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First Time- Baby Tiel. Help?

Maqpie

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Zoe V.
Hello =) I hope you're all having a good day so far.
Tomorrow I'm picking up the baby cockatiel we reserved at a local breeder's shop. He's presumably male (breeder is almost certain, but not positive) and he's hand-fed-- approx 3 or 4 months old now.
We visited him a few times, typically once or twice a week to check on him. He seems very curious when visitors arrive, he'll tilt his head and observe, and occasionally even let out a little chirp. Most times however if you're too close to the cage or attempt to put your hand near him, he grabs onto the bars and scuttles to the opposite end. He's sweet though, played with a strange ball toy while we were there once and even took it from my hand a few times (very cautiously however.) the breeder even got him to sit on my shoulder for a minute.
Overall he seems like a great bird and I look forward to spending my days with him. I've done plenty of research and preparing, but I gotta say I'm quite nervous about taming and training the little fella.
I've seen many tutorials on taming new birds but never young hand-feds. And I was put under the impression that training a hand-fed would be somewhat different than one that was not.
So I came here today in search for advice on how I should approach this situation and go about training and taming him. I wish to grow a strong bond with him and I want him to bond with my family members as well.
All help and suggestions are greatly appreciated, thank you.
God bless.
 

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blewin

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He's adorable...
The best way to bond is just to spend time with him. Hand fed doesn't necessarily mean he won't be hand-shy, so I would probably just take things at his pace.
That's what we did with Buddy. Her pace was a bit faster than most, though.
 

Tiel Feathers

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Congratulations, how exciting! He sure is a cutie.:heart: Just take things slow and at his pace. When you first bring him home, cover three sides of his cage so he feels more secure, play soft music for him when you go out, keep your household calm, sit by his cage and read aloud to him, avoid too much direct eye contact, put a little millet berry in his cup every time you walk by, and never force him to do anything, but always make sure it is his choice. When you think he might be ready to venture out, leave his cage door open, and put a perch right outside for him to get out on. Let us know how it goes!
 

iamwhoiam

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Congrats on getting the 'tiel. Very pretty.
 

sunnysmom

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What a cutie! When you first bring him home, try to keep things as close to what the breeder did as possible. Same food, same bed time, covered or not covered, etc. Then as your birdie settles in more, you can start making the changes you'd like to make.
 

Flipburry

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Congratulations, he's adorable!
You're going to want to make sure that everyone in your household socializes with him so he gets used to everyone.
You can all take turns reading by his cage, telling him about your day or whatever it is you have on your mind, just chatter away.
As suggested, take things slow and let him come to you. Consistency is key.

Try not to feed directly from your palm yet, I've found it might slow progress down a tad.
Instead, what I like to do is to start with either a longer vegetable like a carrot, or put it on something so there's some distance, then gradually decrease the distance.
But that's not to say trying to feed directly from the palm won't work, I just prefer to start with a bit of a distance personally :)

Good luck and feel free to ask any questions if you have any!
 

Maqpie

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Hi everyone!
We got the baby early this morning. He's a real cutie.
He really loves his food (same diet his breeder had him on for now) and loves his new toys...
I had to adjust a few things in the cage, he would sometimes run to the end of his perch but usually just watched me. He only hissed at me once when I attempted to fix his food.
Been refraining from doing anything much besides just sitting on my bed and talking to him. I hope to make progress over the week. He grinds his beak too sometimes which I heard means they are content.
He's pretty silent, but he chirped a few times after hearing a Mozart song.
 

expressmailtome

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Congratulations!
 

Maqpie

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Thank you! :)
Within minutes of being placed in his new cage he ate his food and drank some water, and a bit of millet spray. Then the next hour he began playing with all his new toys and the clamp holding the millet, lol.
Is this a good sign? Is he adjusting quickly? Some of my bird owning friends told me it was fast and that most of their birds took a while to do anything much in their cages.
 

sunnysmom

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Thank you! :)
Within minutes of being placed in his new cage he ate his food and drank some water, and a bit of millet spray. Then the next hour he began playing with all his new toys and the clamp holding the millet, lol.
Is this a good sign? Is he adjusting quickly? Some of my bird owning friends told me it was fast and that most of their birds took a while to do anything much in their cages.

All very good signs. :) And fast. :) But each bird is different, so it's always best to work at his or her pace. Your little one is settling in well.
 

Maqpie

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All very good signs. :) And fast. :) But each bird is different, so it's always best to work at his or her pace. Your little one is settling in well.
Ooh, I'm glad to hear! :D
For gaining their trust, what do you recommend? Most of everyone I ask just tells me how to teach them to step up, but never told me how to exactly get up to the point where I could get my hand that close to him.
 

Tiel Feathers

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You can gain his trust by sitting next to his cage and reading to him, dropping treats in his food bowl, and always paying attention to his body language. Just take things slow and at his pace. You can try putting a perch right outside his cage door and leaving the door open so he can come out on his own. When you think he's ready, you can try feeding him a spray of millet with your fingers. I like to save millet for special treats and training only.
 

sunnysmom

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You can start by trying to hand feed him treats. Something like a sunflower seed or a bit of millet spray. As he get comfortable you can work then to get him to step up on your hand and he gets a treat, etc.
 

Maqpie

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Good news... He was being so good today, we bought some millet and he got so excited when he saw it! He ate some when I held it and even ate the seeds from my hand for a few minutes. Is this good for the second day?
 

Tiel Feathers

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Very good second day!
 

Maqpie

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Should I continue by handfeeding him every day til his comfortable? And should I do it twice a day? Or should one time just be putting my hand in the cage to show him I won't hurt him?
 

datlamb

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congratulations on your new birdie! he sounds very sweet.
regarding your question, there's no real answer! you should pay attention to him and see with how much interactions he's comfortable with.
maybe see how he reacts when you feed him millet closer to the cage door? if he's comfortable, try opening it and see if he'll eat from your hand with the door open. try taking small steps to eventually having your hand inside the cage. if he's comfortable, great! get closer to him. if not, take a step back and wait a bit.
 

Maqpie

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The first time I fed him through the bars, the second time I managed to open the cage and feed it to him there, and then even the seeds in my hand (still in the cage) actually :). If I open the cage he might scoot a way a little but he usually doesn't freak out or anything. He might hiss sometimes if I'm too close but besides that its good I think
 
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