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We have had Dudley, a 5 month old cockatiel for 3 weeks. He is snarly when we go into his cage to change things. The other day, he suprisingly jumped out of his cage, but was very calm outside the cage. We didn't touch him at all as we know he doesn't like that. Yesterday, we let him out and all he did was crawl all over my husband. We are careful not to touch him as he will hiss. We can hand feed him. Now, one of our neighbors said we should just grab him and have him get used to us. She said do it now while he is young. We thought if we used a softer approach, ie, let him get back into his cage himself, which he does with the use of corn leading up to it, rather than grabbing him. What do you think?

Thank you for your advice.

your instinct is 100% correct! Grabbing him is a very, very bad idea... once a bird's trust is lost, it is very difficult to get it back. It seems like you have had progress because he crawled around on your husband. Allow him some more time to crawl around on you and your husband, and he will learn to trust you. Get him, to sit on your finger by using millet as a treat and telling him to step up--you said he would eat from your hand, use that to your advantage! He will calm down eventually, just be patient. If you absolutely must grab him for emergency purposes, use a towel or a pillow case,that way he will not learn to fear your hands.

best of luck!

If you have children, then you know there are many different schools of thought on child rearing. Same with birds. Your neighbor's grab and restrain technique was popular a few decades ago when most birds were wild imports who had no good experience with humans. Since illegal importation ended in the early '90s, the baby birds who've become available for the pet bird market have usually been handfed by humans and, therefore, are relatively quick to develop friendly relationships with other humans who spend time with them.

Cockatiels are one of the few birds on the market who often have not been hand fed. Cockatiels are so willing to reproduce that countless people end up with chicks they are unable and unwilling to hand feed. These chicks can be quite a challenge to tame since they don't know humans much at all. The training techniques in vogue for the last 15 years are to go slowly and build trust. There is a great deal of material online about how to do this and why it's important. If you would like some links to get you started, just nod. I would urge you to not take your neighbor's advice. It sounds like you're making good progress with your bird. Forcing him at this point could undo all you've worked to accomplish.

Thank you. I really felt like we were doing the right thing. I just couldn't bear grabbing poor Dudley!

Any web sites would be appreciated. There are so many other there that referrals would be appreciated.

Here's a short article to get you started by defining terms you'll use:

http://www.clevelandpeac.org/CMS/media/ ... g_peac.pdf

Then read this:

http://www.naturalencounters.com/traini ... rrots.html

I've edited this repeatedly trying to get these links to work, but the system seems to be malfunctioning. You might need to cut and paste the links since they won't click. Sorry. If you can't get to the articles, say so and I'll find another way to get them to you.

I read the first one and was reading the second one, but came back here for a sec and then lost the second one when I tried to go back to it using your link. I can't seem to cut and paste the second one either for some reason?? Hmmm I appreciate your efforts. It is very timely material for Dudley and us as we try to train him and make him happy here with us. Thank you. I will keep checking here to see if you post more.!

Google "steve martin natural encounters." At that site, there's an index on the left side. Click on "Training and Education" and then click on "Parrots As Pets."

Good!

Super thanks!