Cages and Accessories for your Pet Cockatiel

Copyright © 1997 by Mary Beth Voelker
NCS Online Pet Consultant
All Rights Reserved

Copyright Notice & Disclaimer Statement

When it comes to caging the biggest one that you can afford and fit through your door is best. Tiels are medium sized birds and made for tiel cages usually have a moderately thick wire and a 5/8 -- 3/4 inch bar spacing. They can also be kept safely in big budgie cages - - the finer wire and smaller spacing doesn't cause any problems. Wider bar spacing can be a safety hazard though -- they can get their heads through, turn a little and find themselves caught with no idea how to get back out. Those pretty bamboo cages are both impossible to disinfect and easy for a parrot type bird to chew its way out of. If you are not fussy about appearance the plain, welded wire, block cages give you a lot of interior space for very little money -- they are admittedly drab, but you can get twice the size for the money (be sure to clean them with vinegar and water to get off excess zinc though or it could poison your bird). The prettier cages with the plastic coated bars are easier to clean and look better in the living room so these may be a better choice for many people.

Cockatiels are ground feeders in the wild and tend to spend lot of time on the cage floor so a wide cage is better than a tall one (you'd think birds were helicopters the way some cages are designed). The minimum room needed for any bird is enough width to spread the wings fully and move back and forth a little each way. For a Tiel this translates to at least 14 inches square. Yes, square is better than round; many birds like the security of having a corner to hide in. Those little round cages at Wal-Mart are good for travel, quarantine, or holding the bird while you clean the big cage but just aren't big enough for permanent housing. You should be able to put perches on 2 levels without the bird banging its crest or dragging its tail, that comes to at least 16 inches high. Because cockatiels spend a lot of time on the cage bottom the cage should definitely have a floor grate to keep them out of the droppings. This also helps keep the lighter colored ones from getting grubby tails -- lutinos, lutino-whitefaces, and light-tailed pieds do not mix well with newspaper ink. Personally, even a cage which is 14x14x16 is entirely too small unless your bird is going to be out of it's cage the majority of the time when it is awake.

I like to have 3 perching surfaces: a cement perch for nail trimming, a 3/4 inch dowel perch, and a natural branch perch (I use unsprayed maple from my yard with the bark still on. Most hard woods (not oak) and some fruitwoods such as apple branches (Cherry Trees are toxic) are safe. Before you use branches from any trees, check a list of toxic trees to be sure you are using safe wood (also, if they have been sprayed, this makes trees which are otherwise non-toxic, toxic). The resins in unmilled pine are toxic. Manzanita perches are sold in pet supply stores if you don't have access to unsprayed trees. Plastic perches are also available but be careful that your pet doesn't chew the plastic as their bodies can not digest plastic which can cause medical problems later. You can also purchase wire platforms, and special flat perches sold for your birds foot health. Some people like to add a piece of 2x4 as well. The reason for different perches is that a bird who always sits on the same perch in the same diameter will get sore/stiffening feet from the constant pressure especially if the perch is too thin.

There are a number of feeding dishes available in a wild variety of styles. Some cages come with their own special dishes. They rarely come with enough dishes. I like to have a dish for the pellets, a dish for the soft food, a dish for treats (seed), and another dish (or bottle), for water, AND a complete second set of dishes so that I can run the bird things through the dishwasher with the rest of my dishes rather than having to hand wash and immediately return them. I have found that a water bottle is terrific if your bird likes to make pellet soup, poop soup, or just prefers a small bathtub. I did not find the style of gravity feeder I tried useful. Pellets are lighter and less slippery than the seed it was designed to handle so they didn't feed properly.

You can figure the main food dish for a cockatiel needs to be at least large enough to hold about 1/4 cup of pellets/seeds with room left over at the top to prevent spillage. That is the amount an average cockatiel eats per day.

Two other important parts of your cage furniture are actually diet items -- cuttlebone and a mineral block. Be sure to allow space for these important supplements when you set up.

You may or may not need to allow space in your set up for a bath dish -- it depends on whether you give baths out of the cage, take the bird into the shower, spray the bird, etc. If you are going to provide a dish in the cage for bathes, you must plan on this when deciding on the cage size also.

You will also want to hang a couple toys. Provide some destructible (wood type) toys and some non-destructible toys (such as those made of acrylic). Keep a few extra toys on hand so you can rotate them with the ones in the cage to keep your bird stimulated and not bored with the same old toys.

Does your cage sound crowded? Before you buy a cage, visualize it not as the empty wire block in the store but with all its equipment set up. Is there still room for a bird to be comfortable (not banging into things every way it turns)?

Black and white (not colored), newspaper is the most common and one of the best cage tray materials and has several advantages. It is often on hand anyway, is fairly easy to change daily, and allows you to easily check the bird's stools and note changes that might indicate illness. But it is not very absorbent, often the size doesn't fit the tray without time consuming cutting and folding (you can now purchase paper especially cut to the size of most brands of caging) , you may not be a subscriber, your paper may use a lot of colored ink, and the ink may be staining your bird's tail feathers. Some people use white paper towels or purchase newspaper end rolls to eliminate the ink problem. Paper is probably the bedding of choice for humid areas where bird owners need to be extra careful of bacteria contamination. Paper is the medium least likely to support bacterial growth.

Pine shavings as bedding are absorbent, easy to dispose of by composting, can be scooped out like cat litter to prolong the period between complete changes, and have a pleasant, neutral odor. One problem with this type of bedding though is that it may grow bacteria and fungus and if all of the bedding is not changed daily it can cause your bird to end up with problems such as Aspergillosis which can kill your bird. Another problem with using shavings for bedding is the possibility of your bird ingesting some of the bedding which has the potential for causing crop impaction and death. Also, if your bird has access to the bedding and chews it, they are have more potential of ingesting harmful bacteria.

Do not use cedar shavings except in an outdoor aviary. The bug repellent in cedar fumes are harmful to the birds without a free and constant flow of fresh air.

Walnut bedding is a newer option which is particularly attractive and very scoopable. There is some concern that it may be toxic if ingested so I would not use it without a cage grate that is fine enough and high enough above the bedding that the birds CANNOT reach it.

Corn cob is commonly recommended but tends to develop a great deal of bacterial growth (which can cause your bird to end up with problems such as Aspergillosis. Also, if your bird ingests the pieces of corn cob, it can impact their crop and cause death.

I have heard of a pelleted grass bedding but have not seen it and have no information about it.

One tiel owner I know of dispenses with bedding altogether and just washes his cage tray frequently.

The cage and accessories you choose will have a great deal of impact on your bird's well- being and on your care routine. If the cage is inadequate, difficult to clean, or otherwise unsatisfactory don't be afraid to replace it. In the long run the cost and trouble will pay off.