# Aggressive cockatiel -help-



## MissMara (Jun 18, 2013)

Hi everyone!

I am new here and am seeking advice regarding my little 2 year old hand-fed male cockatiel named Albus (he's a white-headed cockatiel, gorgeous!) who has anger issues.

Generally, he is a nice, very tame and sociable bird. As I work at home, he hangs out with me a lot. He is healthy, not overweight, interested in all kinds of food, not afraid of visitors (he sees a lot of people), a great singer and imitator, but here is my issue, and it's a big one.

This little guy gets triggered by objects of all kind when in my hands (or hands of other people) and can get very, very aggressive. Most of the time, it's books, sheets of paper, pencils, cups (though he has no problem with my smartphone, even if it fits the profile. Go figure!) that he will start whistling to with the heart-shaped wings, and then after a few minutes of being funny and cute, he goes crazy. The problem is I'm an illustrator and work with all that at all times, I can't simply remove the object of his affection or he'd have to stay in his cage all day. He will scream, divebomb me, and bite ferociously if I continue to handle those things. He will refuse to step up on my finger for a while and fly all over the place. I am working on the laddering trick (make him step up from one finger to the next, for about ten times) and even if he bites the first time or two, I insist and then he always ends up obeying and calms down immediately. That trick is pretty effective for the moment. But he knows what's coming up and will fly a lot until he is panting like a dog before I can finally make him step up.

I can assure you my bird gets a lot of attention, scritches and cuddles. He has a very big cage, has at least 12 hours of sleep (I cover his cage), lots of time outside the cage. It pains me a lot that he can go from a loving cuddling little fella to a ball of pure anger who wants to rip people's eyes out.

All in all I know how to calm him down, but can't stop him from being triggered. I've tried talking to him softly while handling objects, but it just makes him angrier. I know it's mostly hormonal (but I heard those phases lasts a couple of month, not the double!) and unfortunately, I can't get him a mate for the moment, as big changes are arriving in my life (I live in Switzerland, and go to the States every two months, and I am thinking about moving there, with my bird of course. I have had him for two years, and my trips to the US are recent, I don't think I would have taken a bird right away in my situation at the moment, but life happened, and now I have to adapt the best I can while making things as easy as possible for my little feathered companion) 

He is very dominant, and I have to find ways to show him I'm the boss. It's hard not to lose patience, and I really want to use the most gentle of approaches regarding this issue. I'm already glad the laddering trick is pretty useful (though my fingers do not really agree with me!  )

I know him and know how to calm him, but as I have to leave him sometimes with friends, I can't afford to let him be that way to people who don't know him as well as I do (even if I leave him to people who know him pretty well and have been doing a good job with him) But I don't want for the people who take care of him while I'm away to have to let him in his cage all day because they can't manage him. Fortunately, he adapts quickly to new environments as he's been used to move around a lot since a very young age and meets new people regularly. He's very curious, not afraid of anything or anyone and acts the same as he does here at home. 

I am considering clipping his wings, but that would really be in last resort.

Any more advice you guys could give me? thank you very much!


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

> He is very dominant, and I have to find ways to show him I'm the boss. It's hard not to lose patience, and I really want to use the most gentle of approaches regarding this issue. I'm already glad the laddering trick is pretty useful (though my fingers do not really agree with me! )


Welcome to the forum! I would just like to point that tiels are not dominant by nature, so what you may be perceiving as dominance, may not be.

What other hormone reducing techniques are you using? You may need to increase his nights to 14 hours (is this in a dark room with no noises or anything?) to help calm him down. It does sound like he is very hormonal and needs to calm down. How often do you rearrange his cage? He may need to be desensitized to these items and you can do this by leaving them near him or in his cage. Also, if he starts to attack you, put him in his cage for a timeout til he calms down. He'll soon learn that attacking doens't get him what he wants.


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## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

to the forum!

there is a sticky about hormonal reduction which can be found http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=32330


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## MissMara (Jun 18, 2013)

Hello!

Thanks to the both of you for your advice and for being so nice! I am used to french cockatiel forums, and people can be very judgmental there. So thank you very much for being so welcoming!

I'll try to increase his nights even if that's the main hormone reducing technique I have done up to now. 

I might try to "desensitize" him to things by putting them in the cage, it might be a good idea. But most of the time he reacts because I touch those things. He won't be interested in a sheet of paper until I pick it up. If it stays in my hand, I get attacked. If I lay it down, he will sing to it, poke a few holes, drag it on the ground... it keeps him busy! But I must leave him alone otherwise all hells break lose!

I know my bird sounds like he's a real tyrant, but he can be such a sweetheart, don't get me wrong! 

At the end of the week, he'll be staying with his breeder for a couple of weeks while I leave for holidays and that might help, I'm pretty sure the breeder will be able to handle him and maybe have some good advice too!


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## Tequilagirl (Mar 4, 2013)

Hello MissMara!

3 things come to mind reading your post

1) Tweety needs to learn some boundaries. You could put him in his cage and ignore him for a few minutes immediately after he does something you think it's unacceptable. This can be quite bad for you if he does it often because of all the interruptions during your work.

2) Clip his wings. This is the first time I'm saying this, I'm a hardcore anti clipper but if he's getting too cocky I'd take away some of his confidence until he calms down and feathers regrow.

3) Really hoping he will calm down during his holiday and the breeder can give you some good advice.

Welcome to the forums!


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