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Help with my newly acquired Cockatiel!

Jonnf

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Jonn Sanchez
Hello wonderful community of avian lovers!

I would like to first of all, salute all of you for all the wonderful help, insights and advices I have received so far, this is in deed a place to find solutions for our beloved animals!

In this occasion, I would love to bring to you my new baby I got a couple weeks ago and Ill jump right on my inquiries by starting with some facts about him/her (and ill post photos as well):

1. I still dont know the gender
2. At the store, they told me it was around 2 months old, and prior purchasing, they said it was removed from formula around 2 weeks prior.
3. It was severely clipped and had no tail feathers (the new tail feathers are coming now) as the owners explained, the baby was breaking them off by revolting in the nursery he was held in.
4. When I got the baby it was weighting around 69+ grams, today he/she is at 71-73 grams
5. The baby is a 'great eater?' because it tries mostly everything I offer as far as food items, except the chop, the bird prefers whole, crisp, crunchy leaves rather. Is completely into pellets which I love, and shows interest in food in general.
6. I am currently making progress in target training which is progressively going great.
7. My baby does not shows to be very afraid of my hands, responds quite ok to 'come' commands and approaches/sits at the door when I point to come every morning, however, hesitates a lot to come up my hand, that still needs work.

So my little consultation here has three parts:

First, based on the pics y'all see here, and based on the fact that I have heard him doing the sweet "Hey!" call whenever i go off his sight, and also he is trying to sporadically whistle some disarticulated sounds that I still cannot pinpoint as 'melodies', what sex would you guess it is??? It still doesnt show much of a peculiar walk in heart shape as a male either...

My second inquiry is about Its behavior. It is generally gentle and calmed, it tolerates my presence and I keep him hear me mostly all the time, he doesnt spook off unless some sudden noise or something falls near him. However, when I am holding it, or petting it, the bird makes some static screams, then he lowers the crest back and nips me quite intensly on my finger rings, my fingers, nails and hands but not painfully, then follows to lower its head, twisting its neck showing me the under-chin in what I believe is asking for 'specific' or more pettings... BTW this is the only instance that it makes such static noise, I have not heard it scream like that in relation to food at all. Is that something y'all identify as a certain behavior???

And thirdly, I am a little concerned about his eating habits, which is why I said he is a 'great eater?' question marked... I am concerned I am not doing enough to encourage his eating so it gains weight faster... it tries all I offer, but seems a little slow to gain weight, and since I am not knowledgable about how much it should weight at this point, I keep getting worried it might be staying within a weight range for too long and not making too much progress quick. I understand birds cannot loose weight rapidly especially when growing and developing so I would greatly appreciate some insight here! He nibbles and eats sprouts, leaves -it loves them, it enjoys its pellets and seeds, and then kinda looses interest, perches and naps a little. It is overall becoming more active and definitely more curious, altho the blackness of feathers, the little fella has A LOT of drive to fly and a killer take-off power, that amazes me! It also likes to sort of, increase his appetite towards the end of the day, later, at around 4:30 to 6 pm I noticed it likes to eat more during these times rather than the morning.

I rarely see my bird devouring food out of hunger in the morning or throughout the day, just comes and goes towards the food, sits, eats a little, i see its crop sorta full at some points, which comforts me to see, but other than that, it is not an eating machine. Would this be a regression to formula kinda situation?

Sorry for the long post but I thought offering as many details upfront as possible would direct my search for answers more specifically.

I will be so grateful for any help!

Many thanks!!! And here the pics:

IMG_2285.jpg IMG_2292.jpg
 

Jonnf

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Jonn Sanchez
Edit:

Forgot to add, It shows more interest in food items, or tends to turn its attention BACK to food whenever I hold the dish...
 

Xoetix

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What a cutie patootie :heart:

So, first - still too young to guess the sex. Are you whistling the same Melody constantly to him? Are you saying the same words consistently for him to learn? If so, you should know pretty soon. Tteok was whistling his song and talking around 5-6 months old, which I think is pretty average.

Second - how old is he now? The way you describe the “static” screams makes me think he’s still making baby noises. It took Tteok a while to stop that. It’s a sound I don’t miss :roflmao: Sounds like typical baby attitude though. “Pet me H E R E. Not there. RIGHT HERE.” Sounds like he’s telling you what he wants.

Third - Have you been to a vet? He weighs more than my dude :roflmao: obviously birds can be different from each other, one might be bigger overall than another, much like humans. How often are you feeding him? What’s his every day diet look like?
 

Pixiebeak

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that is great snd normal weight gain. ! Doing fine!
Mine nibbles and come n go from food mine don't just sit and chow. With weight gain i think good
Utterly adorable baby!!!
 

Pixiebeak

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This age the urge to fledged abd learn to fky is strong and driven by instincts.
So put pillows and blankets around any place he may try to fky from to cushion landing
 

Pixiebeak

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doesn't look chunky to me. There can be a big size difference in tiels
 

Jonnf

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Jonn Sanchez
What a cutie patootie :heart:

So, first - still too young to guess the sex. Are you whistling the same Melody constantly to him? Are you saying the same words consistently for him to learn? If so, you should know pretty soon. Tteok was whistling his song and talking around 5-6 months old, which I think is pretty average.

Second - how old is he now? The way you describe the “static” screams makes me think he’s still making baby noises. It took Tteok a while to stop that. It’s a sound I don’t miss :roflmao: Sounds like typical baby attitude though. “Pet me H E R E. Not there. RIGHT HERE.” Sounds like he’s telling you what he wants.

Third - Have you been to a vet? He weighs more than my dude :roflmao: obviously birds can be different from each other, one might be bigger overall than another, much like humans. How often are you feeding him? What’s his every day diet look like?
Thanks! he's cute right! Im just too eager to know!
I whistle to him but not like you describe, so yes, I need to improve that department as well! thanks for the heads up, this will tell me if I hear him try at least when I start whistling the same tune now. He tries to whistle sometimes, but he is still shy so he might still be keeping it to himself.

The static sound is like an angry static sound that intends to do exactly what you describe, he only does that when he sees my fingers near his face, and bites and bites and screams like that but I notice is followed by bowing the head and kinda asking for it. I have read here it could be 'comfort' static noise of some sort.

Then yes, I am taking him soon to the vet to be sexed genetically and a general checkup. When I addressed the weight issue I thought he should have been heavier LOL! PHEW! ok, now i can relax a little! His diet is super varied, and healthy, I am getting him to like as much as I can introduce at this moment. His feces changed dramatically from when he came, and now he has a very consistent bowel movements, and his energy and curiosity around tells me he is getting good nourishment from his diet, as far as I can tell...

Thank you!!!
 

Jonnf

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Jonn Sanchez
that is great snd normal weight gain. ! Doing fine!
Mine nibbles and come n go from food mine don't just sit and chow. With weight gain i think good
Utterly adorable baby!!!
I thought he was underweight LOL
It pleases me to know I am doing good! I will take him soon to the vet to be checked and sexed as well ;)
 

Jonnf

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Jonn Sanchez
Being him clipped so young, will he ever learn to be a skilled flyer?
 

Xoetix

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Being him clipped so young, will he ever learn to be a skilled flyer?
He will absolutely learn - between instinct and cockatiels being made from aggressive stubbornness, he will totally get there
 

Kiwi's Dad

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Being him clipped so young, will he ever learn to be a skilled flyer?
Kiwi my cockatiel was clipped at a young age and she learned how to fly perfectly :)
 

Kiwi's Dad

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He’s so cute :heart:
Do you have a name or do you need suggestions?
 
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