Cockatiel bites and hisses despite seemingly tame?

[Wolf]

I am so glad to hear that you are making progress with your bird, thank you for the update.

[Pajarita]

Usually, tiels don't like to be touched. Some of them would like to have their head touched when they are on the shoulder (like moving your chin back and forth on top of her head) but very few would look for scratches from a human hand.

Now, be careful with the schedule and diet (free-feeding seeds) you have her on because she might be already hormonal (hens only chirp when calling for a mate - otherwise they are mostly silent) and tiels are known for becoming chronic layers very easily (some people would not even get females for that reason).

[Wolf]

I also noticed she does the "bat bird" quite often. Could she just be very territorial?

My Amazon hangs from the top of her cage like a bat roosting, and I call this her " bat bird". But I do know what you are speaking of. The " bat bird" thing that you are referring to is her claiming whatever she is on or next to as hers, which does make it a territorial behavior. So, yes, she could be being territorial. The thing with that is that this could very easily be caused by hormones such as claiming and protecting her nesting place. Because of this I do suggest that you take a good look at your feeding methods to be sure that you are not over feeding proteins and also consider the effects of lighting as well as how long the bird is kept up.

[BonBonBirb]

I know about the problems with females and actually intended to get a male, which the seller told me it was. The behavior seemed quite female to me though? Yet her feather coloring has been the one of an adult female/young male. The vet I have been to in the beginning when I visited for check ups also told me it was a female so I'm not entirely certain about it to be honest since he used the method where you look at the vent and I heard that to not be the most reliable one either. I'm still careful generally and make sure to get her weight down a little with healthy food too and weight her every other day.

About the toughing I heard that they do not like to be touched that much around the body (which you can't do with a female anyway) but I heard they really like to get some head scratches?

@ Wolf
Yes, she is doing it quite often too and now on objects outside her cage as well, even my hand today. But I'm already trying to keep her weight down.

[Wolf]

It is not about her weight although it is also a factor it is about hormones, in that the proteins are used to make the hormones and only occur naturally at time when conditions are right for breeding. So yes weight is a factor as it signifies an abundance of food, but it is also about the right types of food. At least this is my understanding of it. Like many of us, I realize that I too, have much yet to learn and perhaps I am misunderstanding this. I don't think so, but I am still currently studying everything that I can find on avian nutrition and its effects.

[Pajarita]

No, you are correct, Wolf. A bird can be in perfect weight and be super hormonal at the same time, one thing has nothing to do with the other. As a matter of fact, studies show that tiels that are fed a higher protein percentage (30%) don't gain as much weight as the ones fed lower (20%).

But, if the bird is so vocal, it might be a male. Tiels also do the bat thing (hanging upside down with their wings half open) when they want a bath.

[BonBonBirb]

I know that it is only a factor but I did not know about the protein yet so thank you very much for the information, I will look through it further!
Yes, as I said I'm not entirely sure but if it turns out female I do not want to have done anything wrong in the time before I knew.
I have read quite a lot about tiels before but some information seems to always not be sufficient especially for a beginner like I am. Like what would be considered vocal and what normal?
She mostly is vocal when she is sort of "begging" for food, meaning she will start chirping as soon as I get myself some food and the cage is closed. As soon as I let her out she will sit with me and eat her own food at my desk but she will start being vocal again if she wants more and also when I leave her alone in the room.
I know the bat bird behavior is also in males although I heard females doing it in a higher number like she does and along with some "hissing" while doing a sort of head shake.
I haven't really noticed any male behavior yet and thought it might be time for the bird compared to her cage mates who I saw a few weeks later already singing and he was actually younger. Then again each bird is individual.

[Wolf]

Since I read this last post and learned that she is begging for food, I went back over this whole topic and you said that you feed her a seed mix in the mornings and some fruit and veggies and the only food that was mentioned for in the evening was a little millet. And then in this last post you said that she would sit with you and eat her own food.
All this causes me to have some more questions, I hope that you don't mind that I ask for more information. Would you mind if I ask for more detail about her diet and what she eats in the evening as well. You said that you are weighing her on a regular basis, could I ask how much she weighs?

[BonBonBirb]

I think you misunderstood or I wrote it in a weird way. She generally has seed mix in her cage to which she has always access to. She also eats a regular amount of it as far as I read (1/2 - 1 tbsp) a day. The amount she eats depends on how much millet or other treats she gets throughout the day. Like if she eats more millet outside the cage she will eat less of her regular seed mix.
In the morning and/or during the day I also offer some veggies and fruit like carrot and apple slices which she both really likes.
The "begging" is more for the treats I suppose since she eats her regular food in a proper amount.
She used to weight around 112g a bit longer ago. Last time she was about 106g after I reduced the treats a little and changed to a healthier seed mix.

[Wolf]

It is all good I usually work on the assumption that I am missing something which is why I ask for more information as it normally clears up any misunderstandings that I may have. In this particular time I was not sure whether I was not understanding what was said or if I just missed something and that was the reason for my exact questions. I do worry about the free feeding of seeds though as it is not healthy for them according to all of my information.
You may find some useful information in this link to clinical avian medicine especially in the chapters concerning nutrition http://avianmedicine.net/