'tiels are so great! They are naturally friendly (like all other hookbills) and very curious. They make a fascinating array of sounds, too (some can drive you nuts, but if you've had birds you already know that).

Since you have 2, they may be devoted to each other and getting them to interact/bond with you may be tough. Cockatiels are native to Australia, where they are flock birds... in a flock, you (as a human) might not be their focal point.
\ Our cockatiel has been with us for 18 yrs. now. We've never clipped his wings (we have cats), and he's very friendly (was hand raised, though). They are charming birds. How nice that you adopted them; can you even FEATURE leaving a pet behind when you moved?

Thanks, chelone. No, try as I might, I can't imagine leaving any pet behind when I moved, although this isn't the first time I've heard of it. What's wrong with people ? They should be forbidden from ever having more pets of any kind. There just is no excuse.
Actually, I'm already charmed by the cockatiels. I realize that they're probably extremely bonded to each other, which considering their unfortunate past is probably a blessing for them. But I'm a patient sort, and I'm not going to rush them into accepting me or the rest of the family.

Cockatiels can be hissy and also prone to what are called 'night frenzies'. Don't be alarmed by either. They might not be as willing to bond with you if they have a mate, but am not sure about that.

My cockatiel relished a diet of fresh veggies (chopped broccoli a fave), a bit of chopped egg once in a while, and a high quality cockatiel cereal. No seed at all, other than an occasional millet spray. A steady supply of cuttle bones kept her beak trimmed and a lava perch worked great on her toe nails.

They love baths and will stuff themselves into their water dish unless you provide something for them. I gave Homer a 'bath tub' in the bottom of her cage every other day and she dove in immediately. (Just a cereal bowl with some tepid water.)

Homer was extremely affectionate, inquisitive, and very bossy. She loved my dog, and would toddle over to her every time I had her out for an 'outing'. I kept her flying wings clipped, which made it much easier to train her.

Email me if you have any general questions about their care. They are a wonderful pet.

The male cockatiel will have grey bars across the inside of the tail, also usually only the male will 'talk' my mom raises them and she has had 1 female talk but I think that is fairly rare.
I gave mine cheerios, not many but like 2 a day, he loved them. they like people company too, and if you have been gone awhile when you come in they will be shrieking up a storm til you give them some attention (they love to be talked to)

I have 3 cockatiels. They are very sweet birds. I hand fed two of them from 6 weeks of age and the third is a rescue. I keep them in separate cages because they have politics, but they enjoy being housed near each other. I feed mine pellets, seeds, some millet and fresh fruits and veggies cut up into very small pieces. They also like to nibble the occasional bit of crunchy cookie!

rhizo_1 is right. They are prone to what are called 'night frenzies' or 'night frights'. I leave a small nightlight on for them so they don't spook in complete darkness and hurt themselves.

It is nice that they get along with each other. Please don't let them near your other parrots. I've read many stories of tiel's losing a toe or leg (and bleeding to death) when it landed on a bigger birds cage. They lack common sense but make up for this with their sweet manner!

I think they will appreciate being around your other birds. Good luck!

In regard to the males having grey bars across their tails. It's the females that have the barring on the underside of their tails & wings, males have solid black or dark grey under their tails & wings BUT in some mutations you can only sex them by DNA or surgical as males & females look the same. The normal grey is the easiest to sex. Do you know thier mutations & can you post a pic? As everyone esle has said above, they are great, they are also hissy & have night frights. I found with mine he only gets night frights if their is something prowling around the window at night. I've limited them down a great deal by having him in a room with a dimmer. I leave the dimmer on at night so he can settle properly & turn the light off when I go to bed. I cover only 1/2 his cage so he has a little moon light to see also.

My little guy is a male normal grey & a very stroppy one. He has grumpy old man syndrome but left alone for long enough he soon snaps out of it & wants attention. They are very jealous & don't like change but they do learn to accept it all...eventually! Like parrots, a good healthy diet of sprouts, seeds, veggies, limit the fruit as they aren't natural fruit or sweet eaters & do stack on the weight. They have a tendency to have a calcium deficiency so a veg diet is a must for them. Unlike some parrots you can have them on a main pellet diet but I always prefer to have the veg, sprout & seed diet. Some (not all) males talk, females can whistle if you take the time to teach them but never talk. Generally you can tell male from female (MOST but not all of the time) by their behaviours. Males are very chatty & curious. Females usually like to keep to themselves & generally sqwark rather than chat, however, when you have a pair, regardless of their sex, if you do have 2 of the same sex you will often get one of those who will take on the role of the oposite sex. This is pretty normal for tiels & nothing to worry about. Do you know if they've ever laid eggs? If you don't want them breeding it might be best to find out what sex they are. Given the correct environment & being male & female, they may breed & if you don't want this you'll have to seperate them.

Compaired to other parrots, I've found cockatiels to be generally the stroppiest & most short tempered when it comes to lack of sleep & molting. They require plenty of baths, they give off a lot of dust & a lot of people tend to have allergies to them. A good 12 hour sleep through spring & summer tones down their attitudes quite a bit. They all loath & love different things so if you discover what they really love that also helps their hot little tempers.
After saying all that I LOVE my little guy :))))& they can be the most kind & sweetest little things when they really set their hearts to it.

Here's my favorite 'Homer' story. Every evening, we'd have a little grooming session. I'd use my fingernails to preen her head feathers, and she'd insist on doing my eyebrows and eyelashes! One evening, after my eyebrows had been meticulously tended to (lol), I pulled my head back a bit and opened my eyes to look at her.

Before I knew it what happened, she had reached up and removed the contact lens from my eye! She then put it down on my hand (she was perched on my finger), and looked up to inspect my OTHER eye! Lens and eyeball were totally unscathed.

After that, I had to keep my eyes closed during our grooming, because she totally interested in those lenses. If I didn't have them in, she'd peer at me quickly and then go about her business!

oops, yes you are right! I was looking at her male today and noticed no bars, just dark grey. she used to buy from this women who sexed them by using a thread and needle, if it swung in circles it was one, and if it swung back and forth it was another, don't remember which was which, but it was sure interesting to watch, wonder how correct she was on that?

I'm not sure about the male/female thing yet; the one we're calling "male" is much more colorful than the other, and much more vocal. Whoever had them before taught the male the "wolf whistle".
We don't allow them out of their cage yet, and my larger birds are somewhat jealous, so there hasn't been and probably won't be any interaction between them. I doubt that their wings are clipped, and I don't want to chase them around the house, so I haven't attempted to get them out of their cage yet. I'm dying to hold them, but they have not indicated that they would welcome that. I'm going to get up my courage eventually, and see if I can get them to step up on my hand, but I'm sure biting will be involved :)
As I do with my other birds, I put them down gently at night, by dimming lights & sounds, and covering their cage gradually. I havent noticed any "night fright" from them yet...
I will try to post a picture of them this weekend; I would love to see what you think of them.

Take them to the vet & have them clipped. Also with your other birds & jealousy, I know what you mean! Just make sure that your other birds still come first with everything to feeding, interaction etc. This tones down the jealousy somewhat & the whole lot will learn to tolerate one another. Never allow them all out together unsupervised.

It'll be great to see the pics of the pair :) As I said in some mutations theres no knowing of their sex unless by DNA or surgical. If you can get a picture up we may be able to tell you their mutation & whether you can visually sex them. Even if one is more colourful than the other, it may just meen they're 2 different mutations. Both female & male are capable of being noisy, both can be taught to whistle but only males learn to talk.

if you want them to start to tame a little better you will need to seperate them while taming them or it may not work. Train then one at a time to step up on your hand. But don't be forceful, t'll set them back & cause them not to trust you. You'll need A LOT of patients with these because they would've bonded, but it isn't impossible.

Not all tiels get night frights but most can. Mine gets them on very rare occations & I usually find a culprit that's caused the night fright outside the window. Some tiels are lucky & avoid it all their life.

This is my boy Cricket. He's a normal grey male tiel

Here is a link that might be useful: Cricket

Our cockatiel (Larry) has no barring under his tailfeathers, the female we had before him (Oprah) had bars and laid eggs.

He can be "hissy", but it's more a, "take a powder! I'm doin' my own thing right now". If he's loose and does it, it usually means, "I don't want to go to my house right now". Some "sweet talkin'" usually brings him around to our way of thinking... ;).

Bathing; he LOVES baths. We take care of it by showering with him. We put him on the shower curtain rod and once we're in we extend a finger as invitation. He hops right on and we stand with our backs to the shower head, holding him in front, so the spray is fine and deflected. He goes nuts and will usually fly to the rod when he's had enough. We finish off the "spa" with a through blow dry. He loves the blow dryer. Sings to it and tucks his head and fluffs his feathers repeatedly.

I don't clip wings because we have 4 cats and a curious, athletic (and large) dog. It can help with "training", though.

I've never had any of the larger hookbills. But cockatiels and Budgies are just chock full of personality and curiosity. I really miss having the little Budgies twittering around.

Kasem, your cricket looks identical to my "male" (I havent named either of the tiels yet). Thanks so much for the photo...I'll try to get my photo posted tomorrow.