Is this the right path?

[Outstrech]

I swear I have the world's laziest bird. He wont step one step to get a bunch of millet. Just sleeping and standing all day every day. I know I have to be paitent but I'm getting frustrated. It sucks to come home after going somewhere to see he hasn't moved all day.
It's a gamble, every day. Like one day he'll be super brave and the next he'll be the most mellow bird ever Today he doesn't even want to STAND on the perch that leads to the outside of the cage. What is going on? He wants the millet...but only if it's a centimeter from his face

 

[Zara]

I highly recommend reading this article;

Ethical, Moral & Spiritual Considerations of Companion Parrot CareBy Pamela Clark, CVT, CPBC

Remember, those people who post cute 10 second video clips are only showing your 10 seconds. It means nothing. Do you think their birds are like that all the time? Doubt it.
I know I myself have a video on my youtube page of one of my really ¨untame¨ birds on my hand gently nibbling at my fingers. That is a rarity. It´s happened like 5 times in all these years.

 

[Sodapop&Co.]

I swear I have the world's laziest bird. He wont step one step to get a bunch of millet. Just sleeping and standing all day every day. I know I have to be paitent but I'm getting frustrated. It sucks to come home after going somewhere to see he hasn't moved all day.
It's a gamble, every day. Like one day he'll be super brave and the next he'll be the most mellow bird ever Today he doesn't even want to STAND on the perch that leads to the outside of the cage. What is going on? He wants the millet...but only if it's a centimeter from his face

Look, I'm sorry but you need to stop being angry at your bird. Anger isn't going to get you anywhere good. Your bird feels it. Stay positive, stay realistic, and go with the flow. Your birdie needs patience and if he's acting in a strange way your first thought should be worry and concern, not anger and frustration that he's not the character you want. If our birds aren't happy and acting normal it worries us (and sometimes makes us feel like we're doing it all wrong) but we do what we need to do to figure out what's wrong and give them a happy and healthy life; I do think that is what you're feeling but you're not recognizing it correctly. Whatever a bird can offer us in companionship or cuteness or social standing is secondary. Please remember that as bird keepers, their happiness and health, in this completely unnatural environment, is our priority.
So start mulling it over. A happy young creature shouldn't be sitting around all day; that's not normal, so something must not be right. Think about it; how bored and depressed would you be if that's how you were living? It's not his personality. Nothing is wrong with your bird (What's his name by the way?). So some factor needs to be changed so you need to experiment with different things and see the effect they have on him. Good or bad. You need to learn to watch and understand his body language so you can figure out what you can change to improve the situation (and animals always feel more comfortable when the people around them really understand the things they say, or mumble sometimes, with their actions; just like people. You're a lot more comfortable around people who understand you). You really need to commit to it, not just give it a half-ahemed attempt and succumb to frustration and give up if it's not instantly magically better. Think about everything from his perspective. How his life started, the confusion he must feel about what life is like, all the little things that effect him. Moving through homes, different people, different houses. How old is he? I gather he's a young guy. He's not sure how to do this whole "life" thing. No one has taught him. He needs your help to figure it out. He hasn't been on youtube or tiktok and seen how other critters like him act so how should he know? He needs your guidance, patience and understanding, like a young child does. The term "bird-parent" isn't just a joke; I think most would agree that's the exact reality. We're raising little feathered children here. Don't live it all day-to-day and give in to the emotions of the moment; see the big picture and stay positive.
Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. : ) Also we should totally have bird pictures in this thread - let us see your little guy!

 

[Outstrech]

Thank you for the good advice! I'm sorry for getting upset and mad at him-it's wrong, and I should stop. I feel like raising a bird, much like a child, requires paitence and acceptance. I don't care how cuddly he is, just that he can be himself, even if it isn't my ideal bird. It's for HIS happiness, not mine.

 

[Outstrech]

Here he is

 

[Sodapop&Co.]

Oh he's a gorgeous little fella. I've always loved the Tiels with the bright cheeks and wing markings. Does he have a name yet?

 

[Outstrech]

Yup! His name is sunflower (because I call him sunflower seed in chinese, or 瓜子 )

 

[Sodapop&Co.]

oh right. That's so cute!

 

[Outstrech]

What's this? Sunflower came out very very very carefully!

 

[Sodapop&Co.]

Ooooh what a clever fellow! Hey another treat that my Tiel LOVES are Nutriberries. Her favourites are the Tropical flavoured. They're also really healthy which is a plus and they need a bit of prying so I really like them for a bird who needs a bit of encouragement to forage. We developed a game with Phoenix where I hide Nutriberries under those paper cupcake liners which had holes cut in them (big ones at first so that she could easily see the treat and grab the liner thing with her beak) and then she'd have to figure out how to get the treat. She really loves it; it seemed to make her enjoy the treats even more for some reason lol. She will walk with the liner to the edge of the table now and drop it on the ground, just to make her point.
It's a cool surface you have available there, with the table. That's an opportunity to gradually introduce tiny little toys and other interesting stuff. Really gradually though; you want him to be curious not scared. Over time you could make that spot a really nice birdie playground. Just for some ideas: you could buy toy parts (not full toys, probably, cuz those are big and scarey) of different materials and textures and just lay them out casually on the table. Lay out pieces of treats (not too big - you want him to eat a bit but not enough to satisfy him, so he has to explore further to get more) to encourage him to get nearer to those objects, and eventually he'll start beak-testing (spreading out the treats you can do now already; good to get him moving and having a look-see on his own power). He's bound to discover some stuff he likes chewing our pushing around before too long. Best place to get toy parts would be one of the vendors here I think, unless you have a local bird store - the big chains never seem to sell good stuff. You'll want to look for stuff for delicate chewers or small birds, at first. Yucca, balsa, sola, finger traps (these are fun cuz you can stuff treats in them - Phoenix loves the texture too), etc. The vendors here will be able to set you up really nicely with stuff for a bird who's still building in confidence.
Also one more thing: birds like cheering and encouragement sometimes, but Sunny would probably be overwhelmed. So I would probably put out stuff for him but not watch him too closely or say anything if he starts doing new stuff. But you're the only one who will be able to tell if he likes vocal encouragement yet.

 

[Outstrech]

Yup! I have a bird playground that I'm going to introduce once he's comfy with the table. Maybe even a DIY table toy would do, like a piece of paper with ends cut into strips so he can shred it, toilet paper rolls with treats (maybe nutriberries like you mentioned!) inside for forage, etc.

 

[Sodapop&Co.]

Good ideas! Just different textures for him to start testing. But not too close to his perch; don't want to invade his space yet. The great thing with this open table space is that you can introduce things really gradually; kinda one piece atta time. I generally lay out new stuff somewhere where the birds can see it but not feel like it's close enough to pose any threat, and then go from there. Always watching to see if they're comfortable or not.

 

[Outstrech]

Whats up with this random feather on the side? I noticed it this morning when I woke up for skating practice, but when I came back it was still there. Is this a concern?

 

[Zara]

Do you have a clearer pic?

A picture of the whole cage and set up may help the thread also..

 

[Outstrech]

The feather fell. RN my phone is dead and charges slowly so it might be a while until I can get cage pic sorry!

 

[Sodapop&Co.]

Probably just a moulted feather. They come out weirdly sometimes. And yeah we can totally give you some tips on the cage. When I first got my budgies I had trouble figuring out what kinda stuff to use and how to set it up; the pet stores aren't much help with that so I just used the perches and food dishes they gave me, which works, but looked a bit boring and birds like different textures too. I have fun with it now; you can always experiment with different stuff and see how it goes. Birds like an ever-changing environment too. I make my cages really colourful now.

 

[Outstrech]

ok here it is! Theres def places that could be better (ordering natural wood perches right now!) And feel free to give me all your crtique, i dont mind

 

[SeñorBirb]

I see you have a wood/rope ladder, maybe hang that on the back wall? Once you get the new perches, take out the dowels. Also, add some toys. Make some out of paper, or buy some. Do you know the dimensions of the cage? form what I see, it looks pretty big.

 

[Sodapop&Co.]

Ooo nice cage. Definitely a lot of experimenting you can do there! One thing I just thought of - it looks like it's on the ground? This could be part of the reason for his lack of confidence; birds have a thing about being high up. They feel a lot safer. So maybe place it on the table or something of that sort - I'm sure he'd like it a lot. I like the perch he's sitting on in the picture. Does he usually sleep on that one? It's nice to have the highest perch in the cage be a nice soft one because birds usually sleep on the highest perch available. Nice boing spirally thing you got there. I have one of those but my Tiel never played with it so I ended up using it as a stationary perch - attaching the one end to a side of the cage and then snaking it around and attaching it again once or twice to form a nice changing perch (using zip-ties). Now they love it. You could try to do that and use it as Sunny's sleeping perch. And yeah, different toys to make it more interesting are great. One thing I've done with Phoenix to get her chewing on stuff is zip-tying toy pieces to the side of her cage, beside her favourite perches. Stuff like pieces of soft yucca, another type i can't think of, finger traps. Just pieces of paper. That kinda idea. You can even do that with half a leaf of lettuce lol (I use zip-ties for everything). You might find Sunny will give lettuce a try if it's attached to his cage near his perch like that.

 

[Outstrech]

Ooo nice cage. Definitely a lot of experimenting you can do there! One thing I just thought of - it looks like it's on the ground? This could be part of the reason for his lack of confidence; birds have a thing about being high up. They feel a lot safer. So maybe place it on the table or something of that sort - I'm sure he'd like it a lot. I like the perch he's sitting on in the picture. Does he usually sleep on that one? It's nice to have the highest perch in the cage be a nice soft one because birds usually sleep on the highest perch available. Nice boing spirally thing you got there. I have one of those but my Tiel never played with it so I ended up using it as a stationary perch - attaching the one end to a side of the cage and then snaking it around and attaching it again once or twice to form a nice changing perch (using zip-ties). Now they love it. You could try to do that and use it as Sunny's sleeping perch. And yeah, different toys to make it more interesting are great. One thing I've done with Phoenix to get her chewing on stuff is zip-tying toy pieces to the side of her cage, beside her favourite perches. Stuff like pieces of soft yucca, another type i can't think of, finger traps. Just pieces of paper. That kinda idea. You can even do that with half a leaf of lettuce lol (I use zip-ties for everything). You might find Sunny will give lettuce a try if it's attached to his cage near his perch like that.

Yup, sunny sleeps on the soft perch. Ive tried mushing millet into fruit and veg-no luck. I got the bird safe perch from my yard; the onlu issue is that style of perch can only extend from one end to the other thus making movement too easy. I dont want to install a natural wood perch only for it to fall and for sunny to get scared. Also how do I install new toys and things without him getting scared?

And for the toy thing ive tried playing with them in front of him but hes not intrested.

I apologize for spelling-this was done on a phone.