New hand reared cockatiel advice

[Ashton]

Hi all,

I have recently picked up a cockatiel, assume its female since it hasn't made a noise yet over 2 days. I think it's about 6-7 weeks old. I was just wondering what normal behavior is for a new bird? Currently it hisses at your hand and really doesn't want to be handled. It refuses to eat the biscuit and egg mix the breeder gave me and has barely touched her seed.

Advice on the situation is much appreciated.

 

[GaryBV]

Hi Ashton. I don't think you can tell gender by how quiet a bird is. Now as for it not eating and being quiet, I do think that is very typical behavior for a new bird in a new enviroment, some birds would even have a problem in the same room but put in a new cage. What I would do is to make sure your baby has food and water available, and maybe try to coax it with some millet spray (most birds can't resist) or another treat if you know it likes it. If you have only had it for 2 days, that is hardly any time at all and it is possible it could act 'strange' for over a month. But it's young and should be fairly adaptable.

 

[Maria_Metropolis]

I just brought home a Cockatiel at 7 weeks, and he was very friendly, active and vocalizes. Perhaps your bird is just scared and needs to get over his surroundings, and I hear that's not unusual. Was he hand raised, or raised by his parents? Is he at least crying for food? Are you in contact with the breeder? Will he at least try some spray millet? Is the formula warm enough and at the right consistency? I don't know the gender, just calling him a "he" because I hate using the word, "it."

 

[MikeyTN]

Did you pick up the baby from the breeder? Was he hand fed tamed or parent raised?

 

[Ashton]

He/she is hand raised. I can be in contact with the breeder, yes. She/he was hand rearing with about 20 others though. It is more so concerning that yours, Maria, is that tame. Even in its surroundings at the breeders place it did not like being handled.

 

[MikeyTN]

Unfortunately when a breeder breeds so many they don't socialize with them as they just became a number to sell so even though they said hand fed, it's all thrown out the window with the baby not being socialized. So if you can do some socializing now it would be very helpful and hopefully turn the baby back around.

 

[Ashton]

I really wanted a tame bird, and assumed I would be getting one as its hand reared... I guess I could forget the 100 dollars and return it and find a socialized one elsewhere.

 

[Maria_Metropolis]

He/she is hand raised. I can be in contact with the breeder, yes. She/he was hand rearing with about 20 others though. It is more so concerning that yours, Maria, is that tame. Even in its surroundings at the breeders place it did not like being handled.

My breeder only hand raised a few at a time, so maybe that's why. Like Mikey said, he could be less socialized because the breeder was raising so many. It could take a week for the bird to get acclimated to its surroundings. Just make sure you can get him to eat. Seed and spray millet are favorites, but make sure you get him to eat other things when they get more comfortable.

From what I've read here and other forums, I think my bird is probably the more unusual case to be honest.

I don't think she should have sold it to you that young if you're not familiar with hand feeding (are you???). That could be another issue. I insisted to the breeder I take mine home at 7 weeks because I had some experience with handfeeding a baby bird.

 

[Ashton]

So its typical of hand reared cockatiels, even if at the breeders place, that it desperately tries to get away if handled?

 

[Maria_Metropolis]

I really wanted a tame bird, and assumed I would be getting one as its hand reared... I guess I could forget the 100 dollars and return it and find a socialized one elsewhere.

He could be tame, but he's just a little scared.

 

[Maria_Metropolis]

So its typical of hand reared cockatiels, even if at the breeders place, that it desperately tries to get away if handled?

I don't want to say yes, since I'm not a Cockatiel expert, but from what I've been reading on this forum and others, yes. I could be wrong though, and I don't like that the breeder sold the bird to you so young. My breeder was ambivalent about selling me a 7 week old, but I really wanted to hand feed him to bond more, as I had that experience.

Where did you buy the bird? Did you handle him before you bought him? I would suggest that before purchasing another Cockatiel. The reason I bought mine was because he took to me right away.

 

[Ashton]

I bought it from an old couple who had a big cage of 20 or so of them. So obviously there was no social interaction other than the feeding. She would put them on her chest and pat their backs, so I had no idea whether they wanted to get away or not.

I tried to pet him/her there, but he/she desperately tried to get away, even more so than now. Now it just tries to get away from my hand and I have to kind of force the step up. It hisses quite a lot. Yes that's the perfect scenario, a bird that enjoys being handled by you immediately. I probably should have realized there's too many birds.

The essential reason I purchased a bird was so it would enjoy being handled/petted.

 

[MikeyTN]

So its typical of hand reared cockatiels, even if at the breeders place, that it desperately tries to get away if handled?

Without being socialized yes! Even a hand fed baby. Only those that were socialized to begin with is better. BUT sometimes it depends on each individual baby as well cause I've seen one that came out of a bunch of babies and it ended up being the only tame one.

 

[Maria_Metropolis]

That sounds like an irresponsible breeder. The good news is that young Cockatiels are easily trainable and you can get lots of advice on this forum and elsewhere. Try to find a food that he really likes, that's a start.

 

[MikeyTN]

Like Maria says as long as your willing to train the baby he will come around but it will take time. I've raised tiels for over 16 years. They're truely remarkable birds and my bird household is not the same without them.

 

[Mike17]

As Mikey said, lack of noise is no real clue about gender. Your bird is "hand fed" not hand raised" and not yet socialised. Twenty birds at a time is a production line. We raised 5 recently and it's a challenge, but they turned into lovely birds. We kept a male and a female, the female is quiet but makes baby noises when scratched. The hissing is a sign of fear, your bird will get over it.You need to be patient with it. Our hand-raised birds sometimes hiss when they're being covered at night, or uncovered in the morning, and these birds are 1-3 years old. As Gary said, try spray millet: few birds can resist it. Egg and biscuit isn't really a suitable baby food, either. It's supposed to be for parent birds with chicks, but no bird of ours likes it. I'd suggest some smaller parrot pellets (small as in size of pellets) as well as a proper cockatiel seed mix- our babies absolutely love sunflower and could crack it quite early after weaning.

 

[Ashton]

Thank you for the help.

 

[Maria_Metropolis]

As Mikey said, lack of noise is no real clue about gender. Your bird is "hand fed" not hand raised" and not yet socialised. Twenty birds at a time is a production line. We raised 5 recently and it's a challenge, but they turned into lovely birds. We kept a male and a female, the female is quiet but makes baby noises when scratched. The hissing is a sign of fear, your bird will get over it.You need to be patient with it. Our hand-raised birds sometimes hiss when they're being covered at night, or uncovered in the morning, and these birds are 1-3 years old. As Gary said, try spray millet: few birds can resist it. Egg and biscuit isn't really a suitable baby food, either. It's supposed to be for parent birds with chicks, but no bird of ours likes it. I'd suggest some smaller parrot pellets (small as in size of pellets) as well as a proper cockatiel seed mix- our babies absolutely love sunflower and could crack it quite early after weaning.

Shouldn't the baby be on formula too? Find out what kind the breeder used. My breeder weans them at 8 to 10 weeks. You can to one feeding at 7 weeks if the baby is an appropriate weight. My vet checked out my tiel and stated that he could, based on the his age/weight.

I would ask the breeder what to do in this case.

 

[crimson]

you have plenty of time to train him to get use to you.
the sooner you do it the better.

cockatiels INHALE millet, so you could try using millet as a training tool.
this will take LOTS of time and patience, weeks and a few months....stick with it and she should come around.....do you have a picture?

 

[Mike17]

Shouldn't the baby be on formula too? Find out what kind the breeder used. My breeder weans them at 8 to 10 weeks. You can to one feeding at 7 weeks if the baby is an appropriate weight. My vet checked out my tiel and stated that he could, based on the his age/weight.

I would ask the breeder what to do in this case.

I agree, having gone back to Ashton's first post. At 6-7 weeks it should be on at least one feed of formula per day. Our recent babies were fed Vetafarm Neocare by syringe once per day up until we sold 3 of them at 11-12 weeks, the two we kept carried on for another week or two. The same parents have 4 more babies so it's lucky we stocked up on the Neocare, it comes from a town 5000km away...

Needless to say, babies straight from the nest start on 4 feeds/day.