New Cockatiels First Day Home - What to expect?

[SleepyTiel]

Hello all! Today is my first day with Delilah, a two year old rescue cockatiel! The people I spoke to at her rescue organization told me they expect she was hand-tamed at some point but has since lived with other 'tiels and is flighty around people.
We brought her home last night at 6pm and let her adjust to her new space by mostly leaving her alone. Her wings are clipped for now because she is not hand-tamed anymore so as we work on getting her comfortable with us, we would like the peace of mind that she won't hurt herself flying away in a new home. I was expecting for her to be alert and shy for at least the first few days but this morning she has been chirping up a storm (very loudly haha) and has been sort of zooming around her cage, climbing on the bars and walking across the bottom. She has also been going at one of her toys sort of aggressively, although she has not tried to bite me at all. She has hissed a few times, mostly after we first removed the cover from her cage and as I was trying to change her food. Is this typical first-day behaviour?
I am worried that she is afraid about being in a new cage and space and this energetic chirping and climbing is how she is expressing that.
I have tried to give her lots of space and have been playing music and talking in the room with her but have not tried to touch her at all. She did eat millet that I has holding in my fingers through the cage bars which I feel is a good sign that she isn't totally terrified of my hand (especially for being a mostly-untamed bird on her first day in a new space), but I haven't seen her drink any water or eat from her food dish, which is making me concerned. I remember with my first bird, a budgie, that he wouldn't eat in front of me for the first few days so I have been leaving the room occasionally to see if she'll eat or drink more but so far no luck. I strung up millet in a couple places in her cage so that if she doesn't feel comfortable moving towards her food dish, at least she knows there is a tasty treat closer to her so she has that as a food option for now.
Any advice on making my girl more comfortable or on why she has had these bouts of loud chirps and racing around?

 

[sunnysmom]

Welcome to the forum. It sounds to me like your tiel wants out of her cage. It's up to you with what you're comfortable with but I'm a believer in following the bird's lead. If the room is bird safe, I think I would let her come out and see how it goes. Just make sure she doesn't fall. If she's not used to her wings being clipped she may try to fly and crash, depending on how severe the clip is. Are you feeding her the same food she was being fed at the rescue. Tiels can actually starve themselves if they don't recognize food as "food". Hanging millet is a good idea just in case. Also, are you using similar dishes to what she's used. I would continue sitting with her and spending time with her, hand feeding her treats, etc.

 

[SleepyTiel]

Thank you for the reply, sunnysmom! As far as I know she hasn't been clipped before so I may move her cage to the floor if I let her out just incase she gets spooked and tries to jump, do you think that is a good idea?
She is eating the same seed mix that she was fed at the rescue along with strawberries, blueberries, and lettuce. I noticed she seems to have a strong preference for the top other rope perch and doesn't like to go near the bottom where her food dish was so I moved the dish up to be closer to where she was sitting and she's approached it a few times to check it out and bit into one of the strawberry pieces so hopefully she tries a nibble soon! If she doesn't seem to be making any progress with her water dish I will try to find a good spot for it up high too to see if that makes her more comfortable (without overcrowding her space on the perch)
I don't want to overwhelm her with contact on her first full day with me but I will continue to sit with her and if she seems very interested in coming out of the cage, we'll start with some baby steps to get her used to my hands in case I need to help her get back in.
I'll send more updates as she gets comfortable!

 

[sunnysmom]

Thank you for the reply, sunnysmom! As far as I know she hasn't been clipped before so I may move her cage to the floor if I let her out just incase she gets spooked and tries to jump, do you think that is a good idea?
She is eating the same seed mix that she was fed at the rescue along with strawberries, blueberries, and lettuce. I noticed she seems to have a strong preference for the top other rope perch and doesn't like to go near the bottom where her food dish was so I moved the dish up to be closer to where she was sitting and she's approached it a few times to check it out and bit into one of the strawberry pieces so hopefully she tries a nibble soon! If she doesn't seem to be making any progress with her water dish I will try to find a good spot for it up high too to see if that makes her more comfortable (without overcrowding her space on the perch)
I don't want to overwhelm her with contact on her first full day with me but I will continue to sit with her and if she seems very interested in coming out of the cage, we'll start with some baby steps to get her used to my hands in case I need to help her get back in.
I'll send more updates as she gets comfortable!

Yes, I think putting the cage on the floor to try to let her out is a good idea. I do that with my foster tiel Rosie. He's 30 and his flying scares me. LOL. He flies more vertically than horizontally. Most tiels prefer to be higher up. So moving her food dish is a good idea. Generally, cockatiels aren't fruit eaters. If she eats some that's great, but you may have better luck focusing on vegetables- leafy greens, squash, broccoli, etc.

 

[SleepyTiel]

An update: Delilah was doing great at taking millet from my fingers both in the cage and through the cage bars, with her crest resting down (not flat to her head, just about half-way) and small chirps. As I talked to her and gave her millet she began chirping very loudly again and climbing on the cage next to the door so I decided to try to let her out with her cage on the floor. I positioned myself to be right in front of the door so that if she tried to run away on the floor, I could block her and set her back in her cage, and made sure we weren't near any furniture she could climb up just in case she fell.
Unfortunately, the rescue must have not clipped enough of her feathers and as soon as I opened the door to her cage she launched out and flew across the room, landing on my curtains. We have big windows and a lot of glass in my living room and I was afraid of her taking flight again and hitting something so I decided the safest thing for her would be for me to pick her up with my hands around her wings and body and place her back in her cage. She definitely hissed a couple times as I went to grab her but I was quick and got her back in her cage in one go without physically hurting her at all (although she got some good bites in on her end and I ended up with a couple cuts on my hand). I feel like this was a big step backwards in our progress with getting her comfortable and I fear she has lost any trust in me.
I think in order for us to hand-tame her, I will need to get her clipped properly so that she cannot fly away and potentially hurt herself but in order to do so, I will need to grab her again to put her in a carrier. Should I give her some time before going any further with this training?
I feel awful and silly for letting her out, even though I had no idea she could still fly. Glad she is physically okay and hoping she perks up again soon as she has not chirped since going back in her cage.

 

[sunnysmom]

I don't think her getting to fly was a bad thing. And I think it's good they didn't clip them so she can't fly at all. I know a bird coming out for the first time is a bit scary. I actually am not in favor of clipping a bird's wings for taming. Because it's not really taming- it's forced dependency. You want to build trust with your bird- and that actually means giving them the option to fly from you. And it's so much better physically and mentally for a bird to be flighted. Is there a smaller room you can try to let her out in if you're worried about her hitting the windows ? Don't feel bad about what happened or silly for letting her out. You have to start somewhere. The only thing I would say is to try to work on a way that's not grabbing her. She might actually know how to step up. And if you think she's nervous about stepping up on a hand, you can try a perch. And food bribery also works. I have lured birds back to their cages with millet spray, etc. I'm sorry if my saying I would let her out set you back. I would have tried though too with her pacing like that. And I would really urge you not to clip her wings more.

 

[Tiel Feathers]

I wouldn’t clip her either, but I would cover the windows or bring her into a smaller room next time she is out. They actually sell really nice decal sheets for windows that look like etched glass. Many birds with clipped wings can fly, and those that can’t fly try to anyway and often end up injuring themselves. Next time give yourself plenty of time to get her back in. It might take hours, but she will go back when she is hungry, or like @sunnysmom said bribery might work. When you do get her back in the cage, reward her and sit and talk with her. You don’t want her to feel abandoned. Save her favorite treat, like millet, just for training/taming. Keep interacting with her and giving her treats, and never force her to do anything. She should forgive you soon.

 

[Khizz]

The only way to stop this from happening would be a rather brutal wing clip, and I don't think that's helpful. As others said, it's forced dependency. @Zara posted a few links recently on the matter.

I actually got a great tip from here to tape ribbon (like for gifts) in front of the windows, like a curtain. It's too dark for me to take a photo but I'll try getting one later. I also have decals and since hanging the ribbon as well, they stopped flying into windows. I found the decals alone slowed them down and prevented injuries but didn't stop them entirely.

 

[SleepyTiel]

Hello everyone, thank you all for your tips and input! I agree I don't want to put Delilah through another wing clip so now I'm trying to learn ways to make her comfortable stepping up which seems to be easier said than done.
I took Sunnysmom's advice and let Delilah out of her cage in a much smaller room with the windows covered and nothing that could topple over if she landed on it. Delilah was hesitant to come out of her cage at first and after climbing out, she just sat on top of her cage and inspected everything in the room. I spent the time sitting on my bed talking to her, watching Netflix on my computer, and occasionally standing to walk around the room so she knew that I wasn't going to approach her or leave and she seemed to be pretty content up there for a while.
Eventually, though, I think she decided that she wanted to go back into her cage and couldn't figure out how to do so. The door swings sideways rather than opening flat which I think was confusing for her because she would have had to climb over the door to get back in. I didn't want to offer my hand for help unless she really needed it but she actually leaned towards me and started making a very quiet chirp that appeared to be directed towards me so I offered my hand she ate some millet out of it and nibbled quite gently on my fingers but wouldn't step up at all.
About two hours into having her out, Delilah flew to the top of my bookshelf which is about seven feet off the floor and then after spending a good twenty minutes up there, she flew onto my bed and hopped back onto the top of her cage, but she still couldn't figure out how to get in. I was hoping she would fly straight in from the shelf but perhaps the cage was too low for her to get in from that high angle?
By this time, she seemed to be getting a little anxious and also tired which was concerning because she had been without her water and food dish for over two hours, minus the few bites of millet she had taken from my hand. I tried to move her perches around to make it easier for her to climb back into her cage and I tried to lead her in with millet but she was no closer to getting herself inside. By this point, she was also getting more agitated with me putting my hand near her which made it very unlikely that she would step up for me to place her back in.
After being out of her cage for about four hours, I decided to call it as she was starting to get noticeably tired (closing her eyes but with her crest still raised, looking through the top bars of the cage at her food and water) and could not climb in on her own, so we very quickly picked her up with a towel and put her back inside.
I was surprised that she didn't seem more bothered by this handling but I feel that she was definitely ready to move back in and tired from moving around to really want to nip at me. I definitely did not want to have to use a towel to get her back in but this was a good learning experience. We have not taken her out since then (decided she needs some R&R after that) but have been feeding her treats through her cage bars and spending as much time as possible in the same room as her and she doesn't seem to be holding a grudge against anyone.
I also have a larger cage ordered with a door that lays flat when it is opened and it should be arriving in ten days which will hopefully make it easier for her to climb back inside.
My biggest question for all you tiel folks out there is how did you go about training your birds to step up and be more comfortable with your hands? I have to stick my hand in her cage to switch out her food and water and she hasn't gone to lunge at me or bite me but she does hiss when I do this and she also won't take treats from my hand when it is physically in her cage, just through the bars.
Sorry for the very long-winded update. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[sunnysmom]

I'm glad things are going better. Keep trying to hand feed her treats. That's a good way to show her hands aren't scary. Also, you can see if she'll step up on a perch. Some birds find it less scary than hands, others more. You can also try putting a perch just outside of her cage door with a toy or treat. She may find it easier to get in and out of her cage that way. Maybe. Depending on what the cage is like.