Friend made a poor decision and now she needs advice

[Celestinatilley]

So my friend Sheila decided to ignore the advice I told her (advice I learned from here, I might add) and she bought an unweaned cockatiel. Its like 2-4 weeks old. She is doing surprisingly well with it so far, which is all we can hope for at this point. Anyway. Her question has nothing to do with handfeeding (she thinks she knows everything about that already despite only doing it twice in her life) and everything to do with bond. She wants me to ask you guys if it's true that the bond she forms with her bird due to literally handraising it will fade once it's weaned. She heard that the babies reject their parents after they leave the nest and form bonds with other birds instead. So what should I tell her?
As mad as I am about her choice she's still my friend and I promised her I'd try to find out. Apparently she's too tired with handfeeding round the clock to Google anything.

Thanks for your time and I'm sorry I couldn't convince her to not buy this unweaned baby. I really did try.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

So my friend Sheila decided to ignore the advice I told her (advice I learned from here, I might add) and she bought an unweaned cockatiel. Its like 2-4 weeks old. She is doing surprisingly well with it so far, which is all we can hope for at this point. Anyway. Her question has nothing to do with handfeeding (she thinks she knows everything about that already despite only doing it twice in her life) and everything to do with bond. She wants me to ask you guys if it's true that the bond she forms with her bird due to literally handraising it will fade once it's weaned. She heard that the babies reject their parents after they leave the nest and form bonds with other birds instead. So what should I tell her?
As mad as I am about her choice she's still my friend and I promised her I'd try to find out. Apparently she's too tired with handfeeding round the clock to Google anything.

Thanks for your time and I'm sorry I couldn't convince her to not buy this unweaned baby. I really did try.

No. The bond will not be lost when he weans. I raised my budgie Rocky from an egg and 9 months later she is still very bonded to me. She has not rejected me even though she has another budgie companion she plays with.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

No. The bond will not be lost when he weans. I raised my budgie Rocky from an egg and 9 months later she is still very bonded to me. She has not rejected me even though she has another budgie companion she plays with.

BUT- you do NOT need to hand raise a bird yourself to have a great strong bond. I've had budgies that were parent raised and recently weaned when I got them and developed very strong bonds with them. However they were only birds and I spent a lot of time with them. Getting two budgies at once isn't a great start to developing strong bonds with them. They always seem to prefer each other.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

BUT- you do NOT need to hand raise a bird yourself to have a great strong bond. I've had budgies that were parent raised and recently weaned when I got them and developed very strong bonds with them. However they were only birds and I spent a lot of time with them. Getting two budgies at once isn't a great start to developing strong bonds with them. They always seem to prefer each other.

You should also tell your friend that as her baby weans and matures into a young sexually mature bird, its own personality will come out and not to interpret this as her baby rejecting her. Just like all baby animals, all baby birds are sweet and cuddly and rarely bite. After baby birds are weaned, they are naturally less likely to want you to touch them anywhere other than their heads and faces, where they may still enjoy scritches from their owners. A hand coming at them from above triggers their natural fear of predators that is not yet developed in babies, and they may try to avoid the hand or bite it. My hand raised budgie Rocky was a baby she loved to be cuddled. Now she wants to be perched on me almost constantly if I let her, and she prefers my company to that of her budgie friend, but she won't let me "pet" her anywhere.

 

[wrench13]

Birdfriendly, please start a new thread, if you have questions or need to find out something. The OP is not getting the responses they requested. Thanks!

 

[Birdfriendly]

Birdfriendly, please start a new thread, if you have questions or need to find out something. The OP is not getting the responses they requested. Thanks!

So sorry! I appreciate the advice.

 

[Birdfriendly]

Birdfriendly, please start a new thread, if you have questions or need to find out something. The OP is not getting the responses they requested. Thanks!

Am I supposed to move my comment or delete it? Or can you help me? I'm new so not sure what to do.

Thank you!

 

[Birdfriendly]

Birdfriendly, please start a new thread, if you have questions or need to find out something. The OP is not getting the responses they requested. Thanks!

I deleted it. I'm not sure how to start a new thread. Sorry for my mistake.

 

[Free as a bird]

So my friend Sheila decided to ignore the advice I told her (advice I learned from here, I might add) and she bought an unweaned cockatiel. Its like 2-4 weeks old. She is doing surprisingly well with it so far, which is all we can hope for at this point. Anyway. Her question has nothing to do with handfeeding (she thinks she knows everything about that already despite only doing it twice in her life) and everything to do with bond. She wants me to ask you guys if it's true that the bond she forms with her bird due to literally handraising it will fade once it's weaned. She heard that the babies reject their parents after they leave the nest and form bonds with other birds instead. So what should I tell her?
As mad as I am about her choice she's still my friend and I promised her I'd try to find out. Apparently she's too tired with handfeeding round the clock to Google anything.

Thanks for your time and I'm sorry I couldn't convince her to not buy this unweaned baby. I really did try.

I agree with Donna above. That bird will not loose its bond with its owner unless something out of the ordinary was to happen. I hope your friend does well in raising it. Good luck

 

[Celestinatilley]

I agree with Donna above. That bird will not loose its bond with its owner unless something out of the ordinary was to happen. I hope your friend does well in raising it. Good luck

I'll tell her. Thanks for replying!