my cockatiel...

[Maple Girl]

I have a 5 and 1/2 year old male cockatiel. I have had him for about 5 years. Unfortunately, J.J. has been a very nasty bird since the day he came home. We thought he would get used to us, but he has not. He has gotten to the point now where we can't even take him out of his cage, he bites so hard that he draws blood. I have tried very hard to earn his trust by just sitting and talking to him in a very soft voice. I am at my wits end. J.J. is such a cute bird, and it makes me sad that he is so mean. How can I earn his trust so that he will be able to come out of his cage and be a member of the family, or at the very least so that I can approach his cage without him trying to "attack" me? Please help. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks,
Maple Girl and J.J.

[lovechick]

keep on trying! maybe your bird is just stressed! do you have little kids in your house or other pets that keep bothering your bird if you do, try to keep bird in quiet place away from all the trouble and noise and you should also put his cage somewhere high cause birds like to look down on things from trees! and find out what he likes, special fruits or maybe treats? Try talking gently to him while giving him food from hand while he is in cage!

Hope this helps!
Lovechick

[Maple Girl]

Thank you, Lovechick. We do not have small children in our house. We do have a dog, but he does not go into the room that J.J. is in. I will definitelt try your suggestion of talking to him while feeding him treats from my hand, although it will take quite a while (he is agressive towards ANYTHING new in his cage, including his hand). I hope that your suggested method will slowly help him to overcome this, though. I will definitley keep you informed. Anyone else with suggestions as well, they would be welcomed. Thanks.
Maple Girl and J.J.

[guineapigbaby808]

I also had a cockatiel that bit really hard! When we brought him home..he was so crazy! He bit everyone!!! What we did was just leave the front door of the cage open and when he felt like coming out he would come out and explore. Before we knew it, he started coming close to us and letting up pet him and even pick him up. Unfortunately we had to give him away.(after all that hard work) Haha. I hope JJ gets better

[DanielleLovesBirch]

when i first got my cockatiel chloe, back in 8th grade (i'm a soph. at nyu now) he was a tad aggressive and would bite from time to time. when we brought my brother's bird home a week later he was mean to her as well. but over time chloe has become the most loving bird. he eats at our dinner table and just likes to sit on everybody.

some things we did with chloe was whistle to him a lot. he enjoyed that and now he sings so much.. especially the 1812 oveture. he also likes to eat millet out of our hands (my mom's + my 3 younger siblings). we don't have any other pets in the house. his cage has a lot of mirros and now there are two more birds since we kept the last two from the eggs his mate pearl laid. the babies aren't very tame but we still love them. our birds have a lot of freedom too.. because we leave the cage open all of the time and let them go around the house like a dog or cat. once in awhile we close them in at night.

hopefully your bird will become friendlier over time. he may just be lonely or uncomfortable in his surroundings. birds love to listen to the radio. my birds' favorite is classical music. so if you don't have any music in that room it could be some of the problem. hope things get better. -danielle

[Maple Girl]

Just wanted to update...
Sadly, J.J. passed away in December. He had been showing some progress in the last couple of months... he was getting a little nicer, and I was even able to touch him on a few occasions. One day, though, he just died. I was visiting him... talking to him... he seemed completely normal; squaking up a storm. I went away, and came back ten minutes later to find him dead. I wanted to thank everyone for their great advice, it was definitely working.
Maple Girl and
J.J.:angel5:

[Starlet]

i got my budgie just about a week ago and it really hates me.
it hates me even more from the day i brought it. when i brought it i put my hand in the cage and it doesn't bite me. now i put my hand in the cage and it bites me.sometimes i don't even put my hand in the cage and it runs away to the other side of the cage when i come in to the room.
i whisper to him all the time but he's still afraid.
what can i do?
should i let him go and buy a guinea pig instead?
p.s. he's a six week old budgie
p.p.s. he's really really noisy.........all the time

[Auntbb]

Hi Starlet,
Unfortunately when I asked around about MY MEAN budgie, I was told that about 75% of budgies are mean, to do with their breeding.Some tips that I was given,

Do not use mirrors in cage- the birds want to bond with "the birdy in the mirror" and get frustrated when it won't respond

Keep trying, so far my best luck has been opening the cage door and putting in a long perch which extends outside of the cage. My budgie does come out and will perch on the finger and "step-up"

After you are able to get your bird out of the cage, I'm told that it is easier to work with it in a room AWAY from it cage (and security)
Short lessons.

My budgie bites HARD too, my daughter bought it cause her cockatiel loved me more and she thought the budgie would be like the cockateil. Fat chance, my cockateil is a prize, the budgie is shortly to become a chicken nugget!

[Auntbb]

how could I forget, having the flight feathers clipped also helps. The birds should really be allowed to learn how to fly as babies, but as pets, they are more dependenat/tamer with the flight feathers clipped. I think it is really safer also.
Ask at a REPUTABLE pet store or vet, about $5. Do not confuse this with WING clipping. This is just the first few long feathers on each wing and it is easy to do but must be done properly or the bird could be hurt.

[Mermaid Sister]

:bawling: What should i do?
my budgie is biting me before i put my hand in the cage.
what i mean is when i put my hand next to the cage, it bites the cage.
i ve had him for about 3 to 4 months. he's a crazy maniac.
what should i do?

[linusbird]

You could try using a small dowel or plastic perching stick. Open the cage and hold the stick inside. Once the budgie sees it's not your hand, it might decide to step onto it. You can then remove the bird from the cage this way and take him to another room to work with. I have used this method before. It usually works after a few days of trying, if you are patient.

:) Linusbird