Much loved African Grey hen, lost 8 May in the Delaney's Creek / D'Aguilar area in Queensland, Australia.

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WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY TRICIA BELCHER

I have kept and bred the Cockatiel Nymphicus hollandicus for over 20 years—and have handraised probably thousands of these wonderful little parrots. In my experience, Cockatiels usually mate for life, forming a very strong bond with their ‘mate’, be it another bird or a human member of the household. ‘Mating for life’ means just that—‘for the life of the mate’.

Separation

If a Cockatiel is separated from its mate, eg if it escapes and flies away, the remaining partner may pine for its mate for the rest of its life. Initially, to my regret, I did not understand this extraordinary bond between a pair of Cockatiels.

As an example, Cheeky, a Pied pet hen of mine bonded and mated at an early age with a beautiful young Pied male. Unfortunately, Cheeky always laid infertile eggs. After a veterinarian test confirmed that the male was infertile I gave him away, not realising the consequences. Poor Cheeky has pined for his return for over 20 years now, never taking another mate and ignoring the flirtations of other suitors.

I have found this to be a common result of separation. How do you explain to a Cockatiel that its mate is never going to return, if it has flown away, for example? A male will scream out in distress at being separated from his mate—this behaviour sometimes continuing for days. A hen, however, will usually sit quietly waiting for her mate to return. They will hopefully accept that their ‘mate’ may never return.

Cockatiels are more likely to adjust to changing circumstances if they become accustomed to it when they are young.

Three’s not a Crowd!

Cockatiels will also form a ménage à trois. Some males will happily co-habit with two hens, the two girls usually sharing the same nestbox and rearing the babies together. They also preen each other without any signs of jealousy.

I have rarely seen an unfaithful female, but the male will sometimes mate with a spare female in the aviary while the ‘wife’ is in the nextbox! Very naughty.

The ‘Playboy’ Cockatiel

Sexy boy, one of our pet Cockatiels, has certainly lived up to his name! He had at least six ‘henfriends’ at last count and none of the females were jealous of the others. He has even tried to add our Sulphur-crested Cockatoo to his ‘harem’. Every chance he gets he tries to woo her through the bars of her cage with his best performances. She seems very impressed, dancing and calling him. Because of the size difference, I don’t think that the ‘friendship’ will go any further—a cockatoo could easily kill a Cockatiel with one bite.

Despite Sexy Boy’s ‘playboy’ image, he has formed a strong bond with his ‘human’ flock, particularly with my husband. Sexy Boy loves to sit on my husband’s shoulder singing, whistling various tunes and talking.

Human ‘Flock’ Bonds

It is very important for the owners of pet Cockatiels to understand to understand the strength of this bond as most pet Cockatiels will form a relationship with one particular member of the household—with no preference for a particular gender. It is advisable for the person who really wants the Cockatiel to be their pet to handle it the most during the first few months in its new home, so that the bird can focus on this person. The ‘human’ flock needs to accept that in all probability the bird will bond with just this person and may become aggressive towards other members of the household.

Cockatiel females will usually accept being handled by a number of people but males can be territorial, becoming very protective of its ‘human mate’. For this reason females are more suitable as companion pets. They are usually much more affectionate and loving and will allow you to scratch and cuddle them for hours  and sit contentedly on your shoulder. Males do not usually crave this affection. However, they can be much more entertaining and usually talk a lot more.

One or Two Birds?

For people who are not at home during the day, I highly recommend that you have two Cockatiels. A single Cockatiel will fret being left alone—a totally intolerable situation for such a gregarious species. The best choice is two of the same sex. This way they will not become totally bonded to each other and both should interact more with their ‘human’ flock.

About 30 pet Cockatiels share our house. Although some are paired with the opposite sex they also have a bond with us. However, some of the ‘girls’ that are particularly bonded to us are kept separated from the ‘boys’ most of the time.

Special Bonds

My husband has a special bond with his ‘girls’—Danielle, Happy and Sally Ann. I believe that Danielle has ESP! She starts a mad callout a few minutes before he gets home—no matter wfemale it is—although she cannot possibly hear or see his car. She doesn’t stop until he walks through the door!

My girls Candice, Angelina and Brandy Ann (amongst others) are particularly bonded to me. They ‘tolerate’ my husband wfemale I am not around but will immediately ‘desert ship’ if I appear. They sit where they can on me, bickering over who will get the favourite spot pressed up under my chin hoping for a scratch.

Conclusion

By Debra Clutterbuck 

A few years ago I encountered a bit of trouble when I lost a hen Hooded Parrot from a long established pair. There was no question of selling the cock – his ‘sire’ was bred by Steve Climpson and his ‘dam’ was a hen bred by Sandy Stewart.
After three years I found my fellow a new mate. In 2006, a big colourful hen approximately 20 months of age took an immediate shine to him. But that is where the problems started.

In March 2007, they went to nest and the hen hatched three young, but wouldn’t feed them. She did the same with her second clutch. The breeder I had bought her from told me she was not parent reared, but because Hooded Parrots are so hard to find, I wanted her anyway. I wondered what to do? I did not want to hand rear the Hooded so I did nothing.


Hooded Parrot family

In March 2008 she went down on the eggs, hatched them and let them die. It was so frustrating—even the cock was unimpressed by the hen’s lack of parenting. She laid again that season and two of the three chicks died, but one was fed diligently. I know it was the hen, not the cock, feeding this chick as I never saw the cock enter the nesting log until 10 days after hatching.

After four and a half weeks I caught the chick peering out of the log. Success! I couldn’t wait to ring the hen’s breeder and tell him the good news. Worried it was a fluke, I needed the hen to raise young the following season to prove she was a good mum.
In March 2009, two fertile eggs hatched and the hatchlings were given plenty of food from day one. The second chick fledged on May 5. Both are alert, perfectly healthy and quiet like their dad.

So it seems it was no fluke. But why did it take so long for this hen’s maternal instincts to kick in? After much thought, my short answer is that, like us, birds are individuals. They are not machines and we should be patient and give them some chances before we label them ‘problem’ birds. I gave my hen time and she is proving to be a fantastic mum - still following her chicks around six weeks after fledging and still trying to feed them! 

I wonder if her breeder gave her parents enough chances to come good over a few seasons, or if he just pulled the chicks after their first breeding season? Was their diet appropriate? Were there any disturbances (such as possums, cats, owls or the wind) at the wrong time?
A recent article in Australian BirdKeeper Magazine concerned the nutritional requirements of chicks, from newly hatched to those near fledging. Their diets varied greatly. I think many ‘problem’ parents are not getting what they need from their keepers when trying to raise their chicks. Are you guilty of expecting parrot parents to rear healthy chicks on a light diet?
My advice when faced with a ‘problem’ breeder is to grit your teeth and be patient. Give your birds a few chances to get it right and talk to others about your problems.

Problem or hand reared birds often bounce from owner to owner for many years before being relegated to an old run down aviary down the back of a yard with the other rejects! This is a bad situation, so hang in there. This could be happening in the wild also—we just don’t know.

Acknowledgements
Once again I thank Barry Whelan, Sandy Stewart and Steve Climpson for introducing me to the Hooded Parrots all those years ago and being willing to share their knowledge; these birds can be a challenge but, boy, are they worth it.


Family of Hooded Parrots

Deborah Monks

Deborah Monks from Brisbane Bird and Exotics Veterinary Service will be regularly posting to this blog now. She’ll be giving us some insight into the interesting cases and controversies she sees in her line of work.

During a residency in England, she was privy to a particularly amazing operation on a five-year-old White Cockatoo named Poppy. She had been playing with a thumbtack around three hours prior to Deb meeting her, and her owners had feared she had swallowed it. The local veterinarian had taken x-rays and confirmed the thumbtack was inside Poppy.

Here Deb describes what their next move was:

‘We anaesthetised Poppy, placed a tube into her windpipe, and began the laborious process to try to retrieve the thumbtack. Frustratingly, we could see it with an endoscope (a camera telescope) placed through her mouth and into her stomach, but we couldn’t grab it with any of our forceps. After a long time trying, we had to go to abdominal surgery to retrieve the thumbtack. To get access to the proventriculus (first stomach), we had to cut through the abdomen and two ribs.
‘As often the case, Poppy stopped breathing during this procedure and needed manual breathing given to her by the nurse assisting the procedure. We then had to cut into her proventriculus, and reach into her ventriculus (gizzard) to retrieve the thumbtack.  Then, we had to close it all up again. It was quite a relief to finally have the offending item in hand when we had finished –the entire procedure had taken 2.5 hours!’
Poppy recovered very well. Deb writes that the case highlights just how inquisitive birds are and how much they can sometimes lack common sense.
‘In the past year I’ve seen birds rip holes in their skin getting caught on sharp points, break wings and legs getting caught in toys, swallow cotton fibres that cause blockages in the gut and even get garlic poisoning from bathing in a saucepan used for sauce the night before.
‘So, keep your birds safe and don’t trust them to recognize hazard when they see it – that’s your job!’ said Deb.
Deb’s next post will cover wing trimming.