How Do I Train My Cockatiel?

Jesse1071

Registered
Hello all,
So for a bit of backstory, have a 1 1/2 year old Cockatiel (Cisco) who I've had for around 6 months now. He wasn't hand tame when I bought him from a breeder if you need to know. Basically he wasn't able to be tamed in the first 3 months as the cage was too small so I just sat and talked to him pretty much. I bought a much bigger cage and now he sings whistles and eats from my hand. Target training was going well as he would step up to my finger and fly to my hand but one day my brother ran in screaming and blowing a whistle. Cisco freaked and flew ariund the room and under my bed. I got him out but now he doesnt step up or fly to me he just hisses at my hand and tries to bit me before running away. He has been this way for 2 months almost. He will fly out around the room every day but won't move from the roof of it and if I try train him he runs away. As im at college in the UK he doesn't see me for around 5 hours a day but shouts when he hears my voice when I get home, he will fly around the room only then and at no other times which is strange. How do I re-tame him if he doesn't want to be near me at all? It's really sad because I love him and want to stroke and play with him but he won't let me go near him as he is scared. Thanks.
 
he must of been very frightened and now it can be difficult to gain his trust in humans. well its back to step one but before you start I will point out where you went wrong so you do not make the same mistake. If your bird has an accident or gets scared then do not rush to his aid or you will ne blamed for what ever reason he gets scared over. well its back too soft talking trying to tempt him with a long piece of millet. as your bird accepts the millet next time just hold it a little shorter until he has to approach your hand to get it
 
Hi and welcome, I agree with Michael. You can easily gain that trust but you will have to be very patient and go at his pace.
 
:welcome: Jesse! Oh no - brothers!!!! Already great advice from Michael. As Michael said, it might be that Cisco has now paired your hand with the bad experience. So your aim is to now pair your hand with only good experiences. But you will have to break re-training down into tiny manageable steps:

What CAN he do? Then start from there. How close can you get to him with him showing relaxed body language? It might be a case of just sitting next to him again and talking to him until you can get progressively closer. Will he still eat from your hand? If so, GREAT! That is pairing your hand with a good experience. If not, you will have to slowly build back up to it. Certainly don't ask him for a step up right now. You can do that much later when he's more comfortable with you around him. When he's taking treats from your fingers consistently and showing relaxed body language, then you can move onto shaping the step up in teeny tiny steps.

Go slowly with the training and keep it to very short bursts through the day - a few seconds here, 30 seconds there. You want to gain his confidence and always leave on a successful step. Right now the successful steps you are looking for is his relaxed body language.
 
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