The Cockatiel Handbook Book

	Preface	vi
1.	Considerations Before Purchasing	1
	Do You Really Want to Keep Cockatiels?	1
	Do Cockatiels Fit Your Way of Life?	4
	Obtaining Cockatiels	7
	Welcome Home!	13
	The First Few Weeks	17
2.	Housing, Care, and Management	19
	Cages	19
	The Aviary	26
	The Bird Room	37
	Location of Cages and Aviaries	38
	Plantings	40
	Keeping the Cage Clean	45
	Basic Grooming	46
	Special Care Considerations	48
	Table of Dangers	50
3.	Foods and Feeding	52
	Proteins	52
	Carbohydrates	54
	Fats and Oils	54
	Vitamins	55
	Minerals	59
	Water	61
	Green Food	62
	Seeds	64
	The Most Important Seeds	68
	Rearing Food	73
	Concentrated or Universal Food	73
	Insects	74
	Fruit	74
	Table Scraps	74
	Bird Pellets/Extruded Diets	75
	Cleanliness and Hygiene	76
	Conclusion	76
4.	Taming and Training	78
	The First Steps	78
	Outside the Cage	79
	T Perch Training	81
	The Ladder	82
	Tricks	85
	Wing Clipping	86
	The Talking Cockatiel	87
5.	If Your Cockatiel Gets Sick	94
	The First Steps	94
	Hospital Cages	95
	What to Look For	96
	Preventive Care	99
	Diseases and Injuries	99
	Basic Medications	116
	Other Health Necessities	117
6.	Breeding Cockatiels	119
	Introduction	119
	Choosing Breed Stock	119
	The Nest Box	120
	The Eggs	124
	The Nestlings	127
	Banding	128
	Trouble-shooting	129
	Pointers for Breeders	130
	Worming the Fledglings	131
	Chronology	131
	Caring for Young Cockatiels	132
	Abandoned Eggs	134
	Incubating Eggs	134
	Hand-rearing	136
7.	Heredity and Mutations	141
	Colors	141
	Mutations	143
	Principles of Heredity	148
	Formulas	149
	Crossing Mutations	157
	Additional Considerations	157
8.	Understanding Cockatiels	158
	Physical Characteristics	158
	Feathers	159
	Distribution	161
	The Cockatiel in the Wild	162
	Flight	165
	Breeding	165
	The Cockatiel in Scientific Literature	167
	How Cockatiels Came to Europe and the United States	170
	The American Cockatiel Society (ACS) Show Standard	172
	Bands	175
	ACS Point Standard	175
	Useful Addresses and Literature	177
	Index	179