DO WE HAVE A... COCKATIEL! Expert?

[Sheather]

Ha! I'm not Lovezebs

Tricked all of you!

But do we have anyone experienced in all things, cockatielian?

We're wanting to adopt a hand-fed young male cockatiel towards Christmastime this year and obviously while I think I know what to expect personal experience is always a great thing.

[KarenB]

After growing up with budgies as a kid, I felt that I was ready to move up to a "bigger bird" once I moved away from home, and my first bird as an adult was a cockatiel I named Coco. She was a pet shop bird among five other cockatiels in that store, all female normal grays. The store was around the corner from the house I was renting at the time, and I would frequently go in there and watch the cockatiels. One pay day I bit the bullet and bought a cage, a book on cockatiels published in the late '70s, and bird, then excitedly took her home.

Upon attempting to get Coco from box to cage, she bit the heck out of me. Looking back, I went about that process all wrong, but it really only took a week of patience and caring from that first stressful day, and she came around. She never bit me again. She became my constant companion, and I had her for ten years.

While not a cockatiel expert per see, I went on to keep many different hookbills after that and up until the present time, from parrotlets to greenwing macaws. I find that in general, you can use the same techniques and training for all hookbills regardless of their size. Of course, each species has traits and characteristics unique to them. There are now countless more and better resources now than when I started out with my thin little book about cockatiels from the '70s. I would just encourage you to read up before you bring your new little friend home.

I look forward to seeing and hearing about your new little friend!

[lovezebs]

Sheather


~Elana~

[Sheather]

KarenB Thank you for your insight. We've decided that we are only going to adopt a bird that is either a hand-reared adolescent or a young, already friendly adult - with 20 finches and 4 budgies all doing their own thing, we need to ensure we end up with a bird who likes people and taming a wild bird is very difficult with so many other birds around who are not tame.

The little guy will probably be the only bird we'll have to cage when we're not home or at night, but assuming all goes well and after we've gotten him liking the humans, he will be allowed join the finches and budgies loose in the aviary room to play whenever we can't have him out with us but are home to make sure no trouble occurs. Hopefully that will work out, to keep him amused when we can't be with him without his having to sulk alone in a cage - and hopefully if we're getting a hand-reared bird he won't go wild being around the budgies and other birds and will remain fond of us. His cage will be in the bird room so even when he'll be caged, he'll have the background noise and some company with a view of everyone.

[Sheather]

Okay, we're possibly considering adopting a bird around 3 months of age, but parent-raised. The person I've conversed with has a group of four young ones weaned about a month and a half ago. I'm told they don't bite and will step up onto hands for treats but are not affectionate at this time with humans as they are living with their siblings and parents.

Would a bird of this description be relatively easy to fully tame into an affectionate companion once brought home and would this be possible without clipping his wings? I really dislike the idea of wing-clipping.

I've never tried to really tame a parrot, the budgie Arthur who we found outdoors was semi-tame when we found him, and would eat while sitting on your arm, but he has gone wild now that we have the other parakeets.

How long would the cockatiel need to be kept away from said parakeets and the other birds before I could be certain he would stay friendly with me - though they're not cockatiels, would he still prefer them to me? Would he revert to a wild state as well if I moved his cage into the bird room eventually (since this bird isn't hand-raised, I will keep him in another room during the taming process if we get him).

[KarenB]

I don't think you would have any problem once you started working with it. They are fairly easy to tame. They just need to learn to trust, and you need to be patient. I had my cockatiel fully flighted, and that gave her confidence and I think helped in the taming process, though it was not by design. I just didn't know to clip wings back then so I never did.

[Nipper06]

Dylan,

There is a great Cockatiel forum where you might also post your question(s):

http://talkcockatiels.com/

On the subject of taming the Cockatiel you mentioned, with your bird set up, I'd recommend caging him separately and working with him slowly, to get him tame, before you release him with the other birds. He could see and hear the budgies, but keep him in his own cage. Even after he is tame, he would probably stay tamer if you let him fly around in the aviary with your other birds but still retrieve him to sleep and spend part of the time, in his own cage.

I am a big believer in fully-flighted birds and free flight time - but, not having an aviary option anyway, I still like to keep them in cages part of the time (for feeding and sleeping) so they stay tamer and are easier to deal with.

[MiaCarter]

Sheather -- I know me some cockatiels!

I've worked with quite a few. And I have my own little guy whom I'm working with right now!

Behold Sir Hunter. (With his hair looking all crazy because I turned on some Christmas lights)


They're among my favorites!

I've been working with Hunter for about 5-6 weeks now.
You can read about the process I've been using with him here:
http://www.petfinchfacts.com/?s=hunter
(It's in reverse chronological order)

I believe Hunter was likely semi-tame at one point. Perhaps even hand-raised. But then, he was neglected for an extended period of time and lost any tame-ness that he had. We're working on taming him again.

I wouldn't hesitate to get a parent-raised cockatiel. I've worked with them before and really, there's little difference. Taming is taming. And once they're tame, they're just like any other bird.

You will need the ability to control your 'tiel before you introduce him to the others. He must be consistent with stepping up and relatively easy to handle. So assuming he progressed at a similar rate as Hunter, he would reach this point in about 6 weeks. (I've worked with Hunter daily for 1-3 hours, split up into 15-20 min sessions.)

I let the finches out with Hunter yesterday and it was very anti-climactic.
He sat in his favorite spot and pretty much ignored them.
He does enjoy watching them. He sits on top of their cages and watches them; it doesn't seem to bother the finches at all.

Earning their trust is the time-consuming part of the process. Hunter doesn't trust me fully even now. In about 6 weeks of working together, he will:
- seek out head and neck rubs (called rubbey-rubbeys)
- tolerates petting on his back if he's in the right mood.
- allows me to give rubbey-rubbeys while he's in his cage (started just this past week; before, he would only allow this when he was outside the cage.)
- will eat millet from my fingers (that was our ice breaker and that's what fostered trust.)
- knows his name
- knows the term 'rubbey-rubbeys"
- knows the term "come down" (as in come down off your high perch and come to the lower one in front of the doorway).
- he knows "go home" (and actively evades me when he's not ready to go home)
- today, he's learning "back to your cage" (I don't want him sitting on top of the gouldian's cage, as they have babies now.) So I'm getting him to step up then taking him back to his favorite cage-top.
- he's learning "step up". This is challenging as he won't allow me to touch his chest or underside. He won't step up onto my hand and runs away if I try to use a pen as an extension of my hand. So I must use my forearm instead.
- I've gotten him to stay on my arm for about a minute. We're actively working on this. It takes a lot of trust.
- He knows how to do a trick. I tell him "Wow Me" and he'll lean forward with wings out, then falls forward and does a somersault around the perch. He does this 3 out of 4 times, so not totally consistent yet. This was something he did on his own; I paired it with a phrase and treats to get him to do on command.

So that's about what's possible with a very reluctant-to-be-friends-and-trust cockatiel in 5-6 weeks of working together for 1-3 hours a day.

I did NOT clip Hunter's wings. (His tail and wing feathers had been mutilated by a prior owner.) He can fly some, as they didn't clip them properly.
So keeping him flighted hasn't harmed the process at all.
I will not clip his wings in the future either, as I have cats and if he ever escapes the bird room, he'll need those wings to escape them.
You would start working with the bird inside the cage, so they can't just fly off. By the time I let them out of the cage, I've been working with the bird for a while. I do not let them out until they're semi-handle-able, as otherwise, it's very difficult to get them back into the cage. (And trying to herd a less-than-tame bird into a cage is not a nice experience for them or for you.)

So I'd take him for certain! I can help you if you need advice!

Hunter probably won't be one of those birds that lies on his back for belly rubs and so forth, but he already enjoys human interaction. He enjoys head rubs and will ultimately come to enjoy closer contact like shoulder rides and other cuddles.
I think that's a reasonable expectation of any bird, parent-raised or hand-raised.

[MiaCarter]

Oh, about the budgies....

My guy enjoys singing with the budgies, but that's about it.

I wouldn't call them friends, but they're friendly.

I've had cockatiel-budgie pairs before and the same was true of them. They were friendly to each other, but it's still very different from a cockatiel-cockatiel or budgie-budgie pair. They never had the bond that I saw with same-species pairings.

[Sheather]

Thank you KarenB , Nipper06, and MiaCarter for your advice!

We ended up adopting a whole 'nother bird all together who we found after I read the ad for the younger birds.



This is Gracie (or, as he thinks, 'Gricey' - his owners before had strong Australian accents!). He is not a baby - he's actually nine years old - and I don't know whether he was handfed or not, but he is very used to people, and came from a big family. I am Gracie's second owner, and adopted him directly from the family he has spent his nine very pampered years with. However, with declining health and children gone off to school, the parents of said family wanted to find a home where more attention could be given to him - so, here he ended up. He came free, with a brand new cage, 2 bags of high-end food, about 20 toys, and a cockatiel handbook *which is actually really helpful*. His owners were very sad to see him go, but they knew he would be in really good hands with us. He'd never known any other owners, so I know this transition will be a bit of a shock for him.

However, overall I think our little bird is handling the change well. He was very distraught for about an hour after his owners left him, crying and frantically trying to get out. It was quite heart-breaking. After this however he calmed down, and started instead climbing on the door wanting to be with me and my aunt. I offered him some broccoli through the cage and he willingly ate it from me, and a while later we carefully opened the door - he hopped right out onto my hand. Overall, he seems very tame. He willingly flies to you to sit on your shoulder, and he allowed a few short head scratches this evening. When he gets frightened, his first response is to fly to me, which is good - he definitely views humans positively, which is great.



However, he does have a small biting problem it seems, maybe only because he doesn't fully trust us yet. He flies to you, solicits attention - and then his mood changes and he lunges and rapid-fire nips at you, sometimes quite hard. I am told he never bit his old owners like this. I've made sure not to respond at all to the bites - they're not that painful, and I don't want him to learn it gets any positive response.

He is difficult to get to step up. He will only step up onto the back of your hand, not a finger, and he will not do it without nailing a good bite or two. He does not like to be taken off of anyone's shoulder and gets quite upset when it's attempted. Once he is up there, he is completely comfortable, and sings in your ear and whistles and mumbles nonsense happy as can be - but try and get him on your hand when he is on your body elsewhere, and he gets nippy. He does not bite when you offer a finger when he is in his cage.

I'm hoping the nipping subsides once he gets to know us better - right now it's like a ticking time bomb whenever he's on you - sweet one minute, snappy the next. I'd love to be able to just put a finger near him and have him step up instead of having to put my whole hand up to him and get bitten 3 or 4 times to get him to sit on my hand. It's odd to me because he clearly loves people and comes to us for attention, and begs to come out when he sees anyone - but yet he switches in an instant and nips. I can understand why he would when you're getting him on your hand, but he'll be sitting on your shoulder content, whistling, and suddenly will growl, lunge and bite you three times on the neck - not hard, mind you, but enough to pinch and make you jump. And then he'll just go back to whistling.

I don't want to over-do it so early on, but he so clearly WANTS to come out with us, I've allowed him to. Would it be better to keep him confined for now? He's remained in his own familiar cage with his same food and toys, so besides new humans and new scenery, his situation isn't all foreign to him, which is probably helping him to adjust.

[KarenB]

Birds bite out of fear, and it seems he is not yet completely trusting of you an nfss testing you. The best thing you can do is not react to it, so you are doing the right thing. It may help to break the habit of biting by having him step up on a stick as opposed to your hand.

Good luck, and congrats on your new-to-you baby

[MiaCarter]

KarenB nailed it.
They bite out of fear and when they're feeling threatened.

Hunter is a **big** nipper, but he never bites. (In other words, he's mouthing, not putting any force behind it.)
He nips when I cross a line, departing from his comfort zone. For instance, I give him rubbey-rubbeys on his cheeks, but if I swipe his chin, I get yelled at.
Gradually, it's becoming less and less as he learns to trust me.

When he nips or bites, you can't react by pulling back.
It's super difficult to do in practice and I'm not always successful as it requires consciously overriding a natural reflex. Sometimes, it requires a good pair of fitted leather gloves.
But if you stand your ground, it's the best possible thing. Pair it with a stern, sharp "No!"
If you back off and don't stand your ground, your bird learns that biting is a very effective tool for getting his way. They can turn into tyrants like this!

For step-up, try using your forearm with your hand in a fist. Birds get nervous with those dextrous fingers and hands. They view them as threatening and unpredictable. A forearm is much less threatening for most.

Be careful with using a stick for teaching step up.
It works beautifully with some birds, not so well with others. I first tried a dowel with Hunter and he shrieked, puffed his hair, and flew away.
Not good.
So then, I tried using a pen and he's terrified of it. He waddles away at top speed. And that's the last thing you want; you don't want to associate yourself with anything scary.

So I just use my forearms.
If I put a forearm up to him, he'd just back up and walk away. So I have to put a forearm on either side of him and move my arms together. He'll usually hop up onto one of the arms.
It's taking time as he's not comfortable with it, so it's a matter of pushing him to confront that discomfort in a gradual manner with lots of treats and praise.

So with your guy, I'd do your best to evaluate him and discover his comfort zone and his boundaries.
I'd also find a nice treat that you can use as a reward. I'll let them eat the treat food for a few days so they get a real taste for it. Then, it becomes a reward only. (It's important to avoid offering that treat for any other occasion. It's a reward only! That sends a clear message that it's a reward, not a random snack.)

Once you know his boundaries, I'd be careful to stay within those boundaries that comprise his comfort zone and start doing some bonding work -- a few weeks of all things lovely like head rubs and shoulder rides and anything else he enjoys.

I don't recommend pushing the envelope during the bonding process. It can make it difficult for him to trust you. So during that bonding process, I don't really work on those bad behaviors or other areas that need work. It's just a getting-to-know-and-like-you time. He needs to feel confident in his environment and with you.

Once he trusts you, he'll be more willing to try new things and he'll be much more eager to please you (making praise and attention a good reinforcement.)

Then, once you've bonded, you can gradually begin pushing him to confront those discomforts.

It sounds like you've got a great starting point!
I suspect that once he bonds with you, lots of this will fall into place. I think many of the issues you describe will self-correct.

[KarenB]

Yeah, what she said, lol.

I guess I don't have the patience to write it out in that much detail. Thanks, Mia

[Sheather]

Great progress already today - shoulders are off-limits, and he is only allowed to fly onto our hands or arms. I also decided that instead of ignoring bites, a nip would result in an immediate 5 minute in-cage time-out. It took three of them (and one "No biting" tap on the beak afterwards) before he entirely stopped nipping, and only a few immediate removals for him to start landing on our arms rather than shoulders. He's very, very smart and perceptive to what we want him to do.

Already, he comes when called even from across the house, and is crazy for running water. He loves head scritches but even more he LOVES bathing and playing in a running sink. I already love the little guy. Right now he's busy shredding a box of newspapers on the bed, whistling "Jingle Bells" to himself.

[KarenB]

Ooh, great progress! He sounds like a real character.