Arijana
Moving in
- Joined
- 6/10/19
- Messages
- 8
Hello,
I want to introduce myself and my birds as well as my struggles, maybe I get useful info here as my experience is one super tame cockatiel long time ago when I was young.
Last year a friend told me about a yellow male cockatiel named Kiki that nobody wants and lives in poor condition. My heart broke so I took him in not really knowing what to expect. He was brought to me in a tiny dirty broken-up old cage, he could not even spread his wings inside unless he does it kind of upside down. Looks like he was fed only seeds for small birds as he eats only those out of high quality food I get him. He was totally wild, not social at all, hissing and biting and attacking when we come near the cage. He also did not want to leave the cage on his own for months, and later if I managed to get him out (with a glove and perch) he seemed so unhappy and stressed I gave up because it looked to me that I am torturing him. He was in poor physical shape, cannot fly at all, and when he falls from my finger or perch it is a struggle to get him back inside without him totally freaking out. I was told he lived 3 years in those very poor condition, and I can tell he was totally neglected. I don't really know his age.
I have a problem with animals locked up in cages so I could not stand him being inside and he did not look happy at all. I got him a huge cage, new toys and I am working with him slowly for a year now. I made some mistakes along the way, not knowing enough, thinking I could wing it, not really understanding how much more difficult it is with older birds. The one I had long time ago even slept on my neck under my hair, he was totally in love with us and it all happened very quickly after we brought him home. He was very young when we got him too, I remember cleaning sunflower seeds for him as he did not seem to be able to do it himself at first. It took us a year where he does not attack me when I get near the cage, unless he was sleeping and I took him by surprise. He looks very nice now, his feathers are nice and clean, and because he sleeps on top of the cage and I intentionally put the food at the bottom, he gets lots of exercize and now seems to be a bit better in terms of physical condition. He still falls down out of the blue, like a rock, and pats at the bottom for a minute or two, then just climbs back up or decides to eat since he is down anyway
He was very lazy at first, and weak, and he would go down and then take a nap before climbing back up. His motoric abilities are not that great now, but he gets around the cage very nicely. He does not do well with changes so I never move his perches or food, it used to take him a day or two to find a bowl of food if I move it, so I would put in a second one, and when he finds that one I remove the first.
So now he seems to like me better, I can get him out of the cage on my finger (I found very useful videos on how to prevent biting which was problematic before) and give him treats the whole time, as soon as I stop he wants to go back inside and I return him. When I talk he ruffles up, and looks like a baby bird when mom comes with food or something, hard to describe, but I think he likes me and my company. My husband and he have a little routine where they both bend down and he jokes it is a little exercise. So it is very slowly getting better, but still, his cage is his whole world and I am trying so hard to get him to realize there is also wonderful world outside it. He loves showers with spray bottle, and food, he also likes fighting with his mirror (even when it gets closed up, I know, I read somewhere here that I should slowly remove it as it is a ladies flip mirror, he came to me with it).
The whole time I knew that he might be lonely. We work and girls are in school all day. So I waited for another bird needing home (I have a thing of adopt don't by which as you see complicates my life haha) and recently I found a female, Angie, who lived in a pare but her male died so she was left alone and very unhappy. Her owner was crying when she gave her to me but she said she could not bare another loss so she decided not to get a second bird but rather find her a home with condition of one or more birds living with her. She told me that she is tame and I thought this is a perfect opportunity for Kiki to see and learn from her. Lady had her for about 6 years and does not know her age. When I brought her home I realized that she is not social with humans at all. So I got another wild hissing and biting older bird! Positive side is that she has a large enough cage, she was not neglected, she leaves the cage and returns by herself, but she will not step on a finger or a perch, she is very fast and just jumps over it! I managed to feed her treats from hand but that is as close as I can get. The good thing is that I am pretty sure she is interested in Kiki, she also expressed a wish to mate, but Kiki seems totally not interested, occasionally hisses at her when she walks on his cage above him, but I got them to eat a same treat (folded millet spray), he hissed at her first time, now they are just both cautious.
So now I realize that I want to get two older tiels tamed, Kiki seems better with it now as he is with us much longer (Angie is here only about a month or so), and that I need to figure out how to teach Angie to step-up. Her previous owner told me that she would just grab her with her hands, but she does not seem to enjoy me doing it at all so if she did not come back to the cage I must towel her so I can leave the house.
I hope there are people willing to share their wisdom with me so that the proces of taming these two birds and making better life for them goes smoother and faster. My hope is that, even if they do not fall in love, they can live together in Kiki's "castle"
I want to introduce myself and my birds as well as my struggles, maybe I get useful info here as my experience is one super tame cockatiel long time ago when I was young.
Last year a friend told me about a yellow male cockatiel named Kiki that nobody wants and lives in poor condition. My heart broke so I took him in not really knowing what to expect. He was brought to me in a tiny dirty broken-up old cage, he could not even spread his wings inside unless he does it kind of upside down. Looks like he was fed only seeds for small birds as he eats only those out of high quality food I get him. He was totally wild, not social at all, hissing and biting and attacking when we come near the cage. He also did not want to leave the cage on his own for months, and later if I managed to get him out (with a glove and perch) he seemed so unhappy and stressed I gave up because it looked to me that I am torturing him. He was in poor physical shape, cannot fly at all, and when he falls from my finger or perch it is a struggle to get him back inside without him totally freaking out. I was told he lived 3 years in those very poor condition, and I can tell he was totally neglected. I don't really know his age.
I have a problem with animals locked up in cages so I could not stand him being inside and he did not look happy at all. I got him a huge cage, new toys and I am working with him slowly for a year now. I made some mistakes along the way, not knowing enough, thinking I could wing it, not really understanding how much more difficult it is with older birds. The one I had long time ago even slept on my neck under my hair, he was totally in love with us and it all happened very quickly after we brought him home. He was very young when we got him too, I remember cleaning sunflower seeds for him as he did not seem to be able to do it himself at first. It took us a year where he does not attack me when I get near the cage, unless he was sleeping and I took him by surprise. He looks very nice now, his feathers are nice and clean, and because he sleeps on top of the cage and I intentionally put the food at the bottom, he gets lots of exercize and now seems to be a bit better in terms of physical condition. He still falls down out of the blue, like a rock, and pats at the bottom for a minute or two, then just climbs back up or decides to eat since he is down anyway
He was very lazy at first, and weak, and he would go down and then take a nap before climbing back up. His motoric abilities are not that great now, but he gets around the cage very nicely. He does not do well with changes so I never move his perches or food, it used to take him a day or two to find a bowl of food if I move it, so I would put in a second one, and when he finds that one I remove the first.So now he seems to like me better, I can get him out of the cage on my finger (I found very useful videos on how to prevent biting which was problematic before) and give him treats the whole time, as soon as I stop he wants to go back inside and I return him. When I talk he ruffles up, and looks like a baby bird when mom comes with food or something, hard to describe, but I think he likes me and my company. My husband and he have a little routine where they both bend down and he jokes it is a little exercise. So it is very slowly getting better, but still, his cage is his whole world and I am trying so hard to get him to realize there is also wonderful world outside it. He loves showers with spray bottle, and food, he also likes fighting with his mirror (even when it gets closed up, I know, I read somewhere here that I should slowly remove it as it is a ladies flip mirror, he came to me with it).
The whole time I knew that he might be lonely. We work and girls are in school all day. So I waited for another bird needing home (I have a thing of adopt don't by which as you see complicates my life haha) and recently I found a female, Angie, who lived in a pare but her male died so she was left alone and very unhappy. Her owner was crying when she gave her to me but she said she could not bare another loss so she decided not to get a second bird but rather find her a home with condition of one or more birds living with her. She told me that she is tame and I thought this is a perfect opportunity for Kiki to see and learn from her. Lady had her for about 6 years and does not know her age. When I brought her home I realized that she is not social with humans at all. So I got another wild hissing and biting older bird! Positive side is that she has a large enough cage, she was not neglected, she leaves the cage and returns by herself, but she will not step on a finger or a perch, she is very fast and just jumps over it! I managed to feed her treats from hand but that is as close as I can get. The good thing is that I am pretty sure she is interested in Kiki, she also expressed a wish to mate, but Kiki seems totally not interested, occasionally hisses at her when she walks on his cage above him, but I got them to eat a same treat (folded millet spray), he hissed at her first time, now they are just both cautious.
So now I realize that I want to get two older tiels tamed, Kiki seems better with it now as he is with us much longer (Angie is here only about a month or so), and that I need to figure out how to teach Angie to step-up. Her previous owner told me that she would just grab her with her hands, but she does not seem to enjoy me doing it at all so if she did not come back to the cage I must towel her so I can leave the house.
I hope there are people willing to share their wisdom with me so that the proces of taming these two birds and making better life for them goes smoother and faster. My hope is that, even if they do not fall in love, they can live together in Kiki's "castle"
Arijana, Kiki and Angie! How lovely you have given a home to two that needed it. Sounds like there has been great progress between the three of you! 
