# New cockatiel - 2 days later, he wounds himself during flight



## Formhault (Jan 31, 2017)

Hello everybody!

A few days ago (actually, on Friday), I got myself a male cockatiel. He's young - or so the veterinarian at the pet shop said. There were two cages there, and the birds inside one cage looked younger than the others, so yeah, he's a baby.

We installed a few sticks in his cage, a more thicker stick (it's actually a thick wooden piece, with a few tassles hung from it - he does chew them / play with them at times) and a mirror-thing (on which he stands most of the time, but does not really play in the mirror). Also, he's got plenty of food (including sunflower seeds, which I understand cockatiels like the most) and water with minerals and nutrients. So, I guess you could say this is the ideal home.

We let him get familiar with the surroundings until Sunday afternoon, when we decided it's time to let him explore the rest of the room. He seemed like he wanted out, so... we opened the cage door. He jumped on the doorstep (so to say) and soon after, he launched himself. Towards what? Towards the (closed) window, of course, into which he slammed and slowly fell down. I reached him with my finger and he (unconsciously?) step on it (probably because he was more or less cornered). He resumed flying around soon after, slamming his head in the furniture a few times before landing on a sill (which delimits the main room from the balcony). He stood there for a few good minutes, looking around, "yelling" (he mainly yells, doesn't sing yet) at times. I treid reaching him with my finger again, but he seemed angry with it. He later started flying again, hitting the window and slowly falling down again. Again, I reached him with my finger and he step on it. Raised my hand above my head (they like to feel superior, don't they?) and slowly walked towards the cage. Gently put him inside the cage and boom, done! I called it a great progress.

Today, in the early morning, I noticed he's... nervous. He jumped around for like 5 times, so it was clear to me that he wants out. I opened the door and, 5 seconds later he was on the "doorstep". After a couple of minutes, he started flying. Where? You guessed it, towards the window! He then flew around a few more times... hit himself in the wall a few times (actually, corners - our apartment is open space, room + balcony + kitchen, so there are a lot of corners). The corners are pretty sharp, I mean slamming into them during flight would seem painful to me...

He slammed into the window a few more times. Noticed there's blood on the window. His left wing was damaged. WHOOPS! I didn't think much of it, so I grabbed him with my left hand, while holding his head with my other hand (rather harsh, I know, but GOSH, HE BITES!) and put him back inside the cage.

He jumped around for a bit then calmed down, going to stand on the mirror thingy (not facing the mirror - as I previously said, he does not play with the mirror, rather just stands on the sticks attached to it, it's an L shape, you know). Stood like that for like half an hour. Then, he resumed his usual activities - yelling from time to time, climbing the inside of the cage (he can't jump from stick to stick without a bit of parkour on the cage walls), drank a bit of water, picked at a pepper leftover...

He's jumping around in his cage right now. Doing normal cockatiel stuff (normal, I mean the stuff he used to do before hurting himself). Jumps from one stick to another (and by jumping I mean a combination of parkour with the cage's walls, wing flapping and yelling). All in all, he seems fine. Aside from the... wound. Speaking of the wound, my girlfriend took a few photos ~5 minutes after we put him back in the cage. The blood seemed to have clogged up. Now, it's even more... clean, so to say. I'll post some pictures, see for yourself.

Should I be worried about his injury? Should I treat him somehow? We do have medicinal alcohol, betadine...

Thanks in advance!

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This happened on Tuesday. It is now Thursday. There is no trace of the wound. We didn't get to treat him - veterinarian looked at the pics and said it should be fine.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Please cover up those windows while the bird is out of the cage! They are a life-threatening hazard to your bird, at least until he learns to fly better. As he becomes more settled in, you can uncover the windows and hold him next to them on your finger so he can see that there is a solid barrier there even though it looks clear. 

The frequent crashing into walls makes it sound like he never learned to fly properly. Crashing into things is part of the normal process of learning to fly. It might be useful to clip his wing feathers at least a little bit, to slow him down so he doesn't do serious injury to himself while he figures out that walls are solid and he can't fly through them.


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## chrissy055 (Jan 16, 2017)

I know its really important to fix it if they bleed. They bleed quick and don't have the same clotting abilities as we do. When ours crashed into all of our bedroom mirrors (hubby forgot not to bring ava in our room), she was acting really weird which is why we went to the emergency vet. I still have our windows covered up just in case she forgets. The vet will also give you tons of paperwork on how to fix a wing like that if it happens ect. I recommend a first time vet visit just to make sure everything looks good


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## Formhault (Jan 31, 2017)

First of all, thank you for chiming in and providing assistance!

@tielfan Oh boy. I didn't know I should cover the windows  . But now that you mention it... it'll be a hard thing to do. I'll get around to it eventually. Until then, how about I leave him out of the cage at night time? Or that won't do any good either?

Also... clipping wings... I think I'll have to do that later (he would scream & bite at me if I try to catch him now, so... untouchable).

Until then... He's not getting out of that cage for a little bit longer.

@chrissy055 I think I'll check with the petshop veterinarian(s) and see if they offer such procedures (like... actual pet care; they basically run the built-in drug store in that petshop, so I don't know). Hope they can provide the needed assistance.

I did e-mail the vet department of that petshop and they said I should rub his wound with some betadine. Which I could have done, if Luke (that's the name we agreed on) wasn't so... aggressive.

But all in all, so far (3 days after the injury), he's doing great. There is no sign of an injury anymore (actually, since the evening of that day). He's acting normal, like before. Well, with one exception... from time to time, he does act like this. Obviously, he wants out. And he won't get "out" until he settles in.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

At night the reflections on the window glass can frighten a bird. Instead of crashing into the glass, they may fly in random directions in a panic.

Cockatiels are likely to scream and bite when you hold them even after they've settled in. You can use a glove or towel to help prevent bites. 

Bleeding from knocking a fully-grown feather loose usually isn't a problem, although obviously it's something that you want to avoid if possible. The big problem is when they damage or knock loose a blood feather. These are new feathers that are still growing in, and as the name suggests they have a blood supply running through the quill. It's very difficult for blood to clot in the tube of the quill, and the bird can bleed out if you don't do something to stop the bleeding.


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## Formhault (Jan 31, 2017)

I see. Well... I'll be keeping Luke inside the cage for a few more weeks then. We don't have anything to cover the windows yet - but we will, as we will install a drapery, a rail and so on, you know. Right after we install the fume hood and the AC.

The blood disappeared relatively quickly when he injuried himself, so... I guess it wasn't that bad. Still, I want to avoid that, so yeah, he's not getting out for 2-3 more weeks, even though he anxiously wants out lol.


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## EllenD (Oct 9, 2016)

I wouldn't leave him inside that little cage for 2-3 weeks, first off it will certainly not help him bond with you but rather just do the opposite. It's very important that your bird gets at least 2-3 hours outside of the cage each day. To leave him locked inside there with no interaction from you is not a good thing, and he will not remain tame. The easy, safe, free solution to your problem is to get his wings clipped. Most birds must be placed inside a towel by a vet or a breeder that knows how to clip wings, in fact all that I know, it is not something he will ever be alright with you doing to him. If you take him to his avian vet and ask them to clip only his primary flight feathers on both wings, you will then not only be able to let him out of his cage, but he will be much easier to train. Then let them grow back in over the next couple of months, and by then he'll be familiar with your apartment. 

I urge you to take him in his cage or travel carrier to the vet and get him clipped. It is so much healthier for him to be out of his cage every day to explore, to interact with people, etc. 

And please, limit the sunflower seeds that he gets, they should only be a special treat, not a part of his daily diet. They cause fatty liver disease in all birds, and you see this in cockatiels very often because so many cheap seed mixes for cockatiels are nothing but sunflower seeds. He should only get a few a day as a reward or treat. Fatty liver disease from sunflower seeds takes years off of their lives.

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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

The pet shop where you bought him might be willing to do it too.

Sunflower seeds are OK in moderation whether that means part of the daily diet or not. Contrary to internet rumor they do not cause fatty liver disease in and of themselves - it's an unbalanced diet with an excessive amount of calories that does that. Sunflower is high in fat so it will certainly contribute to excessive calories if you feed too much of it. But excessive amounts of any kind of seed will do the same thing. 

Seeds in general don't provide enough complete protein relative to the number of calories they provide, and they're lacking in some other important nutrients too (like vitamin A). It's thought that the protein deficiency in particular is a reason that so many birds pig out on seed and end up with FLD. So it's desirable to provide some pellets and vegetables in the diet to supply the nutrients that seeds don't contain. Vitamin supplements in the water aren't an ideal way to handle the problem, because you can't control the dose very well and it encourages the growth of bacteria in the water.


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## Formhault (Jan 31, 2017)

Thank you so much.

We are going to dilute the blue water (I'll just call it that way) with normal (tap) water (actually, we have a passive filter, it's with carbon & such, not UV), like... 1 part blue water in 3 parts tap water. Would that be okay? Also, pour him just a little bit every day, and we'll replace it every day, not once a week. We just realised that we haven't changed his water in a week, and that ain't good...

Well, we bought him a... mix of seeds (have a look - we bought what we thought is best for this kind of parrot, and the vets said it's fine...). Speaking of food... I've noticed he's standing on the food canister (I'll call it a canister, not sure what it is really) more often than he used to. Actually, he didn't use to stand on it at all. Now, he's there for hours at a time. Perhaps it's just comfortable for him to stretch his legs like that (it kind of allows him to do that - see here), not just keep them clenched around a stick all the time... But he wasn't just standing there - he was having a snack, for a long time.

In retrospective... I previously had a pair of zebra finches. Those little fellas would spend less than 5 minutes eating. This guy... well, he's much bigger than a zebra finch, so I think it's fine, lol.

Anyway, we will give him vegetables whenever we get the chance. Didn't know that about pellet. By the way, is THIS the kind of pellet you were talking about?


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## EllenD (Oct 9, 2016)

Formhault said:


> Thank you so much.
> 
> We are going to dilute the blue water (I'll just call it that way) with normal (tap) water (actually, we have a passive filter, it's with carbon & such, not UV), like... 1 part blue water in 3 parts tap water. Would that be okay? Also, pour him just a little bit every day, and we'll replace it every day, not once a week. We just realised that we haven't changed his water in a week, and that ain't good...
> 
> ...


I've not seen bird pellets that look like those, those look more like pellets you would feed to a guinea pig or a rabbit. I'm not sure where you live in the world, but most all bird food companies now make pellet diets that come in bags just like those seed mixes do. They are typically round balls and their size varies by what species of bird you have, the bigger the bird the bigger the pellet. They've done a ton of research over the past 20+ years on bird diets, and as already stated a bird that eats a high quality bird pellet with a very small amount of seeds as it's main staple diet along with fresh veggies, a small amount of fresh fruit, and whole grains, nuts, etc. will live a much longer life with less health problems.

As I said most all bird food brands make pellet diets now, just like the seed diets. They can come in a "Fruit" variety, which are typically different colors and not desirable because of added sugars, flavorings, colors, and they tend to not be as nutritious in general as the other type of pellets which are usually called "Natural" pellets, and are typically a brown or beige color. Either one is much better than an all-seed diet. I don't know what brands you have access to where you live, but Harrison's, Roudybush, Higgins, LeFaber, Hagan, Zupreem, Tropican, even KayTee are all major brands that make pellet diets. If you let us know where you live we can see what's available where you're at.

I'm not fully understanding the blue water...Is this just a filtration system effect? Yes, your bird needs access to fresh, clean water every day, all the time. This is a must. Birds drink water very sporadically so you can'
t guess when he's going to want a drink, you just have to make sure he always has it and that you give him fresh at least once a day, more often if it gets dirty by him pooping in it or getting food in it, as that will grow bacteria and make him sick. But please explain the blue water a little more so we know what it is and can possibly help.

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## Formhault (Jan 31, 2017)

EllenD said:


> I've not seen bird pellets that look like those, those look more like pellets you would feed to a guinea pig or a rabbit. I'm not sure where you live in the world, but most all bird food companies now make pellet diets that come in bags just like those seed mixes do. They are typically round balls and their size varies by what species of bird you have, the bigger the bird the bigger the pellet. They've done a ton of research over the past 20+ years on bird diets, and as already stated a bird that eats a high quality bird pellet with a very small amount of seeds as it's main staple diet along with fresh veggies, a small amount of fresh fruit, and whole grains, nuts, etc. will live a much longer life with less health problems.


I apologize, I didn't really understand what @tielfan meant by pellet, so I googled it and that showed up. Back when I had a hamster, I used to use that stuff. So you can imagine I was amazed to see that kind of pellet show up when I was looking for it... especially in a bird-food context, lol. I get it, it's a different kind of pellet... I'll see what petshops / stores here have. Spoiler alert : most petshop employees are dumb, have to ask 5+ employees in order to make sure I get a proper response (some of them contradict themselves). Back when I had finches... lil fun story. We bought two, knowing they're pair (male & female). 3 months later, we realise they're both males. We go back to the store, explain the situation & how we came up to that conclusion and one of the employees goes up in arms about how she has a stockfarm of finches & such at home and she gotta be the one who knows best. She was feeling offended. Female zebra finches don't sing! The finch we thought was a female was a male, with a "ginger" mutation. And that worker who claimed she has a stockfarm of finches at home... was either stupid, or just a liar.

It's like you'd go into an AT&T store, ask how the Moto X Style looks like, and the employee goes "here, have a look, I have one!" while pulling out his iPhone. Out of this world.



EllenD said:


> As I said most all bird food brands make pellet diets now, just like the seed diets. They can come in a "Fruit" variety, which are typically different colors and not desirable because of added sugars, flavorings, colors, and they tend to not be as nutritious in general as the other type of pellets which are usually called "Natural" pellets, and are typically a brown or beige color. Either one is much better than an all-seed diet. I don't know what brands you have access to where you live, but Harrison's, Roudybush, Higgins, LeFaber, Hagan, Zupreem, Tropican, even KayTee are all major brands that make pellet diets. If you let us know where you live we can see what's available where you're at.


I live in Romania, so... we most likely only have 1 brand of yours (at best). I'll try to ask more petshop employees, see what they say. We'll most likely end up looking very closely at the entire offering in that aisle.



EllenD said:


> I'm not fully understanding the blue water...Is this just a filtration system effect? Yes, your bird needs access to fresh, clean water every day, all the time. This is a must. Birds drink water very sporadically so you can't guess when he's going to want a drink, you just have to make sure he always has it and that you give him fresh at least once a day, more often if it gets dirty by him pooping in it or getting food in it, as that will grow bacteria and make him sick. But please explain the blue water a little more so we know what it is and can possibly help.


Blue water... well, it's water with nutrients / minerals / vitamins in it. It's colored blue. It says it's got iodine + other minerals in it. It's probably got a bit of iodine and scarce traces of other minerals in it. Still, better than tap water... I guess. The pet shop I bought it from said I shouldn't dilute it with normal water, since it's special water for any kind of bird, and I should just pour that for them instead of normal water. My girlfriend inspected the ingredients list and said "it's better than nothing". It's the only kind of bird water (lol, bird water...) petshops around here have to offer.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

> I'm not fully understanding the blue water...Is this just a filtration system effect?


From my understanding, vitamins are being added to the water. This is unnecessary. And as tielfan pointed out, not an accurate way to dose a bird. And now seeing your response...yea there's no need for the blue water. I have always given mine regular tap water. The biggest issue here in Texas is how hard the water is, but that doesn't seem to affect birds as badly as it does the bigger animals. 

Just keep in mind that pet store employees pretty much know nothing. They don't get much training and they are just trying to sell you what the store carries. I would google a couple of the pellets that EllenD mentioned and see if you can get them shipped to you. There are some seed mixes with the pellets mixed in, but mine never liked the pellets out of these and always ate around them. 

Tiels will stand just about anywhere that is available, so that's probably what's going on there. Plastic food bowls are very hard to keep bacteria free, so definitely keep an eye on that. The seed looks great so I would stick with that and offer pellets every day as well. It may take him a while to figure out pellets are food but they eventually do.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

I've never seen that "blue water" product before, and couldn't find a site in English that gave information on it. But I found a Czech site at https://www.bezednamiska.cz/mala-zv...va/vitakraft-aqua-drink-s-mineraly-500ml.html and used Google translator to get the following information:

Water Analysis (per 100 ml): sodium 40 mg, potassium-3.6 mg, 8 mg of magnesium,
73 mg of calcium chloride, 68 mg, 44 mg of sulfate, nitrate 3.1 mg, 19.7 mg silicate

This is a mineral supplement only, without any vitamins at all. I wouldn't consider this to be a useful product. Calcium is the only mineral on this list that frequently is deficient in the diet, but a better way to provide calcium is with a cuttlebone or mineral block. If google has translated it correctly, I don't understand why they would even put some of these items in a mineral supplement. If the tap water where you live is clean and safe for humans, then it will be safe for birds too, and you can use tap water instead of the blue stuff. 

There are some European pellet brands that may be available in Romania. I think Versele Laga has a good reputation. They're based in Belgium and have a "complete" pellet called NutriBird: http://www.versele-laga.com/en/For-your-animal/Birds/Food-products-Large-Parakeets 

There might be other brands too. A "complete" pellet is what you want, since these have been formulated to contain a good balance of all the nutrients that birds are known to need.


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## Formhault (Jan 31, 2017)

@roxy culver and @tielfan

Thanks again for chiming in!

Yeah, the water we have here is safe, so... I'll stop giving ONLY THAT to Luke. I can't let this mineral water go to waste, so I'll just dilute it with regular tap water (as I said before, 1 part blue water with 3 parts regular water). That should be fine, right? We do have a cuttlebone mounted in the cage, but he hasn't figured out what that is yet. Until he does... he'll have a calcium supply in the water 

I'm never buying that kind of stuff again. Thought it's better than it actually is.

We'll be on the look out for pellets - complete pellets. Perhaps we do have one of the brands you guys mentioned previously, and that'd be great. Otherwise, I'll look for that stuff online, perhaps we can find it online, if not abroad.

Also, mounted in the cage there is a... not sure how it's called, actually. It's like a stick with seeds stuck on it, I think it's got honey or something like that... We bought this pack last year, when we had finches... we didn't throw them away. I've seen Luke picking at it, so he must like that stuff. The ingredients list seems... decent. Have a look.

We've also put some grit for him, in a separate bowl. He didn't get to explore it yet, we just added that today.

In other news, he still wants out. For about 30 minutes today, he was screaming & running around, flapping his wings. One time, he stepped INSIDE the food bowl and started scratching at the food, spreading it around. He must really want out...


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

That's called a honey seed stick, or something similar to that. It's a treat food because of all the sugar from the honey, not something that's intended as a regular part of the diet. 

A lot of people will tell you that grit is dangerous. It's not true - wild cockatiels eat grit, and it's a normal, natural part of their diet. I have a long article about it here: http://www.littlefeatheredbuddies.com/info/nutrition-grit.html

However grit is not an essential part of their diet and they can get along just fine without it, so it's optional. Soluble grit (which dissolves quickly in the crop) is a good source of minerals. Insoluble grit (which does not dissolve) aids in food grinding.


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## Formhault (Jan 31, 2017)

I see. Thanks! So... I'm leaving both the honey seed stick and the grit in there.

Funny night bed he chose (pic here). That's the grit bowl, by the way. I think he just likes how comfortable it is for him to grab that thing with his legs. It's the same format as the food bowl - where he seems to like to sit more than sticks.


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## EllenD (Oct 9, 2016)

Ok, so you got the rundown...No more wasting money on blue water, just normal tap water. The honey sticks are good treats, my budgies absolutely love them and devour them, so the 7 of them get 3 put in their flight cage once a week or so to split amongst themselves. The 7 birds have the 3 honeysticks gone in less than an hour, lol. So as long as they are only a special treat they're fine.

You can definitely find high quality pellets online many places if you can't find them locally, and you'll most likely save a lot of money if you order them online anyway. This is what I do because all 4 of my larger birds (not the budgies) eat Zupreem Natural pellets, the cockatiel, green cheek conure, and Quaker eat one size and the Senegal eats a larger size. I have them on automatic shipments every month and a half, free shipping and I save a fortune from not buying them in my local pet store.

I'm sure your poor little guy does want out of that cage, and as I said it's very important that you get him out every day for at least 2-3 hours or more, and that you interact with him outside of the cage every day. So once again, please get his wings clipped immediately so he's not forced to be in his cage 24 hours a day for weeks. It's not healthy for him and it will certainly not help him bond with you. He's telling you he desperately wants out of there by his behavior, please listen to him.

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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

Until he settles into his new home, it's possible that he will also act anxious when he's outside the cage. When my Mims was new, she'd run back and forth in the cage until I let her out, and then she'd run back and forth on the kitchen table wanting to get outdoors. If I took her outside in a cage she would still run back and forth, and if I had taken her out of the cage I'm sure she would have tried to fly away. She just wanted to get out of my house, period. But eventually she settled down and is very content now. 

But even if he's still nervous at first when he's out of the cage, it is beneficial for your bird to come out. If you leave him in the cage too long, he might become so used to it that he doesn't want to come out at all. The cage will be the only place in the house that he knows, and he will feel safer in the cage than he does out of it.


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## Formhault (Jan 31, 2017)

I see. Again, thank you!

Well... I don't see how we would be able to clip his feathers. I mean look, here's how his behavior is like right now. Actually, it's been like that for the past three days.

So, when I open the cage's door and put my hand inside, he becomes agitated. I think he's hissing, but it seems like he's panting (like he's just catching a breath, lol). It's funny. But in all seriousness, it worries me. He tries to bite me, but he can't. He merely touches my finger, then runs away. He climbs on the cage's walls, jumps around... I can't even touch his legs with my finger anymore.

My girlfriend tried to touch his tail earlier today - it was reaching outside the cage, so she kinda pet it. He yelled and turned around. He obviously would become very furious if we were to catch him & hold him in order to clip his feathers...

Should I just open the cage and let him fly around? We've got some large white stickers we could stick on the windows, so he can't see the clouds & such anymore. Would that be a good start? If not, there's not much else I can do - I can't rush installing the curtains, I haven't found a viable way of hanging it just yet.


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## cedricsmom (Mar 26, 2013)

Most cockatiels do not like to be touched at the tail. Please do not attempt to cut his feathers, if you do it wrong you might kill him. When you let him out next time try to be calm, no sudden moves, loud noices etc. Maybe you could put some bigger stickers or just some sheets of paper in front of the windows to make him aware of them. Do no chase the bird. Play music to him and talk to him, they like that and build trust. Do you have spray millet ?


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## Formhault (Jan 31, 2017)

cedricsmom said:


> Most cockatiels do not like to be touched at the tail. Please do not attempt to cut his feathers, if you do it wrong you might kill him. When you let him out next time try to be calm, no sudden moves, loud noices etc. Maybe you could put some bigger stickers or just some sheets of paper in front of the windows to make him aware of them. Do no chase the bird. Play music to him and talk to him, they like that and build trust. Do you have spray millet ?


I figured feather trimming shouldn't be too hard - YouTube for the win, right? If not, perhaps my girlfriend's father could do it, he raises race pidgeons and knows this kind of stuff. Too bad he's in another town...

I was calm when we let him out of the cage. He was the nervous one, lol. Music is always playing on my computer, in one way or another. It's mostly electronic, though.

Also, we talk to him a lot.

I have millet... I assume that by spray you mean very little grains of millet? If so, then yes


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

With millet spray, the seed is still attached to the stem that it grew on.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

> Please do not attempt to cut his feathers, if you do it wrong you might kill him.


I'm sorry but that's incorrect info. The wings, once fully grown out, don't have any blood supply to them (think our finger nails) and trimming them is fairly easy. The goal of trimming is to make sure the bird can't gain height if they fly, not to take full flight away from them. 

I'd try calm bird sounds on your computer instead. He may not be used to the electronic music.


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## Formhault (Jan 31, 2017)

Thanks, Roxy! We sure will trim his feathers... but that's basically impossible right now.

So, he still pants (hisses? that's hissing, RIGHT?) when I get close to him. Like, he's in the cage, and I get close with my face, trying to talk to him. But when I try to put my finger next to him inside the cage, he just runs around. Doesn't yell. Doesn't try to bite (not like he was biting anyway) at me as often. But I can't get him to stay on my finger for more than 1 second (it's by mistake, most likely).

If I were to basically grab him, he'd freak out. Not going to do that until March or April I guess.

We'll stick the stickers on the windows tomorrow. Then we'll leave him out. See if he will WANT to get out of the cage anymore... I'm worried.

-----

We went pellet hunting. Can't say we had our hopes high. Here's a collection of the stuff we found on the shelves. Cockatiel-related stuff.

See this picture. The stuff in the right is what we got for him. It looks identical to the stuff on the left. But it's like half the price. I'm not really sure it's worth the price - for all I know, it could just be the brand we're paying for. The only thing that stood out was this. Which is... very expensive. But, if it's good, we'll take it.

The only kind of pellet we found was this. So... yeah...


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

So the colorful stuff? That's pellets. The other pellets are rabbit pellets and NOT meant for birds. 

You could always look up the nutrition content of the pellets to see if they are similar to what's in Harrison's or Zupreem. The idea is to feed the pellets and the seeds to him. 

So you really don't want to chase him around the cage, this doesn't help with taming. This scares him and wont get him to trust you any quicker. The best idea is to sit with your hand at the cage door first. Once he gets used to this, then you can move the hand closer (only inch it closer, once he shows that he's uncomfortable again, stop and leave it sitting there.) This takes a while to do but it does help them see that the hand isn't scary.


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## EllenD (Oct 9, 2016)

By the way, you need to towel him to clip his wings. No bird will let you clip their wings just sitting there, allowing you to do it. Go to YouTube and search for "toweling a bird". Not difficult, you basically are wrapping him up in a towel so he gets mad at the towel instead of you. He'll bite the towel. Then you'll pull each wing out, one at a time, and you only want to clip the outermost four or five feathers on each wing. But please, watch YouTube, there are plenty of videos. It is quite easy once you know what you're doing, but you can't just start cutting. Avian vets can do this, bird shops, etc. I do my own, have for years. And I still towel my birds. So do vets. Don't expect to wait until he's tame again to do it, this will help you train/tame him again...He can't just fly away from you when he's clipped. 

And I told you if you just leave him in his cage like you said you were going to he would become mean towards you eventually, and as Roxy said he's not only learning to fear people but he's learning that he just wants to stay in his cage all the time with no interaction. You need to do something, cover your windows, get him clipped, etc. But you can't just let him in his cage all day every day, it's cruel, and why have a bird to begin with if you're not going to interact with it, and only lock it up all day every day in a tiny cage? I'm not trying to be harsh but your poor bird is already becoming a bit stressed and mean. 

Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk


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## Formhault (Jan 31, 2017)

roxy culver said:


> So the colorful stuff? That's pellets. The other pellets are rabbit pellets and NOT meant for birds.
> 
> You could always look up the nutrition content of the pellets to see if they are similar to what's in Harrison's or Zupreem. The idea is to feed the pellets and the seeds to him.
> 
> So you really don't want to chase him around the cage, this doesn't help with taming. This scares him and wont get him to trust you any quicker. The best idea is to sit with your hand at the cage door first. Once he gets used to this, then you can move the hand closer (only inch it closer, once he shows that he's uncomfortable again, stop and leave it sitting there.) This takes a while to do but it does help them see that the hand isn't scary.


Oh, good! I'll look at the nutrition content next time I get the chance. Thanks!

Well... I did the opoosite. I did chase him around in the cage. Gently, I would say. But not gentle enough for him, of course... 

The harm has been done. I'll do as you said next. I gotta contain myself 



EllenD said:


> By the way, you need to towel him to clip his wings. No bird will let you clip their wings just sitting there, allowing you to do it. Go to YouTube and search for "toweling a bird". Not difficult, you basically are wrapping him up in a towel so he gets mad at the towel instead of you. He'll bite the towel. Then you'll pull each wing out, one at a time, and you only want to clip the outermost four or five feathers on each wing. But please, watch YouTube, there are plenty of videos. It is quite easy once you know what you're doing, but you can't just start cutting. Avian vets can do this, bird shops, etc. I do my own, have for years. And I still towel my birds. So do vets. Don't expect to wait until he's tame again to do it, this will help you train/tame him again...He can't just fly away from you when he's clipped.
> 
> And I told you if you just leave him in his cage like you said you were going to he would become mean towards you eventually, and as Roxy said he's not only learning to fear people but he's learning that he just wants to stay in his cage all the time with no interaction. You need to do something, cover your windows, get him clipped, etc. But you can't just let him in his cage all day every day, it's cruel, and why have a bird to begin with if you're not going to interact with it, and only lock it up all day every day in a tiny cage? I'm not trying to be harsh but your poor bird is already becoming a bit stressed and mean.


We honestly didn't have much time these days. We got around to cover the windows & let him out just 2 hours ago. I made a video, by the way. Please watch it (right here), I did explain his flying behavior and such. I'm most likely overdoing it, but...

The clipping will have to wait. I sure will watch YouTube - that's how I learned a lot of things, lol, I know its power. Besides, he didn't hit himself anymore, so... I guess learning to fly + being out in the house will suit him good (good enough so he learns not to freaking kill myself). Until we get to clip his feathers, that is.

Towelling him... Okay. So he gets mad at the towel, NOT me? So he won't know that it is me who is towelling him, but the towel himself? I mean... he won't hold a grudge against me (hope Google Translate did well)? 

Edit : I used the ladder to get him back into the cage. He's been out for a bit under 3 hours. I gently reached towards him with the ladder, and he simply step on it. Once inside the cage, I couldn't easily get him to step off the ladder, he seemed like he wanted out again. But no, I have to go, and I can't afford letting him out, taking dumps all over the place


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## Formhault (Jan 31, 2017)

We let him out yesterday evening, as well. He flew around a bit, stood on the TV closet for about half an hour. The TV closet is right next to the table where we eat. So, I was having some soup, and I see him getting closer to the edge of the closet, towards me. He starts looking at me funny, and the next thing I know is he flyes onto my bowl (actually, the edge of it). The edge is kinda slippery for him to grab onto, so he kinda slipped with one foot into the soup itself. Then, he flew onto my left arm. He stood there for a few seconds, then took off and landed on another closet.

30 minutes later, I used the ladder to get him back into the cage. He was still hissing at the ladder when I tried to approach him with it. But eventually, he complied.

What do you think of this? My girlfriend says he was testing me.

-----

It is now 9 AM, I've seen him standing on the floor of the cage, picking at the paper we put on it. The cage door is open, but he doesn't seem to want to get our. He will get out eventually, I guess.

By the way, he ate some paper yesterday. A store bill was on the closet, and he kinda pierced it. Hope he's not allergic to paper, lol.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

They are foragers, so picking at the paper is normal. Lots of people give their tiels paper to play with.

It seems more like he's interested in your food than you actually. Food was the easiest way for me to get my birds to tame, that's why I always recommend food bribery as a good taming tool. Keeping millet next to you and offering it to him if he happens to land on or near you is a good idea. You can use it to make the ladder less scary too.


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## Formhault (Jan 31, 2017)

I see (about the paper). So he's playing with it. Not picking at it out of anger.

Well, in the bowl there was tomato soup. Not his type of food, I'd say. I'll buy that box of pellets (it's the most expensive bird food type in there) and use that as a bribery for starters.

I've let him out of the cage for about 4 hours now. He's been landing on the bed (and taking a dump on it, lol), on different closets... even the cage. But he didn't manage to get INSIDE the cage, he was exploring the outside (or trying to get in?).

Right now he took off from the cage, flying towards me. I was thinking he's going for the fridge / window, but no, he flew right past my head and landed on the sill (a wall about 5 feet tall, separating the room from the balcony), YELLING like crazy. It was hurting my ears, lol. Now he's flew back to a closet, sitting on top of it, yelling (but not as loud).

I lured him on the ladder and got him back in. I don't trust him not to take dumps all over the place. He went straight to the food, after he realised he's inside the cage (lol).


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

> I'll buy that box of pellets (it's the most expensive bird food type in there) and use that as a bribery for starters.


That may not work as he won't recognize the pellet as food and wont consider it something "yummy" that he is getting. Millet spray is your best bet in this area only because it should only be given a couple times a week, not every day, and small amounts can be used for taming.


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## Formhault (Jan 31, 2017)

roxy culver said:


> That may not work as he won't recognize the pellet as food and wont consider it something "yummy" that he is getting. Millet spray is your best bet in this area only because it should only be given a couple times a week, not every day, and small amounts can be used for taming.


We haven't seen spray millet anywhere local. I guess I'll look online.

Meanwhile... progress has been made! Have a look at this short video. 

Luke did step onto my / my girlfriend's finger previously (a few days ago - we let him out once or twice a day, for about 2 hours in total). But he wasn't as comfortable as he seems now.

I didn't get it on camera, but one time, when I was petting him with my finger, he would peck at my finger while making very quiet chirping noises.


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## Formhault (Jan 31, 2017)

Even more progress has been made!

He's able to get out of the cage on his own now (relatively quickly, too). Also, he can go back in (when he wants to - he doesn't want to do that often, unless we make him) with ease. He's very funny when he does that - the way he steps on the ladder we hung on the cage.

Also, he's flying towards us / on us often. Say, we're in bed, and he gets out of the cage. The way he does it is he stands on the cage entry for a bit, then circles the room a few times, then lands on the cage (which is literally 1.5 meters away from the bed). After that, it doesn't take him too long until he comes to our bed. Then on us. Then starts to chew our hair / clothes...

We were able to pet him on the head a few times. He makes this very pleasant chirping sound when we do that. I tried to grab him (gently) a few times. He did the same chirping sound, but didn't fly away. Of course, I didn't hold him. I merely engulfed him with my hand, but say 30% of my palm was touching his body, if you know what I mean.

Oh and he hasn't been hitting the windows  he just poops everywhere -.-


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