# Progress with "wild" cockatiel



## ajn (Jan 7, 2017)

Hello,

I found my cockatiel through the Next-door application. Apparently, a neighbor saw a cockatiel perched on a telephone pole and it flew down to him. He believes she/he was hungry. 

I offered to adopt the little guy/girl, and picked him up just before Thanksgiving. I just got a new cage - much larger and nicer than the first cage. I've purchased a few recommended toys. 

As to disposition, this seems like a sweet little cockatiel. Although she wouldn't even take millet from me in the beginning, she eventually did. She will now "step up" after just a couple of sessions. She has never bitten me, although she does try to get away when I reach for her. I have to chase her around the cage a bit before she gives in and steps on to my finger. 

I just took her to a parrot shop last week, and they clipped her wings. They said she was healthy. 

But, she never plays with her toys and that worries me. Maybe I need more "stuff" and I'm happy to buy / do whatever will create a good environment for this sweet little bird. 

Also - how do I know male/female?


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

A picture will help us determine gender but sometimes you have to go by behavior.

Not all tiels like to play with toys. Shredable toy tend to be a favorite or foraging toys. Big blocky toys really aren't gonna work for a small tiel. There are lots of ideas in the DIY sticky on making your own.


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## ParrotLover2001 (Dec 30, 2016)

A picture will help with gender. 

And not playing with toys isn't something you should worry about. My tiel doesn't play with them either. Not all birds will play. 

You should work on hand taming longer. She/he is running away because she's scared, my lovebird also does that. 



Sent from my iPod touch


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## ajn (Jan 7, 2017)

ParrotLover2001 said:


> A picture will help with gender.
> 
> And not playing with toys isn't something you should worry about. My tiel doesn't play with them either. Not all birds will play.
> 
> ...


Do you mean I should have longer sessions of hand taming, or that I should take it slower? I hate to know that I'm scaring her! Don't mind the process taking longer at all if it will be kinder to the tiel


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## ajn (Jan 7, 2017)

*Photo*

Here she/he is!


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## ParrotLover2001 (Dec 30, 2016)

Looks like female.

For hand taming I do 10 minute sessions throughout the day with my birds. You could probably increase the the time of the sessions, or you have short sessions. I find that short sessions will increase the amount of days till the bird isn't scared anymore, but it goes at the birds pace.


Sent from my iPod touch


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Definitely a girl!!

Tiels have short attention spans which is why the shorter sessions work better. You can several throughout the day to reinforce what you've been doing, but chasing her around the cage to get her to step up is not reinforcing trust. You have to build that trust first then work on the stepping up. It can be a long process, but very worth it. There are some tips in our sticky library that you can check out for suggestions.


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## frozengirl (Nov 26, 2016)

It took my tiel 3 weeks to start biting his toys. He still doesn't play with them a whole lot, he enjoys singing and napping more. I think it will just take time for your tiel to get used to the new environment before playing.

My cockatiel is not hand tame but is target trained , I started at about 3 weeks, he still wont go perch to perch but he will move back and forth up and down on 1 perch. Lately I got him to target his toys for a treat too, so that he realizes that the target stick can get him to target other things. You can also try that after a few weeks of target training if he doesn't play by then.

https://youtu.be/mSB11YAVApg


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## Paul C (Sep 27, 2016)

yes a girl.....

Looks just like my Julie....


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## ajn (Jan 7, 2017)

Paul C said:


> yes a girl.....
> 
> Looks just like my Julie....


Paul - what type of mutation is this - or is she just a standard whiteface?


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Normal whiteface split pied.


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## Paul C (Sep 27, 2016)

Thanks Roxy, I wouldn't have known.. I assumed a normal white face girl..

Cheers P.


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## ajn (Jan 7, 2017)

She is such a quiet little girl. Chirps every once in awhile - not nearly as vocal as some of the videos I've seen on youtube. I hope I'm treating her well. I've modified how we interact, and have ceased chasing her for the "step up." Just doing the very careful and subtle offering of millet. I think it's going to take awhile to get her to warm up and feel safe, and I'm willing to take whatever time is necessary. 

I really appreciate the advice and input from everyone. thank you,

Anita


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## Oztiel (Sep 5, 2014)

Any new cockatiel that you want to handle must be comfortable with being in your close presence.Those that aren't comfortable and not submissive at best will avoid you and worst will probably seek to bite you.

We have a re homed bird named Banjo ( my niece's bird ignored since she started high school and uni) who did nothing but bite and draw blood when the sister or mum put hands in the cage to feed and water the bird.They have had the bird over ten years .At the rare times when my niece handled Banjo he would not bite her.

Both sis and my mum no longer have the time or situation to further care for Banjo.

My wife and I now have this bird and we changed him in less than six months.

We have a lot of time-wife works only part time and I am retired.

We started out by talking softly to Banjo every time we passed the cage.After two weeks we opened his cage door and allowed it to be open most of the day.

To explain further we have another hand reared from a baby cockatiel Matey, now 24 months plus that free ranges from a open cage so he comes back to his cage to sleep and eat.

Eventually we coaxed Banjo out of his cage.He just sat on it for a fortnight and after a time he would fly over to Matey's cage and after a month or so of that ,we re housed Banjo along side Matey in a much bigger big cage.

Six months on, a once scared biting,blood drawing bird now is much happier and comfortable enough to leave the cage and jump on our hands and sit on our shoulders and steal bits of toast crumbs from our breakfast plates. Banjo is 11 years plus and does not fly strongly due to his being caged for most of that period. 

However he is strengthening week by week. He is certainly more interactive and reacts (bird talk) when we speak to him.

As far as toys go my birds prefer things they can chew and destroy.We put empty kleenex tissue boxes on the cage floor and in strategic places in the house. The bird reduce them to pulp with in a week or two. Its the nature of these little blokes to chew so place boughs of a harmless tree in the cage and let them at it. Bottle brush an Aussie native tree is their favourite.

Most female cockatiels can be ID by the bars - like sergeants stripes on the underside of the tail-which designates the female
in most colours except yellow.This is not reliable method until a couple of years old.

The message here is to prove to him/her there you are not a threat. You must talk soothingly and move extra slowly in the birds presence .Normal motion(speed) is seen as an attack and you bird is programmed by nature to react and either bite or fly away.

So long as you are persistent you will have a wonderful affectionate companion in good time but you MUST put in the time and effort.

Oztiel


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

Beautiful 'tiel. Glad you're making progress, keep it up! :thumbu:


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