# starving prior training?



## mybirddowee (May 1, 2018)

Hi I'm new cockatiel owner
I have 7 months male pearl cockatiel.he is tamed bird(handraised) but not trained at all
after 3 weeks with me, I'm still no progress in step up training.he seem not interested with the threat(sun flower seed)
just couple bite and ignored it.

i knew some animal trainer will starving their pet (specially mammals) before training session to make them easier to trained

any bird trainer here apply this method?
how long you starve your bird wihout make it ill or stress?

many thanks before


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## Janalee (Jul 25, 2012)

*starving*

No you should never starve your bird! He will warm up to you without depriving him of food. Try bits of millet spray held in your fingers. Be patient; he will learn. You say he's hand raised. I'm not sure what you mean by "trained." Do you mean to do tricks?


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Never ever starve your bird to train. That breaks any trust that you could possibly build with him. Start with offering him millet as a treat to get him to step up. It's going to take time and you have to go at his pace. Starving is NOT the right way to do it.


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## mybirddowee (May 1, 2018)

yes. to do step up trick
he is tamed bird. if he stand in on my finger/hand, he will become calmed and stay there then lower his head to get head scratch over and over again
the problem is he won't climbed to my finger/hand by himself
I must grab him and put it in my hand

the breeder teach me the grab method 😢
so i will change it and teach him to step up on his own will to my hand




Janalee said:


> No you should never starve your bird! He will warm up to you without depriving him of food. Try bits of millet spray held in your fingers. Be patient; he will learn. You say he's hand raised. I'm not sure what you mean by "trained." Do you mean to do tricks?


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

Place a piece of millet in your palm and hold it in front of him to get him to step up. It takes time. You can also play the ladder game once you get him on your finger to practice.


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## Cristina77 (Apr 5, 2017)

My female was an aviary bird before she came to live with me. Slowly I changed her diet from all seeds to pellets and veggies (very slowly). I now use seeds(millet) and little pieces of nuts (almonds, pinenuts, walnuts) for training. With a clicker, treats and patience she does a lot of things : turn around, fetch... She has pellets available at all times but she values seeds and nuts more. You have to find something of high value for your cockatiel and use only for training. There's no need to make a cockatiel go hungry. Good luck and patience.


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## mybirddowee (May 1, 2018)

thanks for all your response
now i change the treat with millet and it seem work. 
although millet is his main diet but it is useful as a treat too
he really love sunflower seed but it is not suitable as treat(not single bite food)


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## Birdchris41 (Aug 5, 2021)

mybirddowee said:


> Hi I'm new cockatiel owner
> I have 7 months male pearl cockatiel.he is tamed bird(handraised) but not trained at all
> after 3 weeks with me, I'm still no progress in step up training.he seem not interested with the threat(sun flower seed)
> just couple bite and ignored it.
> ...


Hi there, 
So I have a cockatiel 8 months old not hand tamed, so what I do is keep him starve for few hours one way to encourage him to step on to your hand and eat.if you always place food into birds cage they will never get used to your hand. So what I suggest is don't put food just water, unless your busy just a little bit of food and once your back from work feed from hand. This way they will learn to eat from your hand and that's the only way. All my peonies the same very close to me. My task now is to achieve this 8 months old cocketiel. It takes a lot of paitence and time. But always keep this consistency he will gradually build a strong trust.


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