# Swaddling before scritches. It worked for me!



## Mohawk (Sep 28, 2011)

Hi, it's been a while since I've been on here. Actually a LONG frustrating while with Mohawk. This will be a rather long post in the hope that it helps other first time tiel owners. 
I am NO expert, but I'd like to share some professional advice I got from an avian vet about getting my cockatiel used to fingers and hands.

First a little background on Mohawk..

I got Mohawk from a pet store in Sept 2011. They told me he was about 5 months old at the time and that he was hand raised. Well we got him home and there's no way that was true. Hated hands from day one. Biting, hissing, lunging. You know the drill. Hated scritches too. Really wanted nothing to do with any of my family.

With A LOT of work, I got him to step up with the bribery of treats. But when the treats stopped, he'd bite me and fly off. Which brings me to the second issue- *flying*. They clipped his wings at the pet store- but he still had GREAT altitude! This was pretty dangerous, as he was flying into pillars, windows etc. 
I took him back to the pet store after 3 months asking them to trim him again, as his flight feathers must have grown back. 
They took him- did a trim, but said they were all pretty short and only took off a bit. The dangerous flying continued at home for another few months.

Here's the last bit of Mohawk's history.. 
He lost one of his blood feathers one night. I know this because when I woke up and checked on him, I saw little trickles of blood on his bars and even on the wall! He must have had night terrors/flapping. When I saw this I decided it was time to take him to the vet. BEST MOVE I MADE!

The avian vet was actually surprised at how much trouble I was having with Mohawk- saying that cockatiels are very good starter birds. After inspecting his wings, she saw that they were *incorrectly clipped*!! The pet store had actually left his 'lifting feathers' long!!! I figure he wasn't bonding with us because he always had a way out. If he got too sick of us- he could always fly away.. 
She correctly clipped his wings and now flight is not an issue. He's more dependent on me to get around, which I think is helping the bonding.

*** Now here's the advice that helped with scritches and being afraid of hands. I don't know how this will go over with the experts- but I'll share it because it worked for me, so it might work for other frustrated tiel owners.
*
The vet told me, and showed me how to swaddle Mohawk in a towel so that just his head sticks out of the top (I'm sure there's lots of info on here on how to hold/restrain cockatiels). She said to wrap him up and pet his head. He will fight at first, but eventually he'll calm down and you can rub his head and even his beak. She told me to do this for a couple of minutes a few times a day to show him hands and fingers are ok.

To be truthful, I was highly doubtful of this forceful approach.. But after 5 months of biting and hissing, I was ready to try anything! And I have tried quite a few methods discussed in these forums.

Anyway, I did it soon after I got Mohawk home from the vet. He HATED it and squawked bloody murder at first. But then he calmed down. I talked to him while I pet his head.. Even touched his beak for the first time. Then I put him down on his cage and after I let him get himself together, I offered him my finger and scritches. *He bowed his head and let me really give him scritches for the first time!!*. He didn't bite my finger. He was a different bird!

I've done the swaddle twice now and had the same result. I have the feeling some of you won't agree with it. And I wouldn't have tried it, or even thought of it had a professional not told me to do it. You obviously need to BE SO CAREFUL when handling your bird like this.

Anyway, sorry for going on so long, but I know how frustrating it is when you want to interact with your bird and try and try, and all you get back is fear and sore fingers! I still have more training to do. Still working on stepping up commands- but I have to say that it is nice to finally be able to connect with Mohawk through touch.

I look forward to your comments and opinions.


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## delawaregirl (Dec 2, 2011)

I'm not an expect either. I am a new bird owner. Just letting Tweety teach us as we go. Of course, my road has been easy because Tweety was hand raised when we brought him home, properly clipped, and we had spent a lot of time getting to know him at the pet shop. BUT, what I do feel is that we all learn our own birds and it seems to me that although you were nervous about the advise you got from your vet you tried it and it worked!!! Sometimes we learn and our bird teaches thru trial and error. Hopefully not many errors. Our Tweety never lets us give him scritches unless he initiates them by getting on our chest. When he does this we know to gently craddle him with one hand and then give scritches with the other. He will turn his head so that we also rub his jaw bone. And sometimes his beak. Sometimes, he will stay like this for 5/10 mins and then when he has had enough he will wiggle a little and we let go and off to our shoulder he goes. Birds are great teachers. And you followed his lead and never gave up until you found what worked. Hoorah for you!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

There is nothing wrong with the swaddling method, believe me! I reserve it for my most terror of birds (Screech and Hershey). In fact, its how I got Hershey to not be scared of fingers, but I always did her's after a bath, would hold her in the towel and pet her. If it works for you, then that's fine. Every bird is different. I'm glad you figured out the wing thing too. It can be frustrating when they don't want to stay with you. And, just because a bird is hand fed, DOESN'T mean it will like hands. A lot of breeders don't have time sit and cuddle with the babies after feeding them and so they just feed and then put them back. My Pebbles is like this, totally hand fed, she'll step up, but she doesn't like head scratches. She would much rather be sitting on my shoulder while I read to her (she acts like she's really listening too!!!) And he's gorgeous btw!


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

As you know, this is a domination method, and many people (especially fans of positive reinforcement) object to it. Their objection is that you're teaching your bird learned helplessness - that you can do whatever you want and the bird won't be able to resist, so it's better to do what you want to make its life easier.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

tielfan said:


> As you know, this is a domination method, and many people (especially fans of positive reinforcement) object to it. Their objection is that you're teaching your bird learned helplessness - that you can do whatever you want and the bird won't be able to resist, so it's better to do what you want to make its life easier.


I think this depends on how it's done. If all you do is force the bird to do something it views as a punishment, then yes, you are teaching learned helplessness. But, if you do the swaddling and then follow it with reward, it's more akin to an exposure procedure to diminish fear. The bird is put into an initially uncomfortable situation, but taught gradually to associate positive things with that situation rather than fear/anxiety. While I do agree that careful consideration is required, I do see where, in some circumstances, this could be warranted with especially reluctant birds.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

I agree that occasionally making a bird do something will speed up the overcoming-fear process a lot, although it needs to be done carefully and infrequently. But there are some people who will rip off the head of anyone who suggests such a thing, so it's good to know where they're coming from. 

I have my doubts about swaddling and scritching though. A bird that is struggling to get free it isn't enjoying the scritches, and it can take a long time for the struggling to stop. A bird that's passive from the start is a better candidate for this approach.


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## AcceptedWalnut (Oct 12, 2011)

Thanks for this advice. My tiel is very reluctant with most things so was becoming very frustrated as taming videos i've watched seemed to be going nowhere. Food bribery wasn't working as he wasnt that interested in working for treats so after reading this it was almost a last resort kind of thing.

I had him gently held in a blanket and within 10 seconds he was calm enough for me to start giving scritches on top of his head. Done this for around 2 minutes after i realised he wasnt struggling to flee me at all.

After this i let him free to sit next to me on the arm of the chair and after still nibbling me a couple of times when i approached his head for more scritches he eventually let me and even started lowering his head for more. He reverted back to type shortly after though and didnt seem to want me near him as much so i gathered he'd had enough and returned him to his cage.

In terms of my tiel though, this is a massive step forward and has given me a confidence boost that he might actually be starting to come round to liking me and hands.


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## Mohawk (Sep 28, 2011)

tielfan said:


> I agree that occasionally making a bird do something will speed up the overcoming-fear process a lot, although it needs to be done carefully and infrequently. But there are some people who will rip off the head of anyone who suggests such a thing, so it's good to know where they're coming from.
> 
> I have my doubts about swaddling and scritching though. A bird that is struggling to get free it isn't enjoying the scritches, and it can take a long time for the struggling to stop. A bird that's passive from the start is a better candidate for this approach.



Hi Tielfan,

To clarify- what I did while Mohawk was in the blanket was slowly pet the top of his head from front to back. I showed him my finger each time. Touched the tip of his beak as well. Not really 'ruffle the feathers' scritches. The enjoyment of the scritches came AFTER the towel came off. He sat for a few minutes and collected himself- then LOVED the scritches.

Let me also say that it has been over a week- and swaddling has only been done three times, including the vet/exam.


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## Mohawk (Sep 28, 2011)

AcceptedWalnut said:


> Thanks for this advice. My tiel is very reluctant with most things so was becoming very frustrated as taming videos i've watched seemed to be going nowhere. Food bribery wasn't working as he wasnt that interested in working for treats so after reading this it was almost a last resort kind of thing.
> 
> I had him gently held in a blanket and within 10 seconds he was calm enough for me to start giving scritches on top of his head. Done this for around 2 minutes after i realised he wasnt struggling to flee me at all.
> 
> ...


This is great to hear!! I am so glad this thread has helped someone else.


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