# Help! New Tiel Who's Mean/Scared



## AmandaBlue (May 20, 2012)

Hi everyone
Two weeks ago I adopted another cockatiel from our local bird rescue. His name is Twitter and he's a really handsome boy. BUT, I can't touch him! He won't step up on my finger, doesn't want to be handled at all, doesn't like it when I try to play with him ect. He's not sick. I have no idea of his past, but I feel like he was mistreated by his previous owner 
My question is, how do I make him more friendly? I'd like to be able to at least hold him without getting screamed at and pecked. I can't take him out of his cage to clean it throughly. Any advice is welcome! Thanks in advance


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

he sounds untame, not mistreated. some birds arent tame.

take a look through these threads, theyve helped many members here

http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=22073

http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=28661



you may have to let him settle for a few days as he may be very scared. he may calm down in a few days or even weeks, just give him time to settle in his new home


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## marty10f (Aug 2, 2012)

Those other threads didn't really do it for me. I've had my teil for over a week and he JUST started to eat millet from me through the cage bars. 

This is what I did. Once he seems settled in. Put your hands against the cage. If he bites at you, don't react just keep your hand where it is. Do this for 20-30 minutes every day. When he starts to not bite at your hand give him a bite of millet. 

Then take the next step. Put you hand in the cage and hold it next to your bird. Again if he bites do NOT move your hand. When he starts to not bite at your hand give him a bite of millet.

After that take your finger and press it against his belly. If he bites go back to the last step. Once he steps on to your finger, proceed to the step up command and so on.


Enjoy your new family member!!


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Your technique is basically a variation of the sticky threads: desensitize the bird to your hands and feed it treats. I don't recommend staying there and letting the bird bite you though; you're inadvertently teaching him that you have no respect for his feelings and will do as you please whether he likes it or not. This is a good way to create distrust and maybe a biting habit too. You'll build more trust if you back off when he tells you that you're too close.


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## vampiric_conure (Jul 8, 2012)

Another option is clicker training. You use a small device called a clicker (often used in dog training and found at most pet stores) and click the clicker every time the bird does what you want. You start in small increments like clicking when they're looking at you, then when they take a step towards you, etc until they're doing exactly what you want them to do. And every time you click, you treat the bird. Click, treat. Click, treat. I've seen amazing things done with the clicker.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

> Those other threads didn't really do it for me. I've had my teil for over a week and he JUST started to eat millet from me through the cage bars


That's why you start off by putting millet in the food cup first, making sure the bird sees you do it. And remember, birds have short attention spans so keep the training down to 15min at a time, always try to end on a good note, and go at the bird's pace. Never push them.


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## marty10f (Aug 2, 2012)

tielfan said:


> Your technique is basically a variation of the sticky threads: desensitize the bird to your hands and feed it treats. I don't recommend staying there and letting the bird bite you though; you're inadvertently teaching him that you have no respect for his feelings and will do as you please whether he likes it or not. This is a good way to create distrust and maybe a biting habit too. You'll build more trust if you back off when he tells you that you're too close.


Actually what I have found is that when he bites you and you don't move your hand he will realize that when he bites it will have no effect on you. Sooner or later he'll get bored because your not giving him a reaction. Therefore he will decrease or stop biting.


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## marty10f (Aug 2, 2012)

roxy culver said:


> That's why you start off by putting millet in the food cup first, making sure the bird sees you do it. And remember, birds have short attention spans so keep the training down to 15min at a time, always try to end on a good note, and go at the bird's pace. Never push them.


Oh yes, I did put it in his bowl first. But he simply would not eat it he'd just eat around it. So I skipped to the next step, it seems to be working fine. 

And I only ment the 30 minutes for him getting to know you. I to recommend keeping 'training' sessions to around 10-20 minutes. Depending on the bird of course.


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## meaggiedear (Nov 20, 2011)

marty10f said:


> Actually what I have found is that when he bites you and you don't move your hand he will realize that when he bites it will have no effect on you. Sooner or later he'll get bored because your not giving him a reaction. Therefore he will decrease or stop biting.


I think the bird stops trying to bite because he realizes you are not going to respect his space regardless of what he does. This isn't going to help you bond. It can make him dislike you because you are being pushy with him. 

If any of my birds peck or bite at me, I back off. They obviously don't want me up in their space at that given moment. 

As he becomes more tame, he will try to bite less which just takes time. It's a matter of respecting their personal space not just getting him to stop doing it. 

But that is just my opinion.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

every bird is an individual. he may very well just not like millet as much...

however, you dont want to force your bird to like you. you want to earn his trust and by forcing him to accept your hand when he doesnt want it there is not going to build trust. a big mistake in my opinion with taming is forcing a bird to do something because the OWNER wants something. people want to rush taming, they want the bird tame NOW within a few weeks and will force the bird to do things, whether the bird wants to or not. some birds are not people oriented and are very scared. these birds should not be rushed and need to be approached in a whole different manner. a people oriented bird will enjoy people and show interest in people. others who are very frightened or aggressive with people should never be forced because it will not form a relationship based on trust. basically forcing an aggressive or fearful bird to accept your presence is dominating the bird, and birds should not be dominated, thats not how they work. you need just to slowly interact with the bird and if the bird shows signs of distress, back off. simply talking to the bird when you feed the bird every day is a good way to earn a shy bird's trust. dont expect a bird to tame up within a few weeks. some birds can take YEARS to trust you, and these birds need to be shown that you respect their space. you will see more trust in your bird if you respect their wishes than if you force them. trust me on this one. i got my lovebirds as babies, ive tried all these methods, but i was working with a very skittish bird and a very aggressive bird. trying to force them to tame wasnt working. they were scared or distrustful of me. instead i learned that letting them set the pace and making an agreement with them have i made the best progress. munch has been a monster. she would terrorize us and chomp our hands if they got too close to her cage. we tried to force her to accept our hands, it didnt ever work. so now, we have an agreement. i wont stick my hands in her cage unless to feed her and water her and clean it and rearrange toys. i wont bother her in her cage. not for nothing unless she invites such attention. we let HER come out of the cage, we dont bring her out ourselves. we have made a mutual agreement, she comes out of the cage and we have worked with her there and we have left her be with her cage. now shes tame and we've earned her trust, she bites less and shes less aggressive and shes more trusting and interactive. and we've taken a year and a half to get to this point. and we did not force her to do anything she didnt like, we worked at her pace, we let her choose to interact with us instead. aggressive or fearful birds must be worked with differently. we are still working with our male lovebird who is very skittish, and he is very very slowly coming around. he no longer runs from us when we talk to him and he sometimes sits with us. take your time and dont force your bird to do something it does not like.


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## Ghosth (Jun 25, 2012)

meaggiedear said:


> If any of my birds peck or bite at me, I back off. They obviously don't want me up in their space at that given moment.
> 
> As he becomes more tame, he will try to bite less which just takes time. It's a matter of respecting their personal space not just getting him to stop doing it.
> 
> But that is just my opinion.


Couldn't agree more.
Humans tend to be impatient, key is to watch their behavior for keys on when we are pushing too far, too fast.


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## marty10f (Aug 2, 2012)

meaggiedear said:


> I think the bird stops trying to bite because he realizes you are not going to respect his space regardless of what he does. This isn't going to help you bond. It can make him dislike you because you are being pushy with him.
> 
> If any of my birds peck or bite at me, I back off. They obviously don't want me up in their space at that given moment.
> 
> ...


I mean, If I see hes getting real mad, of course I am going to him him is space. But if its just a little peck I'm going to stand my ground. My method seems to be working pretty well, he no longer backs away from my hand when im in the cage. Still trying to get him to step up.


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## meaggiedear (Nov 20, 2011)

marty10f said:


> I mean, If I see hes getting real mad, of course I am going to him him is space. But if its just a little peck I'm going to stand my ground. My method seems to be working pretty well, he no longer backs away from my hand when im in the cage. Still trying to get him to step up.


Are you offering food with your hand? 

I held it between my fingers to start with and would open my hand and put it on the edge of my fingers and slowly moved it further down my palm so Grey had to step up on my hand to get the millet. He was not pleased, but it got him over the fear of my hand. (still can't touch him, but he steps up like a champ)


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## marty10f (Aug 2, 2012)

meaggiedear said:


> Are you offering food with your hand?
> 
> I held it between my fingers to start with and would open my hand and put it on the edge of my fingers and slowly moved it further down my palm so Grey had to step up on my hand to get the millet. He was not pleased, but it got him over the fear of my hand. (still can't touch him, but he steps up like a champ)


yup, he will eat millet from my hand, but he will NOT step up on it, no matter how many treats I try to bribe him with  silly little bird. But, I am getting closer and closer each day. Almost took a sunflower seed (unsalted of course) from my hand today, until I accidentally dropped it. XD


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