Please Help! Is my sweet Cockatiel neurotic? (How to handle???)

Hello! I would like to see if you could give me some advice about my lovely cockatiel, Bell (he's a boy.. but we didn't know that at naming time!)

He's a sweet bird and will cuddle with me or my husband and love neck and chin scratches and shoulder sitting. He loves to be out of his cage, but I'm worried about some other stuff going on. :02:

He's about 7 years old now, and has trouble landing when flying. He was clipped as a baby, but we let them grow out. If he flies, and I'm not standing in the middle of the room with my arm and finger up, he crash lands somewhere else (sometimes even when I do have my arm up, he'll crash). He'll also come to the edge of the cage when I open it looking happy to come out, but when I offer my finger to step-up, he gets scared and hisses and backs away. Same thing when he's out of the cage. But then some times he'll be totally fine and will step up and be out for hours at a time. He's afraid of anything you put in front of him (including treats and millet) will his and back away from just about anything, and won't eat from the hand or through the bars of his cage or let you pet him when he's not perched on your finger only. He'll chew his cuddle bone, but not the edible half perch we gave him and seems to hate all toys... shies away from them, even if they've been in his cage for months and months. After he discovered he could simulate mating with one of his perches and his swing, he's lost interest in the one toy he did play with, and now only hits it's bell at night when he's mad (super cute). Maybe he just enjoys my company more than toys (?) He'll sit in his cage and bang on the bottom of the cage with his beak loudly for long periods of time, as if he's looking for attention, but then won't come out! If I'm in another room, especially when he can still kind of see me, he'll scream (but only if he's in his cage, if he's out, I can go wherever). I usually end up putting his cage in another room when he's like that or try to ignore it as I don't want to reward bad behavior. I type a lot around him so maybe he's mimicking? :58: Anyway, it just feels like he acts like a scared baby bird most of the time, except when he's on the finger being petted and loved. He'll explore when he's out of his cage, but only very cautiously and with a lot of random hisses for no reason.

Could some of this be because he's still on a mostly seed-based diet? (bad on my part, I know now...) =/ There are some pellets in the feed, but I don't know if he's eating them. Do you think he's the type of bird who is best left with clipped wings and out of the cage for most of the day? (no screeches or hitting things when he's out... and only flies when he's startled) Does it sound like he has eye damage from past crashes (although he looks healthy) and that's why he doesn't recognize the hand sometimes? Or do we just have a neurotic bird on our hands? :06:

I really want to be a good momma, and I want to be able to reward him when he does something good, but when he's afraid of all treats and sometimes of my hand, I'm not sure how!

I don't know anyone else who owns birds, so I'm kind of lost! Please help! :51:

THANK YOU!!! :emoticonc

I would suggest a vet visit to rule out any medical problems. Also I would start converting him onto pelleted diet. ZuPreem and Harrisons are popular on these forums lol. Then go to some perch training and step up training.

Yeah. I forgot to mention that his beak is also flaky. Possibly out of hitting the cage so much? Or maybe a vitamin deficiency?

I've also heard that hitting their cage a normal male trait, correct?

you could also offer him fruit and veggies(no avacodo or ice berg lettuce) and some birdie bread. i would also take him to the vet and remove the toys and perch he tries to mate with. also if he has any mirrors, get rid of the mirrors, they mess with your birds head:52:. also for saftey reseons, i think you should clip his wings(have a proffesional do it) and take him to the vet to rule out any health problems. good luck!

ann said:

you could also offer him fruit and veggies(no avacodo or ice berg lettuce) and some birdie bread. i would also take him to the vet and remove the toys and perch he tries to mate with. also if he has any mirrors, get rid of the mirrors, they mess with your birds head:52:. also for saftey reseons, i think you should clip his wings(have a proffesional do it) and take him to the vet to rule out any health problems. good luck!

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It doesn't matter how many perches you remove, he'll find one he do it to.... I just find it funny to watch....

To the original poster, have you guys had him for 7 years? Or did he just recently came to live with you?

We've had him for the whole 7 years, but we've not been consistent about taking him out for lovin' time. =( When we first got him I was unemployed, so I was spending all day with him. Then I got a job and things were less consistent. Actually, for awhile we lived someone who had service dogs but one was retired, so wasn't as well behaved. He was always in-doors (which wasn't quite the agreement when we moved in...). So there was a time he didn't come out hardly at all. I'd say for about a year. But that was a few years back, and he was fine coming out until a month or two ago. Not sure what changed.... maybe it's just me being more hesitant (?) He'll step-up to the hubby's finger more than mine, but still will have issues with him at times as well.

Mostly it's just when he's in his cage, so maybe he feels more defensive there. Although sometimes he won't want to step-up when he's out. although, with his moodiness he hasn't been out for days!

I wonder if maybe his behavior (particularly in his cage) might be because he's being territorial of his humpin'-swing! hmmmmm..... Also, the room where we'd put him for time-out has a wall to wall mirror! I would always set him so there was something between him and the mirror, but I found out my husband hasn't been! So maybe that plus being hormonal is a lot of the issue. I've removed the toys that he doesn't play with, and put some crumpled up paper in there for him to chew on. He'll bite it every once and awhile, but doesn't seem to love tearing it up like he did when he was a wee one.

What's the correct way to handle things if he's out, and wants to hiss, bang his head on the ground etc rather than step up? Should I ignore him for awhile until he's ready? My husband usually just gets closer to the ground and scoops closer to where his legs are and sometimes he'll be fine with stepping up at that point. Hubby says he's just confused sometimes.

OK. Today he started banging on the cage like mad!! So instead of putting him in the other room, I just covered him up for a few minutes then took the sheet off, and he calmed down. YAY!!!

to help flying add perches around the room and get a perch and put it at arm level make him fly to it take a step back each day (give him treat every time )