# What treats do you use for your birds in training?



## Loopy Lou

I know that food bribery can be an excellent way to tame and train a cockatiel and so far with all my birds (ok, all budgies before i got Smokey) millet was the answer. Even the one budgie i have left, the totally untame Bob will come to me for millet.

Smokey however can quite easily ignore it. He's only taken it off me maybe twice. It seems the only thing he likes is really bad for him so i don't give it to him, it's a baked snack called Wotsits which are like cheesey. Only because he got hold of one by accident and since then he actually hunts them down if i have them so i have to hide them.

What do you use for treats for your birds? I noticed he does seem to like sunflower seeds so would it be ok to take the sunflower seeds out of his food completely and only give them as a treat?

I've had Smokey for months now and apart from small progress we haven't got too far with taming. He's still terrified of fingers and REALLY bites if he gets a sight of one.

Edit - we have come a long way since i got him, he'll now step onto a perch, has picked up loads of tunes and whistles, he's exploring a bit more and eating better, it just seems to be the step up we can't manage as he's scared of hands and apparently unbribable!


----------



## Motley

I use sunflower seeds and millet myself, but anything my bird is really enjoying that day I will use (she changes what she likes)
I don't see much harm in using these biscuits your bird likes, cheese is OK in small amounts in moderation, and if your using it for taming and training, your bird wouldn't eat excess amounts of it. I could be wrong, so I would wait for the experts to give their two cents 
Maybe you could find a substitute for the biscuit? Maybe something like water crackers or bread? Maybe you could spread a super thin layer of cream cheese on a water cracker? same flavour but not processed like these cheese biscuits you are talking about. Im rambling! My point is be inventive and maybe find something healthier that your bird likes as much as these biscuits


----------



## moonchild

I use millet and whole grain crackers. I experimented with different brands, since I happened to have a bunch in my pantry, and found that Moon wouldn't eat them if they were too hard. But he really likes one particular kind that are labeled as "vegetable entertainment crackers." Juju loves potato chips and tortilla chips, but I only usually let him have a few bites because of all the oil and salt. He once tried to crawl into my bag of chips.


----------



## Motley

Haha thats so cute!  Motley tried to go for a swim in a bowl of cereal I was eating once, she insisted on taking a big gulp of milk before I moved her off the rim of the bowl!


----------



## Loopy Lou

Yeah Smokey crawled into my bag of Wotsits and came out with an orange face and belly and of course his prize lol

It's like a baked snack kind of similar to cheetos i believe, i'm a bit worried about the salt in them though the calorific and fat values seem really low.


----------



## Motley

Hmm yeah I don't think they would be too healthy to use as a treat :S


----------



## Loopy Lou

I might try the crackers idea though :hmm: He's tucked up for the night so i think i will be experimenting a bit tomorrow!

Some things he'll have a little try of and then never go near them again, i need to find something that he'll be tripping over himself to get from me lol


----------



## moonchild

Hmm, what about plain popcorn? He might like that if it has a similar texture to the cheese puffs. I've also seen these vegetable things in health food stores here, that are shaped like French fries (or chips depending on where you're from haha). I think they're made of puffed rice so I imagine they'd be fine.


----------



## Loopy Lou

I don't think i've ever heard of the rice chips but popcorn could be a good idea. I guess i never thought of that because i don't like it myself haha. I'm sure i could probably find a small bag of popcorn in a shop somewhere though. :yes:

He really hasn't had much variety of food before he came to me (economy cockatiel seed with not much in it and finch/canary bars which he ignored) so i wonder if it's just a case of he doesn't know what he likes. He's become slightly more adventurous though.

Yeah, i think i'll try popcorn and maybe hang a small string in his cage to begin with to see if he likes it. It would also be just large enough that i might avoid getting my fingers bitten but small enough that he has to get quite close to get it *scratches chin thoughtfully*


----------



## Ghosth

My birds get popcorn regularly, but my female joey will eat bread from my hand when she won't touch anything else. Just a corner of a slice of nice soft bread. 

Soda crackers are also favorites as a treat, and I have seen them eat the salt off them.


----------



## Motley

There are these things called soy crisps we have here, they might be an idea?  I'm sure if you keep experimenting you will find something!


----------



## Renae

I use birdie bread sometimes, otherwise millet and sunflower seeds.


----------



## Erinsmom

For my two they attack fresh baby spinach and my birdie bread. They come running when they see either item


----------



## tielfan

> would it be ok to take the sunflower seeds out of his food completely and only give them as a treat?


Yes, absolutely!

My flock is crazy for dried cantaloupe seeds. You can't buy them commercially but it's easy to get a fresh cantaloupe and dry the seeds.


----------



## Erinsmom

tielfan said:


> Yes, absolutely!
> 
> My flock is crazy for dried cantaloupe seeds. You can't buy them commercially but it's easy to get a fresh cantaloupe and dry the seeds.


I was going to try this and we had yet ANOTHER cantaloupe recall here in Colorado. After the deaths last yr and now this I may never eat it again I know technically if you sanitize the outside BEFORE you cut it open you SHOULD be fine but man this part of the country its scary.


----------



## Loopy Lou

I have no idea what a cantaloupe even is :hmm: I don't recall ever seeing them in supermarkets.

Hmmm @ birdy bread. I do quite a lot of baking, i'm sure i could probably find a recipe on this site somewhere.


----------



## Loopy Lou

Omg omg omg i think i may have found an answer which perhaps doesn't involve food treats! So lately i've been taking Smokey out of the living room and into the hallway when i've been doing his training so he's not constantly flying back to his cage or down to the floor (his wings are clipped but he can go short distances)

Today he seemed really interested in the mirror in the hallway but it was a bit dark so i took him into the bathroom -on his step up perch- so he could see the mirror in the bathroom cabinet. If i angled the end of the perch down so he couldn't see the mirror he'd have to climb up and up until he was sitting on my hand!

So we tried it a few times and he kept trying to peck my fingers when he realised he was getting close to them, and then the last time he stayed sat on my hand so i removed the perch and he stayed there for a good couple of minutes and until we got right back into the living room and back to his cage!

I am so happy :clap:

I think we may be having more training sessions in the bathroom


----------



## *Snowy*

my cockatiel loves cereal, you could give him cheerios ( just not the honey ones, ) bran flakes, rice krispies, corn flakes, im still experimenting, those are the ones he likes : ) i use mostly millet but you could use sunflower seeds too, but they are fattening so not too much


----------



## Loopy Lou

It's pretty rare he'll go for millet, and i tried sunflower seeds earlier, me having tasty yum yums wasn't enough to stop him biting me lol.

After our little training session in the bathroom i put a bit of millet on top of his cage and he went straight for it haha. Pretty much he can take it or leave it most of the time.

I have some fruit and fibre cereal in the kitchen, i might open that tomorrow and see how he does. That's another thing that he loved for about a week and then went off.


----------



## tielfan

> he seemed really interested in the mirror in the hallway


If you have a small mirror that you can hold in your hand, you can use it to deliver mirror rewards in other places too.


----------



## lethalfire

Correct me if I'm wrong, (my memory isn't as good as it once was) but when I had birds before I believe some people used craisins which are dried cranberries as treats?


----------



## Loopy Lou

tielfan said:


> If you have a small mirror that you can hold in your hand, you can use it to deliver mirror rewards in other places too.


Currently i just have a small handheld mirror like a compact but it's loose, so i think i will have a look for a shaving mirror on a stand which i can place on the coffee table. I tried to take a video of him in the bathroom showing how he stands on my hand but typically as soon as i had my phone on him he decided not to play along lol. He did it for me earlier though so i was happy  Plus he was happy cos he got to ogle himself haha (Ow Smokey! video)

Lethalfire - i'm currently trying him with all sorts of food which he's never tried before but he's very reticent. He's been fed a very plain diet before i got him so i think it may be a case of he doesn't know what he likes yet. We're working on it


----------

