My Cockatiel with his progress.

[Tangie]

so, over the past few years I have been training and fostering a few birds, and out of all of them, my own personal bird, is the hardest. His name is Kiko, a normal gray five year old cockatiel. I got him from some family, and he was in horrible shape. He had no perches except for a yellow cuddle-bone attached to the side of his cage,{A dog crate} which stained all his stomach feathers, and his feet, yellow. He was never interacted with, except for when they screamed at him for being too loud, or changing his food and water{Which did not happen as much as it should}. Finally, they gave up on him, and gave him to me. In the month and a half I've had him, he has made a ton of progress. He still prefers to stay in his cage, and will not come out willingly.

When he is out of the cage, he acts much better. I have started to target train him, and now he follows the stick all over the place, a bit hesitantly. I have also taught him to wave, and to spin around. He now loves to sit on my shoulder and preen my hair. He is afraid of my hands, and will not step on my finger yet, but will step up on my wrist.I still have to work on his cage aggressiveness, and get him used to my hands. But his progress is immense.


For his whole life he had been eating just seeds. Because of this, he has a case of Vitaman A deficiency. I have switched him to the Zupreem Fruity Blend diet, and I hope to switch him to Roudybush, and then Harrison's. He does not eat any fruits or vegatables yet, but has taken a liking to Sprouted Seeds.

Overall, this stubborn, feisty little bird has made A TON of progress in such a short time. Sorry for this looong, boring post, but I just wanted people to know how proud I am of my little guy.

 

[weco]

Sounds like you are doing all the right things.....just be patient about your hands, he may come around, but if he doesn't, don't hold it against him, he's had a rought kife at his previous home.....

Good luck.....

 

[Nakiska]

Wow! EXCELLENT job!!! You have every single right to be proud!

I too...rescued 2 cockatiels 2 years ago...horrible living conditions and very badly abused. Just walking by their cage was more than they could handle, they'd flap all around, scream in fear, I was so afraid they were going to hurt themselves. I truly wondered what I had gotten myself into!

In 2 years both Charlie and Sweet Pea (I named 'em) have come along, no longer flapping in fear when I walk up to the cage. They are fine with cage cleaning and changing their food/water etc. In fact now...they will walk up to me when I'm talking to them. Especially Charlie who has developed a rather nice vocabulary.

He likes to get right up in my face and watch my mouth when I talk to him as he intently listens.

In 2 years I haven't been able to rid them of the fear of my hands...maybe never will...but that's ok...they are both soo happy! They get to come out and play all the time and when I have to put them away, I taught them to use a stick and each will willingly hop right up on the stick. I can bring them right close to me to talk to them, I can put them on my shoulder with the stick and they are great...but the second I try to offer either of them a finger to step up on...they either back away, or fly off and Charlie usually squawks as he's backing away or running/flying off.

I don't push the issue as I don't like stressing them out....they're happy and healthy, and that was my goal.

Oh as far as feeding...Charlie and Sweet Pea were...by looking at their cage...on some kind of millet with a few sunflower seeds tossed in the mix...according to what I saw on the bottom of their filthy cage. I started them on Healthy Select for cockatiels...they were starving and didn't question it...and everyday I offered, fruits/veggies both cooked and raw, it was a bit, but they finally started testing and then before I knew it, they were all...WOO HOO when the "treat cup" was put on or in their cage. Cooked potatoes with parsley, butternut squash, cooked carrots, quinoa, fried egg, cooked noodles and rice are their favorites. Mine don't seem to care much for fruit and never would and still won't try the zupreem fruit pellets. Go figure!

Well, keep up the excellent work and keep us posted!

Toni

 

[Tangie]

Thanks guys ^^. And I know that he might never get used to my hands, and I'm okay with that. I love him as he is. I still have quite a bit of work to do, but I'm taking it slow, and not expecting too much. I have realized something weird, though. Even though he eats his Zupreem Pellets, he rarely eats them inside the cage. He has to eat them outside with me. If he gets really hungry though, he might eat alittle.

 

[MonicaMc]

It's great that you've made some progress with him!

Curious to know though, how much of his diet is pellets?

 

[Tangie]

Thank you! And the percentage of his pellets have changed. A vet once told me to have most of the percentage of his food as pellets, and then some fruits or veggies, and a few treats. But luckily I found out that eating too much pellets for a small bird is bad. The percentages of his food still changes a little, since he is not fully transferred to a pelleted and veggie diet. I am hoping to reach this percentage-- 10% treats, 20% percent sprouted seeds, 30% percent vegatables, 30% pellets, and then 10% of a corn, bean, and other ingrediant crock-pot meal. Do you think that is a good diet? I have heard of all different kinds of diets, amd settled on this one.

And i have more good news on his training! He has suddenly started accepting treats from my hand! He still does not let me pet him, accept for rare occasions, but that is fine.

 

[MonicaMc]

Sounds like a good mixed diet. Great job! Sounds like he is learning to trust you some more!

 

[Tangie]

Thank you! I may be taking away his mirrors, though. He seems to be overly aggressive to me after seeing himself. And all he wants to do is sit there and sing songs to it through the whole day. He is overly infatuatee.

 

[MonicaMc]

Well, I don't recommend mirrors to begin with.... most parrots don't realize they are staring at a reflection of themselves... so I'd say that's a good thing to remove them!

 

[Tangie]

Sorry for not being on lately, I have been very busy with school work and pets. Kiko has made a little progress but it seem to be slowing down. He seems to be content and relaxed when he sits on my shoulder now, and when I enter the room he stretches and gives me heartwings! So, other than that, not much progress. He also seemed to be down in the weather the last week, and he showed signs of off and on diarrhea. Being the worried and stressed out 'mother' I am, I rushed him to the vet, only to be told he was perfectly healthy. They gave him worming medicine though, and sent us away. It cost me a lot, but I am extremely relieved he was healthy. The vet told me that he just seemed to be stressed out, and I need to hurry along with the healthy diet. :0

 

[Tangie]

I am extremely happy to say that Kiko has been doing much better. He actually accepts seeds and treats from my hand! I have NEVER thought that I would get to this point with him. He has also developed the habit of screaming for a while whenever I leave the room. My family finds it ind of annoying, but I LOVE IT. I feel so loved and appreciated when he does it.

He also comes out all the time now, and I also never thought that this would happen as well! I am extremely happy, but I know he still needs quite more progress. He doesn't allow anything to touch him, unless it's his food.

He has learned to love broccoli, and has even tried some carrots and birdie bread. Overall, I am surprised he has come such a long way under a year.