Cockatiel Care Sheet
Incubation figures, feeding by life stage, and the things that actually go wrong with this species — on one page.
Read the full cockatiel breeding guide →- Incubation
- 21 days
- Incubator
- 99.3–99.5°F
- Humidity
- 50–55%
- Lockdown
- 65–75%
Cockatiel Incubation
Forced-air figures. A still-air incubator runs about 101–102°F measured at the top of the egg — setting 99.5°F at the wrong height is one of the most common causes of a full-term chick that never pips.
| Where | Temperature | Humidity |
|---|---|---|
| Incubator | 99.3–99.5°F · 37.4–37.5°C | 50–55% |
| Last 3 days | unchanged — stop turning | 65–75% |
| Breeding room | 65–80°F · 18–27°C | 40–60% |
Also arid-adapted. Cocks take a large share of daytime sitting, so a nest box checked at midday is often the male you find on the eggs.
The honest check on humidity is not the hygrometer — it is the scale. An egg should lose roughly 13–15% of its lay weight by the time it pips. Too little loss means the air is too wet; too much means too dry.
Feeding Cockatiels
What the diet should be day to day, and what changes when a pair goes down to breed.
Every day
Pellets for 60–70% of intake with a cockatiel seed mix alongside.
Fresh food
Vitamin-A rich food is the priority — sweet potato, squash, carrot, dark leafy greens. Offer daily.
While breeding
Cuttlebone always available, soft egg food two or three times a week, sprouted seed.
Feeding chicks
Egg food daily, extra calcium, and more volume than you expect — a cockatiel pair feeding five chicks eats hard.
What goes wrong with cockatiels
- Vitamin A deficiency is very common on seed-only diets and shows up as respiratory and sinus trouble.
- Prone to obesity; go easy on sunflower and safflower.
- Night frights in the nest room can cause a hen to crush eggs — leave a dim night light.
Cockatiel Colour Mutations
The 8 mutations you are most likely to meet, and how each one is passed on. Every bird below is an illustration of that mutation, not a photograph of a specific bird.
Lutino
Sex-linked
All-yellow/white with red eyes. Most common cockatiel mutation
Pearl
Sex-linked
Scalloped feather pattern. Males lose pearling after first molt
Whiteface
Recessive
Removes all yellow and orange pigment (psittacin)
Pied
Recessive
Random patches of melanin-free feathers
Yellowface
Recessive
Reduced psittacin — yellow face instead of orange cheeks
Cinnamon
Sex-linked
Warm brown replacing grey melanin
Silver
Recessive
Diluted melanin giving silvery-grey appearance
Fallow
Recessive
Brown-tinted grey with red eyes
Want to see what a pairing of two of these would throw? Try the free genetics calculator — it draws every predicted chick.
General guidance used by breeders, not veterinary advice. Conditions vary by climate, setup and individual bird — watch your birds first and consult an avian vet for anything health-related.
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