# Need help identify why my tiel cries!



## ancamo (Jun 27, 2011)

Hello everyone, our family is the proud owner of a new cockatiel that was hanfed until he was 2 months and then brought home

The transition has been going very well, Picotte has been with us the past month now and he is now part of the fam ily.

He is very friendly, comes out of the cage very often, alway wants to be on my shoulder or somewhere on my chest.

There is one little behavior that we don't seem to be able to understand though

Let's say I take Picotte out of his cage during the evenig and try to watch TV with him on my legs or chest, he will go up my chest and look at me less than an inch away from my face and cry loudly, he will even put is head against my chin and cry. We've searched around on youtube to identfy the noise and it really sounds like baby cockatiels asking for foodﾅlike an FM radio not on the channel or a CB.

He stops if we put him back in his cage, but he wants to come back out.

The pet shop told us that it was probably because even if the bird was weaned, when brought home he could regress and still want some of the paste-like food he was fed with before. So we started to give him some for about a week and still, he keeps making that sound.

So I'm just wondering what is Picotte trying to tell us ? Also he seems to be only doing it with me and not my wife, probably cause I've been the first of the two to take him out and have relationship with him, I don't know?

Thanks a lot for you help, suggestions, comments

Pascal


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

Hungry or attention but i hear they do grow out of the baby stage 

Hopefully others will help you as i have never experienced this with my tiels


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Baby tiels learn that by making that sound, the "mommy" figure comes to spend time with them (usually to feed them.) So he's doing it because he wants you're attention, not because he's regressed and wants baby food. The best way to stop this is to ignore it when he does it and only pay attention to him when he makes another, cute sound.


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## ancamo (Jun 27, 2011)

Thank you so much for the answer ;-)
Hard to ignore since he is in my face but I`ll try to do that ;-)

And pet him or talk to him only if he stops, let you know how it goes.

He doesn`t seem hungry either....

Thanks again


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## beckins (Jul 30, 2010)

i got a new tiel a few weeks ago now, my lil squeaker, he was hand fed, he was eating seeds when i took him home, but also had some fomula in a dish just for moisture untill i was sure he was drinking ok. After about a week or so he stopped eating the formula and was drinking okay. However i found that whenever i went to feed him some millet or put my hand near him sometimes he would make radio baby noises, he was doing it quite alot to start with. But as i knew he was eating his seeds just fine i just ignored it and he hasnt done it now for a few weeks  so im sure ur sweetie will grow out of it! i think its just a bit of a habit really they grow out of ^^


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## ancamo (Jun 27, 2011)

Thanks beckins that's good to know. 
I though I'd share a video no that he's been dooing it all evening 

http://v22.nonxt4.googlevideo.com/videoplayback?id=dd3eba8855956cb5&itag=18&begin=0&len=2147483647&app=picasa&et=INVALID&el=INVALID&ip=0.0.0.0&ipbits=0&expire=2886628866&sparams=id,itag,ip,ipbits,expire&signature=B00B77B577E665F57D9622D59B8786370651D9B.1F30C85A8F0E336BAF1D3E3238FFA33F390586A2&key=ck1


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## srtiels (May 1, 2009)

I would suggest you get ahold of whomever you bought the bird from and explain that the bird has relapsed and is crying and not fully weaned. This is a problem because the bird can stress out from crying and wind up with secondary yeast and/or bacterial problems, and also start to lose weight


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## ancamo (Jun 27, 2011)

Thanks srtiel I did talk to the petstore people and they gave me some kind of dry mixture that I was gonna mix with water and feed my bird with a syringe. This was the same stuff that the bird was fed as a baby apparently. We did this for 5 or 6 days but it did not really help. 

We also weighted Picotte and he gained 5 gr in about a month since we got him home. He is eating his seeds, millet and he loves the honey seed sticks that we attach to his cage. Goes through one in about 3 days... And he drinks water. 

Now I'm no expert but he seems weaned?!? He only makes that sound during the evening when he is out of his cage. 

The petstore suggested that they could take him back for a while until they think he is ready to go again, but he is already very attached to me so.... I'm not sure what I'll do...

Thanks for your help everyone very much appreciated 

Pascal


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## Virtue (May 18, 2011)

ancamo said:


> Thanks srtiel I did talk to the petstore people and they gave me some kind of dry mixture that I was gonna mix with water and feed my bird with a syringe. This was the same stuff that the bird was fed as a baby apparently. We did this for 5 or 6 days but it did not really help.
> 
> We also weighted Picotte and he gained 5 gr in about a month since we got him home. He is eating his seeds, millet and he loves the honey seed sticks that we attach to his cage. Goes through one in about 3 days... And he drinks water.
> 
> ...


Another reason could be that he is tired. 10-12 hrs of undisturbed sleep each night is needed. I suggest a cage cover but please remember to leave a night light on to prevent night frights and also the side of the cage with the door should always be left uncovered for the bird to see.


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## ancamo (Jun 27, 2011)

The lack of sleep could very well be a cause. We have been covering his cage around 10pm and opening it when the kids wake up sometimes around 5 am :-( 

My bad I guess I should get to the end of that Cockatiel for dummies book :-(

I'll try covering the cage more around 8:00 Pm for some time

Pascal


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## Virtue (May 18, 2011)

ancamo said:


> The lack of sleep could very well be a cause. We have been covering his cage around 10pm and opening it when the kids wake up sometimes around 5 am :-(
> 
> My bad I guess I should get to the end of that Cockatiel for dummies book :-(
> 
> ...


Yep. Lack of sleep turns them into crying babies.


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