# Taming a tiel outside the cage?



## Sebastior (Jul 29, 2013)

I know budgies and tiels are different, but like 8 years ago when i got my budgie, we let him out the cage after a couple of days and tamed him when he was outside, and it only took a week for him to get proper tamed, would this be possible with a cockatiel?
'Cause i feel like we are going nowhere inside the cage, i can't get all that close to her without a piece of millet, she just starts lunging at me.
She's fully flighted.

I've had her for a month now. Her cage is on my desk right next to me, so whenver i'm home and around the computer (even if i'm not on the computer) i sit here and talk to her everyday, she seems to enjoy that, she fluffs her beard feathers up, tilts her head to the side and grinds her beak.

I read somewhere about a girl who had a tiel that acted way different outside the cage and i think that's how she tamed her cockatiel.
So has anyone here done this? Was it successful? How long did it take?

If there's already a post regarding this, could someone please link me? I couldn't find one...


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

I'd go ahead with it. Some taming methods work with most birds, some don't, and you have to find the one that will work with your particular bird. It definitely helps to let them have out-of-cage time even when they aren't tame. So I'd say go for it.


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## Sebastior (Jul 29, 2013)

Oh good, i'll go ahead and open her cage and see if she wnats to come out then.
I really hope she likes the mic stand i spent 45 minutes wrapping with some cotton string.
My budgie always tried to sit on it but i hadn't wrapped it yet, so she kept sliding off, quite amusing to watch, she looked so violated.


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## moonchild (Jul 29, 2012)

Well, my situation is a little different because I have multiple tiels. And most are tame. So whenever I've introduced a new tiel to the flock, they usually take their cues and learn from the others. My birds are also essentially cage-free -- they have a large cage but are never locked in other than at night. 

A few months ago, I adopted an untame skittish female. I just put her right in with the others (she had been quarantined for a month at a friend's house), and let her do her thing. For three months she kept her distance and watched me, seeing the other tiels fly to me and perch on me. I could tell she was studying everything. Finally she started to fly to me and "explore" me. I would offer her millet all the time but I could tell she was too nervous and scared of hands for me to really ask anything of her. Being flighted is important to her confidence, I think, because she knows she can take off whenever she feels insecure. But she always comes back to me eventually. 

Working inside the cage, we could only achieve so much. My hands are the only part of me that I can easily put in there, and they're also the part of me she's least okay with. She has always taken miller from them, but that's it. Outside the cage, she had the freedom to approach me and check out my shoulders, hair, lap, etc. We are working on the hands acceptance and making progress, slowly but surely. But I don't think we'd be where we are today if she had been confined to the cage. Or if I had really TRIED to tame her, for that matter. It just sort of happened.


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

Keep using the millet when she's out, too. It will help a lot. It may take some time for her to actually decide its safe to come out of her cage, though, so patience is key. She might sit on the door with her head poking out to start with, that's a good sign that she is curious about the world outside of the cage. Talk calmly to her to reassure her it's okay.


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## moonchild (Jul 29, 2012)

^ Agreed!
You can't rush them, sometimes they can take their sweet time deciding things are safe.


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## Sebastior (Jul 29, 2013)

Yeah, my budgie i lost recently, she'd always be perched by the cage opening, she was still unsure if she wanted to come out again, first time she was out, she tried to perch on the walls, crashed down in the bed, then on the desk, then it took a little while before she wanted to go out again, but she loved it more and more every time, you could see she wasn't so nervous, she looked relaxed and confident.
But anyway, i've rigged the cage where i put a little piece of millet by the opening, and Baby is definitely intrigued, she's trying to reach it.
Well now she's eating on it, not standing by the opening yet, but she will have to if she wants teh whole piece


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## Sebastior (Jul 29, 2013)

She's murdering the millet straw i put in with the piece of millet to hold it in place, didn't work out so well, she just ruined the set up haha


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## Sebastior (Jul 29, 2013)

Okay guys, she is now by the door opening, had some problems getting down there though, she was holding onto the top of the opening with her beak wiggling her feet, then she finally grabbed onto the end of it, looked kinda funny i gotta admit.
Sorry about the running commentary.


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

Haha she sounds like a character . You could try putting the millet outside the cage opening, so that she has to stretch a little further to reach it.


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## Sebastior (Jul 29, 2013)

Oh she was climbing on the cage when she almost fell off the cage opening and had a big piece of millet holding her hostage, so goofy.


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