Need Help With My Old Cockatiel

[gnenolk]

Hello, I have an old cockatiel :grey cockatiel: .. he lives with me for almost 4 years, but I never have contact with him, so today I decided to start taming him.. the question is:
1. Is there still a possibility to tame him?
2. Look at this video, is it the right way for introducing hand to him? if so, then what is my next step?
Sorry for the bad English, I'm from Indonesia

[Wolf]

You said you have had your cockatiel for four years, is this how old the bird is or is it older than this? Does he have a name?
This is not how I would go about this, but I have seen worse ways of trying to hand tame a bird. What have you done with the bird during the past four years? I am just trying to get a feel for your bird. I can see that he is somewhat fearful of your hands, so I am assuming that it has spent almost all of the past four years confined to its cage. I see no reason that you can't hand tame him and more and I would like to help with this and to that end I will post a link to a way to accomplish this shortly.
I would like to go much further than just helping you with the taming process. I would like to find out what you are feeding him and help you to get him eating a good healthy diet, if he doesn't have one. This is just one area that we can assist you with to improve your birds life and improve your understanding of his needs as well as improving your relationship with him, as that is my primary reason for being here on the forum.
Well here is the link that will help you with your hand taming him.
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=227

[liz]

He is not wild, just afraid. Move his cage up to face level. They don't like hands but they will tolerate faces. Don't just feed him to make him come to you. Give him his food and win him over with love and respect.
A flying bird is a happy bird. Bird proof and room and let him out to fly. I have taken in birds that I was told I would never be able to touch. I let them out to fly with the others. When they got tired and landed on the floor they allowed me to scoop them up and put them back. That is how it starts. Short amount of contact and then put down. They will soon realize that you are helping and not just trying to capture them.

[gnenolk]

You said you have had your cockatiel for four years, is this how old the bird is or is it older than this? Does he have a name?
This is not how I would go about this, but I have seen worse ways of trying to hand tame a bird. What have you done with the bird during the past four years? I am just trying to get a feel for your bird. I can see that he is somewhat fearful of your hands, so I am assuming that it has spent almost all of the past four years confined to its cage. I see no reason that you can't hand tame him and more and I would like to help with this and to that end I will post a link to a way to accomplish this shortly.
I would like to go much further than just helping you with the taming process. I would like to find out what you are feeding him and help you to get him eating a good healthy diet, if he doesn't have one. This is just one area that we can assist you with to improve your birds life and improve your understanding of his needs as well as improving your relationship with him, as that is my primary reason for being here on the forum.
Well here is the link that will help you with your hand taming him.
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=227

He is not wild, just afraid. Move his cage up to face level. They don't like hands but they will tolerate faces. Don't just feed him to make him come to you. Give him his food and win him over with love and respect.
A flying bird is a happy bird. Bird proof and room and let him out to fly. I have taken in birds that I was told I would never be able to touch. I let them out to fly with the others. When they got tired and landed on the floor they allowed me to scoop them up and put them back. That is how it starts. Short amount of contact and then put down. They will soon realize that you are helping and not just trying to capture them.

His name is Morris
So today I moved his cage up to face level and let him out from his cage
I just realized that his wings is clipped, probably clipped by my brother.. is it bad?
and he comes out of his cage by himself when I open his cage door, how do I get his back to the cage?
I think I need to put some toys in his cage, can I make easy DIY toys? what toys and the materials? because in Indonesia pet shop is rare to find
too many questions but i need a guidances for the better life of my parrot
Here is new video about my progress

[liz]

Morris is a sweetie. We have only seen you give him dry food. He needs soft grain and fresh or frozen vegetables. Added to the foods I give them each morning, when I cook, I separate a portion of what I have to give to them before it gets salt and butter.

Clipped wings make them fearful. They cannot escape a preditor and they are always on guard. Also flying is the best exercise that a bird can have. It is what nature intended. You will not see his true personality until his wings grow back.

Work on step up. Put your index finger up when you are giving him treats and say step up. He will learned not to be afraid of step up. When he is out and gets tired use the step up. If he has not yet learned it you can scoop up. Use both hands and scoop under him but don't hold him down in the scoop. When you do this ask him if he want help. He will learn the word help that you are going to do something that he needs done.

[gnenolk]

Morris is a sweetie. We have only seen you give him dry food. He needs soft grain and fresh or frozen vegetables. Added to the foods I give them each morning, when I cook, I separate a portion of what I have to give to them before it gets salt and butter.

Clipped wings make them fearful. They cannot escape a preditor and they are always on guard. Also flying is the best exercise that a bird can have. It is what nature intended. You will not see his true personality until his wings grow back.

Work on step up. Put your index finger up when you are giving him treats and say step up. He will learned not to be afraid of step up. When he is out and gets tired use the step up. If he has not yet learned it you can scoop up. Use both hands and scoop under him but don't hold him down in the scoop. When you do this ask him if he want help. He will learn the word help that you are going to do something that he needs done.

What treats usually works on cockatiel? Millet Spray is hard to find here..
Yea every morning he always eat grass when i put his cage on the sunlight, is it good? i know vegetables would better, my cockatiel doesn't want eat fruits, how to train him to eat fruits?
So, is he ready for step up training?

[Wolf]

One of the first things that I would do it to covet the table that his cage is on so that he can't get to the paint that is on it as the paint is toxic, or you could take the table outside and sand it down and wash it then put the cage back on it. I would also make sure that he is far enough from the painted wood work behind the cage that he can't nibble on it either.
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=227
Read and use this for your first training steps, it explains the principle of target training which you will find useful in helping to direct his movements in and out of the cage.
See if Morris likes shelled unsalted sunflower seeds and if he does take and break each seed into two or three pieces to use for treats and training. To maintain the value of the sunflower seeds do not feed them as part of his regular diet and only use 3 to 5 seeds per training session or just one or two for a treat. You can find out if he already knows step up by putting one seed in the back part of your hand so that he will need to walk onto your hand to reach the seed and call him and ask him to step up while showing him the seed. Also give him water on top of the cage but place his food in the cage to encourage him to go into the cage to eat. If you feed him dinner at the same time every day then he will expect it and be ready to go into the cage for his dinner and will start going in at that time all by himself.

[Pajarita]

The method you were using (putting your hand inside his cage and forcing him to accept it there if he wants to eat) is a form of flooding and no longer recommended as a way of taming a bird. He needs to learn that you will not force him to do anything (this is done to establish trust) and that you are the bringer of only good things like freedom from his cage, sunshine, food, company.

Allow his wings to grow (this will give him self-assurance), feed him a good diet (cockatiels don't really like fruits -they live on the sides of streams and rivers in arid regions so fruits are not really part of their natural diet) but they do like their greens (lettuces, broccoli, dandelion greens, wheat grass, chicory, kale, etc but no spinach, parsley or collard/mustard greens) and they do like cooked veggies like fresh corn, peas, diced carrots, chopped broccoli, etc. Seeds are OK as long as you don't free-feed them (put seeds in a bowl and leave it there for the bird to eat all day long), use them for his dinner and give him cooked whole grains (what, barley, oats, kamut, brown rice, etc) mixed with cooked vegetables in the morning. And keep him to a solar schedule with full exposure to dawn and dusk.

Liz is correct as to the taming method. Cockatiels are, in my personal opinion, the most mild-mannered of parrots and are easy to tame, it just takes patience and persistence. Open his cage and let him out, keep him company, sing and whistle to him, offer him a seed or a small piece of a nut (like a almond, for example) from your hand but, if he doesn't take it, just put it down for him to get it so he can tell that you are not trying to force him, just to give him a treat.

[liz]

Almonds are hard to break but a nice smack with a hammer will turn big into littles.
Don't let the hammer make contact with the nut. I put mine in a sandwitch bag before I smack it.