So I have 2 (probably female) cockatiels for a while now (a year) and well i have not been able to do much progress with them. They were 7 months when I got them and they have not been conditioned to humans and were very skittish when I first got them…for the past year I have tried to simply train them to get on my hand on their own so I could get them outside their cage and outside their bird room. (They hat leaving their cage) and I know I know females are not as social as males but I don’t know what I should do at this point. And I rly need help and tips
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I need tips for training my tiels
- Thread starter Sayed
- Start date
Edit: Btw they rly don’t like me and will only scream for me to fill their food and water bowls and then scream again to get me to leave and also for my to turn of their lights for bedtime. when they do sometimes get out of their cage they don’t trust anything and are afraid of everything the one with the brown wings and pearls is the only one who will trust me and come on my hand just so she can get in the cage again the other pearled lutino doe not trust me at all and will get stuck outside her cage. Also the picture attached is of the lower section of their old cage their new cage is much bigger. It doesnt let me attach an image so i cant show them right now
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I don’t have a picture of their current cage situation cus I’m not in my country. But this picture that I will try and send is from their cage when I first got it. Ik it looks barren but don’t worry they have a bunch of stuff now…not that they use it. The box on their cage is just a toy. They like to chew it. And that cotton rope in the background is now removed cus it’s now dangerous in it’s current state. They also have an opening on the left side (don’t know if u can see it) where there also is a perch there where they can leave and enter their cage if they want.
If you make a habit of whistling a nice short tune or 2 cockatiels are very good at picking that up.
It does take repetition - so pick something you like - you could even record it and put it on loop for a time each day.
It does take repetition - so pick something you like - you could even record it and put it on loop for a time each day.
wouldn’t that be annoying for them? also how does that help?
Sayed I have a few questions.
You say your out of the country, do you have your parrots with you?
You have the picture of the bottom of the cage can you put the the cage together. What do you feed your parrot.
Can you get some millet. The first picture is millet. That is a great training treat.
I am asking you all this just so I know what we have to work with.
This is by no means disrespect to you.
I am here to help you work through all this. So you can enjoy your parrots.
The second picture is Cash if you look he is on a perch that leads to the door.
That's how I start working with him to come down from the perch above to me to get a treat. I just have a millet bud in my hand. But you can start with a bigger peice. You only have one cage for both?
Or can you put them each. In cage.
It would be easier to work with one at a time. If you can put one in another cage, even just for the time your working with the other one. That would help.
Let me tell you about me one I don't have a computer I use my phone. Am 70yrs old. I had parrots before and now I have a few. I have studied and read about parrot their training. I would like to help you out. Just what you told me I can tell that they have just been getting away with what ever they want so the just down want to listen to you. You could say they are a little wild. That's fine we can work with that.
One step at a time.
What are their names this way I know who we are working with.
Also Sayed the person that said for you to whistle. That works, they were just trying to help. Talk to your parrots as if they understand you. Sing to your parrots. Every morning I go by each cage an say good morning to them by there names. I continue to talk to them. They know my voice. Parrots are flock animals, you are part of the flock. In the morning when they call out it's to get everyone ready to go look for food. So when you get up talk to them in a nice happy voice. I continue to talk to mine, I call each. one by name I sing to them. If my neighbors hear me they probably think I'm a crazy old man
How do you feed your parrots do you free feed. Where you leave food out all day. I need to know. Sayed again I am here to help you, not to judge you. Everything I ask is for a reason. It will help you and I to be able to get you having fun with your parrots.the last picture is of Yukon my cockatiel. He's on his training perch.
Please answer the questions. See if you can get some millet. And we can start.working with your little gals.
Sayed don't get frustrated this will all work out I promise you. Start with a good attitude and let's just have some fun. That's what having parrots is all about. Talk more later.
You say your out of the country, do you have your parrots with you?
You have the picture of the bottom of the cage can you put the the cage together. What do you feed your parrot.
Can you get some millet. The first picture is millet. That is a great training treat.
I am asking you all this just so I know what we have to work with.
This is by no means disrespect to you.
I am here to help you work through all this. So you can enjoy your parrots.
The second picture is Cash if you look he is on a perch that leads to the door.
That's how I start working with him to come down from the perch above to me to get a treat. I just have a millet bud in my hand. But you can start with a bigger peice. You only have one cage for both?
Or can you put them each. In cage.
It would be easier to work with one at a time. If you can put one in another cage, even just for the time your working with the other one. That would help.
Let me tell you about me one I don't have a computer I use my phone. Am 70yrs old. I had parrots before and now I have a few. I have studied and read about parrot their training. I would like to help you out. Just what you told me I can tell that they have just been getting away with what ever they want so the just down want to listen to you. You could say they are a little wild. That's fine we can work with that.
One step at a time.
What are their names this way I know who we are working with.
Also Sayed the person that said for you to whistle. That works, they were just trying to help. Talk to your parrots as if they understand you. Sing to your parrots. Every morning I go by each cage an say good morning to them by there names. I continue to talk to them. They know my voice. Parrots are flock animals, you are part of the flock. In the morning when they call out it's to get everyone ready to go look for food. So when you get up talk to them in a nice happy voice. I continue to talk to mine, I call each. one by name I sing to them. If my neighbors hear me they probably think I'm a crazy old man
How do you feed your parrots do you free feed. Where you leave food out all day. I need to know. Sayed again I am here to help you, not to judge you. Everything I ask is for a reason. It will help you and I to be able to get you having fun with your parrots.the last picture is of Yukon my cockatiel. He's on his training perch.
Please answer the questions. See if you can get some millet. And we can start.working with your little gals.
Sayed don't get frustrated this will all work out I promise you. Start with a good attitude and let's just have some fun. That's what having parrots is all about. Talk more later.
Attachments
This first picture is were my cages are.
The three against the wall are the cinnamon conure ( Cash) the green cheek conure (Tango) and my cockatiel ( Yukon) the cage on the right is my indain ringneck ( Pegasus)
The rope going all the way across the three cages is to try and get them to land on the rope instead of someone's else's cage.on the left is the chair I sit on to work the parrots in front of their cage.
This is showing you how I started with Pegasus, showing him a big peice and letting him take a bite out of it. I would tell he was a good bird. The next picture is him getting closer. As time went on I would have the peice of millet get smaller. And now you see how he is all the way sitting on the door way.
From there I started having him work his way to stepping up on my finger. It took awhile he first would get close take a bite of millet. I would say good bird. As he would get closer and start touching my finger with just one toe. I would praise him. When he made it to put one foot on my finger I would tell him how great a bird he was. All the while I would never move my finger. The abject was for him to step on my finger with both feet. Once he did that I. Would hold the millet so he would come off my finger.
You need to go slow. We want him to not be afraid of the finger moving.
We want him to keep coming back to the finger. In time we will start to move the finger.
You see right now Pegasus will step-up take a very small treat from my fingers and step down and wait for me to ask him to step-up again.
The three against the wall are the cinnamon conure ( Cash) the green cheek conure (Tango) and my cockatiel ( Yukon) the cage on the right is my indain ringneck ( Pegasus)
The rope going all the way across the three cages is to try and get them to land on the rope instead of someone's else's cage.on the left is the chair I sit on to work the parrots in front of their cage.
This is showing you how I started with Pegasus, showing him a big peice and letting him take a bite out of it. I would tell he was a good bird. The next picture is him getting closer. As time went on I would have the peice of millet get smaller. And now you see how he is all the way sitting on the door way.
From there I started having him work his way to stepping up on my finger. It took awhile he first would get close take a bite of millet. I would say good bird. As he would get closer and start touching my finger with just one toe. I would praise him. When he made it to put one foot on my finger I would tell him how great a bird he was. All the while I would never move my finger. The abject was for him to step on my finger with both feet. Once he did that I. Would hold the millet so he would come off my finger.
You need to go slow. We want him to not be afraid of the finger moving.
We want him to keep coming back to the finger. In time we will start to move the finger.
You see right now Pegasus will step-up take a very small treat from my fingers and step down and wait for me to ask him to step-up again.
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Hello thoms! I feed them 1 And half actual tablespoons of roudybush pellets and fresh produce such as cabbage and carrots now and then. And yes I do have millet but I don’t feed it to them often cus I fear they may become overweight or smth. my parrots are currently at my grandparents house don’t worry they are fine and are being tended to. When I was talking about the “lower section of the cage” I was talking about a photo that was not able to upload cus my internet is not the best here, that cage was my carrier cage and is much smaller than their bigger cage which u can see the photo of. they really start screaming when they are not together for a minute. I was able to train them to come on my hand with treats and one of them comes up without me showing the treat at first. But 3 months ago I kinda gave up a bit on training cus they were not enjoying it that much and that I was training them the same thing for like 8 months with not much success. Cinnamon
trusts me a bit more though so when I do get her out of their room she comes on my hand on her own cus she is afraid of everything and I’m the only thing she trust that won’t hurt her either than that she is skittish and does not like skritches at all. Btw the lutino pearled (looks yellow in picture) is saffron
and the one with the grey wings and pearls is called cinnamon (when I got her I thought that grey was cinnamon colored) both are female.Wow, that’s a bird room you have there! My cockatiels cage is a bit bigger than yours but considering how your room is so stocked on bird toys and stuff I don’t think that’s much of a problem. That room would be my dream bird room but I don’t have the money or the dedicated bird shop that stocks good quality stuff in my country
It 6:40 am here now my parrots lights are about to come on I need to make my coffee. Give me a couple of hours this is the time I get busy. I clean cages do some training we all have breakfast. And I will write more later.
Sayed this all that I say to you is with great respect. First off with everything the you have said so far and by the picture, I would have to say cinnamon is probably a Sid. Male. One thing is the color. The yellowing of the head is male females do not yellow up like that. Also males are not really afraid it's they are more cautious.
Now how about training cinnamon to come to you from all the way across the room. And to go back to the perch.this way you can give her some exercise. You can also teach her to grab an object and bring it to you. You can teach her to spin around.as for toys do you have a hobby store around. Buy peices of little things and make toys. I made this for Pegasus.
Now how about training cinnamon to come to you from all the way across the room. And to go back to the perch.this way you can give her some exercise. You can also teach her to grab an object and bring it to you. You can teach her to spin around.as for toys do you have a hobby store around. Buy peices of little things and make toys. I made this for Pegasus.
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oh, I thought that if they continue to have their pearls after a year they are female cus males lose them.
i Mean I did try to train cinnamon to fly to my hand for treats which he did do, (ofc I had to show the treats) but it was along a short distance saffron did it better but she is a lot more skittish and would immediately fly back after eating the treat and wouldn’t do it again for a few minutes. Sometimes me and cinnamon would have a very long and good training session where he would do anything, but then the next time I came like after 15 minutes he would lose interest and that’s ok so I would just leave him to whatever he is doing. Also no I unfortunately we dont have such type of stores here, but we do have some diy stores…maybe I can buy some stuff like paper shredding and stuff to put in a wooden box…not that they would use it though. Question: is willow tree wood safe for them? Cus I have a bunch of wooden pieces of willow which I can drill holes into and would be a perfect toy. Also it’s ok if you don’t reply immediately cus our time zones are different so it’s ok
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I grew up with cockatiels here in Australia - cause cockatiels and I are all Australian.
My dad was teaching his cockatiels to whistle tunes when I was a kid in the '60s - repetition is good where sound is concerned.
With training - remember birds and kids have limited attention span - so 15 mins training at a time is good.
Birds are much healthier if they have access to natural sunshine - vitamin D can be supplemented - but birds with natural sunshine live longer and have less illnesses.
I am also 70 and the 3rd word I said was birdie - because I am an aviculturist from aviculturist parents.
My dad was teaching his cockatiels to whistle tunes when I was a kid in the '60s - repetition is good where sound is concerned.
With training - remember birds and kids have limited attention span - so 15 mins training at a time is good.
Birds are much healthier if they have access to natural sunshine - vitamin D can be supplemented - but birds with natural sunshine live longer and have less illnesses.
I am also 70 and the 3rd word I said was birdie - because I am an aviculturist from aviculturist parents.
