Aggressive cockateil

[ayahllm]

Hey everyone ! First of all I don't really know if this message goes here and if it doesn't im so sorry :')
Yesterday I got my first rescue bird, a pretty cockatiel named Bonnie ! I know he went through quite some stuff to say the least. The thing is he is VERY aggressive, which is normal. He will eat seeds from the palm of my hand with no problem and (idk if you can visualize this) I can pinch a seed between my fingers and he will put his beak in between to grab it, so absolutely no problem making contact with my hand for treats. But If I get my hand like 10 cm away from him with no treats he will attack me, like actually, he will come forward and bite HARD. I have been feeding him treats like this both in the cage and with him being on top of the cage.
He is clipped (he was when I rescued him), but only from one wing so he can fly a little but it's hard.
Does anybody have any tips or stuff I could try with him to maybe get him used to me a little ?
(PSA : I know that the aggression is caused by fear and trauma)
Tysm !

 

[onamom]

Welcome to the forums and thank you for adopting!

I suggest giving Bonnie some more time to settle in and get used to you. I’d back off a little and not try to touch him for now. Feeding him treats while he’s in the cage is great but he’s still getting used to you and the new environment so to start he probably would benefit from some time to acclimate and decompress. Spend time near the cage talking to him, feeding treats and let him get used to your presence.

You mentioned he is clipped on one side only - I’ve read some other posts here about that style of clipping and you may consider having the other wing clipped as well to even it out. Having just one clipped makes them off balance and can do more harm than good. You can always let them grow back in if you’d like but since one is already clipped probably best if they are even. Something to think about.