# Gabriela on my arm



## MarkP (Jun 23, 2009)

I finally had Gabriela on my hand today.She was walking all over my hand and arm, while my daughter fed her millet spray.
In fact, that was the only reason she stayed on my arm, because she loves the spray.
She has no interest in perching on me, but with a little bribery, it was pretty easy to get her to do it.
Will this help in getting her used to my hand?
Also, she was munching on about 3 inches worth of millet spray.Is that too much?
Am i doing the wrong thing by getting her used to such big treats?
Thanks for any help, and here is the pic.

Sorry the quality isn't that good, but i still didn't get batteries for my camera.
This pic was taken with my laptop's built-in webcam.
And it actually scared her away.
Now she's perching on my window, and i just know it's going to be a pain to get her to step up again.I can't wait to get her wings clipped...


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

It definitely will help getting her used to your hand/arm, only give millet as a treat ocassionally though, because it's really fattening. Food is the best bribery when it comes to training, often works 99% of the time. 

Also from what I can see in the first photo, looks like your 'tiel has nearly a full yellow head, which means you possibly have a male. Do you know how old Gabriela is?


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## MarkP (Jun 23, 2009)

Solace. said:


> It definitely will help getting her used to your hand/arm, only give millet as a treat ocassionally though, because it's really fattening. Food is the best bribery when it comes to training, often works 99% of the time.


Oh, thanks, did not know that.I thought she wouldn't be that interested in food since she has plenty on her dish.
you do mean the regular bird food she eats no?


> Also from what I can see in the first photo, looks like your 'tiel has nearly a full yellow head, which means you possibly have a male. Do you know how old Gabriela is?


I know s/he was born in March, so s/he's about 3-4 months.
And yeah, it does look like her head has alot more yellow then when i got her.
I know it might be a boy, but when i was reading on wiki about tiels it said that females had a grey head, so i assumed it was a girl, and my daughter named her.Only later did i find out you can only tell after the first molt.
Besides her father is almost all white and her mom almost all yellow, according to the breeder.
I think that makes it harder to tell, no?


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## Tielzilla (Mar 31, 2009)

I disagree strongly with the millet being fattening..after all, they eat it in the wild....your baby is cute


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

I'm talking about Millet, you can use that as a treat while training, it's bribery food that works well. Has Gabriela got bars on her tail? if so, they'll go if she's a male.

And it is fattening Tielzilla, not sure what makes you think it isn't but a lot of people here will tell you IT IS if given too much especially.


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## MarkP (Jun 23, 2009)

Tielzilla said:


> your baby is cute


Thanks!
I think s/he is lovely too!
I'm very lucky to have her.And for a bird who was not hand fed, i think she is very friendly.


Solace said:


> Has Gabriela got bars on her tail? if so, they'll go if she's a male.


I can't see any, but i've read somewhere that sometimes they are hard to see.
Anyway, she only has two tail feathers left, the oters have fallen.
Today i noticed a small yellow feather that is growing where a black one used to be.
In any case, i've been trying to tell my daughter that she might be a boy, but she just won't accept it."It's a girl, silly" is the only answer i get.
Also today i was very surprised at her.
I can now easily get her on my arm, but she won't stay there long if there isn't anything to eat.
But the big surprise was that she flew into my wife's hand all on her own.
She flew away after a couple seconds, but it was surprising nonetheless!
My wife has very little interaction with her, compared to me and my daughter.
Maybe Gabriela wanted to know why this creature didn't pay that much attention to her, like the other two?
In any case, i am very happy with Gabriela.I find that she is learning very fast, and she seems eager to trust and play with us.


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## Renae (Feb 9, 2008)

MarkP said:


> I can't see any, but i've read somewhere that sometimes they are hard to see.
> Anyway, she only has two tail feathers left, the oters have fallen.
> Today i noticed a small yellow feather that is growing where a black one used to be.
> In any case, i've been trying to tell my daughter that she might be a boy, but she just won't accept it."It's a girl, silly" is the only answer i get.
> ...


That's EXCELLENT, yay! I'm so happy for you's, it's just time that's all. Eventually/soon enough she'll be all over you and your family. 

Here's a photo of the difference between the male and female










On the left is the cock's tail (male) and the on the right you have the hen's (female) tail -- you can see the bars on the females tail, also the yellow head on the males.

A young cockatiel will usually first start moulting at around six months, after that they will normally moult once or twice a year.

If you have a male, you will see behaviour such as: banging beak on food and or waster dishes/toys, whistling, spreading wings from body into a heart shape (which is called heart wings).


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## MarkP (Jun 23, 2009)

Solace. said:


> That's EXCELLENT, yay! I'm so happy for you's, it's just time that's all. Eventually/soon enough she'll be all over you and your family.


Yeah, and today the progress was amazing.
She now will come all on her own and perch on any of our arms!
She's still a bit frightfull when i try to make her step up, but it's a whole lot easier.
Today i could get her to stay with me without any food (although i did treat her with seeds, millet and crackers).
She will also stay with us on the couch, and just walk around looking at us and chirping.
One thing she started doing today was preening my arm or my head, and my daughter's long hair.It was loads of fun! 


> Here's a photo of the difference between the male and female
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Well, by that pic she is a he, lol.
Her tail was exactly like the one for the cock.
Today she lost one more feather, so she only has one left.I think i should start calling her him, but i dunno how i'm gonna get my daughter to accept it.


> If you have a male, you will see behaviour such as: banging beak on food and or waster dishes/toys, whistling, spreading wings from body into a heart shape (which is called heart wings).


She does the banging when someone comes near the cage and she wants to be alone.
She doesn't wistle, but she does try to imitate my whistles with her chirps.
And if she's perching on the window she will put her wings into a heart shape when i whistle and she looks at me as if se's getting ready to fly onto my arm.(and sometimes she does)


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