I have had 4 cockatiels! Two are still with me. I've had Arthur longer than any other pet, just over 9 years. I got him as a 10 week old baby. Arthur's best friend and mate is Luca, who I've had for 6 years. Birdies are very fragile creatures, as an example, my sweet girly bird Michaela who I got at the same time as Arthur died suddenly 5 months after flying into a wall a few years ago, and my heart bird Little Bird (the sweetest bird I've ever met) was always sickly and died suddenly at the age of 3.
First of all, let me say that cockatiels are MESSY. They make dust like you wouldn't believe and feathers go everywhere. You need to vacuum every day and wipe down everything in their cage every day because the dust is so profuse. If you don't vacuum every day, you'll quickly find that bird dust settles on everything in the room... Ugh.
Cockatiels can also be very noisy. All tiels will squawk and be loud sometimes, but some much more than others. I'm fine with the occasional shriek, and it's so cute when they just chirp and whistle, but Luca is a problem screamer. He has lots of toys and food and everything he could want, but he screams a lot. The sound grates on my nerves like crazy, and we have someone in the neighboring apartment who very thankfully is quite laid back and says the shrieking doesn't bother him. Luca doesn't scream all day or anything, but definitely more than Arthur does.
If you have a single cockatiel, he or she will need lots and lots of individual attention. Pairs still need attention, but they have each other to love so they don't need the hours of physical contact with you that singletons do. Little Bird was a single bird and he spent most of his time out of his cage with me when I was home. I really enjoyed it because he was such a love, and I got him a flight suit with a birdy diaper so he wouldn't poop all over me, but you would need to understand how much attention you'd need to give the birdy or else he/she could get very depressed and start with destructive behaviors like screaming all the time, plucking feathers and being very aggressive.
If you do decide to get a cockatiel, I would actually lean more towards getting a boy. Yes, boys tend to be more vocal (though of my 3 boys, only one is obnoxiously vocal), but they don't have the risk of being chronic egg layers like females do. Not all females are chronic egg layers, but I've known enough of them and it's so difficult to deal with because laying all those eggs isn't healthy for the bird, she could have a prolapsed uterus, and the owner has to work to kind of disorient the bird by covering the cage at odd times of day and other things so the bird stops laying eggs. The whole thing just sounds so heartbreaking to me
Poor birdies who won't stop laying eggs. You can easily find out a bird's gender by getting a DNA sample (like from a fresh feather or a droplet of blood from a toe nail) and sending it away to one of the many bird sexing companies and you'll get your results back pretty quickly.
Here comes what I think is one of the most important things if you decide to get a cockatiel.... Do NOT just get the first one you see at the pet store or wherever. Even if it says the bird is handfed, it can still be very fearful and distrusting of humans. If you do choose to get one from the pet store, only get one that is very friendly towards you and wants to be with you. There aren't very many tiels like that at pet stores, but I've seen a couple that ran up to the side of the cage with it's head down to be scritched and followed me around. So cute! Instead, I'd recommend getting a cockatiel from a good breeder, and again, make sure it's friendly and likes you. It can be pretty hard to get a cockatiel to come around to liking you, Luca's been here 6 years and he still doesn't like me! I worked with him for a long time and now he doesn't (usually) draw blood when he bites, but he certainly doesn't have any love for me.
One more thing: As far as food goes, please feed your birdy pellets, not seed mixes. You can give a high quality seed mix as a treat or supplement, but the base of the diet should really be pellets. Seed mixes are like junk food for birds and pellets are healthy. Birdies are very sensitive, so organic pellets are the best. Get Harrison's if you can afford it (it's $40 for a 5 pound bag around here and you'll need to go to a vet office or special store to get it), Lafeber's is also good and a good deal cheaper. Your birdy stands a much better chance of living a long time if it gets a good pellet died with fresh veggies. Little Bird was 12 weeks old and Luca was 6 months old when I got them and converted them to pellets, both of them did really well with learning to eat them, but Arthur and Michaela were 2 when I started and it took a good 4 MONTHS of giving them pellets every day (in addition to their seeds so they wouldn't starve, of course!) before they'd try them. This is not unusual, birds are very reluctant to try new things, but it's really in their best interests to persevere.
I hope this was helpful!
Feel free to ask me more questions if I can help.
