upatsix.com - Your Source For Pet Bird Information

Hello All!
I'm a new Tiel parent. I got my Meeklo in November 2009, he's 8 months now. He was handfed and he's handtame. When I hold him (he responds to the "up" command) he gets an attitude about hands or fingers being near him (he's tried to peck my hand perch but stopped this habit). When it's just me and him he'll bend his neck & has let me nuzzle his neck with my nose a couple of times, but has tried to threaten me with his beak when he sees what I'm doing (no lunging, just being bratty about it). I tried to use my finger during these moments but he ends up having a hissy fit about it.
Also when he's kickin it in his cage he'll be singing then suddenly bow his head quickly, sometimes in a row. I was wondering what that means? There is no music playing, just TV noise mostly.
Another thing he hates being covered at night, he has a HUGE hissy fit when I slowley cover him and talk to him in a soothing voice, What is that all about? Is it common? Do they ever get OK with being covered?
So I guess one of my questions is how do I get him to be relaxed around hands and a little more tamer? Fewer hissy fits.
Sometimes when he's on the couch he'll lunge with his beak at me, I usually try and get my hand under him really fast and say "up", it gets the trick done sometimes, LOL!
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, Thank you for your time and consideration

I don't cover mine. The dusty birds such as 'tiels don't need to be breathing in their own dust during every overnight. It's too potentially harmful to risk w/o good reason. Barbara Heidenreich has a great article in the Feb Parrots magazine (www.parrotmag.com) about training small birds such as our 'tiels. I'll bet you'd love it!

They are little stinkers - aren't they??!! What is his name and do you have a picture?

I bet he will calm down as you handle him more and he gets to know you. I have had my male (Dino) for a year ( can't believe it's been a year already!!) He has a hissy fit when I try to smooch him and he isn't in the mood, when he is tired and it's past his bedtime. I call his hissy fit, when he starts attacking my fingers or hand or anything else that gets within 6 inches of him.

Most of the time he is very cuddly and affectionate. He blows kisses, stretches to me to get smooched and kissed, when I hold him up close and he is on my finger., or when he is sitting under my chin. As for the whistling, it seems like he does it when we are not paying attention to him and he is "bribing" us to get him - Heaven forbid he should miss on something happening and he isn't there to experience it with us!!

I think a lot of the things they don't like are because it's new to them. I found the more I interact with him he becomes more trusting and bonded. I even kiss his feet!! Still doesn't like them being touched to much, and HATES when I bend over with him in my hand and he ends up on his back.

I have a separate sleep cage for him in a spare bedroom and I do cover him - I had the same set up with my last bird. My BF is chronically ill and lives in the living-room where the day cage is. Since the TV is on 24/7 (or just about), little birdie doesn't get enough sleep, so I set up a smaller cage for bed-time. We do cover him and he is on our schedule which I know there are members here who would not agree with doing that. It works for us.


A good way to promote bonding is to share your food with him!! Give him some whole grain bread or cereal (dry) while you eat the same thing. Same goes with veggies and fruits. Of course no fruit pits or avocados, onion or garlic. Dino loves strawberry yogurt!!


Here's a picture of the little bugger! The green on his beak is from chollard greens!

Hi DMC, the "head bobbing" is typical male behaviour, you might also see him "strut" on his perch and put out his wings away from his body a bit, if you look from behind the wings will look like a "heart shape" which is why you will hear a lot of birdie people call it the "heartwing thing"
I have a tame budgie who also doesn't like to be stroked with a hand or finger but he cuddles up if I stroke him with my nose or chin
I think a lot of birds are not so keen on hands/fingers
Hope he will get less feisty with you soon

YUp, I agree with Claudia. Some of my "rescues" aren't keen on hands & fingers but they loooove when you lean your nose against them
Hey, I don't blame them. I'm not keen on being touched or hugged either (it's a Boston thing ) But I do like to just hang out with a chum and share a cup o' tea

I get the sense that your bird is in the process of bonding with you. Good for you!

My single female, about 4 years old, loves my fingers on her neck!
For about a year now, she trusts me enough that when she's preening on my finger, near my nose, she'll bow her head and that's the signal that she'd like a neck scritch. She'll then tilt her head up so her right cheek is facing up. Then with two fingers and a thumb I proceed to massage her neck, chin and cheek simultaneously. She'll allow this for 20 or 30 seconds, then indicate she's had enough by making biting motions. She'll preen for 5 seconds or so, and then bow her head and we start again. While I'm scritching I also gently blow on her neck ... dislodging feathers and more dust, but she really seems to love this!!

While I'm 'massaging' her neck, she'll rotate her head so that I get all her itchy areas. It's really amazing to see the trust she has in me. We'll do this for oh, five or 6 minutes and then she's satisfied and flies off to sit by the window or something.

And I wondered about your covering the bird. I cover mine, on advice I picked up on this forum and I also have a nite lite. Bailey has no problem being covered at night.

Hope this helps!

Casey gets "bitey" too when she's getting scritches! However, I'd say it's more nibbly like, and she likes to "bite" onto something as I preen her. It's not an indication to stop, but rather more like an "oooo, that feels SO good!" that she has to bite onto something. This even includes her own toes! In the following pic, I was giving her scritches, and she actually had her toe in her mouth!




She will "bite" (i.e. hold) onto my fingers, as well as her toes or even toenails while being scritched!