Advice about terrified Rosella

[Aurora and I]

Your having trouble with your Cockatiel?
I just got my bird and kept my finger still and targeted her up and down, then when i twitched she ran away ... but if you keep it still long enough they forget it's your hands, and get used to stepping up.
I don't know, but keep working with her!
My bird just learned how to turn around on a flat surface, so that's good, and I got her up onto my hand like 5 times today!

[marie83]

Yea, Harlie is a rescue bird so its taking more time than a normal 'tiel. I don't know her exact background cuz she was with someone else before me but that person told me she was tormented something rotton before being rescued, the kids used to shake her cage and godknows what else. I tried introducing her to the target stick but she won't entertain the idea. Im getting much better results without it atm. I will never give up on her though shes totally amazing, shes come so far

[Aurora and I]

Mine had trouble with the target stick at first, and it took about 2 days for her to not get scared of it, but eventually i could touch her beak with it and give her a treat. As soon as I did this she was biting at the stick no problem.
Can you get your 'teil to eat from your hand? Does she accept treats?
I had to sit for an hour with my fingers in her cage holding her a treat, eventually (after a VERY long time) she took it and then realized that the treat was good. The I introduced the clicker and from there everything was better.

[marie83]

Yes she does take treats from my hand now though the cage bars and with me putting my hand in the cage. I've spent a month working on her getting her used to the target stick but she is literally terrified of it despite my gradually moving it closer and letting her see Ollie with it. The clicker terrifies her as well. On the odd occasion she does allow me to scratch the top of her head now, but only through the cage bars. Obviously I wish the progress was faster because I want her to be able to enjot herself without fear how my previous birds and how Ollie does but TBH I'm happy with any little breakthrough. Hopefully we have years together yet, so far this year she's shown much more progress than the years I've had her already. Whatever happened to her must have been really bad for her trust issues to be so great. I'm told she was handreared by the person who rescued her and her during her time with her first owners she just continously just got more and more fearful.

[Aurora and I]

Sounds like your doing a great job with her ... for the rescue situation. You seem to be pretty knowledgeable of what your doing. The next step would to be to "un-terrify" her of the clicker, so just click ... treat. and do it again and again. My bird was scared of click at first too, she would fly around in a frenzy and then be like ... "Oh he has a treat for me" then she calmed down.
Try that, and let me know how it goes.
Click ... treat ... Click ... treat ... My bird was pretty full of treats by the time she realized that the clicker was a good thing.
good luck