Nymphicus hollandicus

Cockatiels originate from Australia and originally in Grey color. These birds do look like undersized cockatoos but has no close relationship with other types of parrots. The grey cockatiel has yellow face and crest and an orange spot on the cheeks. So far many new varieties have been introduced and still new are being developed in captivity. They can be tamed easily and are proved to be very good pet birds.

Cockatiels Mutations

Many color varieties of cockatiels are easily available in Pakistan and all over the world. As the cockatiels don't have very bright colors like budgies or African love birds, the color varieties are confines to shades of white, grey and cinnamon.

There are three kinds of mutations available in cockatiels.

Recessive Mutations

Pied have pink feet and nails. They show grey feathers on a white body. The lesser the grey color, the more heavy pied it is.

Whiteface are basically in grey color with their heads and face of white color. They lack the orange cheek spot.

Recessive Dilute Silver are silvery grey but have red eyes. It is basically a European variety.

Fallow bird has a cocoa-brown coloration replacing all the grey areas. They have red eyes, while bill and feet are a little paler. 

Grey-Green (Olive)  "New mutation" is a new color and not much information is available on this color. I guess it is a type of grey green acquired from pairing of brighter yellow cockatiels with grey.

Dominant Mutations

Yellow Cheeked have the orange cheek spot reduced or almost eliminated but that retain the original yellow color. This variety is available in US but the color dominance is yet to be proved.

Sex-Linked Mutations

Lutino have total absence of grey color in them and have red eyes. It is basically a white bird with yellow patches on it.

Pearl have white or yellow markings on the edges of the feathers on the back specifically.

Cinnamon have soft grayish brown color instead of grey color.

Lacewings have yellow spots in center of grey feathers beautiful lacewing effect.

Albino is combination of whiteface and Lutino. they are completely white with red eyes.

Sexing Cockatiels

They are dimorphic, i.e. they are easily identifiable as male and female when they become adults.

In the grey cockatiels, the male has a bright yellow forehead, crest and throat. The cheek patches are bright orange. The tail is dark grey. the beak and the legs and nails are also grey. The iris is black.

The female grey cockatiel is a little dull in color as the forehead and throat area have a slight discoloration of yellow or pale yellow and orange patch is also not as bright as of male. There is a pale wash of yellow on central tail feathers.

The baby cockatiels have almost same e color as the females and the males get brightened when they are young.

Breeding Cockatiels

Cockatiels have proved to be very good breeders in captivity and as they are not aggressive towards each other, they can easily be bred in colony. But as for me, I feel that I get better results in pairs breeding of cockatiels then in colony breeding. 

The female cockatiels don't ever get tired of laying eggs (just like budgies) so its good

Female may lay 6 to 7 eggs and incubate for 19 - 21 days. In the day time usually male incubates the eggs while at night, its the duty of female to incubate them. In the day time, the male and female both may incubate eggs. Usually if the pair doesn't have any problem with them, the eggs get 100 percent result.

You must take care as not to disturb the pair during the breeding season, as if the female gets disturbed during incubation period, she many leave the eggs to cool down and never caring for them.

for more on breeding and nest box

Cockatiel Babies

Cockatiels are excellent parents. They never let their babies die and can handle up to 8 babies at a time and never get tired. The male and female both have their duties of feeding the babies.

The babies should be banded within two weeks of age. They should be checked frequently as to avoid problem with them. 

The cockatiel babies get a very good health if the parents are fed with extra soft food.

Cockatiel Diet

Like all my parrots, I usually treat cockatiels with seed mix. Sunflower seed is favorites seed for cockatiels. Cockatiels don't eat much but they love the soaked chick peas that are provided to them during the breeding season. The chick peas play a very important role in rearing of healthy babies.

Cockatiels like vegetables and fruits very much and if the babies are handfed, they become tame very easily.

Calcium should be provided to cockatiels all the time to avoid feather plucking and a course of vitamins is always good for your birds.

For more on Diet 

Cockatiel Health

Cockatiels, if fed properly, don't get any disease easily. Cleanliness is an essential thing not only for cockatiels but for any kind of bird. Treating them for worms, and using vitamins and calcium will always keep your bird healthy.