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My bird has succesfully tamed me

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My bird has succesfully tamed me

Postby Cockatielover » Sun Aug 05, 2018 9:21 am

Hello,

I have a little cockatiel, about 2 years old now. Shee is a little afraid, even though I tried bonding with her, the situation has improved a lot but its still far from being great.

Problem is, she is extremely noisy for no reason. I figured out that its because of her food. Basically she has a little bowl down on the bottom of her cage and I give her normal cockatiel food (seeds). The seeds are quite different, theres some smaller ones, some fruity bits inside and some bigger seeds. She only likes eating the bigger seeds. If her bowl is full, but there are no bigger seeds, she goes in a tantrum and its unbearable. She starts screaming her lungs out till someone gets the big seeds.

How do I stop this? I don't think she doesn't like the smaller ones because I saw her eating them before, but just seems to be a little baby about it.

Any sort of help and advice is greatly appreciated. :greycockatiel: :greycockatiel: :greycockatiel:
Cockatielover
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Re: My bird has succesfully tamed me

Postby liz » Mon Aug 06, 2018 6:50 am

Seed and nuts only cause liver damage. Start offering a variety of fruit and veggies. The frozen ones are the healthiest since they are frozen within hours of picking. You can use canned veggies but you have to rinse them. I only give seed at sundown to make sure they have had enough to eat. Start eating with you baby so she sees what food is good. She does not have a flock to learn from.

You could also take in a rehomed from http://www.rescueme.org .
There are many on it that are "pets" and need homes for some reason. The owners tell about their personalities so you know if it is a "tamed" bird that will teach yours.
Most of mine came from Craigslist. I have a flock and they teach each other what is good. Right now they are big on celery stalks. Celery is mostly water and little nu but they eat and play with it at the same time. There is really no nutrition in it but they really like it.

Since your bird is probably not tested you should find a male. Two males will bond but two females will not. They just tolerate each other.
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Re: My bird has succesfully tamed me

Postby Pajarita » Mon Aug 06, 2018 8:42 am

Well, although Liz's advice is sound, I doubt you will be able to get your tiel to eat fruits -at least, none of mine ever did. But they did eat the veggies in the gloop -which is a dish made out of cooked whole grains mixed with chopped or small-sized [like corn and peas, for example] frozen veggies. And greens - they LOVE greens!

See, the thing is that although cockatiels are classified as granivores, what they eat in the wild is grass seed which is relatively low in protein and fat not only because of the kind of seed they are but also because they eat them off the plant when the seeds are still green. So, when we free-feed [filling up a bowl and leaving it there all the time] a dry seed mix, we are, in reality, feeding them a breeding diet all year round because all dry seed mixes are higher in protein and fat than any green grass seed they might find in the wild and this makes them hormonal all year round [NOT good!] and destroys their livers and kidneys in the long run. I suspect that the 'big' seeds she prefers are sunflower or safflower seeds which are higher in fat and protein than the 'little' ones [different kinds of millet] and that's why she prefers them [Nature hardwired them to crave high protein because an abundant source is not found easily in nature so nature made it that, when they do find one, they eat and eat and eat -same as we do with potato chips :lol: ].

The best diet for your tiel is gloop or a similar dish accompanied by a different kind of leafy green every morning and, for dinner, a small amount [one measure tablespoon] of a budgie seed mix for the winter and a cockatiel mix [with just a few sunflower and safflower seeds] for the winter [but yours should have only budgie mix since now because you have been feeding the high protein/high fat mix for a long time and you need to clean her kidneys and liver].

I also suspect your bird is overly hormonal because, in my personal experience [I've had a flock of over 30 tiels], females only vocalize when hormonal and alone. Cockatiels are supposed to be 'easy' parrots to keep but, although they are easier than other parrots, you need to know what you are doing because they are VERY opportunistic breeders and if you give them the smallest chance [and I do mean the SMALLEST!] to start producing sexual hormones, they will so they need to be fed a low protein diet during the winter and kept at a SUPER STRICT solar schedule with full exposure to dawn and dusk [and make sure no light whatsoever reaches her cage once night falls or it won't work].
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Re: My bird has succesfully tamed me

Postby Cockatielover » Tue Aug 07, 2018 12:58 pm

I'm still not sure what am I supposed to do? Not give her seeds but instead give her some of the specified vegetables you suggested? Are fresh vegetables good for them? As in salad, peas and similar?
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Re: My bird has succesfully tamed me

Postby liz » Wed Aug 08, 2018 6:06 am

I use Ferro and wild rice with two other kinds of grain. I put them in a thermal pot with boiling water for the night. in the morning they are soft. I rinse once then add frozen mixed veggies that include peas, corn and carrots. My cockatiels don't fully eat the veg but do pick at them.

I miss my Sweetie. She was adventurous and would try anything I gave her. If she approved then the others would follow her lead.

Unless you pick fresh veg from your garden then frozen or canned are better. What we call fresh produce could be a week old before we buy it. Frozen and canned are done within hours of picking.

The grain mix is what I give them for breakfast. I give seed in the evening to make sure their little bellies are full at bedtime.
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Re: My bird has succesfully tamed me

Postby Pajarita » Wed Aug 08, 2018 9:44 am

Cockatielover wrote:I'm still not sure what am I supposed to do? Not give her seeds but instead give her some of the specified vegetables you suggested? Are fresh vegetables good for them? As in salad, peas and similar?


I recommend gloop [several recipes for it in the diet section, from very easy to more complicated] with leafy greens for breakfast and all day picking, and a budgie seed mix for dinner [I use ABBA 1600]. Also, if you have been feeding only seed and nothing else, you will need to give her two weeks [this could go up to four weeks if you've had her for years and continue for as long as it takes for her to start eating the veggies - then reduce to twice or three times a week only once she is on a good diet] of daily dosages of a good multi-vitamin/mineral supplement because seeds don't have everything she needs and, depending on how old she is, she might very well be suffering from a vitamin and mineral deficiency.
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Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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