Well this was unexpected.

[jannette]

Well we were holding off until we moved in a year or two to make any additions to the family, BUT as fate would have it EVERY TIME I say "no we will wait" something happens (a year ago I said no cats neighbor shows up on doorstep with an hours old kitten that was born on his porch... Etc)

Well it happened again. We are getting a CAG once we move and have our own house, a friend of mine works at a pet supply store, her her boss all her coworkers know me and know I love anything with a heart beat. So I get a message, someone walked in with a cockatiel (they don't sell pets only SUPPLIES) they got it less than a month ago, "it's not tame and it bites I don't want it anymore" my husband isn't big on smaller birds BUT he knows me and that I can't leave something homeless when it needs our help.

So we go get it, no cage no food etc brought in with it, the guy brought it in in a generic brown critter travel box, it was so scared and shaking, so 400$ in cage supplies etc later (and what they didn't have on its way thanks to Amazon.com and a prime membership) I now have a new baby (and it is a BABY) in my room away from the commotion of the house to calm down, and as luck would have it from the sounds coming from the box she/he was in it has the same favourite song as my husband (so there may be some luck to him warming up to it! Lol) she is insane scared of hands and people, I actually got it to calm down a bit by playing random cellphone text beeps... It drank a little water after that, they tried to offer it some at the store but it wouldn't have anything to do with food or water.

Here is hoping she calms down a bit I've never seen a bird so scared and I've worked rescue (both volunteer for small rescues and SPCA) and haven't seen a fid so terrified. My exotic vet is on vacation until Monday so can't get it in to be checked until then. It is banded but don't know how far that will get me down here in the USA (back home in Canada I know enough people in the veterinary world I can just make a couple calls to friends who work in vet hospitals to try and match a band to a breeder or mill/store)

Will keep you updated on progress, I'm putting age between 3 to 5 months she's still just a baby. Sometimes people are so cruel, I can't imagine just dumping off something especially when you haven't even had it that long! I hate impulse buyers >_>

No name for it yet, going to wait until it's calmed down into its new home to see its personality.

 

[Terry57]

Awww, what a beautiful baby! Bless you for taking her in and I am sure she will calm down in no time once she realizes she is safe.

 

[wrench13]

Awww, he looks cute, so when he is well nourished and calmed down, he is gonna be a sweetheart, you can tell. Look at his little eyes! Bless you for taking him in.

 

[Rival_of_the_Rickeybird]

A very good deed, sure to be repaid in future joy.

 

[jannette]

Awww, what a beautiful baby! Bless you for taking her in and I am sure she will calm down in no time once she realizes she is safe.

I'm glad she's safe too, people knowing my animal background I normally get these calls at least once a year, first bird call I've had in YEARS though, sometimes they aren't even calls (we've had horses tied to our front gate before dropped off because people couldn't feed them when hay prices skyrocketed) I was back in Canada for the last one!

they (birds) aren't popular animals around where I am. While we were looking for a CAG before I got pregnant we were having to start to look out of state to even find any! Not even any in rescue or needing rehomes at the time! (I am actually really glad for this fact, but the animals that are "popular" are even harder to find homes for... Not everyone can throw horses in the backyard!)

Awww, he looks cute, so when he is well nourished and calmed down, he is gonna be a sweetheart, you can tell. Look at his little eyes! Bless you for taking him in.

He's adorable, first cockatiel I've ever had personally my aunt use to have a bunch (and a cockatoo, and love birds and a Lori!- and the chickens lol) so I grew up around them, I've only ever had lovebirds and my last one passed 6 years ago just before I got married (the joke with my husband was he was waiting for the bird to pass before we tied the knot, she was almost 14, he really isn't a fan of smaller birds lol!)

His eyes are what did me in she sent me a picture you could hardly see anything but it's eyes, so terrified and innocent! My husband got home from the chiropractors and I just looked at him an said "I know you don't like small birds but we have to go to the city I'll explain while we get there" he doesn't question my crazy anymore, he just rolls with it. When we got home and he saw how she was acting even he felt bad for it and was glad we got it.


Also it ate a nutriberry and drank some water so good signs so far! I'm just hoping it calms down to handling by humans since we don't have any other birds it can befriend I hate when they are so alone.

 

[gracebowen]

What an adorable baby. Looks very similar to mine.

 

[texsize]

Looks just like my middle hatched baby Mango.
So glad you are going to take care of it.
texsize

 

[Scott]

Thank you for adopting that sweet beautiful cockatiel!! No doubt that is one traumatized bird, but tiels by nature generally have agreeable dispositions. Let us know how things go the next few days!!

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

Thank You <and your hubby! > for taking in this poor creature!

Having a bird for a month,and then saying I don't want it..I don't have words for that type of mentality

I have never owned a cockatiel...until just recently. sure,I got him in a completely different situation then you did.

BB was 4 months old,and as of tomorrow, I will have him for 5 months.
He was hand/finger trained when I got him <from a breeder>,and he is just the most loving,playful,talkative,songster I have seen in quite sometime!
Yes,give your new baby time to settle in. You are going to be AMAZED on how much love and joy and friendliness a little 89g of fluff can give you.

God bless you and hubby!


Jim

 

[jannette]

Well she seems to have calmed down enough to sleep... With one eye open lol even leaving the light off in my room (it's total pitch black in there) and going in to grab my crafting supplies, sudden little growl from the corner. Lol. Apparently when I tripped over a laundry basket I woke her up.

one thing about being a crafter, and owning a rabbit I have literally EVERYTHING to make bird toys with

all natural fiber rope of various kinds? Check.
Wood beads of various sizes(all natural with no finishes etc)? Check.
Dowels of every possible dimension? Check.
Popsicle sticks? Check. (I actually have over 5000 in every possible size lol)


Because horses = about 15 things of vet wrap.
Because cooking is a hobby = 10 things of mini and regular plain white cupcake liners.

The next few days are going to be fun, oh the plans going on in my head.... Hahahaha. Luckily my husband is also a carpenter/construction labor leadman so I also have a whole lot of untreated wood and the tools to get creative with it. And if I don't have them here at home I can send everything marked out to work with him and he can do what he needs with the stuff there then bring them home (he stays a few minutes late to do some of my little "projects" lol)

Trying to not disturb her until we go to bed tonight, but I really want to see if she ate. She is somewhat dirty (feet at least we're filthy) so I gave her a quick most a half hour before lights out and really targeted her feet, she was big on getting them clean, seemed to enjoy the misting too wasn't too happy I was there so I made a blanket fort on the bed and watched her (my kid thought this was great he's three lol) she stopped shaking when I "sealed us into the fort" she preened for a bit and then went back to watching birds outside.

With how scared she is of people I'm wondering if this guy didn't get bit (or if he had a kid who got bit) and throw her into something or shake her to get her off? I've seen people react like that before and all I can think is IDIOT HOW IS IT SUPPOSED TO TRUST YOU NOW?!?!?! (On one occasion actually said that in high school to my best friends mom... One of those it just kind of came out moments, I wasn't allowed back after that LOL)


ANY advice on cockatiel training or taming would be appreciated, my love birds came from a breeder who really cared about their birds and I visited many times as a kid when she was working with them to get them use to me before they even came home, she even used one of my bandanas around their nest so they were very familiar with my scent, from day one they were very friendly with me and she taught me what she could with her other birds so I could assist with the rescue stuff (in Ontario for those who don't know you need volunteer hours to geaduate high school, I got my birds in 8th grade so I had all my volunteer hours worked out with various rescuers for different animals birds horses rats etc) she had a heated garage she quarantined rescues in so she could breed on the side as well. She was a truly amazing person and while I worked with many a bird with issues I never had much hands on for a tiel this young and this traumatized. Most of hers were rehomes from people getting babies at a pet store etc and not being prepared for puberty so their issues weren't so unknown they were just being "hormonal brats" and trying to establish themselves, some had plucking issues people didn't want to deal with (I've always wanted to get into bird rescue since working there but that won't happen until we buy a house and have everything set up proper for it. My big thing is I want a good sized outdoor flight cage for spring/summer I've seen that work wonders for some birds when all else seems to fail!) this one just has me antsy, I'm way more use to larger older birds when it comes to issues so I'm almost at a loss on working with a traumatized little one!

 

[jannette]

My husband is already warming up to the new birdie, still no name yet, I woke up before him before morning calls happened. Three screams and done (a lot less than my love birds use to do even from their first day home lol). I finished doing dishes and brought some shredded carrots and a small chunk of carrot down for her get part way down the hall and hear whistling peep through the door crack and my husband is sitting on the edge of the bed whistling etc at her which got her off the back perch to the foremost perch. I set the bowls down outside the cage and waited for him to finish his time with her before his appointment today and then put them in the cage (put a bath bowl and a dish with the carrots down for it) she still booked it to the back when I opened the door but she didn't stay there for a change, I pulled the curtain back a bit so the sun would hit the cage and she sat and whistles in the sun got on the bottom started hopping around etc stood on the edge of the bath bowl for a while but didn't get in, I'm thinking I'm going to grab one of the rabbits bowls and give it a scrub (they are shallower than the one I used but really wide, she can stand in it without an issue this one has higher sides than the other)

She wasn't eating and threw two nutriberries off her pellets to the floor and hopped away so I grabbed a couple sun flower seeds and popped them in its dish, it came over and gobbled them down (guess j found the favourite treat lol) then it "ate" a couple pellets (not sure if she ate them or just brown them apart in her beak)

Going grocery shopping tonight so I'll be grabbing a some baby food and various other things to make a chop for it (baby food is for adding to the pellets if it's still not eating them later)

Got some pictures too I need to check through think I cl got a couple clear shots of various angles to help see its colors.

It's Tail feathers are a bit of a mess too.

This afternoon I'm going to try coaxing her with a treat in my hand to see if it will at least come investigate the seed.

 

[jannette]

Today's pictures, any idea on what it's color is?

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

Awwww Jannette!! What a beautiful 'Tiel!! sorry I am new to the cockatiel family..I am sure someone will chime in here.

See?? you have already made progress with the little one! < looks to me to be a male,since it has a yellow face/head> I know with BB...who is a "normal gray" 'tiel,that after they loose their baby clothes,and molt into their "adult" clothes..if its a male,the face/head molt into yellow,if its a female,it stays mostly gray.

And the third picture of this little one is just...PRECIOUS!!!

Already whistling/chirping?? He/she is settling in already. And it sounds like you have a partner with the sunflower seeds. Treats and bribes lol.

Kudos to your hubby on taking time to pay attention,and help calming him/her down Believe me,you are going to be over joyed with this little creature. My BB is just awesome. I don't know why I never thought about getting a cockatiel before.


Jim

 

[jannette]

Little breakthrough and "not friendly" my butt, this was obviously a bird got by someone who had no clue.

Every couple hours me and my son go to my room and sit on the bed and read some books so we bought some of those typical pet shop books about cockatiels for my kid to learn about the bird.

About 15 minutes ago we were in there just looking at the pictures in the book, s/he came to the door of the cage and was pulling up on the sliding door like it wanted out. (Of course it's still unsure so when I opened it it went back to the back of the cage lol so I opened the big door and it stayed at the back.

Bird is friendly just never been worked with so it doesn't have a clue. Still shakes if you get too close (when I put the bath water down or put a plate of fruit/veg down)

It's still not eating much at all. Poop is still normal just in small amounts since it isn't eating much, so that's good.

Was flipping through Amazon when my husband dropped off some things before he headed back to work and found a nice play stand for almost 50% off for the living room (cage is in our bedroom so it can get proper sleep at night, my house is bright and shiny until 1-3 am some days so it's a required thing, also really makes me want an office, would be much nicer if I could have its cage in the living area but it's an open concept house) but the play stand is a floor standing one that also has dishes and a poop catcher tray so I figure it will work for daytime since I'm home all day 90% of the year! Lol.

Was able to find some pine nuts locally that weren't an arm and a leg, and she ate a couple of them out of its food dish since yesterday so two possible training treats.

Also found my old clicker from when my dog was a puppy (clicked it to make sure it still worked and he came flying down the hall like "oh where's my treat?!?" So apparently it still works like new, needs a new strap though, the old one broke somehow)


Been digging through lists to see what I have in the gardens that's safe for birds (flowers herbs etc and their various parts) to see if I can get it wanting to try out something new for food etc. I'm just hoping its appetite picks up soon.

I'm also guessing this bird never fledged and it's wings have been clipped from the time primaries showed up, it can't even fly up to the perch it wants by flapping it walks everywhere and climbs everything but won't jump etc it gets right up next to the side of the cage and tries to reach for the other perch then climbs down to the lowest one that way, it won't fly from the higher one at the back to the lower one at the front. (Almost 2 feet separate the two so I added a couple more perches to help it get around on the edges) so I'm going to have to do some flight training once it molts out.

 

[plumsmum2005]

My husband is already warming up to the new birdie, still no name yet, I woke up before him before morning calls happened. Three screams and done (a lot less than my love birds use to do even from their first day home lol). I finished doing dishes and brought some shredded carrots and a small chunk of carrot down for her get part way down the hall and hear whistling peep through the door crack and my husband is sitting on the edge of the bed whistling etc at her which got her off the back perch to the foremost perch. I set the bowls down outside the cage and waited for him to finish his time with her before his appointment today and then put them in the cage (put a bath bowl and a dish with the carrots down for it) she still booked it to the back when I opened the door but she didn't stay there for a change, I pulled the curtain back a bit so the sun would hit the cage and she sat and whistles in the sun got on the bottom started hopping around etc stood on the edge of the bath bowl for a while but didn't get in, I'm thinking I'm going to grab one of the rabbits bowls and give it a scrub (they are shallower than the one I used but really wide, she can stand in it without an issue this one has higher sides than the other)

She wasn't eating and threw two nutriberries off her pellets to the floor and hopped away so I grabbed a couple sun flower seeds and popped them in its dish, it came over and gobbled them down (guess j found the favourite treat lol) then it "ate" a couple pellets (not sure if she ate them or just brown them apart in her beak)

Going grocery shopping tonight so I'll be grabbing a some baby food and various other things to make a chop for it (baby food is for adding to the pellets if it's still not eating them later)

Got some pictures too I need to check through think I cl got a couple clear shots of various angles to help see its colors.

It's Tail feathers are a bit of a mess too.

This afternoon I'm going to try coaxing her with a treat in my hand to see if it will at least come investigate the seed.

Absolutely no need for baby food because you can crush the pellets down to dust which is what a lot of birds do to them anyway and see if they are more pleasing this way and/or add a sprinkle of this to the chop. Fresh beats baby food anyday IMO.

 

[jannette]

Absolutely no need for baby food because you can crush the pellets down to dust which is what a lot of birds do to them anyway and see if they are more pleasing this way and/or add a sprinkle of this to the chop. Fresh beats baby food anyday IMO.

The baby food is my "backup" for if it refuses to eat, as well as being easy to hide any medication etc in it after a while (were rural and only have one vehicle so getting to the store is almost impossible if my husband gets sent out of state for a week or two for something with work)

The issue is we have NO clue what this poor thing was eating prior to me getting it, the guy who dumped it didn't even say seed or pellets just that he didn't want the bird and it wasn't friendly. Left us in the air as to what the poor thing is eating. Because it has such a lack of any kind of flight ability etc in going to hazard a guess it was a mill bird bought at a pet store so lord only knows how crappy its diet has been up to this point.

 

[Rival_of_the_Rickeybird]

I'm very impressed by your compassion.

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

When I first adopted Jonesy <from a friend after Smokey passed> He refused to eat too I had his bowls full,and even put a plate on his roof top while he was out,he didn't even pay attention and I was getting worried..maybe he ate while in his house for nite nite...I'd check his house carpet and found no evidence of that.
It was about 4 days before he decided he was hungry and checked out his bowls.
Give the little one a little time,he'lll get hungry enough



Jim

 

[Tropical]

So happy you adopted this poor lil' bird... you are his/her hero for sure Eager to see how things progress

 

[jannette]

Small breakthrough today, got it to eat! My millet sprays came in the mail so I stripped half to three quarters of one off and set the remaining stuff on the stock over his bowl, who can resist millet right? He hopped on top of the stock over the bowl and went nuts on it, then it decided it was hungry, after it devoured a bunch I removed the millet spray and then food in the bowl would be a smart idea. Lol

Did my typical detective work with the leg band, traced it to the petsmart supplier of kaytee Preffered birds, sent out a few Facebook messages to friends who work in pet stores around the country (both chain and small shops) and constantly matched up with the petsmart birds.

My husband can no longer tell me he doesn't like small birds, he gets home from work and before My son or I even get a hug he goes to the bird cage LOL!

Still scared of hands but slowly getting better with me revoking and placing it's bath bowl without shaking as hard, still goes to the highest perch when I open the door though. Switched out the ladder in the cage to the longer one (I got it for the outside of the cage did thing think it would fit in there but it just makes it) so that on the right side instead of trying to use the bars to climb up all the time it can head up the ladder since it doesn't understand the concept of jumping yet... (The bottom plastic base is almost as deep as the bird is standing on the bottom grate, making trying to climb it a real workout and a half Lol)

The biggest breakthrough is when I leave the room it flock calls! It's still scared to death of everything but doesn't want to be down the hall on its own (but the house is a little too lively after dark to have its cage out in the living room, once it can be handled we have a play stand for it for out there)

My rabbit officially realized there is a bird in the house, he is not impressed! LOL! He hasn't even seen the bird and he's still mad at me.

The cat could care less about the bird (she was hand raised from birth and has almost 0 prey drive unless your the mysterious red dot on the floor wall or ceiling)

The dog wants to play with it (not in an I want to eat you way, more of a I want to kiss it to death way. He has a literal 0 prey drive, we were originally going to train him for hunting because he showed some promise as a pup and by 4-5 months totally grew out of prey drive, he hardly even chases a ball... And he's a golden retriever LOL he sees other animals that are non dogs and just wants to lay down and lick them to death.... The cats on the farm do not approve of this)

The biggest "issue" has been with the kiddo, but he's never been around a cage bird before, only chickens so he's got some learning to do.

We have also decided on a name, Indiana (Indy for short), after Indiana Jones. Fairly unisex name (I really hate not having a 100% ID on sex when naming lol, I hate naming a Patrick to find out its a Patricia! Haha. It's one thing if I recuse one that is already use to the name but if I'm naming it I prefer knowing... But I don't want to put out the money on a DNA test since I have no plans of breeding!)