Learning how to entertain a cockatiel is crucial when owning one as a pet.

Cockatiels are highly intelligent birds who need almost constant stimulation to be happy.

Wild parrots spend about 70% of their day foraging for food, flying around, socializing with the flock, and doing various natural activities.

As pets, they might not get this much stimulation…

In this article, I’m going to show you 5 ways you can entertain your cockatiel to ensure they’re busy, happy, and not bored.

But first, I want to discuss exactly why it’s important to keep these guys entertained.

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Quick Navigation:

• Why It’s So Important To Keep Cockatiels Entertained
• How To Entertain A Cockatiel
• 1) Providing Different Toys Often
• 2) Playing Music For Your Bird (Low Volume)
• 3) Taking Your Cockatiel Outside In The Sun
• 4) Taking Your Cockatiel Into A Different Room
• 5) Training And Interacting With Your Cockatiel
• Short Summary
• Sources

Why It’s So Important To Keep Cockatiels Entertained

Cockatiels have a natural desire to keep active and busy.

Without plenty of opportunities to mentally and physically stimulate themselves, cockatiels will become bored.

Bored parrots are not happy parrots.

In fact, if a cockatiel is left with nothing to do for long periods, they’ll become stressed.

Stress in cockatiels can lead to:

• Excessive screaming
• Feather plucking
• Aggression
• Biting
• General bad behavior

I’m guessing you’ve experienced some of these stress signs, most likely screaming.

When they’re not showing these stress signs, a bored cockatiel will just sit in the cage.

They’ll probably just sleep all day, only moving when they need to eat or drink.

That is no life for a cockatiel, especially considering what their wild counterparts do during their days:

How To Entertain A Cockatiel

Entertaining a pet parrot doesn’t have to be difficult.

In fact, there are some very easy ways to prevent them from becoming bored that require very little effort from you.

Keep in mind, that cockatiels are completely reliant on us for entertainment.

We humans have a lot to do with our days such as work and family stuff, but our birds don’t have anything unless we provide it to them.

Here are 5 ways you can provide entertainment to a cockatiel.

1) Providing Different Toys Often

Toys are an important part of a cockatiels cage set-up as they can entertain your bird while you’re doing other stuff.

These toys need to be new and fresh for them to be interesting.

As well as providing new toys, you should also be switching them around at least once a week.

This will ensure that your cockatiel doesn’t get bored with their toys.

A strong, durable toy may spark interest for about a week or two before it starts to become boring.

Toys are often the main activities that will keep your bird busy, so they can’t be boring.

The two best types of toys are foraging toys and shredding toys.

Having at least one of both these types of toys inside the cage is essential for your bird’s mental stimulation.

Here’s a good shredding toy from Bonka Birds Toys

Here’s a good foraging toy from Ebaokuup

Or…

You can view this list of 7 DIY toys for cockatiels.

Take a look at a few of these toys if you’re running low.

I’d recommend having no more than 5 different toys inside the cage at one time.

You don’t want to overwhelm your cockatiel with toys as it may restrict moveability inside the cage.

3 – 5 toys inside the cage are enough for them to have a choice with what they engage with.

When you notice your cockatiel becoming bored with a particular toy, switch it out for a new one.

Experiment with different toys to see which ones they like the most!

Pro tip: Give your bird a new toy when they’re looking for attention. If you have a bunch of toys ready for the cage, give them a new one when they’re screaming for attention. By doing this, you can earn yourself an extra hour of quiet as they’ll be investigating the new toy.

This strategy works all the time with my cockatiel and it gives me more time to work in peace!

2) Playing Music For Your Bird (Low Volume)

Cockatiels enjoy listening to music almost as much as we do.

If they seem bored, you might be able to lift their spirits by playing some background music.

Parrots are even smart enough to develop their own personal taste in music.

For example, my cockatiel loves relaxing, calm, and whistle music, he becomes very content when I play relaxing Minecraft soundtracks.

He clearly has good taste.

You should experiment with different sounds to see what your bird responds to.

It doesn’t need to be calming music, check out this little guy, head bobbing to a fast-paced pop song:

This bird is absolutely loving it!

All music seems to be enjoyable by birds as long as it’s low volume.

Cockatiels have sensitive ears and I wouldn’t imagine them liking blaring music too much.

Read more about music and its effect on parrots…

3) Taking Your Cockatiel Outside In The Sun

Bringing your cockatiels out in the sun is not only essential to their health but also a fun daily activity.

Related: How Sunlight Benefits Your Cockatiels Health

All birds enjoy the fresh air on nice sunny days.

You can take your bird outside in a travel cage unless they’re free flight trained or harness trained.

Or you might have an outdoor aviary to put them in, which is amazing!

When you notice your cockatiel becoming bored, taking them outside will entertain them for a while.

Sunshine is also good for you, so spend a few moments outside in the sun with your feathered friend.

Make sure the temperature isn’t too hot or too cold for them.

4) Taking Your Cockatiel Into A Different Room

Most bird owners only have about 1 or 2 rooms they bring their birds into.

These rooms are typically the living room and bedrooms.

Bringing them into a new room makes for a change of environment and scenery which adds some variety to their day.

Cockatiels will often be curious about new areas.

You could allow your cockatiel to explore the room and climb around on the various objects.

This will keep them entertained for a while.

Just make sure there are no household dangers nearby.

Sensitive or fearful cockatiels may be a little nervous when entering a new room, but it’s good to get them used to it as you might want to bring them there in the future.

Plus it’s their home as well, it would be good if they were comfortable in every room.

5) Training And Interacting With Your Cockatiel

Cockatiels thrive off of positive interactions with their companions.

Training and interacting with them will greatly boost the trust and friendship they’ve already placed in you.

Playing games and general interactions will keep a cockatiel happy and entertained.

Even just perching the cockatiel on your shoulder or on a chair while you’re working will keep them content.

If you haven’t yet started training your cockatiel, I highly recommend you read these articles linked below:

Full Beginners Guide To Clicker Training Your Cockatiel

Target Training Cockatiels: The Full Beginners Guide

These posts will help you get started with target training, which is one of the most beneficial things you can teach a parrot.

It’s also super easy to follow and beginner-friendly!

Owning a singular cockatiel will mean you and other household members are their sole companions.

This means you’ll need to spend a lot of time interacting with your bird.

Without proper socialization, cockatiels will become bored, lonely, and likely depressed, which will lead to bad behaviors.

However, if you own two cockatiels, you likely don’t need to worry too much about this.

A pair of parrots will keep each other company throughout the day.

Short Summary

Cockatiels always need something to do with their time.

They’re not happy just sitting around with nothing to do, they’ll become bored which will likely lead to some behavioral problems.

Luckily, there are many ways we can keep our cockatiels entertained:

• 1) Providing new toys often

• 2) Playing low-volume music

• 3) Taking them outside in the sunshine

• 4) Taking them to different rooms

• 5) Training and interacting with them

There are many other creative ways to keep a parrot busy, but those are my top 5.

I hope the info you found in this article helps keep your cockatiel busy and happy.

Sources

• ^{https://www.avianenrichment.com/learn-mobile/16-emotional-needs/mental-stimulation}
• ^{https://www.thevetshed.com.au/blog/enriching-the-life-of-your-pet-bird/4427}
• ^{https://www.thesprucepets.com/preventing-boredom-in-pet-birds-390764}
• ^{https://www.thesprucepets.com/do-birds-get-depressed-390405}
• ^{http://www.riverlandingsanimalclinic.com/news/2019/12/17/common-signs-of-stress-in-birds}