# Taming a frightened adult Cockatiel



## Calvin (Sep 24, 2012)

Currently, I decided to take an easy challenge of raising a cockatiel along with my goffin cockatoo. Not as easy as I thought it would be, but I don't mind giving up my patience.

The cockatiel was given because the owners didn't care about it so I "adopted it".

Thing is there is a lot of problem with it. 

When I received it, it was bleeding from its leg and it one of the wings were cut incorrectly (Almost caused the bird to bleed). The recent owners left it outside for months. The bird was fine in the end, but I believe it is heavily frightened of people.

The actions of the cockatiel confuses me. It is scared of my hand. It is not scared of any other body part including my feet. It rejects millet unless I leave it alone with it or it is on my stomach. (I have to hide my hands)

It only hisses and it never bites.

It loves being outside of its cage and it chirps at me every time I leave the room. From time to time it flies towards my body, but it flies back once it sees my hand.

I've been trying the hand in the cage for about 2 weeks now to get it used to my hand, but I get the same reaction every day.

How would I go to taming the bird. Goffin were so much easier than the cockatiel. :wacko:

If calling the cockatiel "it" is a problem, I haven't named it and I find it redundant to keep typing cockatiel. :blush:


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## JaimeS (Nov 28, 2011)

Hello, Calvin. Welcome to TC.

Here are a few threads that may help although other than being afraid of your hands (which is not uncommon) it sounds like your tiel is doing pretty well:

http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=22073

http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=28661

Do you have a picture of your tiel? We may be able to tell you the gender and at least you can say him or her until you decide on a name.


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## Calvin (Sep 24, 2012)

JaimeS said:


> Hello, Calvin. Welcome to TC.
> 
> Here are a few threads that may help although other than being afraid of your hands (which is not uncommon) it sounds like your tiel is doing pretty well:
> 
> ...


I decided to name it Lucky since it was a unisex name, and it turns out to be a female. ^_^

Oh the first link was the first taming guide I tried. Such a shame it was unsuccessful in my case.

The second link, I will attempt tomorrow!

One last question, how do I make her go back into its cage voluntarily without man handling her? (Millet lure doesn't work)


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## JaimeS (Nov 28, 2011)

Will she step up on a perch while out? That way she doesn't have to be close to your hands?


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## Calvin (Sep 24, 2012)

JaimeS said:


> Will she step up on a perch while out? That way she doesn't have to be close to your hands?


I'll attempt this tomorrow, I have to finish homework in preparation for school. Quite neat that I was able to get a reply this quick. 

Lucky seems to like crab apples, she actually went back into her cage.


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## Scribbles (Jun 28, 2012)

Welcome. Here's hoping all goes well.


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## Bird Junky (Jul 24, 2012)

B.J's. BIRDS WITH A FEAR OF HANDS

These birds panic & flutter frantically about in the cage at the mere sight of a hand entering their cage. Threatening to if not actually biting. 

The way I have tackled this little problem for the past 50yrs or so is to set up the cage with the basic seed mix or pellets, water, iodine block & cuttlebone. Both the water & seed containers are better if they are the tube type which can be refilled without opening the cage door. 
This will prevent further upset to already fearful bird. 

The remaining foods such as, fruit/veg, hard boiled egg, millet spray etc. are to be provided in small portions as treat foods. These should be fed in small portions by you through the bars of the cage, with a pair of tweezers or chopsticks to protect your fingers. 

As the bird gets used to this, very gradually over the next few days, move your fingers up & closer to the treat food as you slowly build up a bond of trust between you & the bird. If your bird shies away remove the treat food immediately until he settle down, move your fingers further back up tweezers away from the food before you re-offer it. 
If a bird shows by his body language he's even thinking of biting you. Remove the treat food count to ten then & re-offer it. Do this as many times as it takes. 
Biting at the tweezers or sticks usually means, he doesn't like the treat or he's full up. Give him a chance to regain his appetite. You don't want a fat bird, do you?

Feed only one type of treat per visit. The smaller the treat food the more often the visits. This will show the bird that your arrival, means nice things to eat. Hard boiled egg should be sliced & fed one slice per visit. 
Expect a few set backs. Birds like people, have good & bad days. Don't be in a hurry, only when your bird is 100% happy to eat from your fingertips through the bars for several days, is he ready to move on to the next step in your training & taming program......B.J.
PS Don't let bird out of cage until STEP-UP achieved.....


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Welcome to TC!

Food bribery will definitely help in this situation. Also, it seems that most tiels are more afraid of our fingers then our actual hand, so try offering her your fist to step up and see if that helps. Good luck!


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## Loopy Lou (Jul 26, 2012)

At last another bird who can't be bribed with millet lol, mine won't be bribed with food either.

I was in very much the same situation as you about 4 months ago, and yesterday my bird finally stepped onto my hand and sat on my shoulder. He's still scared of fingers - he'll stand on my hand but if i move my fingers he'll attack. All things in time 

Smokey has made the most progress since his wings were clipped and i started taking him away from his cage and into the bathroom for training. I discovered that he reeeeallllyyyy likes looking in the mirror, so his treat when he does something well is that he gets to ogle himself in the mirror.

If you could train him to step up onto a perch first that would be best. I've now trained Smokey to come back to his perch and he'll step up onto it to go back into his cage. This has the added advantage of teaching your bird to "step up" whilst saving your fingers. There's a thread in the cockatiel videos section called "Whatchu looking at?", that shows my training session with Smokey yesterday.

Edit - oh yes, congratulations on your new bird! She is very Lucky indeed, great name  I'm glad she's with a caring owner now


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## Calvin (Sep 24, 2012)

Thank you for the welcoming!
@Bird Junky, I'm sorry, but I find it frustrating to read a wall of text. I prefer if it was into paragraphs.

The bird is still scared to go onto the perch. Lucky seems to hisses at the perch. x_x


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## Loopy Lou (Jul 26, 2012)

To begin with, i'd put the perch just under his belly and lightly touch him there with it and he'd automatically step up onto it. I'm not sure if that's an automatic reaction for birds or if he just cottoned on quickly. When he steps up i give him verbal reward by saying "good boy" and being pleased.

The way i taught Smokey to go onto his perch when i said "step up" was to set him on the floor or wait til he went there himself. It took him no time at all to realise that if he wanted to get back up then he needed to hop onto the perch to get where he was going, and so he'd voluntarily go onto it.

I do still offer Smokey a food treat when he does something well in the hope that he might take it, but he just doesn't 

This is a vid i made yesterday, he gets rewarded with a "good boy" and a nosy at himself lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cu0I2LPptZQ&feature=plcp


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## Calvin (Sep 24, 2012)

Lucky is scared of the perch itself. If I take its perch that lucky sleeps on in the cage, she is still scared of it. Plastic/Wood perches. This is a very finicky bird.


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## Bird Junky (Jul 24, 2012)

Calvin said:


> Thank you for the welcoming!
> @Bird Junky, I'm sorry, but I find it frustrating to read a wall of text. I prefer if it was into paragraphs.
> . x_x


Hi Ok fixed it. How's that?.....B.J.


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## Loopy Lou (Jul 26, 2012)

Calvin said:


> Lucky is scared of the perch itself. If I take its perch that lucky sleeps on in the cage, she is still scared of it. Plastic/Wood perches. This is a very finicky bird.


Sorry, i didn't read your previous post properly, that's what i get for rushing! :blush:

Smokey used to hiss and make a lot of noise at his step-up stick too, but i think he got desensitized because he saw it so often. To begin with he'd attack the stick before hopping onto it, but he doesn't do that now. He sees it as his way to get around and he'll sit quite happily on it. Birds are scared of everything to begin with, it might just be because it's moving towards him.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

You can try to desensitize Lucky to the step-up perch. When Lucky's out of the cage, have the step-up perch in plain sight at a distance that doesn't scare her. Occasionally pick the perch up so she can see it in your hand. Move it toward her a little but stop if she starts acting scared. When you're not handling the perch, you can put a treat down in a location where she has to approach the stick at least a little bit to reach the treat, and work on getting her to gradually come closer. 

Very nervous birds can take a very long time to overcome their fear. I've had Azazel for a year and a half now and there are still many occasions where he looks scared if I approach him, and he won't step up on my hand unless I basically corner him first. But he has reached the stage where he will sometimes run toward my hand eagerly if I'm holding a piece of millet spray, and he's fairly willing to step up on a stick.


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