Cockatiel questions

by **MJD17** » Thu May 19, 2011 2:22 pm

Hey guys. I'm just wondering, when my young tiel decides he wants to go (I'll carry him to the couch and put him on my shoulder and he'll bounce down or fly off and go back to his cage), should I let him just do his thing or should I bring him back? If I give him millet he'll usually stay only until the millet is exausted btw.

Parrot Youtube Channel · by **Michael** » Thu May 19, 2011 2:26 pm

You're going to have to look into things besides millet to keep him with you if you want something long term. Don't force him to be with you but find things that make him want to stay. Look into a playgym, climbing tree, or training perch. Here's a trick with the millet though to teach him to stay:

Figure out how long without millet it takes until he flies away. Let's say 60 seconds without millet and he leaves. Then offer him a small nibble of millet every 50 seconds. He'll learn to stick around for another helping. Over time he'll be willing to wait longer in case more comes so you can stretch it to a nibble every 2 minutes, 5, 10, etc. Never feed all the millet at once but instead make in little bursts every so often. As he learns to wait longer for it, he'll also get more used to staying and you won't have to offer millet all that often to keep him staying with you. He'll know that being around you in an opportunity for millet.