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Post by kayna123 on Aug 18, 2010 23:42:48 GMT -5
Hi,
2 female & 1 male cockatiels, ages 7 & 9 yrs joined my household over a month ago. Although I have doves, pigeons, chickens & parakeets, I have not kept cockatiels before. They came from their original owner who now has a 5 mo old baby. The parents work opposite shifts & the young husband complained that they were too noisy for a day sleeper. They are neighbors of my kids... so I was asked if i would take them to add to my menagerie if their "mom" would give them up. Surprisingly she did just that.
I see from looking around the board that I have a common older rescue cockatiel situation. All are afraid of hands. They hiss & strike. One is a picker & one had all her crest & ear feathers pulled out by her mate who apparently passed away while being babysat about 9 mo ago. The male does not have the screaming problem he was purported to have.
All in all they are good birds. I have spent many hours sitting in the same room & interacting with them. They seem to like me as long as I keep my hands at my sides. I let them out almost daily however with no ability to step up, it is not easy to get them back in their cage willingly. 2 cages came with them but I am at a loss how to get the unmated female into the second cage when I cannot touch or move them.
Lastly the picker is apparently addicted to blood feathers on her back. I would like to cover this area to see if the picking would stop once the feathers grow back in all the way, however I am again at a loss when I cannot touch her in any way. She will take food from my hand provided I keep it closed into a fist & will get on my shoulder on her own accord. I found out accidentally that she loves goldfish crackers so I have been using them as an incentive to interact with me.
I would really appreciate your input as to how we can overcome the fear of hands especially.
Thanks for you help...
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Post by Just Ask Jan! on Aug 19, 2010 15:53:02 GMT -5
To diminish the fear of hands will take time--sometimes lots and lots of time, but sounds as though you have made progress with the training tool(goldfish cracker).
I would separate the plucked one from the other two to find out if she is plucking herself or are the other two bonded and are plucking her to get her out of the way. If she is doing her own plucking it could be giardia which is very common in cockatiels and easily treated.
Make sure they have a cuttlebone and mineral blolck and offer fresh greens often. Fresh tree branches are always welcome with mine (willow) and if the beaks are busy they won't be plucking out their feathers.
Jan
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Post by marieandchirpy on Aug 19, 2010 21:24:07 GMT -5
Hi, 2 female & 1 male cockatiels, ages 7 & 9 yrs joined my household over a month ago. Although I have doves, pigeons, chickens & parakeets, I have not kept cockatiels before. They came from their original owner who now has a 5 mo old baby. The parents work opposite shifts & the young husband complained that they were too noisy for a day sleeper. They are neighbors of my kids... so I was asked if i would take them to add to my menagerie if their "mom" would give them up. Surprisingly she did just that. I see from looking around the board that I have a common older rescue cockatiel situation. All are afraid of hands. They hiss & strike. One is a picker & one had all her crest & ear feathers pulled out by her mate who apparently passed away while being babysat about 9 mo ago. The male does not have the screaming problem he was purported to have. All in all they are good birds. I have spent many hours sitting in the same room & interacting with them. They seem to like me as long as I keep my hands at my sides. I let them out almost daily however with no ability to step up, it is not easy to get them back in their cage willingly. 2 cages came with them but I am at a loss how to get the unmated female into the second cage when I cannot touch or move them. Lastly the picker is apparently addicted to blood feathers on her back. I would like to cover this area to see if the picking would stop once the feathers grow back in all the way, however I am again at a loss when I cannot touch her in any way. She will take food from my hand provided I keep it closed into a fist & will get on my shoulder on her own accord. I found out accidentally that she loves goldfish crackers so I have been using them as an incentive to interact with me. I would really appreciate your input as to how we can overcome the fear of hands especially. Thanks for you help... If an older Cockatiel does not like to be handled it means it is not tamed. Getting your tiels to trust you will take a long time and a lot of patience. |
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Post by kayna123 on Aug 20, 2010 15:52:20 GMT -5
If an older Cockatiel does not like to be handled it means it is not tamed. Getting your tiels to trust you will take a long time and a lot of patience. I suspected that. So would getting a handfed male help to solve the single picking female problem and/or the fear of hands difficulty in general (perhaps he could lead by example) ... or would it just add more confusion to the mix? Thanks for your help. Where do I get the recommended medication for giardia? |
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Post by marieandchirpy on Aug 21, 2010 20:48:12 GMT -5
If an older Cockatiel does not like to be handled it means it is not tamed. Getting your tiels to trust you will take a long time and a lot of patience. I suspected that. So would getting a handfed male help to solve the single picking female problem and/or the fear of hands difficulty in general (perhaps he could lead by example) ... or would it just add more confusion to the mix? Thanks for your help. Where do I get the recommended medication for giardia? Getting another Cockatiel will not help. It's gonna take long time and a lot of patience to tame three Cockatiel's. The feather picking could be caused by stress, behavioral problems, by the two other tiel's, or giardia. You need to determine what could be causing the feather picking before giving her medications. |
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Post by kayna123 on Aug 23, 2010 16:16:06 GMT -5
Getting another Cockatiel will not help. It's gonna take long time and a lot of patience to tame three Cockatiel's. The feather picking could be caused by stress, behavioral problems, by the two other tiel's, or giardia. You need to determine what could be causing the feather picking before giving her medications. Thanks again for your help. I have set up a separate cage for her (her name is Sugar btw) & am moving her towards wanting to enter it herself. I have observed no instance of the mated pair being aggressive to her other than hissing when they think she is not waiting her turn. She picks under her wings and on her back. She yelps before she even begins to preen there. She does seem to preen much more than the other two. I can tell because she yelps frequently. She also has a 'tired' expression on her face. Her eyes are not fully open and bright. Maybe I ought to move this topic to another area since I continue to ask questions. And I am a very patient & persistent person. The pair seem pretty content to stay inside the cage, even with the door open, so I am concentrating on Sugar, who likes to get out and about. Thanks again... |
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Post by marieandchirpy on Aug 23, 2010 20:26:27 GMT -5
Getting another Cockatiel will not help. It's gonna take long time and a lot of patience to tame three Cockatiel's. The feather picking could be caused by stress, behavioral problems, by the two other tiel's, or giardia. You need to determine what could be causing the feather picking before giving her medications. Thanks again for your help. I have set up a separate cage for her (her name is Sugar btw) & am moving her towards wanting to enter it herself. I have observed no instance of the mated pair being aggressive to her other than hissing when they think she is not waiting her turn. She picks under her wings and on her back. She yelps before she even begins to preen there. She does seem to preen much more than the other two. I can tell because she yelps frequently. She also has a 'tired' expression on her face. Her eyes are not fully open and bright. Maybe I ought to move this topic to another area since I continue to ask questions. And I am a very patient & persistent person. The pair seem pretty content to stay inside the cage, even with the door open, so I am concentrating on Sugar, who likes to get out and about. Thanks again... She is showing signs of illness. Picking under the wings is a sign of giardia in Cockatiel's along with lethargy. There is a syndrome specific to Cockatiel's that is associated wit Giardia. The symptoms include: Wasting of the breast muscle's Dry flaky skin patchy feather loss loss of appetite shifting leg lameness There is bleeding due to picking blood feathers and picking of the wings, flanks, and legs often accompanied by screaming. Birds (especially Cockatiel's develop an allergy to giardia that leads to severe itching ( which causes excessive preening ) If you already have an avian vet or know of one nearby, schedule an appointment as soon as possible so the vet can run some tests. If there is no avian vet nearby and if you're are certain it is giardia, there are treatments available: Metronidazole Irpronidazole Dimetridazole Also she should be isolated from the other tiel's until the completion of the treatment and practice good husbandry. As for the other two, you can work with them at a separate time. It seems Suger is on a different level of tameness then the other two. |
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Post by Talk About Tiels Admin on Aug 24, 2010 8:27:45 GMT -5
Ask Away! Good luck!  |
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