Pet cockatiel Help With Taming & Training

[RachP]

Good Morning

i am very excited to have somewhere who understands the love i have for my bird and to also get advice so thank you to everyone who has made me feel welcome

exactly 1 week ago i bought home our newest addition being a cinnamon pearl cockatiel who was 10 weeks old at the time.

At first we noticed Freckles wouldnt eat however this has now changed approximately 2 days ago. Freckles does seem quiet and want to be on her own glued to her cage and we are trying to handle her and getting her to enjoy our company as well as training. Freckles will step up but does not like pats or scratches and will not eat from our hand nor does she want to be extremely close to us.

i just wish to find out - am i expecting too much too early? do you have any tips that may help Freckles become more comfortable and eat from my hand so that we can begin training?

Thank you all for taking the time to read my post

 

[Swallow]

Hello, I have the same problem, however to day
JoJo showed some interest coming a little closer but very unsure of me. He is happy enough sings and whistles. Will take food from my mouth but that's as close as it gets. He is supposed to have been hand reared, so it is a little disappointing.

Theresa

 

[Allee]

Hello and welcome to you and Freckles, very cute name!

Don't be disappointed yet. Freckles and JoJo need time to adjust. Everything is brand new to them. They have no idea what is expected of them yet. Training is a process, some learn quicker than others, but all of them need time and none of them come out of their shell knowing how to please humans. Make them feel as comfortable as possible and let them build some trust and confidence. Talk to them, let them get accustomed to you before you ask too much of them.

Will take food from my mouth but that's as close as it gets. He is supposed to have been hand reared, so it is a little disappointing.

Letting your bird eat from your mouth is a dangerous practice. Human saliva contains harmful bacteria than can make your bird ill.

Both the following sub forums have excellent information if you haven't already read through them, I think it might be helpful.

General Health Care - Parrot Forum - Parrot Owner's Community

General Parrot Information - Parrot Forum - Parrot Owner's Community

Good luck with Freckles and JoJo. Please post photos, we'd love to see your babies.

 

[RachP]

Good afternoon Allee,

Thank you for your kind words - i cannot take the credit for the name unfortunately as my 6 year old daughter was

of course im only to excited to

show off pictures hee hee. Here is Freckles





i am enjoying trying to read and learn as much as i can, i guess im just a little worried that she was 10 weeks old and want to desperately do the right training and exercises

 

[Colorguarder08]

Looking at the both your pics up close (I first read this on my phone and knew my reply would require a computer) I think Freckles is a he. The main reason for this is Freckles has a lot of yellow and bright orange on it's face which more often than not is an indicator of being a male I was trying to look at the tail fethers in the second one but you can't really see them in the pic so I suggest checking the tail feathers for "bars" or lines on them especially the darker feathers if there are none then Freckles is a male. Unless you plan on breeding then it really doesn't matter what the gender is as both make good pets. It's good you got Freckles so young it means that Freckles hasn't really had a chance (with the exception of a bad breeder) to have a bad experiences with people and hands. Also since she (for the sake of argument we will go with she) is on your daughter it is a good start. It means she's not compleatly afraid of you guys. The best way to get her to bond to you guys and become trusting enough to eat from your hands is to spend time with her. She will eventually allow you to pet her and give her scratches once she allowes that offer treats with your hand. DO NOT wrap your hand around her wings as most birds hate that and VERY few good breeders will do that while handfeeding them. Rileys breeder was an exception and I got lucky with her breeder as all the chicks were well socialized which doesn't happen often at least around here. Get everyone one to bond with and take care of Freckles as that way if you ever have to go out of town for some reason another family member can care for her and won't be attacked. Also try to get her on pellets as they are healthier than seeds. An all seed diet can cause fatty liver diease which means that rather than your bird living 20-25 years (expected life span of a healthy cockatiel) it may only live 5-10 years. Also an extra fun fact we brought our birds home at around the same time I brought Riley home on Tuesday of last week and she was 2 days shy of being 8 weeks. So don't worry Freckles will basically be a sponge right now absorbing everything and learning what does and doesn't work to get attention ( ignore when she screams or she will become a non stop screamer for attention). She will also be learning what behaviors are and are not acceptable.

 

[Colorguarder08]

Also something Riley just reminded me of cockatiels are prone to night frights. Normally they are harmless but sometimes, in Riley's case, they can cause problems. This is the first night fright Riley has had since I brought her home so I brought her out gave her some cuddles and now shes back in the cage and getting ready to go back to bed. Night frights are what happens when the bird gets scared at night. I find them annoying but knowing Riley's history with them I know I need to check on her after each one as at 3-4 weeks old she broke a blood feather during one and the breeders had to pull the feather and said she lost a lot of blood because of it. Then 2-3 weeks later she had another one and released all her tail feathers causing her to be unbalanced until they grow back in. However what has happened during her night frights is NOT typical. I prefer to leave the cage uncovered as it's been my experience that they tend to have more when they are covered. However some members reccommend covering the cage part way and leaving a night light on for them. Everyone has their own way of preventing (or at least reducing them as they are unavoidable especially with tiels) and you will need to find what works best for Freckles.

 

[Allee]

Those photos are precious, thanks for posting them. Looks like Feeckles has found a wonderful home.

 

[RachP]

Good Morning

Thank you all so much for taking the time to reply to me, it is great that i can express myself here - when some people including family do not get the immense love you have your bird

i am very excited to learn if freckles is a he or she i will as freckles gets comfortable try and snap some helpful photos of the tail feathers

i was very thrilled with last night as i got home and cooked dinner and i noticed the first few nights freckles seem very interested in the corn but was still to nervous to touch it, so last night i whipped up some freshly cooked corn cobs and sat freckles beside me and allowed her to pick up the corn and she absolutely loved it yippee!! i think we may have found our first training treat, so i let her eat her corn last night and tonight i will try some had feeding and see how we go..

of course i had to take more photos

Thank you for your extremely helpful posts colourguarder, im looking forward to taking a look at your beautiful teals

 

[Colorguarder08]

Your welcome and good job getting Freckles to eat corn. Its not easy getting birds to eat new foods. It sounds as though your bird has found a wonderful home. Don't worry I have tons of pics of Riley posted through out this forum

 

[RachP]

aaww Thank you i certainly do hope i am providing freckles everything he deserves (just getting use to it incase LOL)

i must admit i feel its a bit like 21 dates - the movie, it feels like we start over every morning LOL...im hoping she remembers the corn when i get home tonight

i have been admiring Riley all morning, what an absolute devine little tiel..

 

[Colorguarder08]

Thank you she's a sweetheart and I'm so happy I got her. And while birds are strange creatures they don't have amnesia (usually) so he should remember the corn. Things will get easier as time goes by head probably still adjusting. Once he learns what's expected and accepted of him you will have one amazing entertaining pet.

 

[RachP]

One thing that has totally amazed me was the bond freckles created with my daughter, she is 5 and i thought that it would extremely overwhelming for freckles but to my complete amazement my daughter is able to get freckles to step up and put him away in the cage, and all so easily too.

i just want to race home now and play LOL

 

[Colorguarder08]

It could be that because your daughter is young she's not showing any fear or hesitation making him more confident in her. Or he just likes her animals tend to pick people they like. Not to say they won't like or bond with others but he might always prefer your daughters company and that's OK.

 

[RachP]

Good Afternoon Everyone,

i am thrilled to report again last night and this morning we have had break through with little freckles.

Last night Freckles got very excited as soon as his fresh corn come out, and he has really mastered how to pull it out, and SUCCESS - he ate a few from my hand which just made me so excited.

This morning my daughter and i were playing and well freckles it seems did not know how to crack the sunflower seeds and this morning he learnt that also and took some seeds from our hand.

Also freckles completely leaned on me to put him back into his cage last night

i just could not be happier

 

[Colorguarder08]

Thats wonderful. See it just takes a little time and he's already warming up to you.

 

[Colorguarder08]

How are things going with Freckles?

 

[Bobi]

Hey! I have a middle-aged, 17 year old cockatiel, Bobi, and we're very attached and thought I'd share my experiences, I have a few tricks, which were very valuable to me throughout the years.
I think that you and Freckles are starting off really well, maybe you are trying to handle him too much too early. Birds are very curious, so they'll take interest even if you keep your distance a little. I have a little story here: Originally Bobi was bought to my bigger sister, but he became more attached to me, and ended up with me. The difference was how we handled him. My sister used force more often, and I used to play more often. It's a good rule to leave birds wings and tails alone. They can be made to tolerate it, but they won't like you for it, after all, your messing up the feathers they work all day to get all neat and beautiful. Putting your hand over his wings should be enough to keep him from flying away.
I suggest keep him company as much as you can, but take your time before you handle him, talk to him, whistle, try to arouse his interest, and only then make moves to handle him. Birds are very social, especially those who live this long, so they need contact from you. But first you have to be very interesting, so he knows he wants contact from you. Always handling him when you want it to isn't a good idea, even if he cooperates. Initial force handling is essential since you prove to your bird this way that you wont hurt it, but after he knows he won't be hurt, and Freckles knows that already, you want him to start to really like you, especially if you want him trained

Make lots of sounds

They love their feathers.

I have tons of stories with Bobi when he instantaneously got friendly with somebody who had a big pretty feather and played with him a little. And have some funny attack stories. A friend of mine kept touching his tail feathers. Bobi was very angry with him. One time my friend went to check out what was he doing, the cage door was open but Bobi was inside eating. My friend didn't do nothing, but stood there and watched, and Bobi came out and leaped staight at his face scratching and biting him. They never became friends

Bobi loves all kinds of pointy objects, like pencils and screws, they will make great play things. Feathers are the all time favorites, however. If he becomes more comfortable, try putting him on a big table with little play objects scattered, let him discover them. Don't force the toys on him. If you play with something and is interesting enough, your bird will join in by himself.

You can try little rubber or plastic balls too

If you have some new food to offer, try putting some on a clear surface of contrasting color, light color seeds on a black tabletop or paper, colorful bits on white or black, dark bits on white. I always succeeded this way to make my bird taste new things. I start to nibble on some, and then he can't resist, it looks so good.

I keep my bird loose now, even when I'm out of town, and the neighbor has to feed him. When I lived with my parents, I had to keep him shut most of the time. It was hard to catch him, and not because he wasn't social, he was already very attached. He just didn't like to sit in the cage all they. And when he was let outside, he did make a lot of mess all over the place. After I moved out, I didn't care about the mess, and started to keep him free. Guess what? After a little while he chose one or two favorite spots and that's that. No mess He goes exploring from time to time, but most parts of the house aren't comfortable enough to stay there. So I started using this new insight as tricks. If I wanted to keep him in a certain spot of my home I made sure it's comfortable for him. Anyway his favorite spot will always be close to you. And now he sits on top of his cage most of the time. He sleeps and eats inside the cage, he goes in by himself. I only lock him up if there are lots of people coming and going, and he could get stressed and scared. I think keeping their bird loose is a goal every bird owner should work towards. I find life a lot easier. Less noise, no chasing at all (before we had hide and seek routines before going "home", Bobi always read my mind)
and there is no biting the neighbor when feeding, if I'm away.

As a little kid when I wanted to take him out of the cage, but didn't want him to fly around, I came up with an idea. I spread a bedding cover across the floor and made a little tent, half a meter high, and crawled in with my bird, and let him loose there. I was about 10 (now I'm 26), and it was really big back then from the inside. Light seeps right through, and there are no holes where the bird could escape. No chance of your bird getting hurt somewhere around the house, no chance for him to fly away, so I didn't need to keep him in my hands inside there. It was the perfect place for bonding. That's where my bird got into the habit of crawling all over me, and later the floor became our main playground. I'd sit on the ground, have a quill in my hand, and wherever I put it, Bobi would fly there, from one place on the ground on a part of my body, to another place on the ground. It's not that common for birds to become that comfortable with the ground, they like heights by their nature. So I suggest a tent!

And speaking of heights, if you want to pet your bird, scratch his head, make sure your hand is at a level below your bird's head, or at his feet. If your hand is above his head, it means threat. It makes birds more comfortable if they are the same "height" as you are, and you don't tower over them. Even if your holding him, keep him at your head level, they don't feel threatened that way.

This came out quite long I think, but I hope it will really help you to bond. Birds bond more easily with children. They are smaller, have higher voice.

Good luck!

 

[RachP]

hello

sorry i have been MIA, things have been pretty crazy Freckles is going great. My daughter has adopted her and well everywhere my daughter goes around the house, Freckles sure goes too. She is such a great little tiel to be so patient with my daughter who made her a birds nest out of a mini baskethall hoop with a cushion shoved in it LOL.

i was however a little upset as the bird was to be my pet and i never got to spend any time, my daughter has even been trying to train freckles ha ha.

Well next thing i know my husband is at the pet shop with me showing me my dream bird - a sun conure... and well he wouldnt let me leave it there as this conure seemed to bond with me, instantly preening my hair, letting me hand feed it etc.

So i was extremely extremely worried about having 2 birds, but i have to say as soon as we get home my daughter gets freckles out and carts her everywhere and then my jester comes out and is different, he tends to walk around the floor following me, sits on his training perch while i cook or whatever it may be.

So suprisingly it is working extremely well and honestly my daughter is stoked and loves freckles to bits and i am happy with little Jester.

what is even more amazing is the personality difference between the two as i have never had a conure before, WOW the way he plays with me rolling on his back and next thing you know he is on my shoulders and asleep on my back lo, so much character whereas freckles is much more suited to a child she is ever so peaceful and you dont ever hear a word out of her

how is little Riley progressing ?

im doing my best to catch up today on what i have missed out on hee hee

 

[veimar]

Congrats on your wonderful bird! It looks like "he" to me as well. Just let him get adjusted - he'll be fine. Cockatiels are easily tamed.
Just so you don't worry - little over 2 mo ago we rescued a 18 mo old male tiel from pretty bad conditions (never let out of his cage, not handled, kept outside in the mobile home community with 4-5 other tiels in a small cage, and parent fed on the top of that!). He was totally wild and a terrible screamer. Now he is my lap baby, I take him to hikes with me in a harness and can even leave him on a tree branch when I go swimming on the beach. He goes to shower with me every day. He screams once in a while, but not much. He still lounges at my hands in his cage and can lightly bite, but then he lowers his head for scratches. He loves to perch on me and enjoys scratches and cuddling! And he is cage free (only goes to his cage at night, and luckily he hasn't has a night fright so far).
If this happened with a wild adult bird in 2 months, I'm sure your bird is gonna be tame and sweet in less than a month. He is a sweetheart!

 

[EdwardH]

Now is the best time to give her plenty of different foods to eat so that she gets used to eating a variety of healthy foods. Try sprouts, peas, broccoli, spinach, dandelion, apples, pears, carrots etc. the more variety the better her health will be.