# Aggression Towards Handler?



## muddy_cat (Oct 26, 2013)

I have had my teil for about 3 months now and things were going great. He loved to come out of his cage and sit with me. He enjoyed lots of head rubs and was not aggressive towards me. He started flying and has gotten better but sometimes he used to miss and fall behind a chair or something (never getting hurt). I couldn't really have him step up so I had to physically pick him up. I've done that about six or seven times now. He's stopped missing when he lands but now he's sort of hand aggressive. When I go to take him out he hisses and nips but then steps up. Head rubs are out of the question and he's getting more and more aggressive. He's made me bleed on a few occasions... Have I done something wrong? I've never handled him roughly or treated him poorly but now he's been so mean. Is there something I can do to reverse this and get us back to how we were before?


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## caterpillar (Oct 14, 2013)

muddy_cat said:


> I have had my teil for about 3 months now and things were going great. He loved to come out of his cage and sit with me. He enjoyed lots of head rubs and was not aggressive towards me. He started flying and has gotten better but sometimes he used to miss and fall behind a chair or something (never getting hurt). I couldn't really have him step up so I had to physically pick him up. I've done that about six or seven times now. He's stopped missing when he lands but now he's sort of hand aggressive. When I go to take him out he hisses and nips but then steps up. Head rubs are out of the question and he's getting more and more aggressive. He's made me bleed on a few occasions... Have I done something wrong? I've never handled him roughly or treated him poorly but now he's been so mean. Is there something I can do to reverse this and get us back to how we were before?


How old was your tiel when you adopted him? He might be getting hormonal or (more temporarily) going through a molt. It seems like a lot of people come here and say they had a formerly sweet bird who suddenly got very aggressive.

From my experience, NO cockatiels like to be "physically picked up." This may have made him regress, behavior-wise, and it makes many birds permanently afraid of/aggressive toward human hands. (Pet stores seem to handle birds in ways they don't like and can give them an ongoing dislike of hands, it seems. I think that's why one of mine sometimes bites and breaks the skin...he was born in a pet store that seemed to have no idea what to do with him.)

Instead of grabbing your bird when he lands behind a chair, why not coax him out with millet spray or another treat so that you can then get him in a position where he can step up?


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## muddy_cat (Oct 26, 2013)

He was about 6 months when I got him, the person I got him from told me to pick him up if he falls but I won't do that any more. I just hope he won't stay this way


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## caterpillar (Oct 14, 2013)

muddy_cat said:


> He was about 6 months when I got him, the person I got him from told me to pick him up if he falls but I won't do that any more. I just hope he won't stay this way


Ya, people here seem to be very adamant that you should not grab a cockatiel or even wrap it in a towel to catch it unless it is at risk of escaping. This seems to create serious trust issues between bird and human, and the fact that many pet stores do it to young birds is likely why so many tiels are hand-shy.

I have never had a young tiel but I think 6 months means it may be getting hormonal.


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## CaliTiels (Oct 18, 2012)

6 months is when tiels start puberty. But I agree. Try coaxing with treats. Grabbing is not good for an untrained bird because it kills any trust you built up


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