# How to deal with aggressive/scared cockatiels?



## Jemmablex (Feb 14, 2015)

I've had a male and female cockatiel (male now 8 months, female 6 months; we think) for just under 2 months, they were supposedly hand reared however when I picked them up from the seller we weren't allowed in the house and we think they weren't treated the best, and were definitely not hand tame. We originally wanted just a male but couldn't leave the female in a place we thought wasn't suitable for them.

The male progressed very well in the first couple of weeks, (stepping onto my finger and eating from my hand) but the female is still very timid.

Now the male has become aggressive and will not step up and bites whenever we go near him. The female still runs away from us. They have recently started mating. Could the aggression be to do with this?

How do I encourage bonding with me and my partner? I have thought about separating them as I read that they bond more with each other than their owners when there is more than one, but I don't want to distress them.

I would like them to be able to be petted and step up onto our hands.

Any help would be appreciated.


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## sunnysmom (Sep 23, 2011)

At the top of the this taming section are two threads with taming suggestions. Part of it can also be hormones. You may have to let the hormones run their course. Increasing their sleep time/hours of darkness my help. At the top of the cockatiel breeding section there are some article that you may find helpful too.


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## vampiric_conure (Jul 8, 2012)

Definitely sounds like hormones like Sunnysmom said. Keep trying with them, keep offering treats. It can take as little as a month to get a bird hand tame, or as long as a year. It depends on the bird  If treat offers just get you nipped, you can try handing it to them on a spoon.


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## Nimra (Aug 4, 2014)

My female must be older than yours and she ate seeds from my hand on the third day of taming her. She is not tamed yet, but doing pretty good. The male will only eat seeds from my hands so I think you should feed them seeds and give treats later.


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