Post by loulou on May 30, 2012 0:07:53 GMT
First off, i apologise if this is too long, but here goes 
I recently acquired a male cockatiel, 7 years old from a friend who no longer had the time for it. He was in a really small cage when he came to me, so i got a new one so he has plenty of room and replaced toys one at a time so as to not freak him out too much.
He's not tame or friendly at all, but he's definitely smart. In the month i've had him he's learned to imitate the beeping of the delivery trucks to the Tesco across the road, a very convincing car alarm and my telephone. I've learnt him to step up onto a perch held in my hand and sometimes he'll sit there for a minute or two and sometimes he'll fly away straight away. He also screamed constantly to begin with but has calmed down a little apart from his "dawn chorus" due to some painstaking effort at ignoring noise and rewarding quiet or singing "nicely". I found out from a mutual friend that he used to be kept covered up all day because he was too noisy. Despite this, he's pretty healthy, shiny feathers and bright and alert. He's also only ever been fed on seed and seed bars meant for canaries and finches. Cockatiel ones were apparently too expensive.
At the moment i'm taking things very slowly with him. He will hiss and lunge at me if i go too close, but i've found that by moving closer very slowly while talking to him he's not too bad although i've never yet managed to touch him. If he tries to bite, i don't yank my hand away, just withdraw it slowly (usually he gets a good peck in haha)
So yeah i was basically wondering if anyone had any advice. I usually just keep budgies but i couldn't turn this wee fella away. Are cockatiels very hard to train as adults? Is it likely i could get him tame enough to be friendly?
Also, i've been wondering about wing clipping. I've never had a birds wings clipped yet, but Smokey is rather bigger than a budgie and has flown into the windows a couple of times. He hasn't done it over the last week or two, maybe he's learnt the boundaries? I wouldn't like him to get hurt or worse, to fly right through the window! There is also the tempting idea that Smokey would then have to rely on me to move around and it could help to build up trust but i'm not sure whether that's more for my benefit or his.
Any replies are greatly appreciated
Just because i couldn't resist, here's a couple of pics of him
Sitting on his swing (this cage and all the toys have now been replaced)
A bit soggy after a shower, which he loved!
Showing off on top of Bob the budgie's cage
I recently acquired a male cockatiel, 7 years old from a friend who no longer had the time for it. He was in a really small cage when he came to me, so i got a new one so he has plenty of room and replaced toys one at a time so as to not freak him out too much.
He's not tame or friendly at all, but he's definitely smart. In the month i've had him he's learned to imitate the beeping of the delivery trucks to the Tesco across the road, a very convincing car alarm and my telephone. I've learnt him to step up onto a perch held in my hand and sometimes he'll sit there for a minute or two and sometimes he'll fly away straight away. He also screamed constantly to begin with but has calmed down a little apart from his "dawn chorus" due to some painstaking effort at ignoring noise and rewarding quiet or singing "nicely". I found out from a mutual friend that he used to be kept covered up all day because he was too noisy. Despite this, he's pretty healthy, shiny feathers and bright and alert. He's also only ever been fed on seed and seed bars meant for canaries and finches. Cockatiel ones were apparently too expensive.
At the moment i'm taking things very slowly with him. He will hiss and lunge at me if i go too close, but i've found that by moving closer very slowly while talking to him he's not too bad although i've never yet managed to touch him. If he tries to bite, i don't yank my hand away, just withdraw it slowly (usually he gets a good peck in haha)
So yeah i was basically wondering if anyone had any advice. I usually just keep budgies but i couldn't turn this wee fella away. Are cockatiels very hard to train as adults? Is it likely i could get him tame enough to be friendly?
Also, i've been wondering about wing clipping. I've never had a birds wings clipped yet, but Smokey is rather bigger than a budgie and has flown into the windows a couple of times. He hasn't done it over the last week or two, maybe he's learnt the boundaries? I wouldn't like him to get hurt or worse, to fly right through the window! There is also the tempting idea that Smokey would then have to rely on me to move around and it could help to build up trust but i'm not sure whether that's more for my benefit or his.
Any replies are greatly appreciated
Just because i couldn't resist, here's a couple of pics of him
Sitting on his swing (this cage and all the toys have now been replaced)
A bit soggy after a shower, which he loved!
Showing off on top of Bob the budgie's cage
I think you two are making pretty good progress considering his background. Good on you!