We have 3 cockatiels. We've had cinnamon for 3 months just by herself and then 1 month after having her we bought 2 more tiels. Its been 2 months since we bought the 2 new tiels (3 months for cinnamon).
Whenever i try to hold one of them or bring them away from their cage/perch, they will always try to fly back. But they always ask for head scratches when I go up to them (bowing their heads down). They always fight for my head scratches and even stop to eat and walk up to me to ask for head scratches when i kneel in front of their cage. They're not scared of my hand (they all know step up), although sometimes they will try to run if they don't want to leave their spot but they eventually walk on it when i keep putting my hand in front of them.
My current house i recently moved into (a month ago), I have my tv/computer and parrot stand/cage all in the lounge room. We have a giant parrot stand for our 3 tiels and it's right next to our computer where we spend all day on.
In my old house we had the birds in a different room from our computers and so whenever we wanted to play with them we would grab 1 cockatiel at a time or sometimes 2/3 altogether and put them on our shoulder or portable perch. This time they would actually stay there for hours or even the whole day. They would stay and play with my hair, ask for scratches. I used to be able to put them on my table and they would bite at my keyboard etc. We could have proper 1 on 1 time with each bird since they wouldnt try to fly out of the room. But I noticed that when I put the cage inside the room, they would sometimes try to fly back to it. So I used to keep the cage out of the room just to spend some time with them.
Now that we have the parrot stand right next to our computers we can't even hold them for 5 seconds or put them on our table without them trying to fly back to it. I understand this might be because they're not as familiar with us but I also read online that 1 on 1 bonding with tiels will strengthen your relationship with them. But how do we do that if they keep trying to fly back when we want to play with them? I don't want to have to bring our tiels to a separate room just to play with them and i dont want to always have to stand up next to their perch or kneel by their cage just to play with them too.
I even tried to carry all 3 of the birds on me and play with them but they still try to fly back to the cage/ perch, except for our bird cinnamon (who we had for 1 month by herself before we bought the other 2). I think cinnamon is more bonded to us since we had her for longer and also had 1 month alone with her. So she tends to stay on our hand for longer and asks for scratches but then eventually tries to go back to the cage/perch. She also has her wings heavily clipped (breeder clipped her way too much to the point where she has no flight whatsoever). So i'm not sure if she stays because she can't fly or because she actually likes us. The other 2 have their wings clipped but not like cinnamons. just a normal clip so they can still sort of fly.
What do we do from here? Do we just keep playing with them from their perch and hopefully one day they'll feel comfortable enough to sit on our shoulder without flying back? Is there a training method we can use? like putting treats on our tables or something? Should we clip the other 2 birds like cinnamons? Please help!!
Whenever i try to hold one of them or bring them away from their cage/perch, they will always try to fly back. But they always ask for head scratches when I go up to them (bowing their heads down). They always fight for my head scratches and even stop to eat and walk up to me to ask for head scratches when i kneel in front of their cage. They're not scared of my hand (they all know step up), although sometimes they will try to run if they don't want to leave their spot but they eventually walk on it when i keep putting my hand in front of them.
My current house i recently moved into (a month ago), I have my tv/computer and parrot stand/cage all in the lounge room. We have a giant parrot stand for our 3 tiels and it's right next to our computer where we spend all day on.
In my old house we had the birds in a different room from our computers and so whenever we wanted to play with them we would grab 1 cockatiel at a time or sometimes 2/3 altogether and put them on our shoulder or portable perch. This time they would actually stay there for hours or even the whole day. They would stay and play with my hair, ask for scratches. I used to be able to put them on my table and they would bite at my keyboard etc. We could have proper 1 on 1 time with each bird since they wouldnt try to fly out of the room. But I noticed that when I put the cage inside the room, they would sometimes try to fly back to it. So I used to keep the cage out of the room just to spend some time with them.
Now that we have the parrot stand right next to our computers we can't even hold them for 5 seconds or put them on our table without them trying to fly back to it. I understand this might be because they're not as familiar with us but I also read online that 1 on 1 bonding with tiels will strengthen your relationship with them. But how do we do that if they keep trying to fly back when we want to play with them? I don't want to have to bring our tiels to a separate room just to play with them and i dont want to always have to stand up next to their perch or kneel by their cage just to play with them too.
I even tried to carry all 3 of the birds on me and play with them but they still try to fly back to the cage/ perch, except for our bird cinnamon (who we had for 1 month by herself before we bought the other 2). I think cinnamon is more bonded to us since we had her for longer and also had 1 month alone with her. So she tends to stay on our hand for longer and asks for scratches but then eventually tries to go back to the cage/perch. She also has her wings heavily clipped (breeder clipped her way too much to the point where she has no flight whatsoever). So i'm not sure if she stays because she can't fly or because she actually likes us. The other 2 have their wings clipped but not like cinnamons. just a normal clip so they can still sort of fly.
What do we do from here? Do we just keep playing with them from their perch and hopefully one day they'll feel comfortable enough to sit on our shoulder without flying back? Is there a training method we can use? like putting treats on our tables or something? Should we clip the other 2 birds like cinnamons? Please help!!
