# Newbie: Training a tame 1 year old cockatiel



## eriz (Jan 13, 2018)

Hello everyone

I bought my Taka about 2 weeks ago. The breeder said male but please help confirm if you can. He was not raised by the breeder. He was imported. The breeder said he is 1 year old.

He is already tame since imported. When he bites, it doesn't hurt. Now, he can step up on anyone who gives the finger. That's all he can do now. 

I would like to know he can be trained or not. I want to train him seriously. But some told me that he cannot be trained because he was not raised with hand feeding and just tame from the wild. Any idea, please?


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Lutino is gonna be harder to tell gender. You could always do a DNA test or wait until he starts singing/whistling and acting like a boy to find out. 

He can be tamed. Any bird can be tamed just some are more cuddly than others. There are tons of taming stickies in our library but the ones I like the best are these:
http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=22073
http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=28661


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## eriz (Jan 13, 2018)

Thank you Roxy. I will find out these. He starts whistling and singing but I don't know which are for male and female. Can you direct me please?


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Females don't typically copy whistles (like cat call, car alarms, and such) but there are some that can. Beak banging is a male behavior so if he does that then you can be pretty sure you have a male on your hands.


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## eriz (Jan 13, 2018)

I have never seen beak banging till now.

1 year old tiel can be trained ?

Before training, I have to change the seeds diet to pellets diet. I wrongly bought the large sized pellets for large birds. Do I need to buy smaller pellets?


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Don't get rid of the seeds, just incorporate the pellets too. The best diet for tiels is a combination of both seeds and pellets and veggies too. So I always left the seeds in the cage with the pellets. The easiest way to get started is to remove the seeds at night and put the pellets in the cage for an hour first thing in the morning. After that hour, add back in the seeds. 

Yes a one year old can be trained, you just have to be consistent and patient and make sure you go at the bird's pace.


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## Oztiel (Sep 5, 2014)

eriz said:


> But someone told me that he cannot be trained because he was not raised with hand feeding and just tame from the wild.


 Hi eriz,

That comment would likely be a "someone" who has either never owned a cockatiel or had never trained one that was not hand raised. It sounds like the "someone " is just another armchair chair expert with little or no practical experience. 

By the way, Taka is a good looking cockatiel.Taka looks fit and alert and I believe you have little trouble in training him if you are prepared put in the effort.


In addition to what Roxy has already posted and add this.I have tamed and trained a plus 10-year old cockatiel who originally came out of a pet shop. Before I took charge of him this bird would attack anyone who placed their hand into his cage, even to clean and feed him. 
The little fellow had no other interaction with the family who would pass back and forth without greeting or acknowledging him.A once young child that loved him no longer had time for him and he was stuck in his cage for months at a time.

These birds respond wonderfully to affection and company and that needs to be daily if you can manage it or at least 4/5 times a week for say at least an hour. 

Since food is likely a motivator, use that to reward him for simple tasks.You have mastered the "step up" next try him on calling him over to you.

Set him on a stand, back of a chair, whatever. Give him a treat, a small amount of seed or pellets-whatever he loves to eat. 

Stand a metre away. and in a normal voice call his name and hold the treat in the palm of your hand so he can see it. 

You need to keep doing this daily for as long as it takes. Eventually, he will fly to you when you call his name. When he does praise him and make a big fuss about it. As Taka flies to you, keep increasing the distance.

I won't say it will be easy but don't give up.

By all means, let the forum know how you went as it will encourage others.

best wishes
Oztiel


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## frozengirl (Nov 26, 2016)

If this tiel is on a healthy variety diet of veges and sprouts it will make training much easier . Birds love to work for their favorite treats, training sessions actuallly are fun for most birds. 

It just takes a lot of patience and time. It took me about a month to teach my tiel to spread her wings on command ( one training session of 5-15 minutes per day) The more tricks you teach him or her, the more easier they catch on to new ones 

She didn't like toe touching for months, and I wanted to teach her to allow nail clipping / filing . I tried touching her toes a little every day or so, but she never allowed me to do it for very long, moving away. So I taught her to shake hands for a treat instead or just touching her foot. Today , out of no where, she decided to give me handshakes without me asking her, and kept making it a game of trying to hand shake me over And over. It was so cute  seems like she is not minding the foot touches at all now! Trick training sometimes involves the tiniest of steps that eventually lead to what you want.


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