Tips on Getting a New Cockatiel to Trust You?

[DamonW]

Hello everyone, i'm new to the forum. But I recently got back into birds. I had conures growing up, and thought I would start small with a cockatiel now that it's later in life.

I've had her for a few weeks, and she seems to be settling in well. She's eating and drinking, playing with her toys, etc. She is supposedly a hand-fed baby that is around 12-13 weeks old now. So maybe I was expecting a little more tameness from her right off the bat?

I've given her her space and haven't forced anything on her. I work from home currently, so her cage is in my office right next to my desk. I'm with her in here 8-10 hours a day easily, only a few feet away (so she can visually see me and hear me). I have talked to her a lot to get her use to my voice. But she hasn't seem to improved even a little. I have not gotten her to take a treat, and she won't even eat them if I leave them in her cage. Anytime my hand is in her cage to change water or food, she usually runs away, and fast. Hasn't tried biting but she's very unsure and wants nothing to do with me.

I know these things take time, but I haven't seen any improvement, so i'm wondering what i'm doing wrong. She will run back and forth on her longer perch sometimes for long periods of time, making a loud noise while she does it. She's generally pretty quiet when i'm in here, but when I leave she is very vocal. When i'm not in the room she's loud. I doubt that it's vocalization because she rather I be in the room, so maybe she is afraid when she's by herself? Or maybe it's her way of saying she's happy the big predator sitting in the computer chair finally left.

Any tips would be appreciated. Thank you!

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

Where did you get her? If from a pet store, she is probably hand shy because they don't wait to step them up to move them from cage to cage, they just grab them and move them. This causes a lot of hand fearing birds just because the owners are in a hurry. If from a volume breeder, this is also a problem. My first cockatiel was a hand fed baby from a dedicated bird store that always stepped up their birds to move them and ingrain the step up command. My Gracie was a wonderful, loving bird. I got her a mate from PetSmart and Chip was totally hand shy and never would step up on a hand. I taught him to step up on my fist, on my forearm and on a dowel held out to him.

You have to go back to a five week old, just fledging time of hand taming. When you go to change the water and food next time, leave your hand to just hang out in the cage, not moving, for three to five minutes. Show it is not grabbing at them. Do this for an entire week, slightly moving your fingers until, hopefully, she/he will stop freaking out every time your hand is inserted.

You need to find a treat she will eat every time you give her one. Test your treat offerings one at a time, leaving it in her cage to be eaten after you remove your hand. Once you have found that most coveted treat, you are ready for step up training.

 

[DamonW]

Where did you get her? If from a pet store, she is probably hand shy because they don't wait to step them up to move them from cage to cage, they just grab them and move them. This causes a lot of hand fearing birds just because the owners are in a hurry. If from a volume breeder, this is also a problem. My first cockatiel was a hand fed baby from a dedicated bird store that always stepped up their birds to move them and ingrain the step up command. My Gracie was a wonderful, loving bird. I got her a mate from PetSmart and Chip was totally hand shy and never would step up on a hand. I taught him to step up on my fist, on my forearm and on a dowel held out to him.

You have to go back to a five week old, just fledging time of hand taming. When you go to change the water and food next time, leave your hand to just hang out in the cage, not moving, for three to five minutes. Show it is not grabbing at them. Do this for an entire week, slightly moving your fingers until, hopefully, she/he will stop freaking out every time your hand is inserted.

You need to find a treat she will eat every time you give her one. Test your treat offerings one at a time, leaving it in her cage to be eaten after you remove your hand. Once you have found that most coveted treat, you are ready for step up training.

I had gotten her off someone on Hoobly who had bred them. It's possible he never got them use to interacting with people at all, but wouldn't be the first time someone had been dishonest.

I have been leaving a bowl of fresh fruits / veggies every morning in her cage, but she has yet to touch them. I've tried a lot of different types of common treats but she never eats those either when I leave them in her bowl. So it's hard to say what treats she will eat.

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

She obviously never learned to eat anything but what the breeder weaned them on. You need to continue to offer stuff and hopefully find a treat she will value. Have you tried small pieces of millet?

Patience and time are in your favor. Use them. Remember bird time is very slow. They are prey, we are predators and we need to show the prey species we are not going to eat them. This is where the patience comes in.

 

[Tiel Feathers]

Congratulations on your new bird, and it she sounds like she is enjoying your company because she is missing you when you leave the room. The pacing on her perch makes it sound like she wants to come out of her cage. Have you tried letting her out yet? Millet is usually a favorite of tiels, and you can save it just for taming/training. Tiels are not big fruit eaters, and their diet should consist of pellets, seeds, fresh foods, and veggies. Broccoli, sprouts, and freeze dried veggies are often favorites. I would try leaving her door open and letting her come out on her own. Put a platform perch right outside her door to make it easier for her to go in and out. Give yourself plenty of time to get her back in and you can try bribing her with millet. She should go back when she’s hungry. When she does go back, sit and talk to her so she doesn’t feel abandoned. Once she’s more comfortable with you and coming out, when you put her back reward her, and then take her right out again. Do this every once in a while so she doesn’t associate going into her cage with play time being over. She might be afraid of your hand, but she might feel more comfortable sitting on the rest of you You can try target training while she is in the cage, or perch training once you find her favorite treat. Remember to reinforce desired behaviors and ignore unwanted behaviors, and never force her to do anything.

 

[Zara]

Welcome to the Avenue Damon!

 

[sunnysmom]

Welcome! Yes, as @Tiel Feathers said, I think the pacing means she wants out. Has she been out at all? Often tiels don't like hands in their cage. You may have better luck working with her outside of the cage. And most tiels love millet spray and it can be used for bribery. Is her cage near a wall? Often tiels are more secure against a wall. Or if not because I know you said she's by your desk, you can try covering her cage on 3 sides, leaving the front open until she's more secure. That way she isn't on "alert" for danger on all sides.

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

Also, when it comes to unfamiliar foods for her, try eating them in front of her. Especially if you let her out and she is sitting on you when you eat the veggie, etc. Birdie bread is also a sneaky and easy way to get chopped greens, etc into your reluctant bird. Most cockatiels are drawn to bread-like foods.

 

[DamonW]

Congratulations on your new bird, and it she sounds like she is enjoying your company because she is missing you when you leave the room. The pacing on her perch makes it sound like she wants to come out of her cage. Have you tried letting her out yet? Millet is usually a favorite of tiels, and you can save it just for taming/training. Tiels are not big fruit eaters, and their diet should consist of pellets, seeds, fresh foods, and veggies. Broccoli, sprouts, and freeze dried veggies are often favorites. I would try leaving her door open and letting her come out on her own. Put a platform perch right outside her door to make it easier for her to go in and out. Give yourself plenty of time to get her back in and you can try bribing her with millet. She should go back when she’s hungry. When she does go back, sit and talk to her so she doesn’t feel abandoned. Once she’s more comfortable with you and coming out, when you put her back reward her, and then take her right out again. Do this every once in a while so she doesn’t associate going into her cage with play time being over. She might be afraid of your hand, but she might feel more comfortable sitting on the rest of you You can try target training while she is in the cage, or perch training once you find her favorite treat. Remember to reinforce desired behaviors and ignore unwanted behaviors, and never force her to do anything.

I had let her come out on her own before, but she would fly around frantically and kept running into the windows and walls. She wasn't even going for the millet when I'd try to offer any or leave it in the cage with her.

An *update* though since I started the thread:

I had a family emergency and I had to leave suddenly, I was gone almost 2 days (just got home late on day 2). Left her with extra food, seed, water but replenished and changed it when I got back on the 2nd day. However, she seems to be a different bird now. She seems more relaxed and less worried about everything, slowly offered her millet this morning (day 3, I got back last night) and she actually was eating it while I held it. (First time she's taken a treat from me) And didn't scurry away like she had been.

She got curious enough with my hand being there holding the millet that she put a foot on my finger, so I kinda moved it closer to see if she would put both feet one me and she did. She just sat there for a bit, I eventually made my way to her cage door to see if she would be ok if I took her out while she was perched on my finger. Still did good. Kept her out for a little over an hour with me since I was just sitting at my desk anyway. She stayed on my hand the whole time and I offered her more millet periodically so she knew she was being rewarded for being out of the cage. She made some little chirps and would look at me and then watch my computer screen to see what I was doing. I was whistling for her a bit too since she seems to like that. But she was ok with me petting her and she just hung out with me.

My hand started falling asleep eventually since I had to keep her perched and didn't want to move her much to spook her, so I slowly returned to her cage door which was still open, and let her step down by it. She walked back in and sat on the perch by the door and seems pretty content. I don't know if this means she's ok with me now, or if she will go back to her pacing and frantic behavior, but I'm glad she trusted me enough today to spend some time out.

Has anyone else had their new tiel do a 360 like that and be fine with you one day?

 

[DamonW]

Welcome to the Avenue Damon! View attachment 354477

Thank you!

 

[DamonW]

Got a picture of her while she was out with me earlier.

 

[Tiel Feathers]

She’s so cute! Well hopefully this new behavior is the start of a new trend. I think she really missed you when you were gone!