Recently I've been hearing of unethical breeders that were producing and selling birds with health problems. I believe Jubilee was the result of such breeding. She originally came from a breeder who let the cockatiels select their own mates in an aviary setup. No effort was made to keep daughter-father or other combinations of birds from breeding. The breeder simply raised quantities of baby birds to sell to the local pet store that took them before they had been weaned and handfed them to help them become pet birds.

When I went to this store to pick out a cockatiel (wanting a Lutino bird), I was told about her because she was already "stepping up" for the bird keepers. When I approached the cage, she quickly came to check me over and seemed to be avoiding contact with the other birds in the cage. She was also a bit smaller than those birds although this didn't raise a red flag for me at the time.

Since she immediately began riding around on my shoulder and making it obvious that she liked being with me, I THOUGHT I was picking out a good pet bird. Unfortunately, even though I had read several books and many online articles about selecting a bird, I didn't have enough knowledge to realize she was showing signs of abnormal socialization and may have had medical issues. Apparently she was bonded to humans rather than other birds. In addition her size, when compared to the other birds of the same age, should have triggered some concern.

Jubilee was always a smaller cockatiel. She needed a heat lamp in the winter and after her showers. Additionally, she wasn't happy unless she was attached to me in some fashion. She had sinus and yeast infections each winter. She also ate 2 to 3 times the amount of food that Liberty eats and showed little weight gain. I will always wonder if she had been born with a cancerous tumor that had destined her to a very short life.

Lessons Learned

If I were looking at a cockatiel in a petstore today, I would be very cautious if I saw a smaller bird in a cage of larger birds. It would immediately begin wondering if that bird had health problems that might not be detected until years later. Jubilee was always a smaller cockatiel. She needed a heat lamp in the winter and after her showers. Additionally, she wasn't happy unless she was attached to me in some fashion. She had sinus and yeast infections each winter. She also ate 2 to 3 times the amount of food that Liberty eats and showed little weight gain. I will always wonder if she had been born with a cancerous tumor that had destined her to a very short life.

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