I have taken in a rescue who was left on the doorsteps of someone I know.
She is a grey hen, and seriously she's the biggest cockatiel I've ever seen! To towel her today I needed both hands.
She is the first cockatiel I have ever seen with a proper metal ring with numbers. Usually here breeders just put a coloured hard plastic ring with no numbers.

I think she is beautiful, and having that ring I am wondering why someone would abandon her like that.

She is staying on her own for a while, but I left her out in the corridor and she is an excellent flyer with stamina, which makes me think that she might be an aviary bird.

Tomorrow I will take some pictures, but I'm curious to know what you guys think about such a big ringed bird being abandoned like that.
Maybe she was a breeder, or destined to be a breeder, and in some way she was not good for the job?

She is also reasonably friendly, doesn't step up but she came sitting on my lap today, lured by the magic millet spray.

Every single one of my birds has numbered bands--is it unusual in the UK?

At least she got a good home!

Thank you for rescuing her. I find it sick that people would just abandon birds and leave them outside to die. They can't fight for themselves or find food because they were captive their whole life.

Thank you so much for saving her. She could be Cloudia's BFF. Cloudia is one fat normal grey lol.

In the US, bands usually have codes that can help you identify the bird's age and the breeder. If you can read the code you might be able to learn more about her background and maybe even find out who she belongs to. Parrots Magazine has a UK registry for lost and found birds and you might be able to trace her through that. http://www.parrotmag.com/lost-and-found-register

There's any number of things that could have happened before you got her. Maybe she escaped from her original owner, and someone else found her and kept her for a while but couldn't deal with her, so they left her where someone would find her.

Good job taking her in. I look forward to seeing how big she is.

In these four years of being around cockatiels, she is the first one I met with a metal numbered band. I guess it's just less popular here, and with the fact that a lot of idiots fancy themselves a breeder but are too cheap to do things properly, you have the average cockatiel coming to you either with no band or with a cheap plastic ring without any identification numbers.
I personally don't like the birds be ringed but this attitude shows how little a cockatiel's life is valued here.

Tielfan, that could be!
I will try to get the numbers on the ring and see if I can find the owner. Even if they abandoned her it would be nice to hear an explanation! But probably it's like you said, she first escaped in some way and who got her couldn't cope.
or she was bought from a breeder, was a disappointment for some reason for the new owner who proceeded to dump her on someone else's doorstep.
Hehe it will be a pleasure to get to that person and demand an explanation

It's not so much about demanding an explanation as finding out whether there's someone who cares about this bird and is desperately trying to find her lol.

I wonder if she's a show bird, or at least was part of a show bird breeding program. In the US at least, show birds are bred to be BIG and a leg band is required to participate in shows. Leg bands have to be put on when the baby is less than two weeks old, which is too soon to know how good their show quality is. Show breeders usually keep the best chicks and sell the rest, so it's possible that she was one of the culls. It's also possible (but less likely) that she's a champion show bird and the owner is having a nervous breakdown because she escaped.

Where's the pic of her?
Cant wait to see her she sounds lovely..

Here she is, she's a devil and I need to towel her every night!