# My cockatiel when I first got him and now



## Nikster199 (Oct 5, 2013)

This is a picture of him at 11 weeks old he was a scruffy with baby food stuck in his neck feathers and a bit underweight. 


And this is him at around 11 months his a 1 year and a few months now


His now a lot bigger and looks much better


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## Tequilagirl (Mar 4, 2013)

My bird was also very messy when I got him. This is a few months after I got him because I didn't have a camera before. His flights were tiny, tattered and ugly and his tail was much the same.










This is him a few weeks ago <3










His grey parts used to be darker, not sure why that changed.


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## Colorguarder08 (Sep 13, 2014)

What a wonderful transformation I'm assuming the first pic was after a bath.


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## CaliTiels (Oct 18, 2012)

He is very handsome


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## dianne (Nov 27, 2013)

He looks so good now.


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## RexiesMuM (Sep 7, 2011)

Its nice too see such a change in your birds after you get them and they get older . Shake was very underweight when we got him and his feather quality was kinda poor but now he is one handsome fella who has great weight  Great job with him he looks fantastic and so handsome !


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## SovereignGrace (Oct 24, 2014)

Very beautiful baby you have.


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## Nikster199 (Oct 5, 2013)

Thanks guys he really has changed a lot even my family can't believe that's what he used to look like compared to now, we can't even remember how bad he looked at the start


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## Nikster199 (Oct 5, 2013)

Colorguarder08 said:


> What a wonderful transformation I'm assuming the first pic was after a bath.



I don't think so I think he had a bath earlier that day but he never used to preen himself so he looked even messier but all around his neck was food and the feather were clumped together in the end there was one piece that took a few months to fall off and it was about 5 feathers stuck together


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

Such an improvement! Great job! :clap:


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## tielbob (Mar 25, 2013)

Beautiful birds in this thread!


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## Nikster199 (Oct 5, 2013)

CharVicki said:


> Such an improvement! Great job! :clap:



Thanks!


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## Nikster199 (Oct 5, 2013)

Tequilagirl said:


> My bird was also very messy when I got him. This is a few months after I got him because I didn't have a camera before. His flights were tiny, tattered and ugly and his tail was much the same.
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He looks like a different bird lol how long did it take to harness train him?


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## Tequilagirl (Mar 4, 2013)

I'd say all in all a few months, because he was so nice and tame I just tried to put it on him and we both had a major freak out so that set us back some time 

His harness is always tied to a perch outside his cage so it's always on sight and he steps on it every day. I'd say what took me the longest was to get him used to me "manhandling" him and moving his wings about. When we play I pick him up, cup him in my hands and put him upside down for a couple of seconds while I kiss his belly and let him go.

The DVD that comes with the harness is extremely useful. Just take it slow and "play" with him making sure he knows you won't harm him and that the handling doesn't last long, and you will be fine.


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## nassrah (Feb 27, 2012)

You have done a wonderful job! He is a very handsome little guy now ! Well doine ! X xz


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## Nikster199 (Oct 5, 2013)

Tequilagirl said:


> I'd say all in all a few months, because he was so nice and tame I just tried to put it on him and we both had a major freak out so that set us back some time
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I've been thinking about getting him one for a while now, he doesn't like been man handled. My dad holds him while I cut his nails and he tries to bite my dad and squirms.


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## Nikster199 (Oct 5, 2013)

nassrah said:


> You have done a wonderful job! He is a very handsome little guy now ! Well doine ! X xz



Thank you


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## Tequilagirl (Mar 4, 2013)

Nikster199 said:


> I've been thinking about getting him one for a while now, he doesn't like been man handled. My dad holds him while I cut his nails and he tries to bite my dad and squirms.


It's not something that's achieved overnight! You do need to realise that to put the harness on, and more importantly to take it off, you have to keep the bird in place while you do your thing. If you can think in your head how you'd restrain your bird gently, you can start working towards it by getting the bird used to being touched. I put my bird's belly to my face and while I give him a kiss I lift his wing a little from the chest, count to 3 and let it go, then repeat with the other wing. He doesn't love it but tolerates it because it's only 3 seconds and it doesn't hurt. You know your bird and will learn how far you can go without upsetting him. It takes time and patience but it's so worth it! The DVD explains it better by the way.

Also, you need to bear in mind that clipping nails isn't playing. He's fully aware there's a metal thing by his toes, playing with just you and your hands is different.

I also think that buying the red harness made it a bit more difficult. Now that he's used to it I don't think I'll try getting him used to the black one but I do think that it would have been easier to train with the black harness.


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## Nikster199 (Oct 5, 2013)

Tequilagirl said:


> It's not something that's achieved overnight! You do need to realise that to put the harness on, and more importantly to take it off, you have to keep the bird in place while you do your thing. If you can think in your head how you'd restrain your bird gently, you can start working towards it by getting the bird used to being touched. I put my bird's belly to my face and while I give him a kiss I lift his wing a little from the chest, count to 3 and let it go, then repeat with the other wing. He doesn't love it but tolerates it because it's only 3 seconds and it doesn't hurt. You know your bird and will learn how far you can go without upsetting him. It takes time and patience but it's so worth it! The DVD explains it better by the way.
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> ...



I realise that I was planning on getting him one for Christmas along with a new cage. My bird seems to like red/pink and blue quite a lot, I bought black mesh curtains to put by my back door so that he won't fly out and he was scared of them, his also scared of black plastic bags lol so I'm not sure what colour I would get. He will let me kiss his chest and I can move his wings when his sitting on his perch near a mirror but not for long.


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