The main reason why we have pets is that we love animals. As animal lovers, we want our pets to have the most natural habitat to live in, but we also want to make sure they are safe from outside predators or mishaps, and they also need saving from themselves at times. All you need is one experience of your dog getting off his leash and running into traffic to realize how essential harnesses and leashes genuinely are, even if we instead feel free to roam.
Cockatiels are no different when it comes to being utterly dependent upon their owners for overall protection. So, you want to know, “Can cockatiels live outside?”
Can cockatiels live outside? Yes, but there are restrictions and rules that you must abide by if you are planning to keep your birds outside. The best temperature to allow a Cockatiel to live outside is between 60 degrees and up to 100 degrees, as they are accustomed to living in a warm climate of Australia.
First, the temperature has to be just right.
If you live in an area of the world that tends to be cold and frozen, you may want to reconsider keeping your birds outside. Hailing from the climate of Australia, cold weather is not something in a cockatiel’s instinct.
Temperatures in the Australian desert, where cockatiels live in the wild, can run from 30 degrees to over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, which is quite drastic. When a bird lives in the wild, they grow accustomed to the change, and it doesn’t happen drastically. We do not advise taking a cockatiel used to living inside to an outside aviary in cold weather because it may shock their system.
Speaking of an aviary, this is another topic of importance when considering keeping your birds outside. You will need to build an aviary for them, a specific type of housing for birds that live outside.
One, you don’t want just to put your bird outside. There are predators of all types in the world, and a yellow feathered bird will be very appealing to many of them. Cats, dogs, and other birds like hawks are just a few of the dangers your cockatiel will find outside of your home if left without any protection whatsoever. Never put your bird outside without a cage or an aviary.
It’s also important to remember that you shouldn’t keep outside birds in cages. Cages can rust, and rust is toxic to birds. If you only plan on taking your bird outside for a few hours a day, a cage will do just fine.
For a bird you plan on keeping outside, you will need an aviary to build yourself or have constructed for you. There are typically two sections to an aviary. One area is for flying and another area for shelter and feeding. When designing an aviary, don’t forget it needs to keep your birds off the ground to evade harmful parasites, rodents, and chlamydiosis, a bacterial disease typically carried by wild birds.
The best way to avoid all of those potential hazards is to get a suspended aviary, a cage used outside. This type of cage will not rust from the elements and put your bird in danger’s way.
Can cockatiels survive outside?
Yes, they can, but only if you follow the detailed instructions above. Don’t just put your bird outside without a cage or aviary, and make sure the temperature is right.
A bird left to its own devices outside in most urban settings will not survive. They will either be captured by another animal or worse if you can imagine worse. In this case, no, the bird will not survive.
Another way your bird will not survive outside is if the temperature is too low. While the Australian desert may get as low as 30 degrees Fahrenheit, if you take your bird from a room that is 70 degrees and bring it outside to a 30-degree temp, their system will suffer shock, and they could be hurt. It’s best to keep them inside if it’s cold out.
Another thing to take into consideration is that birds kept in outdoor aviaries are challenging to tame. First, you don’t want to clip the wings of an outdoor bird like you would an indoor cockatiel because they wouldn’t be able to get away if something were to happen. So that would, in itself, make them harder to tame.
Outdoor birds are more challenging to bond with because they don’t have the direct and daily communication with their owners that indoor birds have. If you want to bond with your cockatiel keeping them outside is not going to make it easy.
If you have a cockatiel that has already bonded with you, then you should NOT put that cockatiel in an outdoor aviary. You will likely put your little friend into depression, and he would suffer from loneliness.
Whether you are keeping your cockatiel inside or outside is something you should decide before you get a bird. Once the decision is made, you should stick with it. It’s simpler to put an outdoor bird inside, but these cockatiels may be more challenging to train.
What’s the lowest team-tire a cockatiel can survive? Any temperature lower than 40 degrees is not safe for your cockatiel. As we’ve said, they hail from a warm climate, and their little bodies are not prepared for temperatures as low as 20 or 15 degrees.
On another note, when it comes to baths, your cockatiel can only handle room temperature water. Anything hotter can hurt them.
What temperature is too cold for a cockatiel?
Any temperature under 40 degrees Fahrenheit is dangerous and too cruel, for a cockatiel. They are not used to that weather, and they don’t have natural insulation like rabbits or raccoons.
Can cockatiels live in an outdoor aviary? Yes. Cockatiels can live in outdoor aviaries, but the question you want to ask yourself is, “Is this the best situation for my cockatiel?”
First, if you live in an area of the world where the temperature fluctuates into dangerous territories, like the ones we mentioned above, then you might want to consider keeping your birds inside in a cage.
Or, if you want your birds to bond with you, then you are more likely to do this when they live inside.
If you are a person who wants to keep a few birds, lives in a warm climate, and doesn’t mind not bonding with your pets, then an outdoor aviary is what you need. You may be planning on rescuing several birds and are unable to keep them inside. As long as you don’t hinder their safety or health, then you can save a cockatiel in an outdoor aviary.
What is the best climate for a cockatiel?
The best atmosphere for a cockatiel would be between 65 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit, which is what the temperature would be in his natural habitat. If you find that the room you keep their cage in might suffer from a drop in temperature, there are ways to keep your cockatiel warm.
Make sure the room is free of drafts; you can use a warming nest, and be sure to cover their cage at night. Warming cockatiels that live in outdoor aviaries isn’t as simple so, if you are concerned that the weather in your area is too cold at times for your cockatiel to survive, then do yourself and your friend a favor and keep your birds inside.
When it comes to whether or not to keep your cockatiel in an outdoor aviary, you need to be sure of what you want. While it may seem like living outdoors would be best, if you are only going to home one bird, she will not have an opportunity for bonding. If you pair them with another, then they will have a friend.
Keeping birds indoors may be unnatural but, when they are kept as pets, for the sake of comfort and companionship, keeping them inside is always best.