Often you will see specials at pet stores for basic cockatiel care kits with the purchase of a cockatiel. Normally, these contain such items as: a small bag of seed, vitamins for the water, a cuttlebone or mineral block, honey sticks, grit, a mite protector, and possibly sandpaper perch covers. If you have any of these items in the cage other than the cuttlebone or mineral block, you are doing your new pet more harm than good.

Unfortunately, there are still a great deal of people who wean their baby cockatiels onto a seed diet. Feeding an all seed diet to a cockatiel is like giving your child french-fries and ice cream at each meal. Seeds are generally high in fat and low in the essential amino acids, minerals, and vitamins your cockatiel needs to stay healthy. Cockatiels, however, that have never eaten anything but seed may be extremely difficult to teach good eating habits! Also, sticks that contain a seed mix are a very high fat treat that should be avoided. Once your cockatiel has learned to eat other foods, an occasional seed treat is fine.

Vitamins in the water attract bacteria very quickly and the actual vitamin content is highly diluted by the water. Most avian nutritionalists recommend that you try to add vitamins to your bird's diet through a variety of foods instead.

Grit is an unnecessary part of the diet for pet birds, as they do not eat anything which is difficult for their gizzards to grind up. Insoluble grit can actually impact a bird's intestinal tract, causing the bird to starve to death.

Mite protectors are not necessary, as most cockatiels do not carry mites and would not be exposed to them unless they were in contact with outside birds. Putting a mite protector in the cage is equivalent to letting your bird sleep with a bag of mothballs, which are very toxic.

Finally, sandpaper perches will do nothing to trim a bird's toenails... in fact, they can cause sores on the inside of your cockatiel's feet that may get infected. Protect your bird by questioning everything you buy... would you want to stand on sandpaper?