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Cockatiels
range in Australia
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All Australian
parrots will breed in hollow logs. This small cockatoo breeds well
in either a log or nest box. They favor the hollow limbs of trees
growing in or near water, with four to seven eggs being laid in wood
dust at the bottom of the hollow. |
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Cockatiels begin their juvenile, young adult, and complete adult
molts 4-6 months, 1 year,
and 2 years, respectively. Upon the completion of their
initial adult molt, around one year of age, normal males will acquire a full,
bright yellow facial mask, deep orange cheek patches, and lose the yellow
spotting and
tail-barring on the underside of flight and tail feathers, respectively.
Females
have a a duller gray head and crest.
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A Cockatiel's Life Cycle |
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Author
~ Judy Brumley
A year for
a cockatiel is a cycle made up of these seasons: the rest period, prenuptial
molt and re-growing of feathers, the breeding season, postnuptial molt.
A "brooding" hen is sensitive to the temperature of her eggs and she
rotates and turns them methodically. The last egg turned is placed outside
the rest of the clutch of eggs. Every egg is where it is suppose to be. The
miraculous egg provides the chick embryo a calcium source from the egg shell
for the skeletal development along with the egg yolk for nourishment.
A cockatiel baby hatches eighteen to twenty-one days after a cockatiel hen
lays an egg. The cockatiel hen's mate takes turns sitting the eggs usually
when three eggs are laid. The hen sits all night long, while the male stays
outside guarding the nest entrance. The pair switch early morning so the hen
can eat during the day, while the cock bird incubates the eggs. Some pairs
stay together in the nest all night.
The chick has to work inside the egg to hatch out. It has a
specialized temporary projection on it's beak tip, called an "egg tooth".
The chick turns all the way around inside the shell, while using the egg
tooth to chip through the shell. This is called "pipping". Finally the
little chick pushes with it's feet to open the shell into two neatly cut
pieces.
The cockatiel hatchling's
eyes are closed for approximately 10 days. It is covered in
fine down. In approximately two weeks, "pinfeathers"
develop, replacing the down. Pinfeathers are keratin
sheath-like structures, containing a blood supply to a
growing feather. Since cockatiels are always in a flock, and
are social by nature, another cockatiel will help preen the
pinfeathers, helping to open the new feathers it can't reach
on its head.
Cockatiel chicks growth and development is amazing. Chicks hatched two
days apart will be perhaps like a 1 month old human child,
and a 4 month human child. The parents work diligently to
find plenty of nourishing food to feed their growing
nestlings.
Four week old cockatiel chicks still in the nest weigh more
than an adult cockatiel. Chicks start going to the nest
opening and peeking out at the world. At four to five weeks
old nature gives the chick the natural instinct to want to
slim down to "fledge", a cockatiel's most basic life skill,
flight. The chick won't beg it's parents to be fed as many
times in the day. The chick "fledges" and once that first
giant step is taken, the very next thing the parent starts
to teach the chick is where the food is. The parent will fly
to the chick and to where the food supply is, backwards and
forwards until the chick follows and starts the long process
of learning to eat by itself. Chicks are still entirely
dependent upon their parents for food. They will learn from
their parents to pick up food, sample it and attempt to
return to the nest at night to sleep until they are fully
weaned. Chicks wean from seven to ten weeks, eight being
average, when parent-reared. The breeding cycle requires
about 2 1/2 months from the time eggs are laid, until the
chicks are weaned. The young cockatiel, becomes efficient at
food foraging, gains weight back and continues to mature.
Cockatiels begin a juvenile molt at 4-6 months, a young
adult molt in 1 year of age, and complete adult molt at 2
years old. Cockatiel males will breed at 9 months old,
but usually need more time and practice at being a good mate
and father. A cock is mature at one year old and hens are
considered mature at age one and a half years of age. The
normal gray cockatiel cock starts getting some yellow on his
face in 4 to 6 months, and it is completely bright yellow
approaching one year of age. He has the trademark orange
cheek patch. The hen retains the gray head with duller
cheek-patches. Both sexes have a 3/4 inch wide, white stripe
on the wings above the flight feathers.
For a
cockatiel, there is safety within a flock. If a cockatiel in
the flock sees or hears something unknown, the whole flock
would take flight. A wild cockatiels' chest and shoulders are very
muscular and they are built for swift flight. Cockatiels
being strong flyers, can quickly raise off the ground from
where they were feeding on seeding grasses, insects and
grain and quickly cover a great distance from real or
perceived danger on the ground. In the wild, cockatiels
spend their days foraging for food and participating in a
variety of flock activities. They fly, climb, and socialize
with other members of their flock while foraging and
grazing.
In cockatiels' native land
Australia, spring months are from August through
November/December, depending on the prevailing weather
conditions. They will be fit and have the best (nuptial
plumage) feather condition for courtship.
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Wild cockatiels breeding season
co-insides with the rainy season that
gives an abundance of "seeding
grasses". |
The length of day (photoperiod) influences the
reproductive activities of all birds. The same
specie of bird breed later in Northern states than
they do in Florida. In tropical climates and
Australia, where the length of days are more or less
the same length throughout the year, the breeding
cycle is influenced when the rainy season brings an
abundance of seeding grasses. Increased temperature
and humidity will signal the start of the breeding
season.
Hormones cause the bird to want to court,
mate, build a nest, and raise a family. Behaviors
include seeking suitable nesting sites, and actively
courting a mate. Hens will emit a soft repetitive
warble while crouching low on the perch. Cocks will
engage in ritual behaviors e.g., mutual preening,
possible courtship feeding, and attempt to mount the
hen. Daylight of eight hours during winter,
increasing to fourteen hours in summer gives parent
birds more daylight hours to feed their babies
plentiful food. Bird-keepers can provide cockatiels
five requirements for reproduction: 1) nutritional
food in abundance; 2) increased daylight
(photoperiod) thirteen to fourteen hours; 3)
increased humidity; 4) an acceptable mate; and 5) an
adequate nesting site. Increased or normal room
temperatures can mimic the breeding season,
Increased humidity via open water drinking bowls, or
spray baths, signal the onset of the rainy season
which wild pairs rely upon to provide the "milky
stage" seeds with which they feed their young.
Once
the nest site is chosen and the eggs are laid, brooding time has arrived and
another change takes place in the bird. People refer to laying hens for-instance
as being "broody". A brooding bird is able to elevate the temperature of certain
brood spots on her body and, while sitting on the eggs, she presses these spots
against them. The brood patch also makes the cockatiel want to bathe in water on
the ground or wet grass. A wild cockatiel will take a bath before commencing its
brooding shift. This has the effect of adding moisture to the nest so that a
certain humidity is maintained in the nest hollow of a dead eucalyptus tree and
around the eggs. The life cycle repeats when the young cockatiel pair's eggs
hatch. The pair may successfully rear just one or two clutches of chicks in
breeding season, depending on abundant rainfall for a good supply of food.
When the rainy season ends, birds will begin a
postnuptial molt and rest. Cockatiels don't lose all
feathers at one time because they need to retain flight
capability. The thinning feathers make it harder to
retain body heat, flight capability will be hindered,
and the bird is under physical and mental stress while
re-growing feathers. Nature spaces the primary molting
periods from the nesting and chick rearing because these
periods are physically taxing to the bird's overall
heath. A cockatiel's lifespan can easily be 25 - 30
years. Statistics show pet cockatiels have a much
lower average lifespan of 7-15 years. A few reasons for
the shortened lifespan are: Genetics, 100% seed diets.
Photographic Candling Analysis
The Psittacine Research Project is part of the Department of
Animal Science at the University of California at Davis. The
Project maintains breeding colonies of Orange-winged Amazon
parrots and Cockatiels for research and instruction at the
undergraduate and graduate levels. Research findings are
published in peer-reviewed journals, special publications of the
Project and in the Project's web page.
Embryo
development: photographic candling analysis of
artificially-incubated eggs.
Permission to copy chart images has been given by
James R. Millam, Professor. |
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FOUNDATION
COCKATIELS |
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ACS 18S 818-08 |
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NCS 43D 01-03 |
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NCS 43D 02-03 |
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ACS 64T 017-03 |
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ACS 91H 38-97 |
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