things that I would like people to keep in mind for the health and safety of their new companion.