"Older" Petshop Cockatiel

[Nidarosis]

Hey there!

I just got myself a Cockatiel from the local petshop/vet. I had been going back and fourth to the shop considering for a long time if I should buy the one they had left. The workers noticed I had been looking several time and decided to tell me a little bit about the Cockatiel.

They told me it was a boy, 10 months old, and his cage mates had been sold before him every single time.
I could tell he was more uncomfortable with humans compared to the other birds at the shop, but my heart melted and I just had to give him a home.

They offered me a discout, because he was apperantly considered "less desireable" which was very sad to me, because he seems completely fine other than him being less comfortable around humans.

I have to admit it's been a while since I had a bird that wasn't tame, and I am very worried about him. I can tell he is stressed and not having a great time, so I wondering what I should do? I try to give him as much space as possible in my small apartment, and a bigger cage is arriving on tuesday. (His current one is decent, but not good enough)

Do you guys think he can become tamed, or at least semi-tamed? I feel like the only thing he has experienced with humans is them cleaning the cage, or taking his mates out for sale. I don't mind if he can't become fully tame, I just want him to not be scared of me.

I'll take any advice I can get. I am a new Cockatiel owner, and only have experience with budgies and lovebirds from the past. I've done research, but I still feel a bit clueless right now because I worry so much about him.

 

[TikiMyn]

Welcome to the avenue!
He can most certainly be tamed, just takes time thank you for giving him a home!
I would start off by dropping a treat(a piece of millet or a sunflower seed could work wonderfully, make sure the treat you use is not a part of his normal diet so it has a higher value as treat) in his bowl every time you walk by. Move very slowly around him and talk softly, don’t look directly at his eyes and if he shows signs of fear, back off so he knows you are listening to what he ‘says’. You can read stories(or something else, you can pick anything!) near him, be sure to sit at a distance that he feels comfortable with. Don’t force him to do anything.
With time, could be days, weeks or months(even years but I think that is unlikely in this case he Will start to trust you!

 

[Nidarosis]

Welcome to the avenue!
He can most certainly be tamed, just takes time thank you for giving him a home!
I would start off by dropping a treat(a piece of millet or a sunflower seed could work wonderfully, make sure the treat you use is not a part of his normal diet so it has a higher value as treat) in his bowl every time you walk by. Move very slowly around him and talk softly, don’t look directly at his eyes and if he shows signs of fear, back off so he knows you are listening to what he ‘says’. You can read stories(or something else, you can pick anything!) near him, be sure to sit at a distance that he feels comfortable with. Don’t force him to do anything.
With time, could be days, weeks or months(even years but I think that is unlikely in this case he Will start to trust you!

Thank you so much!
I will do my best and follow your advice, and we shall see how it goes <3
I adore him already, and look forward to seeing his progress.

 

[TikiMyn]

Thank you so much!
I will do my best and follow your advice, and we shall see how it goes <3
I adore him already, and look forward to seeing his progress.

I am looking forward to seeing your progress as well! I had an older rescue cockatiel and he was the sweetest Most tiels are sooo sweet, and I think you Will end up with a great buddy! Post a picture of your little one if you like what is his name?

 

[Fergus Mom]

Awwww - I'm so glad you got to adopt him, he must have been so lonely each time they sold one of his cagemates.

And yes, absolutely I agree with Tikimyn, just give him lots of patience and love and take it slow, and he will begin trusting you. There are great posts here on taming, and great advice from our wonderful friends here at AA - we are all one big flock!

 

[finchly]

^^ @TikiMyn has it right.

When I started reading aloud to my cockatiels for 30 min each day (my audiologist said to do it for my hearing) it made a huge difference. They started responding by the 3rd day. I would read this forum to them and make comments or tell them about it.

 

[Nidarosis]

I am looking forward to seeing your progress as well! I had an older rescue cockatiel and he was the sweetest Most tiels are sooo sweet, and I think you Will end up with a great buddy! Post a picture of your little one if you like what is his name?

I will try to post a picture as soon as I can. I'm currently stuck at work for the whole day, but my partner is home to take care of him!
I'm actually having a very hard finding a name, there is too much to choose from. I'm norwegian and my partner is polish, so we're trying to find something that is easy for us both to prounounce, haha!

 

[Nidarosis]

Awwww - I'm so glad you got to adopt him, he must have been so lonely each time they sold one of his cagemates.

And yes, absolutely I agree with Tikimyn, just give him lots of patience and love and take it slow, and he will begin trusting you. There are great posts here on taming, and great advice from our wonderful friends here at AA - we are all one big flock!

I couldn't just leave him behind!
I look so much forward to the other cage to arrive, because I feel like the current one is a tad too small a,nd is not really helping. The delivery of the cage got delayed, but I guess just a few more days won't do much damage.

Gonna keep reading and learning as much as I can! Thanks for the advice and encouragement <3

 

[Nidarosis]

^^ @TikiMyn has it right.

When I started reading aloud to my cockatiels for 30 min each day (my audiologist said to do it for my hearing) it made a huge difference. They started responding by the 3rd day. I would read this forum to them and make comments or tell them about it.

I'm gonna have to try this out! I've never been good at reading out loud, but I guess that would just be good practise for us both indeed<3

 

[NirAntae]

In addition to reading and talking quietly to him, try to just have him near you as much as possible through your day. If you're sitting on your computer, do it next to his cage. Watching TV? Have his cage next to you. As he gets more used to you being close, rest your hand next to his cage so he can see it, and get used to it being near him, but not invading his space and not trying to touch him. Once he seems comfortable with that, make sure the room is secure - no fans going, no open windows/doors etc. - and open his cage. That's it, just open the cage. Don't put your hand in, don't try to coax him out. After a little bit, put a high-value treat or favorite toy in his view a little ways outside his cage, so he has to come out to get it. Don't try to touch him, don't focus hard on him; you're just trying to teach him that coming out of the cage is safe and there are good things out there. Let him retreat immediately if he wants. Once he's comfortable with that, put a lower value treat out, and the high value treat somewhere on you - in your hand, hanging from your sleeve, on your knee/shoulder, etc. This gives him the option of taking the 'lesser' treat or choosing to trust you to get the 'better' one, or taking the lesser one while deciding if he's brave enough for the better one. And so on.

Never ever force him to do anything if you can avoid it. That will destroy all the trust you're building.


And thank you SO much for taking the baby who needs some extra love and patience!

 

[Nidarosis]

In addition to reading and talking quietly to him, try to just have him near you as much as possible through your day. If you're sitting on your computer, do it next to his cage. Watching TV? Have his cage next to you. As he gets more used to you being close, rest your hand next to his cage so he can see it, and get used to it being near him, but not invading his space and not trying to touch him. Once he seems comfortable with that, make sure the room is secure - no fans going, no open windows/doors etc. - and open his cage. That's it, just open the cage. Don't put your hand in, don't try to coax him out. After a little bit, put a high-value treat or favorite toy in his view a little ways outside his cage, so he has to come out to get it. Don't try to touch him, don't focus hard on him; you're just trying to teach him that coming out of the cage is safe and there are good things out there. Let him retreat immediately if he wants. Once he's comfortable with that, put a lower value treat out, and the high value treat somewhere on you - in your hand, hanging from your sleeve, on your knee/shoulder, etc. This gives him the option of taking the 'lesser' treat or choosing to trust you to get the 'better' one, or taking the lesser one while deciding if he's brave enough for the better one. And so on.

Never ever force him to do anything if you can avoid it. That will destroy all the trust you're building.


And thank you SO much for taking the baby who needs some extra love and patience!

Wonderful! Thanks again for all the help and warm welcome to the forum!
I'm very motivated for the "challenge", and I have a pretty forgiving work schedule, so I don't work every single day. There will be plenty of time spent with my new lil Cockatiel!

No need to thank me for taking him, I feel sad no one else wanted him, because he is perfectly fine. I guess it's just how it goes at pet shops.
My partner and I feel as if it was destiny. We had been looking at him a few month earlier to getting him, but figured it wasn't a good time, but in the end we did end up getting him <3

 

[NirAntae]

Cockatiels in general are very friendly and forgiving little guys, so you should see progress relatively quickly, as long as you don't try to push him faster than he is ready for. And then you will have a wonderful little buddy for years and years.

 

[Lady Jane]

Welcome to AA. Yes, Cockatiels are wonderful birds to have in your life. Just enjoy the fact that you have this bird and don't worry about the training just yet. Let him or her get used to just being in the new environment and with new people, even new food.
Once the bird is comfortable the training can begin. It would help if we could see a photo of the bird. Maybe even help you out with names!

 

[Shezbug]

Welcome
We would love to see pictures of your new bird if you have any. Cockatiels are such pretty little things, I love their little hairdo

 

[Nidarosis]

Welcome
We would love to see pictures of your new bird if you have any. Cockatiels are such pretty little things, I love their little hairdo

This is the best I could do, he was not very happy with me taking a picture. Poor baby :') We want to possibly call him Onyx!
This is just his not his actual cage, waiting for delivery still, was supposed to be here last week!!

 

[CeciliaZ]

He's beautiful! I think Onyx is a great name for him. At 10 months old - lots of time for him to adjust to his new home and become "tame". I also purchased a tiel from a pet store that was left behind after the others were sold - also he was offered to me at a lesser price because he also was not very friendly. He climbed to my shoulder and sang. That was it. He came home with me. And almost 19 years later - he is still with me. He is not my "tamest" of my five tiels. He does show a fear of hands but will step up. He, (Buddy) will sit on your shoulder, knee. He really prefers the company of one of my other tiels.

 

[TikiMyn]

Love the name Onyx! He looks gorgeous

 

[Shezbug]

Hes a beauty. Really love his little crest

 

[Lady Jane]

Since you are thinking along the line of gemstones for a name I offer up two more. Both stones come in shades of gray.
Picasso is one and Jasper is the other.

 

[Dartman]

His eyes look happy enough so I think with some time you two will become best buds. Keep slowly working with him at his pace and he'll decide when you've earned his trust and things will go way faster after that.