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baby tiel

Discuss the methods and techniques of clicker training, target training and bonding. These are usually the first steps in training a young parrot.

baby tiel

Postby frozengirl » Sun Sep 03, 2017 11:22 am

Here is my baby tiel 2 months old tomorrow. I had her for 1 week now. She came from a breeder hand fed. Her name is Alsing.

I want her to like me and enjoy touching if possible, so she can be harness trained.

From the video does it seem like she likes me or still just getting used to me?

Also, should I be touching her neck and head or not? She seems to not be keen on it but not hate it?
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frozengirl
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Re: baby tiel

Postby Pajarita » Mon Sep 04, 2017 11:30 am

Welcome to the forum. I can't see the videos, when I click on it, I get a message reading 'An error has occured'. But, in any case, what you need to do now is bond with her and, as she is still a baby, you need to handfeed her [at least, once a day but twice is better], as well as offer soft food served warm and fresh twice a day [morning and evening]. The handfeeding is the best tool to create a bond, the soft food is not only the kind of food she needs to eat [you would not feed a toddler the same food that you would an adult, right?] but it's also a source of comfort to her. The first few months are for bonding and not training or anything else so feed her right and spend as much time with her as you can - open the door to her cage and let her come out on her own [do not stick your hand in the cage], put a perch on the outside of her cage so she has a handy spot to land on, talk/sing/whistle to her, offer her a treat every now and then but do NOT ask for anything. Let her take the first step. Her roosting perch [never a dowel!] should be at the same level of your eyes when you are standing next to it. Her cage should be in a spot where she can have natural light from a window but the back should either be against a wall or have a material draped on the back so as to create a 'wall' that will provide a feeling of safety. As you can see, the idea is for her to feel safe and not stressed out so she can learn to trust you, which is the foundation of any good long term relationship because, without trust, there is no real love.
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Flight: Yes

Re: baby tiel

Postby frozengirl » Sat Sep 09, 2017 7:43 pm

She is fully weaned and doesn't even want to eat mash, even though I made her enough mash for 20 days *sigh* haha . She eats kale, brocolli, carrots and apples so far , pellets, seeds and sprouts. The breeder said she was weaned sooner then usual because she was the youngest out of the clutch and learned from her older brother and sister.

after a week of sneaking in small touches, she now will bow her head if she wants to be touched. its too cute =)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smZMuPXjqeo

Here she was a week ago not sure if she was enjoying the touches =)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smZMuPXjqeo

Anyone know what age a cockatiel will be food motivated for formal training?

Anyone know when a cockatiel starts to hang out with you more then their toys? :D
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Re: baby tiel

Postby Pajarita » Sun Sep 10, 2017 11:07 am

Well, it seems to me that she/he [was it DNA'd a female and that's why you call it a 'she'?] was enjoying the scritches.

Now, I hope you don't take this the wrong way but you do know that breeders wean way too early on purpose, right? In the wild, there is no way on this green earth that a cockatiel would be fully weaned at only 8 weeks of age. Breeders wean early to avoid more work and move more merchandise -the sooner they sell the babies, the sooner they can get another clutch. As a matter of fact, good breeders -if there even is such a thing!- don't pull them out of the nest much earlier than that age and as the weaning takes weeks, how can an 8 week old baby be fully weaned by then? If I were you, I would even be handfeeding it - not only because baby birds should not eat adult food the same way that babies of any species are fed adult food [human, kittens, puppies, etc] but also because there is no greater bond between an animal and a human than when you handfeed one.

Now, babies are never trained. You need to wait until the bird goes through the juvenile molt [which is when you can sex the bird visually] to start but all baby birds step up and eagerly come to their humans so, if that is what you are looking for, you should get it as soon as the baby feels comfortable with you and learns to trust you completely. Cockatiels are not very good at tricks because they are aviary and not companion parrots but, in any case, the only way you can motivate a parrot to train through food is not to free-feed protein because, basically, the only thing they really crave is that and, if you free-feed it why would the bird work for it, right? Now, not free-feeding protein doesn't mean you don't feed the bird at all unless it's working for it! That would be cruel! But, if you free-feed it gloop, chop or mash -which is the healthy thing to do anyway- you can use seeds or very small pieces of nuts as rewards. I used to have a flock of over 30 of them and fed them gloop and raw produce for breakfast and all day picking [but they mostly ate the gloop and the greens which they LOVE!] and a good quality, low protein seed mix for dinner [I don't feed pellets as I don't believe they are the best dietary option for parrots].
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Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Flight: Yes

Re: baby tiel

Postby frozengirl » Tue Sep 12, 2017 5:06 pm

well As i said before, I've had her for 2 weeks and she wont eat any mash, she eats pellets, seeds, sprouts and fresh raw veges. she ignores her mash completely. She was dna sexed as female. No idea why. She gained 0.2 ounces since ive had her, she is 3.4 ounces, I can keep offering her mash but no idea why she wont eat it, she never once begged for formula either.
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Re: baby tiel

Postby Pajarita » Wed Sep 13, 2017 1:01 pm

I don't know what you call mash but if it is what we used to call mash [fresh produce put through the good processor until it's almost a puree], I am not surprised ... I use gloop which is made out of cooked whole grains so all the birds love it, especially the little granivores like tiels, plets, budgies, etc. Why don't you try something like that? I just tried making a separate gloop for the little ones and will post about it in the diet section but it's just my first try so it did not come out as good as I wanted it - YET! :D

Wow! The breeder actually DNA'd? VERY unusual as tiels are dimorphic and all you have to do is wait for the juvenile molt but I guess it works out better for the buyers.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: baby tiel

Postby frozengirl » Wed Sep 13, 2017 9:21 pm

Yeah the breeder cares a lot about her birds, even though she sells them early i guess, like you said? She even gave me a hatch certificate , laminated with my cockatiels name, breeder name, date of hatch, small picture of her parents (hehe!)

She gave me a recipe for the mash she feeds all her birds, I couldn't find the soup beans at the store and didn't feel comfortable adding cooked mashed egg but I added the rest which was:
Cooked Quinoa, raw sesame seed, cooked frozen veges, cooked long brown rice I added some fresh cooked veges as well( brocolli, carrots and kale), the cooked frozen veges had corn, pea, lima bean, green bean, carrots, after all was cooked i put in blender.

Today my cockatiel was actually picking out the sesame seeds out of it, I could tell because she had some seed hulls on her chin. :/ Maybe thats all she likes out of it, lol.

Also to respond from the other thread, My cockatiel soemtimes steps up and sometimes don't.
I am unsure how to make her do it all the time, lol.

She does it if she wants to come out of the cage, if she wants millet im holding or seed, or a toy, but a lot of the time she wants to find a toy to play with , like my keyboard and won't step up if she;s playing with something she likes(which is almost all the time! Every 10 seconds shes looking for a toy to play with if shes not preening or eating, lolol)

I want to do everything right, and I read that "step up" is a question and not an order, so I try to not force her to step up and instead offer millet or a toy whenever possible. But yeah she only steps up 50% of the time without bribery. What Am i doing wrong?
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frozengirl
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Re: baby tiel

Postby frozengirl » Wed Sep 13, 2017 9:39 pm

Also , I've been trying to train her to fly to me but she would rather play. If I hold millet she seems interested but wont fly . Will sometimes Hop for the millet if my arm is close enough. She only flies in the morning when I wake her as well, the breeder said she wasn't out of the cage as much as she normally has little ones out for flying because of real life stuff going on (cancer in her family), so I try to get Alsing(my cockatiel) to become more confident with flying, she won't even land on her cage when she does her morning flight, she only lands on a cupboard door above the sink in the kitchen. Each time I take her down with a perch because I'm not that tall lol. I have a playstand that she wont fly to also :/

Oh and a quick note, my cockatiel was hand fed after a week or so after it was hatched. :hatching: :greycockatiel:
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frozengirl
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Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Flight: Yes

Re: baby tiel

Postby Pajarita » Thu Sep 14, 2017 12:24 pm

Well, I bet the reason why she doesn't like her mash is because it's 'mashed' in the blender :lol: My birds would not eat that, either! Why don't you try cooking grains al dente [a bit soft on the outside but still hard inside] and adding frozen veggies to it without putting everything in the blender? Try things like oat groats, kamut, wheat kernels, hulled barley, red or black rice [I would not use brown rice as it has arsenic] and lentils [but cook the lentils with high temperature until they are completely soft] - look for Bob's Red Mill products in your regular supermarket [http://www.bobsredmill.com/shop/grains-beans-seeds.html?infinite=true&]. Cook with A LOT of water and drain after it's done so as to remove all the extra water and, once this mixture cools off, add frozen veggies [still frozen so as to retain the maximum nutrition in them!] like chopped broccoli, peas, carrots, sweet corn, diced butternut squash and some cooked [boiled, baked or nuked] sweet potatoes in smallish chunks - mix some flax and sesame seed to it and voila - a wonderful gloop for her! I bet she likes that!

As to stepping up and down and flight recall... you are expecting too much, too soon and from a bird that is not yet at an age to train properly. Children don't go to school when they are toddlers for a reason - namely, because they don't listen and all they want to do all day long is play, eat or sleep. This is the time for you to bond with her, not to train her. She is too young for it and, if you insist, it will end up backfiring on you. Besides, you can't expect a cockatiel to learn the same as, say, a Senegal or a Brownhead like Michael's parrots. It won't happen. Pois are companion parrots and cockatiels are aviary birds - they have completely different natures and interest. BUT, if you don't free feed seeds, you can use them to coax her to your hand and she will gladly do it BUT she might also just fly away once she eats it [they are pretty smart! :lol: ]

I wasn't going to mention this because although it's not your fault at all, it might make you feel bad but I can't keep quiet about it because this is something you will have to take into consideration for the future in terms of her behavior when adult - it broke my heart when I read that she had been taken from her parents when she was only one week old! Poor, poor baby and what a completely heartless AND ignorant thing to do! No, that breeder does not only NOT care about her birds, she is also quite uninformed about birds (read about filial and sexual imprinting and you'll see what I mean] and a person like that has no business breeding them.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes

Re: baby tiel

Postby frozengirl » Thu Sep 14, 2017 5:05 pm

well she handfed the cockatiel , I thought thats how you imprint on baby birds, by hand feeding them once their eyes open so they see people as their friends. ? They were with her all the time she fed them and kept them in a basket with her while she watched tv and stuff. She was like their mom. That is a bad thing? I read about filial and sexual imprinting but I thought imprinting was just the taming of birds when they are little to reconginze people as their friends, not as their mates :( I think her parents were close by , the parents are tame also. Also she responds very enthusaiastically to cockatiel sounds, I really think she knows she is a cockatiel and not a human. Maybe the time spent with her brother and sister helped with that?

*note* I just checked and the breeder actually started handfeeding my cockatiel at 2 weeks old, her brother and sister were 3 weeks old at the time when she started I guess she normally starts at 3 weeks but my cockatiel was a week behind the oldest. So that is my fault for giving misinformation, sorry! I hope your heart is a little better now? :(

Thanks for the info about your gloop =) I didnt know brown rice was bad !!!

Yeah I am probably expecting things too soon , just want to be sure I am doing everything right! =) There isn't much information about how to take care of a young bird besides feeding it. She loves cuddles (scritches) more and more each day its soooo cute.
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frozengirl
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Flight: Yes

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