Skittish bird help

[Catherine89]

okay everyone I have been working with my female lutino cockatiel for awhile now , while she will willing step and does not seem to be terrified of me, she is scared to come out of the cage on her own. I can have her step up on my finger and take her out of the cage but as soon as the millet is gone she quickly retreats back to her cage. She seems to want to come out and if I leave the door open she will come to the door but won't dare come out. How do I get her to come out on her own ?

 

[sunnysmom]

How long have you had her? How old is she? And what is her history?

 

[Catherine89]

Well we have had for about 1 yr and it took us for ever to get her used to us and we finally succeeded. She is a very skittish bird and scares easily. We got her from a pet store so I'm not sure of her history or age . Vet estimated maybe 2 yrs old.

 

[Tiel Feathers]

What happens if you take her away from the cage before the millet is gone? Maybe you can take her into another small room and keep giving her millet.

 

[Catherine89]

That's good idea , I never thought of that.
I'll try it.

 

[barry collins]

Try closing the door behind her and letting her sit on her cage for a while and sit in the same room and just watch her for a while. See if she calms down out of her cage.

 

[Lady Jane]

In addition to above put a perch on the inside of the cage door and open it up slowly each time if she is sitting on the perch. Do you have a place she can fly too with bird items and perches and feeding dishes there? It can be a table top or play stand. It becomes her cage without the bars. Its important a bird has a place to fly too for in caging them.
It can also be on the cage top. Flight cages are perfect for that. I have climbing things hanging from the ceiling. I hope she has her flight feathers. This will make her feel more confident and more willing to exit the cage without your assistance.

 

[Catherine89]

She does have flight feather, we have a couple perches I could put on the cage door. The top of her cage opens and it has a smaller perch for the top I can try that as well maybe she will get on that one.

 

[Lady Jane]

There are very small plastic feeding dishes that hook on to the cage wires. You can put that dish near the perch with millet in the dish. That way she will want to sit on the cage door perch. Can you post a pic of her cage please?

 

[Catherine89]

Sure, I didn't think about this earlier but the food bowl on the door would be hard with her cage because of the way the door opens. We have another cage that was my male cockateils I lost not to long ago and it would work with that one but she probably won't take to switching cages. Plus we are getting another baby soon once he's fully weaned

There's nothing in the second cage because all his stuff we threw away since we are unsure of what he died from

 

[Lady Jane]

Can you get a larger cage? Flight cages are not so expensive. I have a nice one that was $114
Birds need as large a larger cage than any of the ones you have. Your lovely birds need more room.

Scroll down on the link and you will see the cage.

A&E Flight Cage and Stand. Perfect for Cockatiels, Parakeets, & all Small birds! | eBay

 

[Catherine89]

Yes , we where actually looking into buying her a bigger one. I'll check the link out for sure. The other one posted was $150 so if I can get one for cheaper I'm all for it

 

[Lady Jane]

Good. The cage is good. Nice and big with lots of room for perches and toys. I purchased stainless Steele feeding dishes extra. Price includes delivery.
You also have a color choice and a free toy. It's the A&E flight cage lower on the page.

 

[Catherine89]

I love stainless steel bowls, I'll definitely get those as well , I don't like using plastic bowls they hold germs.

 

[Lady Jane]

The stainless Steele bowls carried by Petco are so thin now. One of my new ones actually cracked so I had to toss it. I bought much better ones on MSBS or Mysafebirdstore

 

[MandaExotics]

I have found that okpetstuff on etsy makes decent cage toppers for cockatiels if you decide on a flight cage and want to add a miniature play gym to see if it will make her more comfortable. They're fairly inexpensive as well.

 

[Kathy beard]

Amazon has great prices on large cages,

 

[Lady Jane]

Surprisingly the cage I posted a link for on Amazon is a few dollars more. Usually they have lower prices.

 

[Monica]

If one cage is small enough and the other large enough, it is possible to get a bird more comfortable with another cage if you can put the smaller one into the larger cage.



I wouldn't recommend removing the millet if she freaks out once it's remove. Keep her attention on the millet and allow her to continue eating it even if she's out. Maybe try placing perches on the outside of the cage so she can hang out there, too.