# Charlie's Training!



## Camilla18 (Jul 21, 2013)

Day one: November 19, 2013- Finding out his favorite treat :grey tiel:

This is what I plan to do today and probably for the next several days. I have gathered spinach, dark lettuce, sunflower seeds, cheerios, carrots, bananas (dried/fresh), pomegranate, sweet potato, and frozen peas! 

His old feed had sunflower seeds in them so I know he likes those but I plan to take out his regular feed (that doesn't have sunflower seeds anymore) and put in the other stuff. Hopefully he will start to eat them once he gets hungry! 

Any other tips would be great. OH and I plan to have him watch me eat some of these things before putting them in his bowl


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## eduardo (Jan 27, 2012)

He may not be so keen on banana-very few cockatiels are interested in fruit. He may like dark lettuce and spinach, and cooked peas - those are my birds' favorite. Just don't remove his seed from the cage completely. He has to have access to his seed.


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## Camilla18 (Jul 21, 2013)

How I was able to get him to eat his pellet food was to remove everything else completely until he was "forced" to eat it. I'm attempting to try this method again but if he doesn't eat with in a few hours I'll always give him his regular food


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## Peaches&Me (Oct 30, 2013)

Camilla18 said:


> How I was able to get him to eat his pellet food was to remove everything else completely until he was "forced" to eat it. I'm attempting to try this method again but if he doesn't eat with in a few hours I'll always give him his regular food


I'm really sorry to say but birds would usually go hungry rather than eat something they don't like, I wouldn't completely remove his usual food. Msybe you could try giving the new foodstuffs with a little sprinkle of his usual seed ontop of it to encourage him to try it?


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## Camilla18 (Jul 21, 2013)

I just did that! And he's actually eating now lol  the seeds, not the others but maybe he will


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## CaliTiels (Oct 18, 2012)

Alright, good start! Keep us posted


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## Camilla18 (Jul 21, 2013)

Won't touch anything :/ ugh! I've tried to pretend eating them, then I actually ate them in front of him but he just ate the seeds :/


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## moonchild (Jul 29, 2012)

I don't know very many birds for whom veggies are a high-value treat, unfortunately. :\ I can't get mine to do much more than nibble on them. They will eat finely minced veggies mixed with cooked rice and other grains, but that's it. If I put a leaf of kale on top of the cage they may take one or two bites. They do LOVE peas and corn so frozen mixed veggies are a hit. But they are still not high-value enough for the birds that I could use them as training tools. The only thing I can use for that, personally, is millet. Some tiels love sunflower seeds enough that they will do anything for them, but mine eat them out of the seed mix only.

Oh! Another thing my tiels go nuts for: crackers and/or chips of any kind. Horrible for them, I know, because of the salt, but if they see me eating them I get swarmed. So I have ordered some healthy bird crackers that look like tortilla chips, but are made with bird-safe and nutritious ingredients. I hope they will be a hit.

It may be that Charlie is not terribly treat motivated, or he may just not have discovered how amazing millet is. Have you left some in his cage for him to check out? Some birds just don't know what it is, but are hooked once they try it.


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## bobobubu (Dec 12, 2011)

Have you tried hanging a salad leaf somewhere? My tiels started eating romaine by mistake (bit the leaf because they felt threatened by it and found out they actually liked it!) and it's still a big favourite. Not the most nutrient of veggies, but still good and it might be a good introduction to greens.
Give him time and he will eventually find his favourites. I have one really anti-veggie tiel, Mr Darcy. He was raised with seeds and would rather starve than eat anything soft. or green.
Well, this afternoon he was all quiet and when I went to check on him he was eating porridge... he was also covered in it :lol: must have landed in the plate by mistake hehe


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## allons_ykaylee (Nov 12, 2013)

My bird is pretty texture-picky, maybe Charlie is the same way? I got Simon a dehydrated fruit treat from PetSmart, it's just dried spinach, carrots, peppers and sweet potato. He'll pick at that but he won't go near fresh veggies. Except broccoli, but I think that's just because it looks and feels like millet haha


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## Camilla18 (Jul 21, 2013)

Is it a bad thing if he doesn't eat any greens? And I could try the hanging lettuce thing, but he doesn't play with his toys! Angry face.


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## Camilla18 (Jul 21, 2013)

He does eat millet, but I bought him some more and now he just completely stopped eating it -__-


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## Camilla18 (Jul 21, 2013)

I'm not sure what to do next.. he won't eat anything. Not even the yogurt covered sunflower seeds, BUT I bought him this new perch thing which has some things he can chew on and he chewed on it!  

But the treat thing... help? :/ How can I gain his trust without giving him treats


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## Amz (Apr 10, 2013)

Try this thread! Tons of recipes you can try, you'll surely find something eventually.

http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=6958

Something I'm going to try (probably today) is pumpkin cookies. Take some canned pumpkin puree, and mix it with enough flour to make a dough. You can stick whatever you want into the top, I'll probably do some walnut and pecan pieces Speaking of which, some of Rocko's favorite treats are walnuts and pecans. You could try those by themselves). Then bake until golden brown, probably at 350 degrees.

As for greens, try making a batch of birdie bread. You can sneak whatever you want in there! Cut it into small pieces and freeze, you can take them out and serve later.

Here's the recipe I use for birdie bread, although it's fruit-heavy because Rocko loves sweet things, feel free to add, subtract, or substitute whatever you wish. Just leave the basics, like the corn muffin mix, water, egg, etc, intact.

1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix
1/2 cup water
1 egg and its eggshell, finely crushed
Heaping handful quick oats
Heaping tablespoon peanut butter
Heaping handful Zupreem brand Natural pellets
Handful blackberries (frozen)
Handful blueberries (frozen)
Handful peaches (frozen)
Heel of a bread loaf, torn into bits

Combine corn muffin mix, water, egg, eggshell, oats, peanut butter, pellets, and bread into a large bowl.

Use a food processor to blend the fruits. They need to be frozen so that way they don't just splat all over the place inside the food processor. You can buy frozen fruits in re-sealable bags at grocery stores.

Add the fruits to the mix and stir.

Lightly grease a 9x13 pan (bottom and sides) with a nonstick spray, or lightly rub it with a stick of butter. Pour the mix into the pan (should have a pretty thick consistency) and spread it out to touch the sides.

350° F for 25 to 27 minutes. Feel free to add whatever you wish, and/or take away the peanut butter, pellets, bread, or any of the fruits.


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## Camilla18 (Jul 21, 2013)

PLAYING with his toys! YAY


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## Camilla18 (Jul 21, 2013)

Question: how long should I tempt him with millet before moving on? Whenever I stick my hand in his cage he hisses at me... But when I hold millet out he seems okay... how do I know when to move onto the next part of bonding and what IS the next step for us? 

He knows step up and should I wait until he approaches ME when I have millet before asking to step up? He runs away from my hand...


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## dianne (Nov 27, 2013)

My tiel likes Cheerios. I don't give her a lot of them, tho. It's fun to see her take one from my fingers and hold it in her beak, with her top beak thru the hole.


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## dianne (Nov 27, 2013)

When you hold millet in your hand with your hand inside the cage he eats it?

Then the next step would be to try to get him to step up onto a perch or your finger, by holding the millet further away. 

It's a slow process. I just went through it with my Tiel. I introduced a perch, under the hand that had the millet. SHe backed away and wouldn't eat. But, after I held the perch and the millet for a long time, she would. Then I gradually got the perch a little closer to her. Then, she would reach over the perch to get the millet. After about five days of this, she would put one toe on the perch. So, that's kind of how it goes  . Good luck.


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## Camilla18 (Jul 21, 2013)

Yes he eats it when my hand is in the cage holding the millet. I'm trying to hold it a little further away to have him come closer to me to eat it but he just tries to stick out his neck as far as he can and doesnt move.


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## MuffinsMommy (Nov 29, 2013)

My bird doesn't like the texture of veggies, they're wet and soft. He likes crunchy things. Maybe try some dried fruit and veggies, and grind them up into tiny pieces (I use a $10 spice griner). At least its a start. I use the Goldenfeast veggie/fruit/nut mix and grind it small. He will then eat it. 

However, when he sees millet, he attacks it with the gusto of someone who was starving for a week, and has a hot fudge sundae put in front of them. 

They also like to eat with you, so maybe put him on the table at dinner time with a plate of healthy food and start eating it, and he may eat with you. I did that with some butternut squash and he took a few nibbles. I loved the squash better than him though. LOL!


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## Camilla18 (Jul 21, 2013)

I'm still working on bonding with him but I will give that a try!


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## dianne (Nov 27, 2013)

"Yes he eats it when my hand is in the cage holding the millet. I'm trying to hold it a little further away to have him come closer to me to eat it but he just tries to stick out his neck as far as he can and doesnt move"

Yes, my tiel did that too. It took several days before she started putting part of one foot on my hand. Now she will perch on my forearm when I have millet.


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## Camilla18 (Jul 21, 2013)

Oh okay, thanks for the info. Today he willingly came out onto the perch that is connected to his cage door that I keep open.  I think thats progress, and yesterday he flew out of his cage, circled and then landed on top of it. He sat there for awhile looking so content then went back inside.


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## dianne (Nov 27, 2013)

Sounds good!


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## Camilla18 (Jul 21, 2013)

Have any advice to what the next step is? I watched many you tube videos about having him step up onto a perch to reach the millet... but still unsure about the details. He's only 1 yrs old now and I know he can live till 30. 

I want him forever in my life and I am readily saving up for another tiel for him so when he is alone he wont be ALONE.
But I want to bond with him first before any new bird coming home.


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## dianne (Nov 27, 2013)

I think you are smart on waiting to get another tiel.
In terms of the step up, it's just consistency, persistence, and patience. Just when you think he will never do it, that's when he does it.


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## Camilla18 (Jul 21, 2013)

ok thank you!


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