Hello all :)

KTadhg

KTadhg

Registered
Hi all, I’m Kieran and bringing my little buddy Twinkle the Cockatiel to the party.

I’ve had Twinkle as my own pet for 3 years but he has been in the family for 14.

I am looking for a bit of help with him as the first 11 years of his life were pretty sad tbh.

My younger sister purchased him as a hand reared baby when she was 13 and after a few months, he was constantly screeching and getting on her nerves when my Nan & Grandad said they would take him as they used to have cockatiels.

It turns out, he screeched all the time for them too and their answer? To keep him covered in his cage all the time.

Just before I took him on, we started to look after him when they went on holiday and after staying in his cage for those 11 years, I managed to get him to come out and he actually loved it.

After a few chats, I took him on full time and love him to bits.

He is quite aggressive though which I assume is down to his life being rubbish.
He also doesn’t eat anything else but seed. I’ve tried him with various other foods by slowly introducing them but to no avail.

Any tips or tricks would be greatly appreciated.
 
Welcome Kieran & Twinkle. Thank you for rescuing the chap and showing him a better life. It's hard to teach a singleton bird to try different foods but there are ways and someone on the forum will be able to help.

As for aggressiveness and screeching, I know that Roz will be able to advise strategies for minimising these behaviours. After three years, I suspect you already know this but - patience, patience, patience is always the three most important things with these lovely birds of ours.
 
:welcome: Kieran and Twinkle!

That's so lovely you took in Twinkle and are giving him a happier life. Love the pic of both of you. So he sits on your shoulder! Looks like you have made a lot of progress already. Does he come out regularly now?

Does he show any interest in you eating something? Parrots are flock creatures so usually love to eat together. You, being his flock now, might see if he will try a piece of fruit or veggie that you take a bite of first then offer it to him. I would also just keep giving him a bowl of different sized veggies/fresh food in his cage daily that he might eventually try, like carrot, broccoli, pepper, a blueberry etc. You can also string pieces of veg on a birdie skewer or kabob as they sometimes call them - it makes it an edible toy!

With aggressiveness you can only work to change it via the antecedent for the behaviour. This means changing what sets it off/cues it. Once the aggression has happened, it has happened (too late!), so changing the consequence (what happens after the behaviour, eg using punishment) won't work. The first thing to be aware of his his body language. Do all you can to keep his body language relaxed - it might mean approaching him more slowly.

In what way does he show aggression? If he lunges as you approach the cage, think of a different way to approach the cage (we can talk about CAT - Constructional Aggression Treatment - if this is the case), or if he bites when you ask him to step up, see if you can change the situation so that he wants to step up, for example asking him to step up for a treat.

Does he like millet spray? Many birds adore it including my Amazons and Pionus! You can use pieces of millet spray to reinforce behaviours you want to see more of like stepping up.

Look forward to hearing more details from you. :)
 
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