# My cockatiel has gone crazy?



## aerodyll (Sep 8, 2012)

Hi, I wonder if someone can help me because my little feathery friend has really changed and is starting to really negatively impact my life. I am hoping someone can help me either figure out whats wrong or decide on a possible solution.

Background info
Joey (i know very original) is near 19 years old. He has been my pet for a very long time and has always been 'unique'. He doesn't like things most birds should like, he wouldn't touch any fruit of veg until very recently and has always had a really bad fear of fingers after he was handled badly by the pet store owner when we got him. In normal circumstances we could have solved that problem but bare in mind I was a child and didn't understand the finer points of patience and training. He would eat from your hand and stuff but wouldn't go near them unless bribed generously. In spite of his fears he has been a good pet and learned a few whistles and stuff and he's been more or less an interesting character and a member of the family. He has always been a nasty tempered bird but he would never try to hurt me or the family he would just nip them to say I've had enough of you now. I actually take this as a sign of how much he trusts us because if any strangers come into the house he totally flips out and flies away from them in fear.

Fast forward until 3 years ago i went to university for 3 years and came back every holiday. For the first two holidays it was fine but when i came back at the end he was absolutely crazy. 

He started being aggressive and screaming all the time. He would scream for attention then attack me. Then scream when i left the room then threaten me when i came back. At night he would calm down a bit and maybe even be allowed out and for half an hour he is sweet as pie then he gets angry again and attacks me so i put him in. I tried ignoring him but I work in my bedroom so im there all day and hes a meter behind me so in the end i just started covering him up when he was going mad.

The problem with that is then after a while he started nesting whenever i covered him up and that's when he got REALLY aggressive. After a while i learned how to stop it by moving his cage around and never giving him anywhere he could get attached too for too long. But that's only worked for a few months and now he's even worse than ever. He throws himself at the bars flapping his wings and screaming at me just because I'm in the room sometimes.

I recently had a nervous breakdown in my room due to a lot of things work wise and job wise (economy plus graduate =all round bad) everything was bad but him screaming in my ear and preventing me from getting stuck in to work just drove me over the edge. 

Now today he is worse than ever and is violent and trying to hurt me. I can't even let him out because he attacks me and flies at my face. 

I don't know what set all this off and I cant believe this is the same bird that used to sit on my knee for hours. He even used to sit on my playstation controller while I'm using it (and threaten my thumbs every time they moved)

I have tried a whole lot more than I have mentioned here but any suggestions are very welcome as I don't want to have to get rid of him but I cant go on like this much longer. 

Cheers


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

welcome to the forum 

how many hours of sleep does he get a night? nesty hormones can be reduced with longer sleep hours at night because they think its winter, and winter means not a good time to have a nest. 


i know the feeling, i have a male tiel who also dive bombs and attacks your face when hes in a mood. he has no excuse however, its just how he is. yours may be hormonal, but if he is also more on the aggressive nippy side, it might also be his personality.

does he have anywhere he sees as a nest outside of the cage? inside the cage? i know some stores sell tents and huts and often say they are suited for cockatiels, many owners unwittingly buy them without knowing their tiel will see it as a nest rather than a bed. male tiels, as you seem to know, get super aggressive when nesty and are really scary lol females can lay eggs in them. if you have any of these or a box, or anything of that nature you might want to remove it from his environment. 

rearranging the cage frequently is an excellent idea  even move his cage to a new spot if you need to. 


also, you say you have been stressing out lately over work and such, he might be picking up your stress and acting off of it. try calming down some before being in the same room as him, try drinking chamomile tea for yourself too.


if you can get PURE chamomile tea, caffeine free no other herbs added to it, you can give him some as well, just be sure its not hot. you may give it in a separate bowl or mix it 50-50 with his water each day. it might help calm him down as chamomile is a calming herb.


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## aerodyll (Sep 8, 2012)

Thanks for the reply. He gets on average 8-12 hours sleep a night. I make sure to cover him up early when it gets dark and leave him in the morning until he's either up and running around under the cover or he's had the required amount. He normally has a nice hour in the morning where he's all nice then turns nasty later.

I will try camomile tea btw thanks. I will try him but more for me lol. I don't think he picks up on me as I work all day and if left can be completely quiet for hours. 

I know this sounds daft but its almost like he is picking on me. I know he's screaming for attention but he obviously doesn't actually want it. So like a naughty child it feels like he is playing up for negative attention and also just because he knows he can. Does that make sense? 

I just bought some military grade ear defenders so I can try ignoring him again. This was the first approach i tried originally but when you are in the room with him for so long he just drives you crazy. 

Also there isn't really any nest or anything outside the cage and this time around I seem to be getting ten times the violence but little to none of the nesting. When i uncover him he is sometimes on the bottom of the cage rustling around as he normally does but instead of being sat in a corner he just pounces at me now. I hope I can sort it out as after 19 years its just not right to get rid of him.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

well parrots are smart enough to manipulate us negatively  so i wouldnt put it past him to be screaming for that reason

but hormones make me think is the cause for the screaming and aggression. cover him for 12-14 hours instead see if it helps. 


does he have a grate at the bottom of the cage? if not, it might help if he is using the paper as a nest. 


one thing ive used with luck is rocks. take a big rock, clean it with soap and water, rinse it very very well. bake it in the oven to dry and disinfect. then place it in the corner of his cage that he is getting nesty in. i did this to my tiels in the corner they were nesty in and it helped create a block to that corner and it deterred them. they also were shredding up paper so they go switched over to a blanket instead of paper. its working for them. at least the nesty behaviours. my male is still aggressive. 

fake eggs might help as a last resort if nothing else works, fake eggs might get it out of his system. just place 3 fake eggs in the bottom of the cage he is nesty in and let him sit on them for 22-28 days, until he gives up on them, it MIGHT work. save this idea as last resort. 

wait to see what others say


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

> The problem with that is then after a while he started nesting whenever i covered him up and that's when he got REALLY aggressive.


That's definitely a hormone issue, and the rest of the aggressive behavior might be hormones too. We have a sticky on hormone control at http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=32330

Good luck, I hope this helps!


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## aerodyll (Sep 8, 2012)

I remembered something. This all started a year ago when I came back from uni and my room had been redecorated. Joey had been in the shed for a week and he came back to a new room and me at the same time could that have caused it? 
Also I have been trying keeping him in the dark but because I am in my room 24/7 I think he knows it is not actually night time so what I am doing is creating nest box conditions accidentally.

I have removed his mirror and I will buy him some toys to make the cage seem less homely. (He never had many toys as he just fought with them). 

Should I put him in the shed again so he is alone so I can better control the night and day conditions for a few weeks and see what happens? The only reason I am asking is because I'm not sure if it was the shed that caused this in the first place. 

Cheers


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

You can put him in the shed to sleep, assuming that it's a safe place with good temperature conditions. If his cage is too big to move easily you can buy a small cage to use as a transportation/sleep cage. You'll be able to control the day and night conditions that way and he'll still have social contact with you in the daytime. 

He's been in the redecorated room for a year now. It might have startled him at first but he's had plenty of time to get used to it so it's normal to him now. Same thing with you - you might have seemed like a stranger at first but now you're his flockmate, and he'll feel safer with you (assuming that you treat him nicely most of the time) than he will apart from you, even though he doesn't want to be too close to you.

You might be able to sweeten up his attitude using food bribery in addition to the hormone control - see http://talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=28661


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## aerodyll (Sep 8, 2012)

OK new plan. I'm in a catch 22 because he screams when he's out but nests when hes covered and because I'm in my room all the time I cant really ignore him. Seeing as he is screaming for attention and nesting I decided to move him closer to me so he is now right next to me as I work (he was right behind me originally). I am hoping that this will give him the attention he's so conflicted about and make him feel less secure in his nesting environment because I am so close. I am also going to fill his cage with some shreddable toys soon as I can find some. Fingers crossed this works.


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## MeanneyFids (Aug 24, 2010)

shredable toys might make him more nesty, just a caution. i would find toys he cant shred up and see how he does with those. some birds play by beating up their toys lol


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## aerodyll (Sep 8, 2012)

well this guy is just toying with me now I am sure about it. I moved his cage today so he is right beside me so he feels like hes in he middle of the action when im working and such and for the first time in months he has spent an entire day doing nothing more than the odd 'im bored' screech. He hasnt nested or anything and has been chirpy and almost his old self for the day. I REALLY hope this is the fix I have been waiting for. The funny thing is I tried this before and it didnt work.

It makes you wonder who is training who really.


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## aerodyll (Sep 8, 2012)

I think I've had enough. After a little while in his new spot he is back to normal screeching. He demands attention and then I give it to him but all he does is bite me and threaten me, then shout for me back soon as I leave. He has food and water and millet and just goes crazy if you put a toy in his cage. He wont even let me take him out of the cage now, he just bites the perch. I feel as if I am betraying him by giving him away but what else can I do? I could scream right now.


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## sunnysmom (Sep 23, 2011)

Try to stay calm. I really think tiels pick up on frustration, etc and it works them up. Maybe go out and take a walk and come back in. Does he like music? Maybe play something soothing? There is a taming sticky under the training and bonding section. Maybe read that and try to start and square one like he's a new tiel? Keep us posted.


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