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Five life-saving products for cockatiel parents

4.12.2024

Translation: Jessica Johnson-Ferguson

After a solid month with Rio and Cookie, I can tell you that they’re adorable but also messy. Thank goodness Galaxus provides solutions to these problems.

Grains, feathers and droppings everywhere? That’s part and parcel of being a cockatiel parent. And yet, humans can make their everyday lives easier by having the right tools for living with miniature parrots.

Wondering who Rio and Cookie are? Read all about my cockatiels here.

Background information
Meet Rio and Cookie, my new cockatiels – part 1
by Anika Schulz

Handheld vacuum cleaner

Let’s start with my favourite topic: dirt. Cockatiels belong to the cockatoo family and therefore have powdery down. These white, very delicate feathers have tips that turn into dust. And it’s thanks to them that their plumage is water-repellent. But boy oh boy, the mess Rio and Cookie make when they clean themselves… Depending on the light, you can watch the birds shake a giant cloud of dust from their feathers. Not to mention regular other grime, of course.

When Rio cleans himself and Cookie eats his beloved lettuce, the leftovers end up on my floor.
Source: Anika Schulz

That’s why one of my first purchases was a handheld vacuum cleaner. Don’t worry, I don’t use it on Rio and Cookie. Instead, it’s great to give my furniture and the floor a quick clean.

Fellow editor Patrick recently wrote an article about which models are good and which aren’t.

News + Trends
Only two out of ten handheld hoovers perform well when tested
by Patrick Vogt

Paper sheets

Let’s move on to the second dirty chapter: cockatiel droppings. There’s a large drawer at the bottom of the cage, which I fill twice a week with around 1.5 litres of fresh bird sand. The sand absorbs urine and faeces. However, my cage has a base area of 70 × 90 centimetres, so the drawer’s quite awkward to clean. The drawer won’t fit horizontally through my living room door, let alone in the shower. As a result, my first few cleaning sessions left me with more dirty sand on the carpet and in the cracks of my wooden floor than I would’ve liked.

So I did some research and came up with the idea of putting paper under the sand. That way I can roll the dirty sand up in it and then throw the «nappy» in the rubbish. Many cockatiel parents simply use newspaper for this, which I advise against, as the birds like to nibble on everything and printer’s ink isn’t exactly good for their health.

I therefore decided to use tissue paper; the type that’s used to transport dishes. The thin paper’s available in different sizes: two sheets fit perfectly in my sand drawer.

I put down a sheet of paper in front of the cage so that the dirt the birds make when they’re sitting on the landing flap doesn’t fall on the floor.
Source: Anika Schulz

Construction paper

Creativ Company tissue paper 50 x 70 cm

20 g/m², 25 x

Construction paper

Creativ Company Tissue paper 50 x 70 cm

14 g/m², 25 x

Packaging materials

Ritter Tissue paper

1 Piece

Construction paper

Creativ Company tissue paper 50 x 70 cm

Construction paper

Creativ Company Tissue paper 50 x 70 cm

Packaging materials

Ritter Tissue paper

Mobile perch

If you keep your cockatiels in an animal-friendly way, you’ll let them fly freely during the day. The only problem is that some cockatiels don’t want to go into their cage at night, but prefer to snooze on the curtain rail or on the shelf. While it’s fine to let your birds sleep there, cockatiels tend to have night terrors, meaning they get scared of something in the dark and then flutter about in a panic. And as the little parrots struggle to see in the dark, this can cause nasty injuries. That’s why I always put Rio and Cookie to «bed».

Neither of them fly onto my hand (yet), so I use a mobile perch. What I do is take the wooden perch, hold it out to Rio and Cookie and manoeuvre them back into the cage in the evening. This usually works quite well because they’re familiar with the perch and know what’s going to happen next.

If the cockatiels are sitting on their cage, it’s easy to put them to bed in the evening. All it takes is a gentle finger pointing. If, on the other hand, they’re perched on the curtain rail, the mobile perch comes in handy.
Source: Anika Schulz

Bird cage supplies

Karlie Y perch

Bird cage supplies

Kerbl Ergonomic perch for bird cages

Bird cage supplies

Duvoplus hardwood perch

Bird cage supplies

Karlie Y perch

Bird cage supplies

Kerbl Ergonomic perch for bird cages

Bird cage supplies

Duvoplus hardwood perch

Cotton buds

Cotton buds? Yep, you read that right. Rio needed to see the vet the other day because the silly sausage rubbed something into his eye. A tiny, broken end of a feather poked him so badly that I was unable to remove it and needed to call the doc.

Rio’s little eye was inflamed and I had to apply an ointment to it for a few days. The problem is that he’s not tame and won’t let me touch his face. Kind of understandable, as it also happens to be sore. So I tried the following trick: I took a cotton bud and scratched his head very carefully (at a safe distance). Lo and behold, Rio enjoyed the massage. So I put some ointment on the cotton bud and managed to apply cream to his eye like that. Of course, the bud wasn’t sterile, but not much is when you’re dealing with animals.

To keep things fair in terms of my massage services, I also scratched Rio’s buddy Cookie with the cotton bud. And Cookie LOVES it! So much so that we now have a new bedtime ritual: Anika uses an (ointment-free) cotton bud to scratch Cookie’s feather bonnet extensively.

Cotton swabs + pads

dm ebelin Cotton buds

Cotton swabs + pads

Quantity discount

EUR2,98 per piece for 4 units

Pandoo Bamboo

Cotton swabs + pads

EUR7,11

Q-tips Cotton bud refill pack

Cotton swabs + pads

dm ebelin Cotton buds

Quantity discount

Cotton swabs + pads

EUR2,98 per piece for 4 units

Pandoo Bamboo

Cotton swabs + pads

EUR7,11

Q-tips Cotton bud refill pack

Pouring cans

Last but not least: sturdy storage containers. These come in handy since I buy food and bird sand in bulk. However, the XXL bags are unwieldy, so I always transfer some of them into storage containers for easy pouring. This saves me work and little accidents involving too much straw and not enough food when I fill the bowls every day.

The feed mix consists of millet and sunflower seeds, among other things.
Source: Anika Schulz

Storage containers

EUR7,70

keeeper Bulk container

1 l

ISI Lock & Lock Classic bulk container (1.80 l)

Storage containers

Quantity discount

EUR8,65 per piece for 4 units

ISI Lock & Lock Classic bulk container

1.80 l

Storage containers

EUR9,90

Rotho Sunshine" bulk container

2.20 l

Storage containers

EUR7,70

keeeper Bulk container

Quantity discount

Storage containers

EUR8,65 per piece for 4 units

ISI Lock & Lock Classic bulk container

Storage containers

EUR9,90

Rotho Sunshine" bulk container

By the way, I keep all my cockatiel tools on the shelf under their cage. And it’s really starting to fill up. I think I’ve spent around a thousand euros on my two fluffy birds, including the cost of the cockatiels and vet fees.

Here’s where I keep food, sand, things to nibble on, sheets of paper and so on.
Source: Anika Schulz

Header image: Anika Schulz

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Anika Schulz

Teamleader Editorial

Anika.Schulz@galaxus.de

As a child, I was socialised with Mario Kart on SNES before ending up in journalism after graduating from high school. As a team leader at Galaxus, I'm responsible for news. I'm also a trekkie and an engineer.

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