Young or scared?

[Okas]

Hello.
I have a cockatiel named Küpsis and she is 3 - 4 months old (that is what the pet shop person said). She is a hand fed cocatiel and has been with us for 2 weeks.

I am just wondering some hings about her behavior if it is normal or not.

Since the very start she has been very passive and not outgoing (exploring or going out of the cage).
Of course at the start she was hissing at us and she was afraid of her new environment and everything new.
She didn't want to let us catch her.
And she wasn't very vocal, few "screams" in the 1st mornings and that's it, except screaming back at a ambulance passing by the house, she always starts making a lot of noise when a ambulance passes by.
But except this, she isn't making much noise.
She has been eating well so far and her droppings are fine also. (+drinking water also)

Until so far, it is understandable her behavior, that she had to get used to everything new and after her trip from the shop to our house, that she had to get rid of the stress etc.

Now it has been two weeks and what is her behavior so far.
I introduced her to eating some veggies, like carrot. Since she was only on a seed diet (I think in the pet shop also). So she didn't know it was food, she didn't even try it. I had to teach her that it is something eatable, so I picked around with the carrot pieces and eventually after 2 days she started eating them (she doesn't love them as much as she loves her seeds, but eats them without problems).
Her droppings seem to be fine also, since I was expecting a bit more fluid droppings (just a bit) after they start eating fruits/veggies.

A normal day for her is(so far). In the morning when I wake up I go and uncover her cage and take her cage from a isolated room to our most crowded room. I don't know when she wakes up, because she doesn't make any sounds in the morning. In the mornings she is always sitting close to the place where the cage isn't covered during the night. Then I take her out of the cage and put her on the bed so I can clean her cage, change food/water, count the droppings, etc.
The weird part is that she is always very passive and isn't curious about exploring things on her own.
She loves to sit on my shoulder and she lets me caress her head and back and she seems to like it. Always after caressing her, she starts to preen herself. I guess she thinks I am preening her while I am caressing her head and she continues after that.
Sometimes she is like CRAZY and wants soooo desperately on my shoulder and jumps and tries to fly (wings are cut), anything, just to get on my shoulder. And once she sits on my shoulder, all she does there is clean herself AND most of the time bite my silver necklace.
Last time when I tried to show her how to take a shower ( she doesn't seem to like water OR doesn't know that she is suppose to spread her wings when I spray her with water mist) I was taking a normal temperature shower (without soap or anything damaging for the bird) and I kept the shower door open and put her on the floor with some seeds that she loves. Without the seeds she was kinda confused and afraid a bit. I showed her that I am under the water and had fun washing myself. She looked but kept on eating her seeds. After seeds were eaten she started walking around, like being in a tiny panic and looking up to me with her *I want to be on your shoulder* face and she desperately walked inside the shower cabin and after I put my hand down, she jumped on it and was running fast onto my shoulder (while I was still showering) she got super wet but she didn't care or didn't wash herself, the only goal was to get on my shoulder, even if she had to go trough fire (water in this case).
Just saying, I didn't force her to shower, I didn't take her forcefully under the shower, she ran on her own, not because she wanted to be under the water, but because wanted to be on my shoulder.

What I've noticed lately is that she ONLY really does anything (except eating or preening) on her own, when she is close to me, that includes, us being on the bed, sitting behind a table, she being on my shoulder, such things, then she is doing anything. Without me she doesn't go and poke around on some toy or anything. When I put her on the bed (where she has been many many times (should be familiar with it already)) she just sits there, as long as I come back.

Outside the cage she doesn't hiss on me, when I get close to her, when she is inside the cage, she hisses. So I guess it means she feels safe there and is protective of her cage/home, which I think is good. So I try not to "attack" her private space, as little as possible. My point is, even thou she feels/seems to be protective of her home and she seems to be used with it. She is not climbing around in it to see what is there. I put some toys hanging in her cage. But she doesn't care. All she does in her cage is climb up to the highest perch and when she gets thirsty or hungry, she climbs down to the eating place and eats and goes back to sit and sleep.
I tried to make her come out of the cage on her own, with putting some seeds on a plate outside her cage, so she would be motivated to come out. After a while, me poking inside the seeds, she eventually came out and started eating them. That was the 1st time when she wanted to get out of the cage on her own.

I don't know about other cockatiel owners and what is the daily "normal" for them or their birds. For example, sometimes when I get her out of her cage and she eats close to me, seeds or carrot, after that she always seems to want to go back and sleep. Or after I try to make her mist bath. She preens after that (doesn't wash herself under the mist, just looks confused at me) and after this also, she wants to go and nap.

All in on:
Physically she seems fine.
She eats nicely and droppings seem to be okay.
Without me she is not active at all and doesn't go for things.

Maybe you people can give some advice. Have to give more time for the birds? IT is normal?

Thank you in advance (Y)

[marieandchirpy]

I have a cockatiel named Küpsis and she is 3 - 4 months old (that is what the pet shop person said). She is a hand fed cocatiel and has been with us for 2 weeks.

I am just wondering some hings about her behavior if it is normal or not.

Since the very start she has been very passive and not outgoing (exploring or going out of the cage).
Of course at the start she was hissing at us and she was afraid of her new environment and everything new.
She didn't want to let us catch her.
And she wasn't very vocal, few "screams" in the 1st mornings and that's it, except screaming back at a ambulance passing by the house, she always starts making a lot of noise when a ambulance passes by.
But except this, she isn't making much noise.

She's only been with you for two weeks and is still getting use to her new surroundings, which is why she being shy.

As for the vocalizations, female Cockatiels are more quiet and reserved then males.

As for vocalizing when an ambulance drives by, the sound is stimulating her enough to make her vocalize. My Chirpy is quiet like Kupsis and Chirpy vocalizes every time the phone rings.

A normal day for her is(so far). In the morning when I wake up I go and uncover her cage and take her cage from a isolated room to our most crowded room. I don't know when she wakes up, because she doesn't make any sounds in the morning.

Covering the cage will keep birds from vocalizing the morning because they still think it is night time.

Last time when I tried to show her how to take a shower ( she doesn't seem to like water OR doesn't know that she is suppose to spread her wings when I spray her with water mist) I was taking a normal temperature shower (without soap or anything damaging for the bird) and I kept the shower door open and put her on the floor with some seeds that she loves. Without the seeds she was kinda confused and afraid a bit. I showed her that I am under the water and had fun washing myself. She looked but kept on eating her seeds. After seeds were eaten she started walking around, like being in a tiny panic and looking up to me with her *I want to be on your shoulder* face and she desperately walked inside the shower cabin and after I put my hand down, she jumped on it and was running fast onto my shoulder (while I was still showering) she got super wet but she didn't care or didn't wash herself, the only goal was to get on my shoulder, even if she had to go trough fire (water in this case).

She might not enjoy going into the shower or is confused about it. Try putting a shallow dish with water in her cage, try giving her a bath in the kitchen sink with the hose thing on the sink ( I forget what it is called ), or misting her with a spray bottle. Basically what I am trying to say is you might have to try other methods of bathing her and see if she likes it.

Just saying, I didn't force her to shower, I didn't take her forcefully under the shower, she ran on her own, not because she wanted to be under the water, but because wanted to be on my shoulder

Or try taking a shower with her.

What I've noticed lately is that she ONLY really does anything (except eating or preening) on her own, when she is close to me, that includes, us being on the bed, sitting behind a table, she being on my shoulder, such things, then she is doing anything. Without me she doesn't go and poke around on some toy or anything. When I put her on the bed (where she has been many many times (should be familiar with it already)) she just sits there, as long as I come back.

As for the toys well she is still getting used to her new environment. If she doesn't start playing with them in a few weeks, them try moving them to a different part of the cage or move them to where she mostly sits in the cage and see she'll become interested.

As for the following and wanting to be around you, that is normal. My Chirpy does the same thing with me.

Outside the cage she doesn't hiss on me, when I get close to her, when she is inside the cage, she hisses. So I guess it means she feels safe there and is protective of her cage/home, which I think is good. So I try not to "attack" her private space, as little as possible. My point is, even thou she feels/seems to be protective of her home and she seems to be used with it. She is not climbing around in it to see what is there. I put some toys hanging in her cage. But she doesn't care. All she does in her cage is climb up to the highest perch and when she gets thirsty or hungry, she climbs down to the eating place and eats and goes back to sit and sleep.
I tried to make her come out of the cage on her own, with putting some seeds on a plate outside her cage, so she would be motivated to come out. After a while, me poking inside the seeds, she eventually came out and started eating them. That was the 1st time when she wanted to get out of the cage on her own.

Don't push her too hard. It will take her a few weeks to get used to her new environment.

[dreamcatchers]

I would second everything Marie said and add that is sounds like your bird might be quite young yet. Weaned certainly, but often times petshops will get a "just weaned" bird and put it right out on display. If it was used to a quieter breeder environment and was placed in a busy pet shop. She or he has undoubtably been a little traumatized. I have also found with my babies, if I pull them early (2 to 3 weeks) they rarely hiss but if I wait a little longer, say 3 to 3.5 weeks, they tend to be hissers in the cage and fine when taken out. Your bird exhibits much of the same behavior as the little cinnamon pied baby I have right now. I pulled her late, 3.5 weeks, and she will cuddle and snuggle and be super sweet when I take her out of the cage but when she is in the cage, she will flatten herself in a corner and hiss every time I walked by. In previous babies when I have had this behavior occur, I have found moving slowly, talking all the time softly to the bird and encouraging them to come to the cage door for a little treat has gone a long way to correcting the initial behavior. As for the toys, chances are if she was in a weaning cage, she didn't have alot of toys and the same goes for the pet shop. So her idea of what a toy is has not occurred to her yet. I try to start out with parakeet sized preening toys or cherios on a string, or pasta on a string. If they think they are going to get something special, they will investigate it. If it is just big and brightly colored plastic, it tends to look scary.

As for the screaming - using my current chick as an example, she is very quiet. There are 5 adult pairs and 9 juveniles in my house as well as two dogs and two cats and an african grey. Butters (this baby) NEVER makes a peep - not even to call back to the adults when she hears them. Each bird matures on their own. Time and patience will only work for your benefit. Also, if your bird is a hen, she will tend to be quieter anyway.

Good luck and let us know how she is doing.

Michelle
Dreamcatchers Cockatiels

[Okas]

Thanks for the responses! It made me feel a lot better to read them.

A lot more time has passed now, since the time we got her.
And I would say that her behavior has changes some bit.

She eats nicely and everything, even thou she doesn't eat her veggies as she is supposed to, only if I poke around in the veggies or fruits, then she eats them.

She is a lot more vocal then before, now there are many things that she screams back to. Some music that has high tones in it, ambulance sirens (like before), me whistling loud.
She also does this....not really whistling sound,,,but she seems to be falling asleep or,,,relaxing on her one leg and then she talks to herself or something.. It is not whistles,,,it is more like "prrr prr prr prrr" hehehe..

I have kept spraying her with water mist, she doesn't seem to be a fan of it still...and even less a fan of water in her cage (inside a flat bowl). Only once she started washing/catching water by spreading her wings, while I was spraying water on her,,,other times she just stands there and gets soaking wet...

Ok, enough of the "positive" things and time to tell the other side of the story.

First. She has half of her tail feathers now. She has broken (not blood feathers) a lot of them (half exactly) since we first got her. By climbing around her cage, or especially while she is coming down from higher spots,,,her tail gets between a bar and just goes backwards and it tends to break. It is weird,,,she is very clumsy overall...walking on the table and walks over the edge...without looking where she steps, same goes inside the cage. Trying to jump from one bench to something else and she misses it.

Second. When cockatiels are alone (without a 2nd cockatiel) do they bind themselves only to 1 person or can it be 2 also? Because she so far is "nice" only with me and doesn't really give much love to others or for my partner. I am aware that the more time a person spends with them, the more they bond with that person. But still, is there even the chance that they would be same with a 2nd person the same way like with me?

Third. Like I said before, in my 1st post, that she only does really things when she can see me or is close to me (except sleeping, I guess, that's what she does on her own). For example: she starts to preen herself (while I am in sight) and when I go to a different room, she stops doing it and is there standing idle. When I come back, she continues. This "rule" applies to 99% of her actions. Is that normal? Well I guess it is,,,but of course I would love her to do things a bit more on her own also. I don't want her to be bored or depressed just because I went to a different room. Could it change in the future?

Fourth. Lately now, she has gotten more used with everything and while I am with her she wants to explore and everything, as long as she can see me or knows I am near.
Anyways. Then thing is. I don't want her to walk around all the time, every day I wake up. I want her to stay in her cage at some times, do her things (eat, preen, sleep, etc) and then at some point I let her out and make her walk around or whatever.
But the problem is. When I uncover her cage (then she is still a bit sleepy etc) and IF I don't open the cage, for her to get out, she will go CRAZY.
She starts to screech and run in circles, up and down the cage, trying to stick her head between the bars. Totally being like a headless chicken. It is very frustrating to see that. She doesn't do that when she can not see me, then she just sits there somewhere and isn't going nuts.
What is that? is she so desperate to come to me? What should I do? I don't want to spoil her that every time she makes a screech then I let her out and caress her.
Should I put her away, so she can't see me and wont go crazy, when I don't want her to walk around freely?
Or should I ignore her crazy behavior and make her see that going mad doesn't help her to get what she wants...?


And I would like to start training her a bit (not to make her do some fancy tricks, play dead or something). Just to make her more tame and calmer.
I have read all types of suggestions how to do it, but they explain it too technically. A la "Make her do this and give her a treat". Well I know all that, even my wife "trains" me with food and it works, so I know it works on cockatiels also ("Hey honey, you want to go visit blablabla?" ME:"I don't know if I want to :S", SHE: "There is good food! You sure you don't want to?" <---- well it works every time.

So basically I would love to hear few basic ways or sessions that I could do with her to get her into being more tame.
Maybe putting my finger in front of her and telling "UP" and once she steps up , i'll give her a treat?

Anyways, thanks for reading it all and thanks for replies in advance

[marieandchirpy]

First. She has half of her tail feathers now. She has broken (not blood feathers) a lot of them (half exactly) since we first got her. By climbing around her cage, or especially while she is coming down from higher spots,,,her tail gets between a bar and just goes backwards and it tends to break. It is weird,,,she is very clumsy overall...walking on the table and walks over the edge...without looking where she steps, same goes inside the cage. Trying to jump from one bench to something else and she misses it.

I've heard baby Cockatiels tend to be more clumsy. Maybe someone else here could shed some more light on her clumsiness.

Second. When cockatiels are alone (without a 2nd cockatiel) do they bind themselves only to 1 person or can it be 2 also? Because she so far is "nice" only with me and doesn't really give much love to others or for my partner. I am aware that the more time a person spends with them, the more they bond with that person. But still, is there even the chance that they would be same with a 2nd person the same way like with me?

They can bond to more then one person if the other person also spends time with them.

Third. Like I said before, in my 1st post, that she only does really things when she can see me or is close to me (except sleeping, I guess, that's what she does on her own). For example: she starts to preen herself (while I am in sight) and when I go to a different room, she stops doing it and is there standing idle. When I come back, she continues. This "rule" applies to 99% of her actions. Is that normal? Well I guess it is,,,but of course I would love her to do things a bit more on her own also. I don't want her to be bored or depressed just because I went to a different room. Could it change in the future?

Yeah it could change as she grows more used to her new environment.

Fourth. Lately now, she has gotten more used with everything and while I am with her she wants to explore and everything, as long as she can see me or knows I am near.
Anyways. Then thing is. I don't want her to walk around all the time, every day I wake up. I want her to stay in her cage at some times, do her things (eat, preen, sleep, etc) and then at some point I let her out and make her walk around or whatever.
But the problem is. When I uncover her cage (then she is still a bit sleepy etc) and IF I don't open the cage, for her to get out, she will go CRAZY.

That you will have to work with her. She seems to consider you her flock mate and that is why she wants to be around you all the time. You will have to work on getting her to learn independent play and train her to come out of the cage when you want her to.

She starts to screech and run in circles, up and down the cage, trying to stick her head between the bars. Totally being like a headless chicken. It is very frustrating to see that. She doesn't do that when she can not see me, then she just sits there somewhere and isn't going nuts.
What is that? is she so desperate to come to me? What should I do? I don't want to spoil her that every time she makes a screech then I let her out and caress her.

By paying attention to her while she screeches you are reinforcing her behavior as something she must do in order to get your attention. You have to work on her behavior. I suggest using Positive Reinforcement to work on her behavior. Barbara Heidenrach who is a parrot behaviorist and trainer has a series out dvds and book on how to train a parrot using Positive Reinforcement. You could also try Clicker Training to tame her.