# need help fast please



## Skip (Dec 15, 2008)

hello everyone. i just joined this wonderful site and i'll introduce myself . i'm skip and my new little girl is petey (named by her previous owner). i read quite a bit last night but didn't find the answers i need. petey is about 1 year old and never been out or on a hand. i'm handicapped and i'm afraid to get her out for fear of not being able to catch her. i want to take her to get her wings clipped first. how do i go about getting her out and into a cqarry bag. i'm not afraid to reach in and get her but i would like to know the best way so that she isn't traumatized by this first trip out of the cage. i don't think she was well cared for at her last home. this morning i'm putting a dish of water in her cage and see if she will bathe herself. if not i read post on misting. any advice any of you can give me will be so appreciqated by both of us. thanks skip


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## Plukie (Aug 26, 2007)

Hello Skip! I think whatever way you get her out of the cage is going to be traumatic for her if she isn't used to hands or being out of the cage. Do you really need to get her clipped right away? Could it wait until you have bonded with her a bit more? The reason I say that is, tiel are really lovely, cuddly but very clever birds, if you upset one of them, the trust is broken and it takes an awful long time to build it up again. Slowly, slowly and even slower at their pace is the way to train and bond with a tiel. Patience is the key word. If I was you I would keep her in the cage for a while, sit beside it and talk quietly, some people even suggest reading a childs story or something to your tiel. The quietness and calmness of your voice really does calm them down and help enormously to gain their trust. Once you have done that for a couple of day, just put your hand in the cage, you don't have to move it around or touch her, just put your hand in and let her come to you. She might just flap around and panic a little bit at first, but if you leave your hand there, she will gradually realise that it's not a threat and maybe even hop on. Give that a day or two doing that, then, you can try and get her to step up on your hand, that is the next step to trust and bonding. Once you have done that, then you can take her out of the cage, she will obviously fly around, but should eventually go back to her cage or.....you could tempt her back with millet. Millet is the best thing to tempt any tiel with I find. With my two, they won't come to me when it's time to go back in the cage, so what I do, it works for me, I uncover them in the morning and right away take out their food dishes. Once the dishes are out of the cage, I change their water, so that they can have a fresh drink and I let them out. After they have been out flying for about an hour, I put their food dishes back in the cage with fresh food and they soon realise it's breakfast time and go straight back in. You could try that method, or to get her back in, just put a piece of millet in the cage, tell her that there is a treat in her dish and she will soon learn that phrase means food and hopefully, she will go in. As for getting her wings clipped.....what is the reasoning behind that, is it just that you don't want her flying around?


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## Jiggers Mommy (Sep 2, 2008)

Hi Skip and Welcome.

I am fairly new here as well and the advice and suggestions people give you to help are amazing. About 20 days ago I got Misty, a 2 year old teil, who was lonely and not hand trained and didn't like to come out of her cage. Within a week we got her used to us changing her water and eventually eating millet out of our hand. Last week she got gutsy and decided to come out of her cage for a flight. She still hadn't been on out hands yet. It was quite the chore to get her back in. (we used a rubberized glove so she wouldn't associate our hands with getting her back in). Then yesterday she ventured out of her cage again for a flight, and we let her fly around. However she wouldn't let us put her away. So we just kept trying and trying and finally she tired herself out, and let us pick her up.  And we talked calmly to her and we kept telling her what a good girl she is. And worked on her a bit more from on top of the cage. And Guess what?? She got up on my hand and went back into her cage. So honestly it does pay to take it slow and steady. Because once they know you are trustworthy... They are amazing to have around.  

I clip my teils wings a bit (just to slow them down alittle for fear of them getting hurt flying) But I would wait till you build trust with her. It will make it alot easier on you.


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

Welcome Skip! The best way is to have someone come over to clip your bird. There are lots of helpful sites out there that show how to do it. That way you won't have to sweat getting your bird out (someone else will) and done by someone else it's less likely to ruin the trust you are trying to build with her. Once it's done she will naturally be a little more dependent on you and may step up onto your hand immediately. If there's no one who can help you with that it may be better to wait 'till Petey is more settled in.


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## Skip (Dec 15, 2008)

*thanks for all the advice*

thank you all for your valuable advice. the reason i wanted to get little peteys wings clipped is so i could get her back in easier. as i said, i'm hqandicapped and cannot chase her until she tires. but i am going to wait as you say and take our time. i am going to leave her door open and see if she will venture out. i'm going to take her food dish out as you say and hopefully when she gets hungry she will go in by herself. and i'm getting millett tomorrow also. thanks again and please stand by for the many more questions i'll be asking. thanks again...petey and skip


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## Plukie (Aug 26, 2007)

Well, to be honest, even if you weren't handicapped, it wouldn't be too good to chase a tiel until they tire, to get them back. It's much better to take things really slowly with tiels and build up the trust like I said before. I'm sure if you just sit in the same room as her, carry on doing whatever you are doing and let her have a fly around, she will come to you on her own. You must keep talking to her though, I talk to mine like I would a child, telling them what I'm doing etc. and just the calmness in your voice will build up a trust, she'll soon learn that you aren't going to suddenly leap up and try and grab her to get her in. She'll be fine and once you have built that trust up, she will make a wonderful companion for you.


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## allen (Aug 25, 2007)

after you bond with your new family member and if you still want her clipped i would call some local breeders explain your circumstances i,m sure one would come over and would be willing to help you out


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## Cannuck2007 (Feb 29, 2008)

allen said:


> after you bond with your new family member and if you still want her clipped i would call some local breeders explain your circumstances i,m sure one would come over and would be willing to help you out


I agree. Most breeders are experienced and more than happy to help with a wing clip. It usually doesn't cost more than $4-5.00.


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## atvchick95 (Sep 17, 2007)

you got great advice, I'd like to add Do not use gloves! this scares them even more then they already are They also do not like hands coming from above them to them that equals a predator (since predators swoop down from above to get their prey)

I actually bought a childs butter fly net For when I needed to get any of my birds quickly (all my birds are clipped and Once they get used to those clipped wings its like they're not clipped at all they're still just as fast as with out being clipped and maneuver just as well) granted its a little bit small for a tiel but it works in a pinch 

but the only time i use it on any of my birds is when I need them back in their cages and don't have time to wait on them to go on thier own,

But I also figured out (the hard way of course lol) IF you have food out of the cage(like on a play gym or in a dish sitting on top of a cage) the bird really has no reason to go back in a cage Except for a drink but since most birds eat more then they drink that could take a while 

So I stopped having food out on top of their cages and about 20 mins before bed I'd give them thier "choice of drug" Seeds! They can't say no to them (because they don't get it often! then i'd leave the room and come back in at bedtime and if i had any left out it was 5 at the most (out of around 60 birds) so I'd flip the light off pick one or 2 up turn the light back on, put them in their receptive cage and when all the birds were in each cage I'd close the door 

But with mine they have a room of their own so they get let out in the morning around 7 a.m and get put up around 9 to 9:30 Most of the time they go back to their cage when they're tired all on their own.


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