# How to 'hand tame' a cockatiel ?



## Saggy (Aug 8, 2021)

I have one baby cockatiel, one egg hatched, 3 others didn't, who is 3 weeks old today. Parents are doing a good job feeding junior, and it looks pretty big and healthy with some feathers of some sort just beginning to appear. I want the bird to be 'human friendly' but I don't want to take it out of the nest altogether and start handfeeding. Some handfeeding could be ok. How to proceed?


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## Misstiel (Jun 10, 2021)

Just handle it for about half an hour each day and then give it back to the parents. As it gets older, you can handle it much more often. I did that with my cockatiel chick because I didn't want to handfeed it, and now he is the tamest bird that I own. As long as you handle it often enough, it will learn to trust hands and become 'human friendly'.


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## Saggy (Aug 8, 2021)

Misstiel said:


> Just handle it for about half an hour each day and then give it back to the parents. As it gets older, you can handle it much more often. I did that with my cockatiel chick because I didn't want to handfeed it, and now he is the tamest bird that I own. As long as you handle it often enough, it will learn to trust hands and become 'human friendly'.


Thanks, sounds good. When did you start ?


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## Misstiel (Jun 10, 2021)

I started handling him when he was about two weeks old, but for only short amounts of time. When he was three weeks old, I handled him much more often (about a half hour each day). By about four weeks old, I would hold him when I watched a movie so it would be an hour or so that he would be out with me. Eventually, you just increase the amount of time you handle him and soon enough he will be wanting to come out to be with you all the time.


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## Saggy (Aug 8, 2021)

Misstiel said:


> I started handling him when he was about two weeks old, but for only short amounts of time. When he was three weeks old, I handled him much more often (about a half hour each day). By about four weeks old, I would hold him when I watched a movie so it would be an hour or so that he would be out with me. Eventually, you just increase the amount of time you handle him and soon enough he will be wanting to come out to be with you all the time.


Great info, thanks.


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## Saggy (Aug 8, 2021)

Misstiel said:


> I started handling him when he was about two weeks old, but for only short amounts of time. When he was three weeks old, I handled him much more often (about a half hour each day). By about four weeks old, I would hold him when I watched a movie so it would be an hour or so that he would be out with me. Eventually, you just increase the amount of time you handle him and soon enough he will be wanting to come out to be with you all the time.


Er, how did the parents take it?


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## Misstiel (Jun 10, 2021)

They weren't happy all the time, but they accepted it. When I returned the chick back to the box, they were happy again. It also helps if you have a hand tamed breeding pair as well because they will usually be fine with you touching their chicks.


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## Saggy (Aug 8, 2021)

Misstiel said:


> They weren't happy all the time, but they accepted it. When I returned the chick back to the box, they were happy again. It also helps if you have a hand tamed breeding pair as well because they will usually be fine with you touching their chicks.


Thanks. 'hand tamed breeding pair' ... I wish. For a while the male would try to attack me when I got near the cage ! But he's pretty good now.


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## Misstiel (Jun 10, 2021)

Oh, wow! Yeah, my male likes to lunge for my hand sometimes when I put it near, but the mother is quite hand tame so it makes it easier when she is the only one in the box when I take the chick out.


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## Saggy (Aug 8, 2021)

I let the birds (4, 2 from the last batch) fly around the house, and all were out of the cage and I picked up Jr. It was not happy, but to my surprise the parents didn't move a feather, so I was good. Jr. was squacking (the sound they make when they're want to be fed) but I think it was because it was unhappy. Anyhow I tried to feed it a bit from a spoon, and that calmed it down for about 2 sec., so ... we've started !


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## Misstiel (Jun 10, 2021)

Way to go! Are you planning on hand feeding it completely or just whenever the parents aren't? I find when you handfeed as well, they really attach to you.


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## Saggy (Aug 8, 2021)

I'm going to play it by ear - I'd like to handfeed for the reason you mentioned but I'm not planning on separating it from the parents, so we'll see how that goes, I'm thinking supplemental handfeeding.


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## Misstiel (Jun 10, 2021)

Okay, sounds good. I didn't start hand feeding until my chick was about four weeks old, and even if you just do the supplemental hand feeding, that works just as great. 😊


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## Saggy (Aug 8, 2021)

Misstiel said:


> Okay, sounds good. I didn't start hand feeding until my chick was about four weeks old, and even if you just do the supplemental hand feeding, that works just as great. 😊


Well, the bird is starting week 5, kind of a bruiser, big body, but the only feathers are on the wings ... and I've been 'handling' the bird for about a week, that is I take it out of the cage and put in on the table, I try to feed it with a spoon and also with syringe but the bird is completely uninterested in the formula. I noticed today that its crop looked pretty full, so the parents are doing a good job. As for myself, I'm not sure how it's going. Do you have any tips on how to 'tame' the birdy ... I'm thinking it's going to be OK, but I hand fed two previous birds starting late in the game, they were fully feathered (except for thier heads) as their parents 'yul brynnered' them .. and each time it was a hassle and they never did come around to liking me, but fortunately they now get into their cage at night on their own without me having to turn off all the lights, so they can't fly from one high perch to another, and hunting them down with a flashlight. Where was I? Oh yeh, any tips?


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## Misstiel (Jun 10, 2021)

It sounds like the parents might be plucking it if it only has feathers on its wings. When mine was younger, I left it with the parents because I wasn't up to hand feeding. Around 1 month old, the father started plucking his chick's head so I had to remove him and begin hand feeding. It was tough at first because he didn't want anything to do with the formula and he wanted his parents back. After about four days, he finally accepted the formula from me and from then on, it was pretty easy. If you're not up to completely hand feeding it and the parents aren't plucking it, then I would continue to try handling it as much as possible and increase the amount of time you handle it as well.


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## Saggy (Aug 8, 2021)

You were right. Because of past experience, I was watching birdies head, and it was good, there were no feathers on the back, but I did see little teeny weeny feathers so I though all was good. Now the bird is staring week 6, wings fully feathered, crest, front feathered, and nothing at all on its back. And I finally notice the mother pecking. **** ! ... So, I've simi pulled the bird, and I'm trying to intervene whenever I see pecking, I actually got some food into the bird today ... so maybe I'll pull it tomorrow ... I'm hoping they're dormant at night, I think they might be.


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## Misstiel (Jun 10, 2021)

That's too bad that they did start plucking the chick, but thankfully the feathers will grow back in time. Yes, the chick should be fine in the night; it's really only in the day that the parents decide to tear at the feathers. There are so many different reasons that they could be plucking the chick. It could be that they want him out so that they can double clutch. Hopefully, it will be an easy time if you start to handfeed completely. Thankfully with the hand feeding, the chicks become very tame and used to hands which is nice.


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## Saggy (Aug 8, 2021)

Now we're into week 9, things are OK but not copacetic. Her back is still sparsely populated with feathers, that's a little odd. Also, I let all the birds spend some time together and the mother still wants to pluck, but I prevent that, so it's not a real problem. The real problem is weaning, I'm still feeding the bird 4 times a day, and each time its crop is perfectly empty. It can and does eat seeds I put on the floor of the cage, but it doesn't do it very much. And the mom still feeds it occasionally but not very much. It weighs 86 g. I'm afraid to skip feedings as that's not too big. Suggestions ???? (Wait a minute, calculating from the number here, my first post was on day 21 and that was 26 days ago so the bird is 47 days old and I think I'm into week 7, not 9, so that makes things vis a vis weaning OK. Great Scott ! I'm an engineer and I can't figure this out !)


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## Misstiel (Jun 10, 2021)

Okay, yeah, 9 weeks is a lot different than 7 weeks. 😆. So the weight seems pretty accurate for the age it is which is good. Usually, they will wean by about 8 weeks old, but that isn't the case for every bird. My one chick weaned at 7 weeks, and I've heard that they can wean as late as 9 or 10 weeks sometimes, too. So I wouldn't be too worried about the weaning stage as long as the chicks are the right weight, and they are starting to eat seeds as well. As for four feeds a day, usually at that age, you should only be feeding the chick once or twice in the day because they will end up eating seeds for the rest of the day. How many mL of formula are you giving your chicks? The best way to feed them is to give them more formula at the feeding time so as to feed them less times in the day.


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## Saggy (Aug 8, 2021)

Misstiel said:


> Okay, yeah, 9 weeks is a lot different than 7 weeks. 😆. So the weight seems pretty accurate for the age it is which is good. Usually, they will wean by about 8 weeks old, but that isn't the case for every bird. My one chick weaned at 7 weeks, and I've heard that they can wean as late as 9 or 10 weeks sometimes, too. So I wouldn't be too worried about the weaning stage as long as the chicks are the right weight, and they are starting to eat seeds as well. As for four feeds a day, usually at that age, you should only be feeding the chick once or twice in the day because they will end up eating seeds for the rest of the day. How many mL of formula are you giving your chicks? The best way to feed them is to give them more formula at the feeding time so as to feed them less times in the day.


How did you know when to stop feeding the bird?


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## Misstiel (Jun 10, 2021)

He ate more and more seeds, and he would refuse his regular feeds. He would maybe eat one or two syringes of formula, and then he would refuse the rest.


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