# Feral Cockatiel !



## Zwiekira (Jul 16, 2008)

Hello! One of my students (I'm a teacher) bought a cockatiel from a breeder. This cockatiel is around 1-2 years old and has never been handled before. My student has been very patient with the cockatiel, and has continuously allowed the bird out-of-cage time and playing, even though he sometimes gets bitten by the cockatiel. I was wondering if there is anything that he can do to improve this cockatiel's disposition? I have recommended clicker training and given him a clicker and a book to start out with. Any advice from others who have raised a feral bird?


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## seaofdreams (Dec 29, 2009)

I have had my first bird, Flame for 7 years. She was parent raised and had literally never been handled. Even after 7 years, she will only eat from my hands and very, very rarely perch on my hand while eating. She will also sit next to me if I have her out but never on me. Although I have never clipped her wings so she is still able to be independant but I do know that clipping a cockatiels wings while training is the best idea because they become more reliant on the owner. I'm not so sure about clicker training if the tiel isn't yet comfortable enough with it's owner, I think to start with it's more about gaining trust and then things like clicker training to teach little tricks would come in.


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## cheekyboy (Jul 14, 2009)

Clicker training can actually be used as a tool to encourage gaining trust, not just for tricks  Provided your student introduces the clicking sounds very slowly so as not to startle the bird and create an instant disliking to the concept, he should do ok. The only main obstactle is getting the promised 'treat' to his feathered friend, as the bird will no doubt be scared of hands. Probably the best thing to do is to use the clicker when the desired behaviour occurs, and then place something yummy in his normal food dish. He will soon start to associate his behaviour=click=treat in dish. He can then start to encourage him to take the treat from a spoon, stick or plate, and then from his hand.

Clicker training can seem like a looooong road with birds (I dont do it with them, just dogs), because unlike canines, the instant reaction just isnt there.

I dont have experience in retraining birds as mine are all tame, just thought id put my two bobs worth in about the clicker part


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## Zwiekira (Jul 16, 2008)

thanks very much, guys!


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## jc119007 (Dec 28, 2009)

I found that clicker training helped me gain trust with my bird in the beginning, and he quickly caught on to the behaviour-click- treat concept, I find that now whenever I click the first thing he does is look around for his treat lol. True Curry is hand raised so I wasn't dealing with a wild bird but I remember in the first lesson we went from click + reward to touching the stick + click + reward in about 5 mins, and he was very interested in what I was trying to do, I'd never seen his crest so high for such a long time!!


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## xxxSpikexxx (Jul 30, 2007)

Clicker training is a great way to train tricks  Here is a video I like aswell http://www.birdchannel.com/bird-magazines/bird-talk/2009-june/taming-of-tiel.aspx I would try to gain the tiels trust more and than clicker train. I think it would be more effective than just starting out with clicker training, that way he knows you are not going to hurt him with the clicker or target stick.


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## crazy4tiels88 (Aug 10, 2008)

If I Was Him Wait On The Clicker Training Till The Cockatiel Gets To Know Him As It May Startle The Bird More And Make It Bite So I Would Wait Till The Bird Gets To Know Him Better Than He Can Slowly Start Clicker Training And Clicker Training Is More For Tricks Then General Use. Just A Tip


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