Despite what some may say, cockatiels are high-maintenance birds.

For most people, bird care in general is life-changing and takes up a lot of time out of the day.

Although cockatiels are highly intelligent and affectionate companions, they’re also very demanding and messy.

Meeting these needs is where the majority of your time and energy will go.

Today, I’ll be sharing the daily routine of Arthur, my male cockatiel who I adopted from a pet shop in 2020.

I’ll be going over everything that happens in a regular 12-hour day with my cockatiel!

His daily routine varies greatly, so I’ll be going over the day in time frames and the different activities and chores I normally do at those times.

My goal is to give you insight into what it’s really like to care for a cockatiel and to give you tips on how to make their days more interesting.

Quick Navigation:

• Cockatiel Morning Routine (10 AM – 12 PM)
• Free Time (12 PM – 4 PM)
• Preparing The Vegetables (4 PM Everyday)
• Training Time Or More Free Time (4:30 PM – 7 PM)
• Daily Clean-Up (7 PM – 8 PM)
• Sleep Time (8 PM – 10 PM)
• Conclusion

Cockatiel Morning Routine (10 AM – 12 PM)

The first order of business is to wake the boy up.

He sleeps with a blanket wrapped around the cage in my room, to wake him up, I simply open the curtain in the room and unwrap the blankets.

This is done at 10 AM every morning because he goes to sleep at 10 PM every night.

A consistent sleep schedule is very important for cockatiels

After letting him sit there for about 10 minutes (because we all need a bit of time to wake up), I’ll wheel him out into the kitchen.

It’s safe to use the kitchen as his main room because we don’t cook much.

Whenever we cook, he goes back into my room.

It’s also the biggest room in the house, and I like to make sure he’s got plenty of room to fly around.

Before opening the cage door, I’ll lay down some garbage bags:

This helps catch any dropping while he’s perching anywhere on the cage.

I also set out the garbage bags in other popular poop zones, such as my kitchen chair.

If he poops anywhere else (which he normally does), I’ve always got some wet wipes on standby that will allow me to clean it up straight away.

After his poop catchers have been deployed, I continue to do the following chores:

• Replace his water (and rinse the water bowl)

• Replace the cage liner

• Spot clean the cage

• Refill the foraging toys with pellets (and a few seeds)

This is the consistent morning routine with my cockatiel.

After those chores are done, I’ll usually decide to make my own breakfast.

My regular breakfast is muesli cereal with added fruit, which I normally share with my cockatiel.

Whatever fruit I add to my cereal, I’ll usually clip some to the cage, which he enjoys.

At this time, we’re usually both eating our breakfast.

He’s either eating the fruit or he’s searching for pellets in his foraging trays.

When breakfast is done, it’s usually about 11 AM – 11:30 AM.

At this time, I’ll usually decide to do a bit of target training or flight training

If he doesn’t want to do that, I’ll just sit him on my chair while I do some work.

Free Time (12 PM – 4 PM)

After the morning chores have been done, it’s time for a bit of free time.

If it’s a nice sunny day, I’ll take him outside for some sunshine or give him a bath inside.

Sometimes, I’ll do both.

Sunlight is very important for cockatiels.

I’ll usually hang out with Arthur outside for about 30 minutes before he starts wanting to get out of the cage.

After bathing or taking him outside, I’ll try to do something different.

I try to make my cockatiel’s daily routine as varied as possible in order to keep things interesting and unique.

For example, I might introduce a new toy or activity.

The other day I introduced these super shredder balls to him:

At first, he was a bit skittish, but he was playing with this thing for about an hour.

I think it’s safe to say that he loves it!

Arthur is also quite the musician, so he might decide to serenade me around this time as well.

Since I don’t have any recent videos for some reason, here is a video I took a few months ago of him singing his favourite song:

Sometimes, this song lasts for more than 10 minutes.

At around 2:00 PM, Arthur will start getting a bit tired.

He’ll start beak grinding and the foot will have already disappeared, and then he’s off for a nap.

The 2 PM afternoon power nap seems to be a consistent part of his daily routine.

He usually decides to nap on my chair, shoulder, or on the outside of the cage for about 30 – 45 minutes.

When he’s napping, I usually take that time to get some work done on my laptop.

Once he’s finished napping, he’s usually pretty content just sitting and preening on my chair, or he’ll run around on the kitchen table trying to bite my laptop.

Whenever I need to go shopping, I’ll need to cage him up and leave him alone for about an hour.

I usually go shopping from about 3 PM to 4 PM, but that time can vary.

Arthur also loves music, so leaving something playing for him while I’m gone is essential, I’ll usually put on some whistle music, piano music, or a podcast.

If I don’t go shopping, he’ll usually just hang out with me at the kitchen table.

Preparing The Vegetables (4 PM Everyday)

One thing I try to remain consistent with is the time I prepare his vegetables.

I do it at 4 PM every day and I try to give him as much variety as possible.

Whenever I’m shopping, I’ll always pick up some new veggies.

Some of his favourite vegetables include:

• Green beans

• Snap/snow peas

• Pea shoots

• Parsley

• Kale

• Carrot

But as mentioned, I try to introduce new foods as often as possible so he doesn’t get too comfortable with just his favourites.

Whatever veggies I use, I’ll usually clip them to different places on the cage.

I used to actually mash the veggies up in his bowl, but he never ate them like that, not even with added millet on top.

Every time I mixed a large variety of vegetables in his bowl, he would just ignore it.

So now I just clip the vegetables to the cage since that’s the only way he’ll even acknowledge them.

Here he is enjoying some parsley:

Once it’s prepared, he’ll usually spend about 30 – 60 minutes eating all the vegetables from all locations, this is another consistent part of my cockatiel’s daily routine.

Sometimes he won’t even eat it, he’ll just fling it around, which is pretty funny to watch.

Training Time Or More Free Time (4:30 PM – 7 PM)

After finishing his vegetables, Arthur will usually start screaming or fly over to me while I’m doing some work on my laptop.

Since he clearly wants to hang out, I’ll try doing another training session.

The training that I do at this time will usually be different from the training I was doing in the morning.

Unless I was trying to teach a new trick, in that case, I’ll just continue with it.

During this time period, he’s very motivated to train, especially for millet and sunflower seeds.

I can usually start any type of training and he’ll be willing to participate.

But of course, not every day is the same.

Sometimes he doesn’t want to train and he just wants to chill out on my chair.

I’ll also bring a toy from his cage to the table occasionally so he has something to destroy while he’s here.

Because if he doesn’t have a toy, he’ll destroy my chair:

As you can see, he’s already made good progress.

Generally, this time is used just to hang out before I need to do some more chores.

I try to keep him as entertained as possible during these free time hours.

If I decide to have a snack, I’ll usually make him some more fruit or I’ll bring some veggies on a plate to the table.

After a bit of hanging out, it’s usually getting close to 7 PM, which is when I start doing the end-of-the-day clean-up chores.

Daily Clean-Up Time (7 PM – 8 PM)

From 7 PM to 8 PM, it’s time for some more fun chores.

In case you couldn’t tell, I’m being sarcastic.

Although they’re not fun, the chores must be done to keep a clean environment for my cockatiel.

I first start by replacing the cage liner.

Next, I need to wash both the food and water bowls with a bit of antibacterial soap.

I always take special care to ensure no soap remains in the bowls.

The last task for the cage and the bird is just a bit of spot cleaning.

This is where I remove the droppings that have landed on the perches and cage throughout the day.

Spot cleaning is important because it prevents any excess poop buildup and makes the weekly cage cleaning much easier.

Once the liner, bowls, perches, and cage are clean, I need to clean the surrounding area.

Obviously, cockatiels are very messy.

They don’t just make messes within the cage, they often fling their seeds, pellets, and toy parts all over the floor.

I simply sweep all that up at the end of the day with a dust pan.

By this time, Arthur’s getting a bit tired as it’s almost bedtime.

He’ll be sitting inside the cage near his roosting spot with his foot up and his feathers fluffed.

He’s just too cute when he gets like this!

Since he’s clearly tired and it’s nearing 8 PM, I’ll wheel him back into my room so he can get settled for bed.

Sleep Time (8 PM – 10 PM)

Well, we’re nearing the end of my cockatiel daily routine.

I’ll usually have dinner at 8 PM, so I’ll leave some low-volume music in my room for Arthur.

But after dinner, I’ll sit in my room with Arthur for about an hour until I wrap the blanket around the cage again.

Before the blanket is wrapped, Arthur will sometimes sing or show some heart wings, just generally being cute before sleeping.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any videos of this to show you 🙁

But here he is at 9:30 PM, just before he gets covered:

I wrap him up and turn off the main light before turning on the dimmer light.

I leave him with the dim light for about 10 minutes before turning that off and letting him go to sleep.

Conclusion

And that is my entire daily routine with Arthur the cockatiel!

Hopefully, you’ve gained some valuable insight into what it’s like to care for a cockatiel.

Of course, every day is going to be different.

For example, you’re going to have those big cleaning days where you’ll need to properly sanitise the cage, perches, and toys.

Related: How To Effectively Clean Rope & Wooden Bird Perches

Related: Ultimate Guide To Safely Cleaning Your Bird’s Cage

You’ll also need to see an avian vet once a year for health check-ups.

The point is:

Don’t believe I went through every aspect of cockatiel care in this daily routine article, this was just a regular day.

There is much more to bird care.

And there are many things you need to know before adopting a cockatiel

Thank you for reading!