• Welcome to Avian Avenue! To view our forum with less advertisments please register with us.
    Memberships are free and it will just take a moment. Click here

My first Cockatiel suddenly becomes agressive, HELP ME PLS

BirdNewbie

Checking out the neighborhood
Joined
2/12/20
Messages
2
Um, hello! I'm new to cockatiels... and to forums... and to birds at all, actually. A few days ago I bought my first cockatiel who is approximately 7 months old. I kept him inside the cage for the first few days; he would eat from my hand and stand on it and ask for my presence when I went to other room. Though he didn't really like scratches and gave me small bites (didn't hurt at all) when I tried to scratch him. He was behaving pretty well anyways.

But today I decided that it was a good moment to put him out of his cage and spend some quality time with my new bird. I made the room birdproof and left his food out of the cage in case he wanted to eat while he was out. I don't know how much time we spent, like half an hour or an hour (or maybe even two hours, I don't know, I lost track of time because IT WAS SO WONDERFUL), but he would stand on my shoulder, my head, and even let me give him head-scratches.

The things is, by the end of the session I had him on my shoulder for a while, and when I tried to touch him again he bit me pretty agressively. Still didn't hurt but he was pretty angry. I tried to give him a treat and he bit the TREAT the same agressive way he bit my hand and he didn't want to eat it. He even did the same with his normal food. Then I gave him some water and I thought that he would be happier after drinking, but after he drank he was still ANGRY. He didn't ever hiss or anything, but he wouldn't let me touch him or give him food because he would attack everything. Then I carefully put him back inside his cage (while he was still biting me).

He had never done that before... I think? Maybe I didn't realize? Now that I'm remembering I think he did that like twice or so to his food when I was feeding him from outside the cage (while he was inside the cage).

It's been like one hour now, he was eating and he looked calm. I tried to hold him again and he stepped on my hand happily. He likes me to give him sunflower seeds one by one, so, I gave him one seed and he was happy, I gave him another seed and he was happy, then I gave him ANOTHER seed and he did the same thing; He attacked the seed and then he attacked my hand.


I'm not sure exactly why he is doing that. Can someone please give me any clues? I don't want to aggravate it.


I've been thinking that it's the feeding. The person who sold the cockatiel to me just told me to give him sunflowers and birdseeds, and the cockatiel was having vitamins in his water, so I don't think he was being very properly fed. Can someone tell me what I can do? There are no cockatiel seed mixes or pellets in my area. (I'm giving him apple and lettuce as treats, in case that is relevant).


I would be VERY grateful for any ideas you could give me! (Also, I'm sorry if my english grammar is kinda bad, english is not my first language).
 

sunnysmom

Ripping up the road
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
9/16/13
Messages
28,800
Location
Pennsylvania
Real Name
Michelle
Welcome. Your English is very good. I think you're doing very well with your tiel for only having had him a few days. My guess is he's still a bit skittish though and learning to trust you and that might be the cause of aggression. Like he wants to be friends, but is still unsure? I would maybe slow things down a little. Let him come out on his own. If he seems nervous about coming out, you can put a perch just outside the door and hang some millet to entice him out. As for scratches, it might be a little too soon still. Often cockatiels will put their heads down when they want scratched. Maybe look for clues like that. Or I actually did kind of a hand signal with my first tiel to ask if he wanted scratches. If he did, he put his head down. I have 2 cockatiels right now, they're both senior tiels, I can't give either of them scratches yet and it's been months. So you're already making great progress. I think continuing to hand feed him treats is good too.

As for diet, seeds are okay to be part of a tiel's diet. If you can't get pellets, then definitely try to add more vegetables to his diet, not just as treats. Things like squash, peppers, cooked sweet potatoes, broccoli, lettuce, etc. All of that is good. You can try sprouting seeds too.
 

Tiel Feathers

Joyriding the Neighborhood
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
9/15/14
Messages
20,193
Location
Quincy,CA
Real Name
Deanna
Congratulations on your new bird, he seems to be settling in nicely! In addition to still being unsure of your hands as @sunnysmom said, it might also be that he was very comfortable on your shoulder and wanted to stay and rest there. It also sounds like he was frustrated because he didn’t want any more food but you kept giving him some.
Can you get any pellets shipped to you? His diet should consist of pellets, seeds, and fresh veggies. Millet is good to save as a training treat. Just remember to never force him to do anything, but rather everything should be his choice. You’ll have to post pictures of him!
 

Spirit Warrior

Walking the driveway
Avenue Veteran
Joined
8/3/18
Messages
242
Location
Uk
[QUOTE="sunnysmom, post: 3199516, member: Or I actually did kind of a hand signal with my first tiel to ask if he wanted scratches.
[/QUOTE]
I do with same with my tiel. I wiggle my finger up and down and say head scrich and if he wants one he puts his head down
 
Top