# is this a good sign? did i ruin it



## pinkeye714 (Jun 14, 2014)

So i never had a bird. ever! Not even my mother or friends have owned one. My husband wanted one very bad and so after some books. which don't really help. 
we went to a breeders house. picked up this girl, knowing she was timid. though scared she let us hold her close to our body and not freak out. so, we took her home. no touching. it has been 3 days. i have been sitting by her cage reading harry potter to her with the cage door open. second day she began to try and closer to me when i stop reading and actually talk to her. she trie desperately to climb down from the highest perch. i put my hand in the cage and she hissed so i backed away and went back to my book. i was tired of reading so i walked to the livingroom for a little to take a break still maybe 5ft away from her. though she flew out the door of her cage. i assumed because she didn't want me to leave her. but when i waited a little for her to calm down and try to put her back. she hissed and freaked out. i was able to pick her up and put her back in the cage, but she flew in. I feel as though i ruined the "bonding" i had with her. and she wants nothing to do with taking food from my hand.


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## thewandererw (Aug 22, 2011)

You didn't do anything wrong it's just going to take a lot of time just go slow. Try giving her treats throw the bars of the cage first.you are doing good so far.

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## pinkeye714 (Jun 14, 2014)

thewandererw said:


> You didn't do anything wrong it's just going to take a lot of time just go slow. Try giving her treats throw the bars of the cage first.you are doing good so far.
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


Thank you. Yesterday she would not take treats from my hands so i put it in a decent size deli cup and she took it from the deli off my hands. My fingers were 
sort of in the deli with her, tolding it right from falling and she kept eating, rubbing her head on my fingers as she came back up. though she flew off again and landed on the floor,, freaked out. the dogs ran to her, they did nothing but sniff so in a panic i picked her up and put her back in the cage. eee :[ I need to stop trying to take her out. or if i do, remove the dogs.
today more reading, though she sees the food deli (same food in the cage with her) but i pretend to eat some from the deli and she has been watching be pacing back and forth on the perch and cage wall trying to get to it. can't tell if she wants it only because i am eating some. or because she claims it as hers.


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## dianne (Nov 27, 2013)

I agree with the others. It takes time, and each bird tames at his/her own pace. I have one that was finger tamed right away. I have another I have had for eight months and she will only come onto my arm, and only of I have seeds. Even though the second one if more standoffish, I still feel that she is fond of me. Just her personality.


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## Gizmo79 (Dec 10, 2012)

You havent ruined the bonding process, as others have said aswell it all takes time, and its different for every bird as like us they all have different personalities. Gizmo, my first bonded with me after just a few weeks and Harley it took months n months. (Harley recently passed away and what made it worse for me was she was getting more and more confident with me eg: taking my food off me while i was eating, which i didnt really approve of, but I let her as it helped with her confidence around me, sitting on my jeans and playing with them and esp my shoe laces!)

The trick i found to help my birds bond with me at first was to get and hold a long piece of millet and feed it to them (all birds love millet!) inside the cage so my hand was well away from them but it was still a contact, id talk to them softly and whistle at them and day by day the millet got shorter til i had them sat on my fingers and eventually eating from the palms on my hand. Now Gizmo just flys over and eats my food instead.  lol. He is quite cheeky.

Good luck bonding with your cockatiel


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