# Taming-where to go from here?



## K9girl39 (Aug 21, 2017)

Hey, guys! First time poster and cockatiel owner here. I got Hei-Hei about a week and a half ago; he's an eleven week old creamface grey pied (if I'm remembering correctly) and is untamed. At this point, he'll gladly take food and treats from my hand, and doesn't mind me being near the cage. I can even stick my hand in the cage and he'll eat from it, but I've stopped doing this as he's afraid of my hand otherwise and I don't want to stress him out.

So, here's the deal... I don't know where to go from here. It's been years since I've owned birds, and I've never owned a cockatiel, so I don't really know the process. My biggest fear is that I'll mess something up and make him scared of hands forever. I've read that you should rest your hand in the cage for a little bit everyday, but he seems to be really uncomfortable with that. I should also mention, his wings are not clipped, so I don't want to risk letting him out of the cage (he's escaped twice. *THAT* was fun...) until I can get him to the vet. Any advice?


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## HeartBolt499 (Dec 4, 2016)

keep handfeeding, playing, training, leting them drink water and leting them fly but not outside and for more info. search the internet pls!  and here's a galah!
:galah:


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## HeartBolt499 (Dec 4, 2016)

and that name reminds me of that crazy chicken in a movie. (sorry if you are not gonna reply becuz of your time-zone being different than the time zone in my country.)


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## frozengirl (Nov 26, 2016)

The easiest way to get a bird back to their cage if they wont step on your hand is to put a perch slightly higher then they are in front of them. It is natural for them to step up onto a branch that is higher. Then you can bring them back down slowly and to their cage . Never grab them. If you must get him back in a hurry have a large towel ready and throw it over him then quickly scoop him up and put him in his cage. With their face covered they wont be too tramatized by that but don't do that often. If that doesn't work, bring a stick of millet too =) Millet is like bird crack. I do suggest letting him out of the cage to play and stuff , but just keep bringing him to the top of his cage and he will get the hint to play there instead of on top of those curtains that have no room for anything else ;D Put some toys / crinkled paper on top of their cage and they will have some fun outside, and will eventually make a trip around the room and back to their cage to get some exercise. (and/or play area if you have one). Really try a long perch to get him , after he is exhausted he will stay on the perch. Since he doesn't get to fly much, he won't have a lot of stamina to fly for a long time. Just have some time and patience when you let him out. I just find it very heart breaking to have a cockatiel that is cage bound (I had a 3 year old cockatiel rehomed before and the original owners never let it out of the cage. It was very scared of leaving it's cage. I had to place its food outside of the cage to get him to come out. It took months. He probably flew for the first time with me being 3 years old! He didn't play much, he was not well socialized so this is something you really want to do for them when they are young. Just go slow 

Work towards giving this bird new experiences but not too fast. The reason for this is while they are still young, they are more accepting of new things. Feed your birdie some little pieces of kale, carrot, brocolli, green pepper, apple slices (no seed pits or pit area) , banana, an all seed diet may not be the best for a cockatiel. Put seeds, pellets and fresh fruit/veges in their cage every day. Take out the veges after an hour and give them veges first thing in the morning when they are most hungry to entice them to eat more healthy.


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