please help!!

[yukkiithecockatiel]

i just got my first cockatiel about 2 weeks ago. i have it in my room since thats where i spend most of my time. first few days he would screech and sing along to the music i had playing. now hes gotten very quiet and the only sounds hes making are soft and few. i know this is a sign of a sick cockatiel but other than that he doesnt have any other sign indicating he could be sick?

anyway, i ordered him from a store thats pretty far away, so he was brought to a warehouse where that store apparently brings all of its pets, and i went to pick him up. it was very loud and he was cramped up with other birds, the worker that gave him to me grabbed him very violently and shoved him in a box which he sealed and gave me to take home. i felt sick in the stomach, but was pretty happy that i got the chance to give him a better home. after all that i set up his cage and left him for 3 days to get used to his surroundings.

hes been doing pretty well, he doesnt bite or hiss. hes a very shy and stressed out bird, the poor thing. when i put my hand in his cage to change the water and food he flys around scared. he doesnt scream, but when i take my hand out he sometimes screeches.

ive been putting my hand in the cage door, talking softly to him and moving my hand towards him every 2-3 minutes. i do this twice a day for about 15-25 minutes. he doesnt eat from my hand or let me touch him, and doesnt come towards me when i get in the room, he sometimes screams when i leave, but only one scream not continuous screeches. i sing and talk to him, hes pretty much already used to my voice i hope. im really desperate because every day he starts flying around being scared and only after the 10 minute mark will he calm down.

my family doesnt cooperate very well, the first day my dad would whistle at it and wouldnt let it sleep, since it was pretty late when i got home so i had covered his cage. my sister gets mad at me when i tell her to be quiet around the bird, cause whenever she gets in the room she yells and sings very loudly and generally is very loud. my mom is pretty considerate and asks me if she can talk to him, and only does so very softly.

any advice on how i can get him used to my hands, and how to deal with my loud family?

Yukkii is 2 months old if his age is needed

 

[GailC]

I think you need to slow down. Sounds like your bird was not handriased and was traumatized during shipping.

It will take more than 2 weeks for him to learn to trust you. I would stop moving your hands towards him in cage. Instead work on getting him used to you outside that cage.

Sit next to his cage and sing/read/talk to him. Move your hand towards him from outside the cage while talking to him. Offer millet through the bars. Once he gets used to you outside that cage and isn't panicking and eating from your finger, then start working on inside cage taming.

I wouldn't worry to much about the loud family, birds don't live in silence. As long as its quite enough for him to get enough sleep than all is well. Make sure to cover his cage at night and that he is in a dark/quiet room.

 

[yukkiithecockatiel]

thanks for the advice! the only problem is Yukkii doesnt like millet spray?? i know it sounds weird but i think hes scared of it. i hanged it on the bars for a few days and he wouldnt eat it. i also put it in pieces in his food dish but he didnt eat it. he also doesnt play with the toys ive set up on his cage, he sometimes gets on the swing but shows no interest on any other toys i have set up for him.

 

[GailC]

Sounds like he is still terrified, just give him time. You might need to teach him how to play. Grab some extra toys, sit by his cage and play with them. He should watch and show some interest.
Make sure they are the right size, too big and they might be too scary. You might even try some parakeet sized shredder toys.

As far as the millet, cut it into one inch pieces and hang one by his food dish. Just leave it there, he will eventually get curious and try it.

 

[reeb]

Hi!

This might be a long post, so bear with me.

Firstly, I have experience taming birds, so I can give you some helpful advice. You can find my post on taming and bonding with budgies here, and this process will work well with cockatiels too. In summary, here are some key points:

1) Spend about 2 weeks sitting next to or near the cage talking to your cockatiel for about 1 hour a day, and if you can, even longer. You can talk about anything really - it will help for your bird to adjust to the sound of your voice. Keep your tone friendly and upbeat - parrots love animated emotions - just don't be so enthusiastic that you scare them.

3) After this period, I recommend familiarising your bird with the idea of your hand OUTSIDE the cage. Touch and hold your hand on the left side of the cage for a few minutes every day for a week, and then repeat this process for the right, front, back and top of the cage (so right side for a week, top for a week, etc). This will take a lot of patience and time.

4) Next, you should be able to familiarise your bird with your hand INSIDE the cage. Similar to the above, you can start by placing your hand on the left side of the inside of the cage for a few minutes every day for a week, and then repeat the process with the right, front, back and top of the cage. Your bird may at first shy away from you, bite you or hiss at you, but as they realise that your hand is non-threatening through this repetition, they will become less afraid of you.

5) Once your bird appears fairly comfortable with your hand in and out of the cage (each bird is different and this is important to keep in mind), you can offer them seed, millet, spinach, apple or any other treat/food that they like using your hand. At first they may not eat from your hand, but from my own experience, with enough patience they will as they adjust to you. food=trust, and it is very important for you to let your bird know that they can trust you in this way.

6) The hope is that your bird will begin to step onto your hand. When this happens, continue to hand feed your bird daily for a few more weeks (or as long as your bird needs). Whenever your bird steps onto your hand, vocalise "step up" in an upbeat tone of voice, and offer them their food. Only when your bird seems comfortable enough, you can start bringing him/her out of the cage and onto a play stand.When your bird is trusting of you (and your hand) within his/her cage, which is a safe-space, you need to make sure that the environment outside of the cage feels equally as safe for him/her.

Check out the rest of that post to get some more details and recommendations!

Secondly, let me tell you a little reassuring story.

Berry, my cockatiel, came from a breeder and was hand reared. However, in the room that she was kept in there were plenty of other birds, all of which were in smallish cages, and the breeder didn't have much time to spend with individual birds. She was 4 months old when I got her, and the last baby of her clutch to be sold. The breeder grabbed her out of her cage, instead of asking her to step-up, and so I knew that I had A LOT of work to do to regain her trust of human hands.

The first week was very hard, even though she was hand-reared. She spent all her time out of the cage sitting on one corner of the play stand, not moving at all or making a sound. She refused to step up, and I had to coax her with millet spray to get her to sit on my finger. After a number of days, I began to feel really disheartened, because I thought that all was lost, and that she would never trust me. But, I knew she was a sweet gentle bird (she has NEVER hissed at me or bitten through this whole experience, and has always been kind and calm around my other birds) and so I pushed on, despite my doubts.

I only handled her when moving her places, and just spent time talking to her while she was in and out of her cage. I never forced her to sit on my shoulder, or held her when she didn't want to be held - I just let her do her thing, and I watched as she just started to blossom in my third or fourth week of having her.

In the end, it all paid off. After about a month, she began to come to me as my budgies do, hopping onto my shoulder, and eventually allowing me to hold her, cuddle her and scratch her head. She is now strongly bonded to me, and gets so excited to see me in the mornings.Through perseverance and dedication, she began to trust me.

The process may take months, but please do not lose hope. If you continue to dedicate your time to your baby, it will all pay off in the end, even if it takes a long time!

Good luck, and I hope this helps.

 

[yukkiithecockatiel]

thank you so much for this, it seems very very helpful! and the story is very reassuring since my baby is pretty much the same! thanks for taking your time to write all of this means a lot! ill post again to let you know my progress with Yukkii in a few months <3

 

[wrench13]

Patience young Jedi, patience. Move at the parrots pace not yours. You do seem to be making some progress; remember 3 steps forward and 2 steps back is still progress. For treats, keep experimenting to find something he LOVES. I use small bits of pine nuts ( shelled already ), in your case really small buts. But try other kind of seeds or nuts. WHen you hit the right one, use that only for treating and eventually training. He will learn that only GOOD things come from people.