Hand reared cockatiel thinks she’s human? With arms?

[Mochikospets]

Hi there! New here. I’ve been an animal lover my whole life and recently got into birds! I have a little experience hand-rearing birds, but this is my first cockatiel. I got her around 4 days old, eyes closed. I’ve had her for about a month now. She’s an adorable little bird, loves attention and recently started flying perfectly. The only thing I don’t understand is the fact that she thinks she has arms??? She has always attempted to climb her cage using her beak, feet, and WINGS. Not like she’s trying to balance. She extends them while climbing and puts pressure on them, while getting them stuck in the perches and bars in her cage! She never hurts herself, just scares the hell out of me! I’m not sure if it’s just baby behavior and she’ll eventually stop or if I should do something? Add more perches? There’s plenty and she should be fine. She just falls and prefers the bottom of the cage anyways. I’m just concerned that she’s eventually going to break something!! My conures clearly don’t do this, it doesn’t seem normal. Any suggestions or information would be great! Thanks!

 

[StormyPica]

Hi there! New here. I’ve been an animal lover my whole life and recently got into birds! I have a little experience hand-rearing birds, but this is my first cockatiel. I got her around 4 days old, eyes closed. I’ve had her for about a month now. She’s an adorable little bird, loves attention and recently started flying perfectly. The only thing I don’t understand is the fact that she thinks she has arms??? She has always attempted to climb her cage using her beak, feet, and WINGS. Not like she’s trying to balance. She extends them while climbing and puts pressure on them, while getting them stuck in the perches and bars in her cage! She never hurts herself, just scares the hell out of me! I’m not sure if it’s just baby behavior and she’ll eventually stop or if I should do something? Add more perches? There’s plenty and she should be fine. She just falls and prefers the bottom of the cage anyways. I’m just concerned that she’s eventually going to break something!! My conures clearly don’t do this, it doesn’t seem normal. Any suggestions or information would be great! Thanks!

Well, she thinks she IS a human. That is the sad thing about hand-rearing, they no longer see themselves as birds. That's probably the cause. As for solutions: @Terry57 @PippTheBananaBirb @Rozalka

 

[Terry57]

First, welcome to the forum!

At only a month old, I think that your baby may feel more comfortable in a fish tank or some other safe enclosure that doesn't have bars, or a short cage where she can't climb very high. She may be using her wings in addition to her feet and beak because she is afraid of falling and doesn't realize that using her wings may make it more likely to fall.
I think she will grow out of it, the thing is making sure to keep her safe while that happens.
Do you have the bottom of the cage padded with anything? We use several paper towels together with papers under that to help break the fall of any of our birds who are having issues.

I'm really happy you and your baby joined us!

 

[Mochikospets]

She’s currently in an all living things brand rat starter cage filled with baskets and sturdy branches from our backyard. It’s only about 1.5x2x2 feet big. Unfortunately the only glass tanks I have are a 5 gallon she was raised in and a 75 gallon that’s too big . She seems to prefer the floor of her cage over anywhere else, even though it’s clear she can climb to everything pretty well now, it’s lined with a bunch of paper towels for safety. She also really likes to flap in place whenever she sees me, which I’ve read is normal.. but she doesn’t seem to care if shes hitting things lol. Would having her in the same room as my conures help? I bring her to them about once or twice a day to fly around and say hi. I would really like to avoid too much contact, as they’re very loud (we keep them across the house) and I don’t want her to pick up their words or noises..

 

[HeatherG]

How funny! My birds will imitate me if I yawn or stick my tongue out but they don’t think they’ve got HANDS.

I doubt there’s much you can do about it besides keep an eye on her until she figures out what she can and can’t manage.

My Lucy used her feet in unconventional ways while climbing. And used a ball like a crutch under her wing when a leg was casted. She was a very very smart bird. Maybe you have a genius cockatiel? Please keep us informed!!

 

[Mochikospets]

How funny! My birds will imitate me if I yawn or stick my tongue out but they don’t think they’ve got HANDS.

I doubt there’s much you can do about it besides keep an eye on her until she figures out what she can and can’t manage.

My Lucy used her feet in unconventional ways while climbing. And used a ball like a crutch under her wing when a leg was casted. She was a very very smart bird. Maybe you have a genius cockatiel? Please keep us informed!!

Hopefully she’s smart at least she knows not to hurt herself!

 

[BirdyBee]

Thanks for the tag StormyPica!

Welcome to the forum, Mochikospets!

Hi there! New here. I’ve been an animal lover my whole life and recently got into birds! I have a little experience hand-rearing birds, but this is my first cockatiel. I got her around 4 days old, eyes closed. I’ve had her for about a month now. She’s an adorable little bird, loves attention and recently started flying perfectly. The only thing I don’t understand is the fact that she thinks she has arms??? She has always attempted to climb her cage using her beak, feet, and WINGS. Not like she’s trying to balance. She extends them while climbing and puts pressure on them, while getting them stuck in the perches and bars in her cage! She never hurts herself, just scares the hell out of me! I’m not sure if it’s just baby behavior and she’ll eventually stop or if I should do something? Add more perches? There’s plenty and she should be fine. She just falls and prefers the bottom of the cage anyways. I’m just concerned that she’s eventually going to break something!! My conures clearly don’t do this, it doesn’t seem normal. Any suggestions or information would be great! Thanks!

She's just learning. Babies are very curious. Some cockatiels are just weird lol. You can try add some ladder for her to climb on, she'll enjoy those.

As StormyPica said, she probably thinks she's a human. She was raised by a human, so she thinks she's one too. If you were raised by an animal, you'd think you're one too.

She’s currently in an all living things brand rat starter cage filled with baskets and sturdy branches from our backyard. It’s only about 1.5x2x2 feet big. Unfortunately the only glass tanks I have are a 5 gallon she was raised in and a 75 gallon that’s too big . She seems to prefer the floor of her cage over anywhere else, even though it’s clear she can climb to everything pretty well now, it’s lined with a bunch of paper towels for safety.

Pippen started flying at 4 weeks old. She lived in a box at the time. She was moved to her small cage at about a month. Then at about 2 months she moved to her big cage.

She also really likes to flap in place whenever she sees me, which I’ve read is normal.. but she doesn’t seem to care if shes hitting things lol.

She's just excited to see you. She may be trying to fly to you.

Would having her in the same room as my conures help? I bring her to them about once or twice a day to fly around and say hi. I would really like to avoid too much contact, as they’re very loud (we keep them across the house) and I don’t want her to pick up their words or noises..

It may be good to socialize her with other birds, under supervision.

 

[wrench13]

The time to start worrying is when she tries to change spark plugs or mow the lawn!

 

[ravvlet]

Cockatiels can be really weird sometimes. Ours was parent-raised but came home at about two months, and he did all sorts of weird, unbirdly things. Babies are especially ungainly also. If she is able to fly and otherwise get around normally then she’s probably ok and will learn not to do it as it causes her difficulty. She may even be thinking that because dropping her wings a bit for balance works on the ground that it’s fine when she’s vertical, which is obviously not the case!

My amazon will sometimes do the droop-wings climb too, and he usually only does it when he’s excited or is begging (for treats). Maybe she is asking for food for comfort or similar. He’s a bit more coordinated about it however (but not much, lol!)

 

[HeatherG]

I don’t know about mowing the lawn, but if she starts doing dishes and making beds I’ll hire her.