Noisy Cockatiel

Question
Hi,
I own a female cockatiel, about 10 years old. For the last couple of weeks she has been very loud during the mornings and afternoon. It has gotten to the point that I have to cover her cage during the day sometimes, just to get her to be quiet. She has been coming out of her cage probably the same that she always has. The only thing I can thing of is a switch in her food. She is a fussy eater. She has never liked cockatiel seed or pellets. I have always fed her budgie seed with the occasional dish of carrots and lettuce. The last time I bought her seed the store was out of budgie so I got her cockatiel seed. Could this be whats making her so hyper and frantic?

Answer
Hello Emily and thank you for your post.
The switch of her food may be making her hyper, or should I say, feeling better.  Budgie seed does not have the nutritional value for cockatiels.  It is designed for budgies and parakeets.  Lettuce has NO nutritional value for a bird at all.  It is mostly water.  Seeds are fine, as treats only.  Pellets would be the way to go.  Seeds have are high in fat and that is hard on a bird's liver.
Another way to think about this is to imagine yourself living on baby food.  It's not very filling, but it's easy to eat.
It is a cockatiel's nature to be loud in the mornings and in the evenings.  That is the way that they communicate, calling their mates to the nest, and waking each other up to play and look for food and their mates.
If your cockatiel is loud during the day, she probably wants your attention.  I have a 10 year old female that was a rescue (I've had her for almost 2 years) and every time I walk past her cage she is loudly whistling for me to stop and give her kisses.  
Right now I have 3 cockatiels, 2 parakeets, an Amazon Parrot, and a guinea pig.  I do know what you mean about the noise, but I'd rather have them make noise than not to make noise.  If they are too quiet, then I am afraid that they are coming down sick.
Please stick with a cockatiel diet of pellets.  She'll probably reject them at first, but when she gets hungry enough she will eat them.

Good luck and God Bless.
Dianna