# At the end of my wits



## Shotoetoe (May 1, 2011)

Hi all,

I'm in desperate need of some advice. 
We've had our two cockatiels for over 4 months now. We've been training them by making them used to our hand, offering them snack on it and let them step up on the hand to get the snacks. We've had them clipped and they climb outside the cage to play and have snacks. They also step up rather quickly when we offer our finger with millet.

That all seems good and well, but that's how it's been for months now. They run away scared of our finger whenever we are not doing the 'come on over birdy and hop on to get food'. They've also been getting these hissy fits where they just start hissing at us for no reason. 

When they get scared and try to fly off (which of course means they'll float to the floor) it is impossible to pick them up as they are scared to bits of our hands. We're not making any progress at all. On the contrary, it seems the female is even getting worse.

What are we doing wrong? Why do they seem to trust us around (they don't freak at all when they're outside the cage and we're moving about) and they tolerate us at some times, but then they freak out about our hands, but not when we're going to feed them with it.

I have no idea how I can make them less scared and more trusting in us at this point.

Please, any advice would be very much appreciated because they are driving us batty at the moment.


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## hodurice (Oct 31, 2010)

it's harder to train couples, this will take more time you have to be more patient.


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## Shotoetoe (May 1, 2011)

Could you please share some tips on how we should handle them?


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## Lucky Duck (Jul 23, 2011)

Yes, trying to train a pair is going to be must more difficult then training one. Could you separate them and work on training them that way? If that is an option for you that might make the training process a bit easier. While 4 months may seem like a long time, it really isn't that long in the training aspect. Some birds can take a few days to train while others can take months or even years to be tame. The best thing would be to continue what you are doing and take a deep breath, patience, patience, patience. Good luck!!!


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Take it in turns each making sure they cant see each other 
I go in a different room and spend 15 mins or more each with them
I take millet, shoelaces, drinking straws and other toys to have fun with them


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## Shotoetoe (May 1, 2011)

That sounds really lovely, and we've been thinking about that. Problem is, we can't get them out of the cage on our hand, and if we do manage to trick them and get them out, they panic and start trying to fly off.

Do you suggest we should take them to another room forcefully, like using a towel or gloves?


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## kieren (Jul 27, 2011)

as said as above it is harder to train a pair so my advice is to get a second cage at split them up in diferant rooms ,when training a single bird the want attention from you alone
but with a pair they are getting attention from the other tial an so not wanting it from you hope this helps


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## Shotoetoe (May 1, 2011)

However, when we manage to tame them, can we put them together again then? We bought 2 cockatiels for them to be able to keep eachother company as we both have long workhours. That mean we only get to spend 4-5 hours daily with them. I don't want them to be lonely either, and I'm perfectly fine with them caring more about eachother than us, I just want them to be able to see us as flock members and let them have a good time with us too. :blush:


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Yeah you can place them together after taming sessions


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## Mentha (Jul 11, 2010)

Sounds like you need to start with the basics, place your hand on the side of the cage and leave it there until they calm down, keep doing this about 5-6 times an hour until they are comfortable with your hand being there, then move your hand inside the cage, do this until they are no longer afraid, then do the food coaxed step up command. Revert your training to step up and keep that going until they will step up without hissing or flying. You need to work with your bird daily for 5-10 minutes at a time a few times a day to keep them tame.


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## Shotoetoe (May 1, 2011)

Thanks for the advice everyone.
We're going to move house in October, so we decided to keep the same gentle approach until then, only we've changed the rules somewhat by giving them only a small amount of food and fruit in the morning when we leave to make sure they're pretty hungry by the time we get home in the evening. 
First try was promising at least. Much more incentive to get on my hand to get the food, and I was even allowed to rub the belly of the most timid of the 2.

We'll keep this up for another 2 months and see where that gets us. I do hope we can get them hand tamed by then, because forcefully yanking them out of the cage to shove them into small carrier cages seems cruel to them. Hopefully we can get them out by then and teach them to go inside the cages with a reward system. :blush:


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