# How long did it take for your tiel to trust you?



## fructosefather (Sep 9, 2018)

I’ve had Pickle for two months now. I’m still in high school so I don’t have much time to be around but when I come home, I interact with my bird right away. I handfeed him every single day with millet or other treats. 
He’s still frightened of my hands. I’m sure it’s because of the grabbing from the petstore or whatnot. I don’t know what else I can do because it feels impossible. Everyone else has amazing success stories and I’m still far behind. 
So I’m asking the community, how long did it take for your bird to finally trust you enough to know that you’re not Godzilla? Thanks.


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## tyaaron556 (Sep 19, 2018)

I'm in a similar boat with my cockatiel peach. I have had her for about 2 months now too. It's difficult when you can't spend every waking moment with them since they are such sociable birds. I have been recommended to get her a friend, but 1 I worry how they'll get along with out constantly being supervised 2 I just can't afford another one. So what I did was what you are doing now spending as much time as you can. Granted my bird had a very good temper from the get go. But you want to establish boundaries and respect for your bird. Let the bird have a save space (inside their cage), so if they ever feel overwhelmed they know they're safe in their home. So how do you get the bird out of the cage and on to your hand, keep the cage open when you're in the room. Keep talking, whistling, singing, humming, anyways to interact with pickle without invading his space. If he is willing to the eat from your hand that's a good sign. If you're holding a whole string of millets I suggest pulling them into little nuggets to make it easier to dispense if you havent already once she comfortably eat from the palm of your hand, try feeding seeds from the palm of your hand too. And make sure all of this physical interaction takes place out of the cage. Keep the cage open and back away from it and eventually he'll get curious enough to move outside the cage and explore. If he doesn't after a couple weeks. Then try put a perch in the very front of the cage by the door. And feed nuggets of millets with one hand on the opposite side of the perch. if he immediately flees, then back off and wait a day to try again. Once he becomes more comfortable move your hand gradually closer to him. And then once you're at a decent distance. Move your hand feeding the millets over to the side of the with your other hand so he has to scoot closer to you to reach the millet and eventually onto your hand. Good luck with Pickle


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## adelpks (Aug 26, 2015)

My cockatiel Clover, has been afraid of my hands since I got him 3 years ago, I’ve been working with him since January, holding a sunflower seed in my hand, which he will take, then I put one on top of my hand, then further back on my hand, the vet told me to use a fist. On the 1st of October I tried holding it further back in my other hand and for the first time, he clambered onto my hand to get it. It worked like this for about a week then it was like he realised what he was doing so we’ve gone backwards to just the top of my hand, but I’m confident we’ll get there in the end. Plus since Clover is older its said it could take longer. I work a lot too, so don’t get heaps of time with him but 3 seeds in the morning before I refill his food takes 5mins max


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