TIPS TO KEEP YOUR COCKATIEL HAPPY AND SAFE

Healthy Plants, Plants to Avoid, Poisonous Plants and Parts, Safe Foliage, Recommended Branches, and Contaminates Toxic to Birds
Salt is toxic to birds and should not be offered except where it is found naturally in seed or pellet diets.
DO NOT add salt licks, spools or blocks to your birds' cage!

• A lot of attention daily. Check aviary birds at least twice a day, for signs of illness or injury.
• Fresh, high quality formulated diet, with daily supplementation of fresh,clean vegetables.
• Don't feed grit.
• Give fresh, clean water daily. This includes cleaning water and food dishes daily.
• Give your cockatiel a bath or shower at least three times a week in the morning. This will allow time for him/her to be completely dry before bed time.
• Avoid spraying insecticides in your house! If you must spray use a pyrethrum based product and remove your bird from the room being sprayed.
• Offer different size perches, made from clean pesticide-free tree branches. (Maple, apple, ash, or dowel rods of different shapes)
• As large of a cage as possible, try to stay away from round or oval shape cages.
• Position perches so droppings can't fall into seed or water dishes.

• Make sure your cage wire has no spaces in corners or at the top or bottom. (Solid cage construction is very important)

For safety sake prevent access to:

• Ceiling fans
• Hot foods, oil or water
• Teflon coated cooking utensils including toxic fumes from other sources
• Tobacco and/or cigarette smoke
• Toxic houseplants
• Chocolate, Avocado, Salt, Alcohol or Caffeine
• Lead or Zinc
• Cedar, Redwood and pressure treated wood (including shavings)
• Leg chains
• Sandpaper-covered perches

Healthy Plants

Vitamin A

Carrots with tops, turnip greens, kale, spinach, watercress, collards, mustard greens, dandelion, swiss chard, chicory

Vitamin C

Turnip greens, kale, mustard greens, collards, watercress, spinach, swiss chard, cabbage, beet tops, kohlrabi

Vitamin K

Alfalfa, Cabbage, Kale, Spinach

Vitamin E

Kale, Spinach, Watercress

Potassium

Collards, Dandelion, Spinach, Swiss Chard

Iron

Beet Tops, Kale, Swiss Chard

Calcium

Collards, Kale, Mustard greens, Peas, Turnip Greens, 

Plants to Avoid

Arum lily, Autumn crocus or meadow saffron, Australian flame tree, Avocado, Azalea, Baneberry, Beans: (castor, horse, fava broad, glory, scarlet runner, mescal, rosary peas) Bird of Paradise, Bishop's Weed, Black laurel, Black locust, Bleeding heart or Dutchmen's Breaches, Bloodroot, Bluebonnet, Blue-green Algae, Boxwood, Bracken fern, Buckthorn, Bulb flowers; (amaryllis, daffodil, narcissus, hyacinth, iris)  Burdock, Buttercup, Cacao, Camel Bush, Caladium, Calla Lily, Cardinal Flower, Chalice (trumpet vine), Cherry Tree, Chinaberry Tree, Christmas Candle, Clematis (Virginia bower), Cocklebur, Coffee (senna), Coffee Bean (rattlebush, rattlebox, coffeeweed), Coral Plant, Coriander, Corncockle, Coyotillo, Cowslip, Cutleaf:(philodendron, daphne, death camus, devil's Ivy, dieffenbachia (dumb Cane), elderberry, elephant ear (taro) ), Ergot, Eucalyptus (particularly dried, dyed or treated for floral arrangements), Euonymus (spindle tree), False Hellebore, Glame tree, Felt Plant (maternity plant, air plant, panda plant), Firethorn, Four O' Clock, Foxglove, Glottidium, Golden Chain, Grass:( Johnson, sorghum, Sudan, broomcorn)   Ground cherry, Heaths: (kalmia, leucotho, peires, rhododendron, mountain laurel, black laurel, andromeda, azaleas)  Heliotrope, Hemlock (all forms),  Henbane, Holly, Honeysuckle, Horse Chestnut (buckeye), Horsetail, Hydrangea, Ivy: (english, and other varieties)  Jack-in-the-pulpit , Jasmine (jessamine), Jimsonweed , (thornapple), Kentucky Coffee Tree, Lantana, Larkspur, Lily of the valley, Lily Arum, Locoweed (milk vetch), Locusts: (black and honey)   Lords and ladies (cuckoopint), Lupine, Malanga, Marijuana (hemp), Mayapple (mandrake), Mexican Breadfruit, Mexican Poppy, Milkweed (cotton bush), Mistletoe, Mock Orange, Monkshood, Moonseed, Morning Glory, Mountain Laurel, Mushrooms (amanita), Nettles, Nightshades; (deadly, black, garden, woody, bittersweet, eggplant, Jerusalem cherry, Oak Oleander)  Parsley* (from the Hemlock Family), Periwinkle, Philodendrons,  Swiss cheese, Pigweed, Poinciana, Poinsettia, Poison Ivy, Poison Oak:( western & eastern)   Pokeweed, Potato Shoots, Privet, Pyracantha, Ranunculus (buttercup), Rattlebox (crotalaria), Red Maple, Rhubarb Leaves, Rhododendrons: (azaleas, laurels), Sandbox Tree, Skunk Cabbage, Sorrel (dock), Snowdrop, Spurges: (pencil tree, snow-on-the-mountain, candelabra tree, crown of thorns) Sweet pea, Tansy Ragwort, Tobacco, Vetch: (hairy and common) Virginia creeper, Wattle, White cedar (china berry), Wisteria,Yews, Yellow Jasmine.

The following is an additional list containing plants to avoid and the poisonous parts.

Common Name and Poisonous part

Monkhood.. All parts, roots, seeds

Bonaberry.. Sap

Horse Chestnut.. Leaves and fruit

Tree of Heaven.. Leaves and flowers

Fly agario mushroom.. All parts

Amanita mushroom.. All parts

Baladonna lily.. Bulbs

Pasque flower ..Young plants and flowers

Milkweeds.. Leaves, berries

Devils walking stick.. Leaves and berries

Jack in the pulpit.. Leaves

Boxwood.. Leaves

Caladium.. All parts

American bittersweet ..Leaves and fruit

Buttonbush ..Leaves

Night blooming jasmine ..Leafy shoots

Water Hemlock.. Roots

Autumn crocus or saffron ..Leaves and bulbs

Elephant ear ..All parts

Poison Hemlock ..All parts

Lily of the valley ..Leaves and flowers

Crinum lily.. Bulbs

Lady slipper orchid ..Hairy stems and leaves

Daphra ..Bark, leaves, fruit

Angel’s trumpet ..All parts

Larkspur/Delphiniium ..Young plants, seeds

Bleeding heart ..Leaves, tubers

Dieffenbachia/dumb cane ..Stems, leaves

Foxglove.. Leaves

European burning bush ..Leaves , fruit

White snakeroot.. Leaves, stems

Snow on the mountain ..Milky sap

Poinsettia ..Milky sap

Crown of Thorns.. Milky sap, roots

Rubber plant ..Milky sap

English Ivy ..Whole plant

Christmas rose ..Rootstock, leaves

Hyacinth ..Bulb

Hydrangea..Leaves

Spider lily ..Bulb

St. Johnswort ..All parts

English holly ..Berries

Impatiens ..Young stems , leaves

Garden Iris.. Rhizomes

Coral plant ..Fruit

Walnut Green.. Hull, juices

Mountain laurel ..Leaves

Lantana.. Foliage

Sweet pea ..All parts

Privet.. Leaves, berries

Flax ..Leaves, berries

Lupines.. Leaves, pods, seed

Narcissus, Daffodil.. Bulbs

Ground ivy ..Leaves, stems

Orleander ..All parts

Tobacco ...Foliage

Opium poppy seed ..Pods

Philodendron.. Stems, leaves

Mistletoe. .Berries

Pokeweed.. All parts

Primrose.. Leaves, stems

Cherries, peaches, plums.. Seeds, leaves

Buttercup.. Leaves

Buckthorn.. Sap and fruit

Rhododendron.. All parts

Poison Ivy.. All parts

Castor beans.. Seeds

Rhubarb ..Leaves

Black locust ..Shoots, bark, seeds

Sour dock.. Leaves

German Ivy.. Leaves, stems

European bittersweet ..Leaves, berries

Elderberry ..Roots

Bitter nightshade ..All parts

Garden huckleberry ..Leaves

Jerusalem Cherry ..Berries, fruits

Common tansy ..Leaves

Yew ..Foliage, bark, seeds

Culvers root ..Roots

Wisteria ..Pods

SAFE FOLIAGE

Acacia, African violet , Aloe , Baby's tears , Bamboo , Begonia , Bougainvillea , Chickweed , Christmas cactus , Cissus (kangaroo vine) , Coleus, Corn plant , Crabapple , Dandelion , Dogwood , Donkey Tail , Dracaena Varieties, Ferns:
( asparagus, bird's nest)  Boston (and related maidenhair)  Figs:( Creeping, rubber, laurel, laf, fiddle leaf, weeping) Gardenia, Jade Plant, Magnolia, Marigolds, Monkey Plant, Mother in-law's tongue, Nasturtium, Norfolk Island Pine, Shefflera (umbrella).

The above plants are not poisonous if accidentally eaten. But should not be consider part of a healthy diet.

Recommended Branches

Tree Branches make the best perches. Trees of the following species can supply safe branches, foliage and bark to be used as perches or chew toys for birds. These materials are not safe if toxic chemicals or insecticides have been sprayed on them. Before installing them in any cage, scrub all branches with a nontoxic disinfectant (such as diluted chlorine bleach or Nolvasan) then rinse and dry well.

Apple

Ash

Almond

Apricot

Peach

Maple

Elm

Contaminants Toxic to Birds

This list cannot name every toxic substance. If you are unsure about possible toxicity of any item, read the label.

Fumes from Teflon, Silver stone etc. types of cookware are dangerous at any level of heat - they do not have to be over heated . This would also include heat lamps with a Teflon coating.

Alcoholic beverages, Ammonia, Antifreeze, Ant syrup or paste, Arsenic, Asbestos, Automotive products, Bathroom bowl cleaner, Bleach Boric acid, Camphophenique, Carbon monoxide, Charcoal lighter fluid, Cigarette smoke, Chlordane , Chlorine, Copper and brass cleaners, Corn and wart remover, Deodorants, Detergents, Diazanon (DDT), Disinfectants, Drain cleaners, Epoxy glue kit, Flea bombs, Flea collars , Floor polish, Formaldehyde, Furniture polish, Garden sprays, Gasoline, Gun cleaners, Hair dyes, Hair spray, Herbicides, Indelible felt-tip markers, Insecticides, Iodine, Kerosene, Lead based house paint, Lighter fluid, Lye, Matches, Model cement, Mothballs, Muriatic acid, Mushrooms, Nail polish, Nail polish remover, Nitrogen dioxide, Oven cleaner, Overheated nonstick cookware fumes, Paint remover, Paint thinner, Perfume, Permanent wave solutions, Pesticides, Photographic solutions, Pine oil, Prescription and nonprescription medicines, Rodenticides, Rubbing alcohol, Shaving lotion, Shellac, Shoe polish, Silver polish, Snail bait, Spot removers, Spray starch Strychnine, Sulfuric acid, Suntan lotions, Super Glue, surgical acrylics, Toilet bowl cleaners, Turpentine, wax, Weed killers, Window wash solvent, Wood preservatives.
Sources: Dr. David Kersting DVM, Bird Owner's Home Health & Care by G. Gallerstein DVM, Bird Diseases by L. Arnall & I.F. Keymer