# Cockatiel training



## gecko_steve (May 14, 2008)

Hi
I bought a cockatiel from a pet shop and it was about a year old. I have tried everything to train it and nothing has worked, ive had him about 2months now. 
Can anyone help me please. 
I let him (I think its a him) out of his cage daily but all he does is fly to one spot and sit there, its then a pain to try and catch him to put him back in. Any tips?
thanks


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## fenwoman (Apr 15, 2008)

yes, had you asked first, I would have told you to buy a hand reared cockatiel instead of a parent reared aviary bird. Aviary birds can become tame but it is hard work and you have to stop letting him out of the cage and work with him for several hours a week to gain his trust. Mostly, people don't have the time, knowledge or patience to tame aviary reared birds.
If you wanted a tame pet bird, why didn't you just buy a hand reared one?


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## gecko_steve (May 14, 2008)

I did loads of research before I got him and I know I shoulda got a hand reared one butI have no breeders near me, I asked in all the pet shops and phoned around and no one hand reared them or they didnt know of anyone. 
I spend about an hour each night talking to him with my hand just in his cage and its still not working. I can sometimes stroke him but its usually not for very long.


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## fenwoman (Apr 15, 2008)

There are some good breeders near you. You only have to open the back pages of 'cage and aviary birds' paper and see them or look online in the parrot classified sections.
To be honest, your efforts are not working because you are letting him out. Why should he come to you when he doesn't have to and he can sit high up away from you. Perhaps you could rehome him to an aviary situation and start again with a hand reared baby? Or simply accept that you have a pet cockatiel which is not tame.


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## spirit975 (May 15, 2007)

One of my cockatiels was an avairy bred pet shop bird. He`s 16 now and the closest i ever got to taming him was getting him to take sunflower seeds out of my fingers.
When you say you have to catch him, how do you do it, as it may be sending all the trust he`s gaining with you out of the window. If you are going to let him out i`d make sure he`s peckish when he`s out, and let him return to the cage on his own for food. 
Use a wooden piece of dowel for him to step on instead of your hand to start with. Get him used to stepping up onto it inside the cage and you`ll eventually be able to use it to put him back in his cage at bedtime. When he gets used to it, start cutting an inch or two off it each week until it disappears, then start using your hand.
Basically total patience with him. No sudden movement etc, lots of gentle talking. He`s never going to get really tame i don`t think, but you may get him tame enough to sit on your hand and take food off you etc.


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## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

I had a parent reared cockatiel and put a lot of time into him. Got him used to me, and eventually he would wait on a perch i'd open the door and he'd sit on my shoulder. If i sat down he'd go down onto my lap and lay on his back to have his belly rubbed lol. It took about a year all in all but well worth the time.


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## gecko_steve (May 14, 2008)

So basically I have to keep trying. I will try the dowel thing tho, I have tried it in the past but he just hisses at it. The woman said that he was hand reared but obviously he had been in the aviary for awhile before I got him so I suppose the point of hand rearing went out the window. 

Your saying letting him out is ruining the training I have done so far but is not keeping him in the cage all the time cruel. The cage is about 95cm tall, 70cms long and 40cms wide.

thanks for the help so far


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## Zoo-Man (Apr 12, 2008)

Hi Steve,

I would remove his food about 3 hours brfore you plan to let him out of his cage. That way, when he is out, he will get hungry fairly quickly & be much more likely to return to his cage for food on his own. 

As for trying to tame him, it will be a long slow process but will be worth it in the end if he learns to trust you a little more. You could try getting him to take food from your fingers through the bars of the cage, then when he is doing that well, try to get him to do it with your hand inside the cage. If he will do this well after a while, try to use the food reward to encourage him to place a foot onto your finger to get to the food. Again, if this is going well, then 2 feet, them eventually on your finger & bring him out of the cage. It is a slow method but has results.


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## xemx (Jan 13, 2008)

Is he scared of you?? if he is hissing then he is probably scared so you need to gain his trust. Try for the first week/two weeks just placing your hand through the door keeping still and letting him get used to you. Then gradually try moving closer, then with food and see how you get on. Mine are all aviary cockatiels never tried to tame them but they all sit on me and take food from me because they trust me. Some of my budgies are the same mainly the older ones because they trust me and know im the one with the food!!!
pm me if you like


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## gecko_steve (May 14, 2008)

He does hiss but only when I first put my hand in, I usually rest my hand near him and he carries on with what he is doing (eating millet etc). I gradually move my hand closer and closer and he will eventually move away, this is when i take my hand out as I feel he has had enough.


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## Zoo-Man (Apr 12, 2008)

You have a very humane way about how you treat your cockatiel, well done you!!


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## casperclone (Sep 17, 2007)

i had m9 tamed in a month.

All i did was put my hand in there for about 2 hours every day will i was watchin tv so he got used to my hand, let him out once a week and left the cage door open, when he goes bk in close the door.

When i was doing this he would use my hand as a purch(did get crapped on abit) untill i could use let him on my hand

After that he would come to me when i called him and could have the doors open while he was on me aswell


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## janinestockley (Oct 18, 2009)

Steve

I have just bought a cockatiel from a pet shop which is not a hand reared one. We have had great success so far. We too made the mistake of letting him out on the 3rd day and having to catch him with our hands, this was a big mistake. However we have now got him sitting on our fingers and coming out on his door and sitting on our hands, so you can succeed. You need for him to trust you. We used food (Millet). We laid millet on the flat of our hands and just kept very still in his cage near him and he ate. You have to take things slowly. Then a few days later we put the millet on the backs of our hands (in between fingers). Eventually he stepped on our hands with one foot at first then two. Next we open the door of his cage and placed a hand with millet on it. He then would sit in the doorway. We hope soon that he will associate getting on our fingers with food. All this has taken us just over a week. Best of luck.


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