by Kathleen » Wed Dec 16, 2009 12:30 pm
The cockatiels have probably bonded to each other (like you said, one tries to protect the other). This is sometimes what happens when you house two birds together.
If you want to have the birds more bonded to you, you should first separate them. If you are going to separate them, you have to make sure that you will give them a bit more attention than you have. Birds are social animals.
The first step to basic hand taming is getting your bird to eat its favorite treat out of your hand. Cockatiels like millet spray, so you should probably use that.