My girlfriends cockatiel

[DexterDubs]

So I've been watching my girlfriends cockatiel for a week and a half now at my place. I've played with him a bunch at her place, so he is familiar with me. I've come to notice that he is, to me, a very odd cockatiel. He will chirp sometimes and whistle here and there, but other than that, he does nothing. He will stare at him self in the mirror and preen. He hardly plays with his toys after I taught him how. He rarely comes out of his cage and if he does he just sits on top.

On rare occasions I can bait him onto my finger with treats. He seems to like being on my finger, but will never step up on his own. He always runs away. Is that just his personality? Or should I just keep working at it to get him to be more social?

She works most of the day, comes home for an hour for lunch then back to work. I go to work for 6 hours then come home and am in the room with him for the rest of the night pretty much.

 

[GaleriaGila]

Hello and welcome!

You sound like a very open-minded and caring person...
Here's some great reading on bonding and related ideas.

Birds do indeed have personalities... your little friend may just be a very mellow guy. He sounds ike a great bird, actually, to be interacting with you so readily!

Gee, we'd love a photo!

 

[DexterDubs]

He’ll step up on treats and other things but he always runs from my finger

 

[Cardinal]

Sounds like my cockatiel - Kaka too. I got him as an injured adult or subadult. I am still not sure whether S/he is a male or a female or whether S/he is a Lutino or a Clear pied.
S/he is not very tame and does not like to come out. However S/he does greet us when we come back to the house after leaving her for an extended period (say 4 hours). As of now I am ok with the status quo, but may be later I hope to get her a mate and perhaps breed her.

cheers

Avin

 

[smbrds]

How old is the little guy?

He's just a laid back little guy, doing his own thing! He's at least familiar with you. He is just a content, laid back fellow. Few birds are actually less gregarious than a tiel, so this is a treat! His relationship with you will take more than a week, eventually doing more and being on you. Some birds just have their own quirks.

 

[YUMgrinder]

how long has she owned him? Does he act this way when only around you or both? I haven't had more than one tiel, but I know mine took so long to come out of his shell, it could be that he just doesn't play or explore cause he is trying to figure you out. I thought mine was boring for awhile but it turns out he just took awhile to get comfy with us.

 

[DexterDubs]

She says he's 6 or 7. He acts like this all the time whether she's there or not. To be honest I think he is more "outgoing" with since I have spent a lot of time with him the last 2 weeks. He has been more talkative then ever and I could hear him flock call when i left for work this morning. He likes his cage door open but he doesn't leave. He loves to be pet but not "picked up".

 

[YUMgrinder]

yea I would read the threads on bonding with your bird and in time she may act more friendly and active but it could just be her personality. Just work on training and bonding and you'll be able to read her much better

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

They all are different..personalities. BB my little boy was very young when he came home with me and just turned two. He is anything but mellow! Wants to be with me,on me,around me,whatever..and he is quite vocal,especially first thing in the morning,or when I come back home after being out. He'll go to just about anyone and sing in their ear as loud as he can!
But...he does have his quiet time too..like right now...he is in his house relaxing,but as soon as I open his front door he's going to wake up and start being :The Beebs



Jim

 

[EllenD]

My guess here is that your girlfriend's cockatiel was not a hand-raised bird, but rather a parent-raised bird, and since he's now 6 or 7 years old, he has settled and become tame to a point, but that's it. Parent-raised birds are not taught to step-up by their parents obviously, and even if they are handled by the breeder a bit before they are sold, if they are completely raised and fed by their parents as babies, then they don't learn to interact with people in the way we think that they should. It sounds like this bird is doing pretty well though, probably due to his age and the time that he's been interacting with people, as he doesn't bite, and he tolerates being picked-up and petted to a point.

The amount of tameness this bird has gained has happened purely by constant interaction with people, but if you want him to learn to step-up, fly to you, stay with you and not run away, along with wanting him to want to hang-out with people and play with his toys on his own, then you have to approach training him on a strict, daily basis, in the same way you would start training a parent-raised baby bird that you buy at Petco or Petsmart, like one of the young, parent-raised budgies they sell. The good news is that you're ahead of the curve because he isn't biting or violent, and he doesn't mind human interaction. BUT IT DOESN'T SOUND LIKE ANYONE IN PARTICULAR HAS TOTALLY EARNED HIS TRUST, AND THIS IS WHAT DAILY HAND-TAMING TRAINING AND HUMAN INTERACTION WILL ACCOMPLISH.

If you want him to WANT to hang-out and enjoy being out of his cage and with you guys, then the absolute best thing you can do to quickly accomplish this is to MAKE A DAILY HABIT, EVERY SINGLE DAY, in addition to his other daily hand-taming training, at night, when you and/or your girlfriend are watching TV, reading, playing video games, etc., whatever it is that you guys do before sleeping, get the bird out of his cage and put him on the couch/bed with you for the hours that you are watching TV, reading, etc. This works in a couple of ways, first it's right before bedtime and the bird will be tired and more willing to just relax and fall asleep on your shoulders or on your chest if you're laying in bed, etc. In addition, they typically learn to love this very quickly, and it's a very intimate and personal activity for them, snuggling with humans while falling asleep. This also works extremely well for taming Bearded Dragon babies who are a bit wild or who hate being handled.

 

[MonicaMc]

First things first... get rid of the mirror. This could potentially be a part of the reason he is the way he is.

Second, keep earning his trust using his favorite treats. He may not step up now, but you can teach him to step up for a reward given time.