Ok, so Ash is my cockatiel that I've had for about a year or two. When I first got him I started taming him and stupidly stopped. Now I'm working with him again and have been the past few weeks because I don't want him to have to stay in his cage all the time. He's doing way better than when I had started. I've gotten it so when he comes out of the cage he sings very loudly and I can get him on my finger with a little bitting (hence why I'm wearing leather gloves while taming for now cause he can bit hard. He bit holes in the gloves already) and some odd noises not from this planet. He'll sit on my one finger and will sometimes go onto my other finger when offered, most of the time I get that odd and funny noise and get the glove bit to death. So far, I've had him on the bathroom floor and rolled a cat ball past him (his favortie kind of toy) and he'll watch it and be interested but he won't make a move with me around.
Today's sesion I discovered a way to get him to climb on me without problems. He was on my finger so I put him near the mirror. He seemed interested in the bird looking back at him so I lowered my hand so he couldn't see the mirror. He then climbed up my arm (and his claws are really sharp... I need to get them clipped soon) and would happily go hand to hand and even on my shoulder to see his new bird friend in the mirror. I'm not sure how successful this tenchnique will be so I'm hoping somebody could give me a few tips on how to tame him.
A little about Ash: He's a grey faced tiel and loves to sing, loudly. He can meow, say Thank You and Cara (not completely say it but you know he's saying those things) and can say Birdie, he also imitates the microwave and more often the oven. He talks to the two Zebra Finches (Fitch and Sheila) from across the room and if he hears a bird out the window he'll screach to it. He's very curious and will go to the side of the cage to watch and talk to you. But if you get close he goes to the cornner with his mirror and hisses his little head off at you. Though there's not as much hissing since I've been working with him. He has his own cage but we plan on getting a bigger one and possibly a tiel friend for him since he's lonely during the day and he loves talking and trying to preen the bird in the mirror.
Over all, he's a great bird with a great personality, I just need tips on how to get him tamed so he isn't cooped up all day. He loves getting out of the cage and knows when he's being taken out.
It sounds like you are doing a good job already. I'm not a fan of leather gloves, but if it is working for you, keep it up. I've had luck with offering treats to birds after they step up onto my fingers ('tiels go crazy for millet spray). However, the biting thing has to stop, and since he likes being out of his cage you can "punish" him to a degree. Whenever he gets on your finger without biting (using his beak for support and stability does not constiute as a bite), give him a treat and allow him time out of his cage. Whenever he bites, put him back in his cage and shut the door. You can even put a sheet over his cage for a few minutes if just putting him in the cage and walking off isn't working. But, don't leave it on there for longer than five minutes. At the end of his "time out," you can try again. I'm not sure about the climbing up the shoulder thing. If it works, go for it. However, you should get to wear you can use "step off" commands to get your bird into a desired location. Usually, if they know step up, than they know how to step off. Offer a treat to praise your bird for stepping off into a location that you chose. Also, I've found that with training the step commands, you can add a word or sound to it to emphasive the command. My birds know "foot." I say "foot" when I want them to step on and off. They can get to where they know the word so well that they will raise a foot on verbal command (this is handy if you need to do a quick physical exam and do not want to restrain them to check their feet). Once your bird knows the step off command, you should be able to place him on your arm or shoulder without have to incorporate a mirror.
Thanks. I normally wouldn't use gloves but he bites and hard. He won't except treats from me though but he does fly out his his cage on hiw own now, which is pretty good for him.
Alright, we're making pogress. He still won't take treats from me but he's bitting a lot less and will answer me if I wistle to him while he's on my finger and he's done some head bobbing, too. I even took a glove off and let him sit on my hand whih he didn't seem to notice much. I'm also going to get his wings clipped soon so he stops flying away from me. He'll sit with me now and when on the floor, he'll come and climb up on my finger. I'm still wearing one glove since he'll bite when he feels like it but he's a lot lot better than when I started. Only problems I have to fix is the little biting he does now and the fact that he won't go back into his cage right away and takes me a few minutes to get him back. Other than that I'm happy to say we're on our way to being able to be out of the bathroom and in a bigger room for out of cage time.
My 'tiel won't take treats either. He did when he was younger, but now if I try to hand him something he just looks at it. The only time he is interested in eating something outside of his bowls is if I am eating it. So, it may be a personality thing if your bird isn't accepting treats as well.
He's never accepted treats from me nor does he really enjoy most treats. The only treats he eats is sunflower seeds and millet spray. He doesn't like fruits or eggs (which is something tiels usually like) or anything really. But progress is being made!
My 'tiels like dehydrated fruits, veggies, and seed mixes. I've just tried it recently and it seems to be a big hit. I've been giving them half a tsp. of the dehydrated mix with 2 tbsps of pellet and offering millet 2x a week. They seem to be doing well with it.
Well, I finally found something Ash likes! He likes cooked apples. I had some pie my dad made and I took out the piece of apple and gave it to him. The next day it was gone and it wasn't at the bottom of his cage or on the floor so he ate it.
Wow, after about 2 years i finally find what he likes.
my 'tiel is about 7 months old and not a big fan of any healthy foods. The only veggie he will actually try is broccoli. He won't eat anything that is soft, like pasta... egg... etc... As far as treats go he likes frosted mini wheats (cereal).
PS Does anyone know if it's true that sunflower seeds make 'tiels more aggresive?
no, i don't think that sunflower seeds make 'tiels more sggresive... but they do contain a fair bit of fat , so you should not make their diet just of sunflower seeds... you should have fruits and other nuts and seeds
I've heard that diets that don't offer variety can make birds tempermental...just because it is boring. So, yes, if you fed them a diet exclusively of sunflower seeds, it could make your bird a bit more tempermental when compared to a bird that gets entertainment in food varieties. And, yes, amnial_luva is right, they are pretty fatty for 'tiels and may cause liver damage over time.
Ok, so Ash isn't as bad as when we started. Now he's more talk than bite, but he's still some bite. I found out he also likes Nature Valley Granola Bars...
Oh, by the way. Our finches who laid eggs, I just discovered today that one of them's hatched already.
Is Ash still biting hard enough to hurt? Chicken (my 'tiel) still gets nasty with me at times, but he knows not to bite hard...he usually just runs his beak frantically back and forth on my finger to tell me that he has had enough with whatever I am doing. I don't really consider this a bite, but more of a warning to me that he's not in the mood. I don't scold my birds for warning behavior (even though some trainers do). So, maybe this is what Ash is doing if he isn't biting hard but merely beaking at you.
Yeah, he's still biting hard. But I can get him on my hand without a glove. When he was sitting on my arm trying to ecide wether to go onto my fingers or not, he decided to try and bite my arm which didn't work out as planned for him. But he is way much better I'm glad to say.
Thanks. I guess we were a few days off on guessing the egg laying time. Heh, oh well.
Ok, so I got him to go from my gloved hand onto my ungloved hand without biting (well, I don't count biting to test hardness and to help pull himself up biting) hard at all. A week or so more of this and I may have the friendly bird I wanted. I even held him (though then he did bite alot) and rubbed his head (as all tiels love) and he quickly stopped biting which is how I think I'm getting him to be tamer. Either way, I'm doing something right with him.
Is this cockatiel alone or does it have a friend, if not, it is confused about what it is, that can be a great technique, but if used too often, it can bond to the bird in the mirror and ignore you.
Actually, I have just recently bought him a friend. She's a grey tiel and her name is now Misty (Ash and Misty... Get it? Pokemon. My brother's fiance's idea.). She's pretty tame actually. I need a glove to get her on my hand but I can pet her all I want without her biting at me. I'm not even getting her to come onto my ungloved hand without trying to bite me. And she's helping me tame Ash, too. Ash willingly comes to me now and will sit with me. He even let me rub his head cause he saw Misty let me.
