Mega thread - all your best tips and tricks and reccs
My bird is coming into the years (old asf)
Im asking for ALL your recommendations for EVERYTHING you can think of that helped your tiel live a long and quality life.
What things should i include? He regularly has inflammation issues which i am about to try treating with vitamin a supplementation/thistle every few days, plus less fatty seed diet (vet seed diet, hes not a fan of new things so its hard to incorporate right away).
What things will help his feet? We use a plank for rest to help him not need to balance, and keep him stable and less prone to night fright loss balance but we find it creates a poo situation where it means every morning his vent gets a bit mucky from whatever he stands in. Hes usually good at leaning over like a loo and avoiding the plank but he does miss. This creates a situation where he is soiled morning. Too much bathing causes feather issues, too little causes inflammation around cloaca and skin picking.
His wooden perches he doesnt like much. He looses balance alot. Im thinking of getting him a mega pack of new things. Various sized branches, vitamins supplements for feathers and diet, pellet and fruit/veg “chop” i might start doing for foraging floor bowls but not sure what cockatiels enjoy eating or how to make/freeze and handle them.
Lots of advice i see is contradicting other advice so id rather ask long term tiel owners,
What brands do you trust for vitamins and toys? What brands or items do you not trust - why? (Eg: We dont buy wire seed bells anymore because one impaled him as a baby!)
What seed blends and cuttlefish and treats do you reccomend? What should i be incorporating NOW.
Does he need heat lamps for winter? Does he need shellgrit for his floor or is a calcium bell enough?
How often should i worm treat him? Is it like dogs and should be yearly or just when i see infestation? Confused because birds are good at hiding illness, id rather catch it in early stages or prevent?
Does he need calcium vitamins a few times a week as hes older? Is omega vitamins a good thing to include or is that bad for liver and weight? Is mite spray an annual thing or just when i spot infestation (i missed the last one until he was too itchy to cope)
Is a bath in his cage ok?
Mirrors that are small and moved around and not causing hormones and distress?
Please just throw anything and everything you reccomend at me. Nothing is too big or small i am going to spoil him this year and hopefully others reading can use this post as a way to do it too.
I also want a new cage his current iron “coated” one is now rusting under 8 months… obviously i cant trust ebay. Its all so hard. Hence my need for brand avoidance and recommendations.