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Lulu
12-27-2017, 09:34 AM
Hi all, this is my first post, hoping I can get some assistance/ reassurance.

I am a mom to an African Grey, and on Saturday my husband bought me a juvenile Cockatiel as a Christmas present (as our conure died from old age earlier this year and I've been quite sad about that).

I have never, NEVER encountered such a wild bird in my life. Even our conure (who was a rescue and was extremely aggressive) was not like this. Our African Grey was already four when we got him and has never been a difficult bird.

It's now Wednesday (so five days in) and the Cockatiel (which we have named Speckles) is still not eating. Everything I put in the cage to eat first gets attacked then ignored. Speckles is going nuts in the cage, desperately trying to get out (I discovered that the bars of his cage are too big and he can stick his head out, so I've been spending the days filling the gaps with galvanized wire so he can't fit through. It's a nice big cage so I don't want to put him in a smaller cage).

We have let him out, when we let out the African Grey (named Kratos), but getting him back to his cage is difficult as he's so scared of us and won't allow us to come near him. He's quite fascinated by Kratos but Kratos is petrified of him.

We can go to the cage and talk to him for a while before he retreats to a far corner.

Speckles bites terribly, so I've not even started training him to come onto my hands.

Will he settle down eventually? I'm stressing that this bird is going to be crazy wild like this forever. The pet shop people have obviously never bothered to spend two seconds with them (I have already sent an email to them complaining that they need to interact with their birds more).

Does anyone have any tips to help tame him? I feel like I'm not doing a good job.

Thanks.

Casper's 2nd best friend
12-27-2017, 11:20 AM
Welcome to PP :)
You have a lot of experience with birds so I don't think you are doing anything wrong. They do pick up on our emotions so keep calm and take a deep breath before approaching him. Spend a lot of time just talking or reading to him so he gets used to you and doesn't feel threatened. Being in a pet shop must be very traumatic for them and whilst some staff are there for their love of animals others are just there for the pay cheque and have no empathy whatsoever.
Reach out to him with your love and hopefully he will respond.
Please keep us updated, we will offer all the support we can.

Dragonlady2
12-27-2017, 01:45 PM
Welcome to the forum!
Your poor cockatiel is probably scared. I would be careful of the galvanized wire, particularly if it is chewing it or beaking it.
I wouldn't let it out of the cage for the next little while. It needs time to settle in. Can you cover the back half of the cage with a sheet or something? It will give Speckles a feeling of safety. Have you tried giving it a sprig of millet? You could attach it to the cage where Speckles' favorite perch is. I agree with Casper's 2nd best friend, for now, sit by the cage, read to it quietly, offer it different treats etc.
Don't be too discouraged. Some birds take longer than others to settle. Is Speckles flighted?

Lulu
12-28-2017, 08:24 AM
Welcome to PP :)
You have a lot of experience with birds so I don't think you are doing anything wrong. They do pick up on our emotions so keep calm and take a deep breath before approaching him. Spend a lot of time just talking or reading to him so he gets used to you and doesn't feel threatened. Being in a pet shop must be very traumatic for them and whilst some staff are there for their love of animals others are just there for the pay cheque and have no empathy whatsoever.
Reach out to him with your love and hopefully he will respond.
Please keep us updated, we will offer all the support we can.

Thank you. Yes i think it must have been traumatic for him, shame. He is at least eating his seeds now (still unsure about treats, I have given him a honey seed ball which initially scared him but I see he has nibbled off it).

I'm going to try get a nice picture of him today to upload, he's such a pretty bird.

Lulu
12-28-2017, 08:35 AM
Welcome to the forum!
Your poor cockatiel is probably scared. I would be careful of the galvanized wire, particularly if it is chewing it or beaking it.
I wouldn't let it out of the cage for the next little while. It needs time to settle in. Can you cover the back half of the cage with a sheet or something? It will give Speckles a feeling of safety. Have you tried giving it a sprig of millet? You could attach it to the cage where Speckles' favorite perch is. I agree with Casper's 2nd best friend, for now, sit by the cage, read to it quietly, offer it different treats etc.
Don't be too discouraged. Some birds take longer than others to settle. Is Speckles flighted?

He's luckily not chewing on the wire, he just tried to poke his head out (which he could do before, and I was worried he'd get stuck and panic himself into a heart attack when I'm not looking).

So his cage is against a wall, and I have a throw covering the back and both sides partially. Strangely he doesn't hide out in there (only when he gets sick of you talking to him). He likes to sit on a soft dog toy I tied in there for Fuzzy (my conure that died) and that sits right in he front of the cage. I'm thinking of putting another one at the back for him too.

We let him out for a little bit last night and he was mostly good. But we won't let him out tonight because like I say, it's a mission to get him back inside.

As for the millet, for the life of me I can't find any here. I went to three stores and a pet store and they didn't have. I last bought a few months ago from the normal supermarket so I don't understand why I can't find now. I'm going to try find at the avian vet tomorrow.

Yes he is flighted. We've not clipped his wings (our African Grey as well- his were clipped when we got him but we let them grow out as he enjoys flying around the living room).

Casper's 2nd best friend
12-28-2017, 11:35 AM
I believe that wing clipping is not good for the bird either mentally or physically. But then we have a bird that doesn't rate flying as a method of transport and is quite happy to stay in his tree in the garden in the summer wandering backwards and forwards along what is known as Casper's branch. He too doesn't like some new things - he was terrified the first time I got the rope perches out of their packaging, maybe he thought they were snakes, so we left them on the floor for a couple of days till he realised they were not going anywhere.
Keep an eye on the fuzzy toy and remove it if it starts shedding fibres because the bird can get them trapped in their crop or airways.
We buy all our parrot food, cleaning products and toys online. It is usually cheaper and if you spend enough you get free delivery. We usually have to buy a couple of toys to get up to that level and as Casper rarely plays with them maybe we are doing it wrong. :)

We would love to see pictures of both Kratos and Speckles :)

Mare
12-29-2017, 03:10 AM
Hi, Lulu! Welcome :th_smile: I brought home a cockatiel, several months ago, from a pet store in town. I felt sorry for him because he was alone in a small, dark space with no toys, one perch, one seed cup and one water cup. This bird was a freak when I came near him, I tried to integrate him into our flock and he was picked on, I had to segregate him into a separate cage but near the others. He still flips out if I move too fast around him, getting his food bowls out but he is becoming calmer with my hands in his cage. I’m guessing that some of these pet shop birds that don’t have continuous love..have a hard time adjusting to a home life..sadly.

Lulu
01-02-2018, 07:05 AM
I believe that wing clipping is not good for the bird either mentally or physically. But then we have a bird that doesn't rate flying as a method of transport and is quite happy to stay in his tree in the garden in the summer wandering backwards and forwards along what is known as Casper's branch. He too doesn't like some new things - he was terrified the first time I got the rope perches out of their packaging, maybe he thought they were snakes, so we left them on the floor for a couple of days till he realised they were not going anywhere.
Keep an eye on the fuzzy toy and remove it if it starts shedding fibres because the bird can get them trapped in their crop or airways.
We buy all our parrot food, cleaning products and toys online. It is usually cheaper and if you spend enough you get free delivery. We usually have to buy a couple of toys to get up to that level and as Casper rarely plays with them maybe we are doing it wrong. :)

We would love to see pictures of both Kratos and Speckles :)


I'm battling to upload the pictures. I took a nice one of Speckles on Kratos' cage.

Lulu
01-02-2018, 07:08 AM
Hi, Lulu! Welcome :th_smile: I brought home a cockatiel, several months ago, from a pet store in town. I felt sorry for him because he was alone in a small, dark space with no toys, one perch, one seed cup and one water cup. This bird was a freak when I came near him, I tried to integrate him into our flock and he was picked on, I had to segregate him into a separate cage but near the others. He still flips out if I move too fast around him, getting his food bowls out but he is becoming calmer with my hands in his cage. I’m guessing that some of these pet shop birds that don’t have continuous love..have a hard time adjusting to a home life..sadly.


Hi Maree, thanks for your reply! I'm hoping he'll settle soon... he's been with us now for a week and a half and he still doesn't allow me to touch him or come near to him BUT I can put my hand closer to him than I was able to last week.

Casper's 2nd best friend
01-02-2018, 12:31 PM
Are you using a phone or a camera/computer to upload pics?
I use tapatalk for pictures from my phone (doesn't do videos though). Videos I upload to dropbox or Onedrive and copy a link from there.
Pictures I have taken with my camera tend to be too big to upload directly to this website so I either reduce them in paint or photoshop or upload them to my flickr gallery first and then from there click on share photo and copy and paste the medium format bbcode option like this
[Users must be registered and logged in to view attached photos or hyperlinks] ([Users must be registered and logged in to view attached photos or hyperlinks])
Mmmm apple ([Users must be registered and logged in to view attached photos or hyperlinks]) by Jean-Pierre Declemy ([Users must be registered and logged in to view attached photos or hyperlinks]), on Flickr

Lulu
01-05-2018, 06:27 PM
OK first of all your bird is beautiful! Secondly apologies for the delayed reply. I've been back at work and have hit the ground running.

I did try just using my camera phone, but I'll definitely try using OneDrive or Dropbox. I took such a nice photo.

Anyway, it's now going on three weeks and he's still very very scared. I'm trying to stick train him in the meantime because I'd really like to let him out his cage without it being traumatic to get him back in. I haven't let him out in three days because the last time I let him out I eventually had to towel him because I just couldn't guide him back to his cage. I am getting concern about how long I can keep him in his cage for without him becoming scared to come out. He's very comfortable outside his cage but like I say, getting him back in isn't a great experience.

I can come pretty close to him, and my hand can be about 10cm away before he panics and retreats to the back of his cage. With the stick I can almost touch him before he flies away from his perch (I only do it when he's on his perch).

He's eating very well. Still sticking to his seeds. I bought him a honey seed stick thing which he enjoyed but he's not yet eating any of the fruit or vegs I give him (I've tried carrots, apples and grapes (seedless)). And he knows when it's feeding him, he only eats from the floor of the cage and he's down there within seconds of me putting down more food.

But I just want to be able to touch him now! Kratos loves his cuddles (he practically goes weak at the knees) and I want Speckles to enjoy that too.

Lulu
01-05-2018, 06:34 PM
5049

Success!

Casper's 2nd best friend
01-05-2018, 08:31 PM
What a pair of posers :)

A lovely photo, it was worth the wait. I'm not sure what to suggest that will encourage him to eat fruit and veg, we fail miserably at it too and lots of expensive stuff that Casper leaves gets composted. We eat what is not put in his bowl as when you buy a fruit like a mango it is far too much for one parrot and if it is not exactly ripe how he likes it gets thrown out of the bowl so he can get to the banana underneath. I expect you have the same wastage with Kratos.

Lady
01-08-2018, 01:19 AM
I don't know if this would work but you could try squeezing some of the juice from the fruit onto the seeds so she will get a chance to taste it and see if she likes it. I would only try a small amount of both as a test. If she eats it them maybe a little more. Lady likes to eat from my plate and will pick up whatever I have on it. She doesn't always eat it but I know she at least gets a taste. Some veggies she likes cooked soft others she would rather raw, it's another trial and error kind of thing.
I suppose the seed she is eating is familiar so she is going to go for it first maybe add more veggies and just a little seed under them so she has to touch them to get to what she wants.

Lulu
01-10-2018, 06:14 PM
You have such a pretty bird!

I tried cutting a grape in half and leaving it with his seeds, untouched.

The thing is I still can't go near him. I'm now putting my hand in his cage every night for him to get him used to my presence.

The first few nights went as well as expected, last night he was very aggressive. Never bit me but kept lunging at me.

I even tried putting seeds in my hand, that doesn't interest him (but he's on the floor as soon as I drop them there).

He's not eating out his food bowl, just off the floor.

I'm really not sure if I'm making any progress at all with him. I haven't been able to let him out his cage for well over a week now because I can't get him in without having to (traumatically) towel him, nor does he seem to be getting used to my hand. I've had him since just before Christmas.

Lulu
01-16-2018, 06:33 PM
It's been a few weeks and progress is very, very, very slow.

So basically the only update is that he's now eating out his food bowl (and he only by accident discovered there's food in there).

I haven't forced myself on him, but tonight for the first night in a couple of weeks I sat there with my hand on his perch. He lunged at me a few times (and my instinct was to take my hand away which I guess doesn't help). I didn't put my hand close to him, on the furthest side of the perch.

I plan on doing this every second night for the next week or two, then upping it to every night.

Then I'm going to move my hand closer to him.

Strangely though when he's sitting in his food bowl and I'm putting food in, he doesn't try attack my hand even though I can practically touch him then, he's so close.

Dragonlady2
01-16-2018, 08:54 PM
It may seem like slow progress, but that you are able to enter the cage with your hand to put food in the dish is great start.

Lady
01-19-2018, 01:59 AM
Lulu,
Please let your bird set the pace. I understand that you want to be close to him but it will be so much more worth it if you let HIM make the decision on when he is feeling safe. Spend time in the room just hanging out or sit and read a book aloud to him for just 5 or 10 minutes a few times a day, don't move about quickly but be quiet and slow. I think this little guy will come around if you give him the time he needs. When you approach his cage, just drop a special treat like maybe millet or a tiny slice of fresh fruit into his cup and go sit and watch him. Body language speaks volumes!

Lulu
01-20-2018, 12:08 PM
Another update. While I can't go near him, he actually ate one of his treats out his food bowl while my hand was in the cage. I believe this is pretty good?

Casper's 2nd best friend
01-20-2018, 12:53 PM
Yep, he no longer regards you as a threat to his lunch, you're on your way :)

Quakerella
01-20-2018, 05:35 PM
This is great progress. I too have just acquired two cockatiels that I am taming. One whiteface and one Lutino both females. I will upload some pics when I can.

Lulu
01-23-2018, 06:01 PM
Oh my gosh. Speckles ate from my hand today. I've been keeping a note of what snacks he likes and he's super fond of green beans. I broke one up and he came to see and kind of lunged at it, realised what it was and kept eating from it. He did that for a whole until one of my cats shrieked which set the dogs off which scared Speckles. I'm giving him about 10 minutes to relax then I'm going back (hoping to take a photo).

Quakerella
01-23-2018, 07:41 PM
This is great, keep doing what you are doing he seems to be coming around nicely.

You will want to make sure your cats and dogs don't get near the cage, this will set you back and could be very dangerous for your bird.