Hello, this is my first post so I hope I'm doing this right!
I have a 3 year old male cockatiel I've had for 2 years now. We adopted him after his owner got a new dog that scared the poor little guy too much. He definitely was never hand tamed as when the cage was approached, he'd either move away or get into a defensive stance.
We've had him for awhile now and slowly tried to approach him (hand feeding, practicing stepping up, letting him sit on our shoulders, etc.) but he's still completely flighty and defensive. He will step up but only half the time and always tries to fly off of the hand immediately. He will eat out of the hand but with much hesitation and when approached often opens his mouth and flattens his crest. We do think he enjoys our company because he sings when he is around us but he has a lot of anxiety in general. At the sign of any movement or noise, his crest shoots up and his body goes flat.
Is my cockatiel never going to be tame or is there something I can do to help him warm up?
I have a 3 year old male cockatiel I've had for 2 years now. We adopted him after his owner got a new dog that scared the poor little guy too much. He definitely was never hand tamed as when the cage was approached, he'd either move away or get into a defensive stance.
We've had him for awhile now and slowly tried to approach him (hand feeding, practicing stepping up, letting him sit on our shoulders, etc.) but he's still completely flighty and defensive. He will step up but only half the time and always tries to fly off of the hand immediately. He will eat out of the hand but with much hesitation and when approached often opens his mouth and flattens his crest. We do think he enjoys our company because he sings when he is around us but he has a lot of anxiety in general. At the sign of any movement or noise, his crest shoots up and his body goes flat.
Is my cockatiel never going to be tame or is there something I can do to help him warm up?