need help

[Flitterby42]

My niece and nephew share a flat together. They have two tiels Boxxy and Teddy. Teddy is hand tame, but Boxxy isn’t tamed at all and they had her for 6 months maybe? They both work, but my nephew works from home so has lots of free time.The problem is that they treat these birds really badly in my opinion. They are on seed only diets, Teddy is allowed out for about half an hour every 2 days or so and Boxxy just sits in the cage all day. Both tiels have runny noses. The cage is fairly clean and they have clean water and fresh seed at least i suppose.

i have linked many artciles about bird care to them. I’ve told them about correct diet, need for interaction, articles for taming Box – all with links links to websites, I’ve told them to take the birds to the vet several times, and none of it is working. Box has been sitting in her cage for the last 6 months. it isn’t a very large cage either.

The answers I get from them both are as follows:
About food and health
“Yeah, i tried giving them pellets a few weeks back but they didn’t touch them all day so i went back to seed”
“They’re fine, they’re always like that”
“I should take them to the vet, but they’ve been like that for ages”
About taming/training:
“I don’t have time” – from the niece, “I can’t be bothered” – from the nephew. Any links I send get met with “yeah” then ignored.
“That’s cool, but my birds are too stupid to do that” regarding training.

Now, they’re thinking about getting another bird. i tried to tell them no but I don’t think it’s working. Also, apparently the birds tried to mate, and they’re both excited about seeing what happens I begged them to separate them but it didn’t hapen. i have offered to tame Box myself, it got shot down. I have offered to buy Box and Teddy for the cost they paid, but that caused a fight. I have tried being direct, I have tried being indirect, nothing is working. I don’t think they can be taken away from them due to the fact their basic, basic needs are met. i’m lost for ideas and need help to save these birds.

[Kim S]

Nothing you can do about it. You tried all you could.
Some people are just idiots.

[Michael]

A seed diet may not be as bad for a cockatiel as you might think. Apparently pellets may even be bad for them. Mona lost a cockatiel from kidney failure likely due to over-nutrition of pellets:

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=102&p=531#p531

If you cannot change their minds, perhaps the best thing you can do is donate bird toys and supplies to help keep the birds occupied in their cages. They are a mated pair so the human attention neglect is less significant. If they are too lazy to do their own research, you could buy a training DVD and give it as a gift.

For training motivation you can show them this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya8HgsmiSkU

If a budgie can learn all of those tricks in under 5 months, then their Cockatiels can certainly do no less.

[Flitterby42]

i should hav been clearer. i told them to feed some pellets with a mix of seed and veggies/fruit. the veggie part was ignored and they made that comment about the pellets. from wat I know a mix of seed/pellets and veggies/fruit is best for cockatiels.

funny thing, i linked them that video. it's how i found this forum tbh. they didn't say anything about it. donating toys/supplies is a good idea. I don't know if they are a mated pair or not, the male tried, but the female rejected him or something. still got them all excited about maybe breeding them.

edit: i'll tell them about the sprouts too

[Michael]

Sorry, training parrots is easier than training humans.

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Sorry, training parrots is easier than training humans.

Considerably. Ever try bridge-conditioning a husband?

You can't fix it. It's up to them. You can lead a horse to water, etc.

I will pick on one thing... working at home doesn't necessarily mean tons of time. Sometimes I work from home, and it doesn't mean I can interact with the birds during that time. Ever try to do a telecon with a screeching green-cheek?

[Flitterby42]

ty for the responses. i said he had a lot of free time coz that's what he told me a while back when i asked how his work was going. he's a freelance grpahics designer. does almost all his work via email and has con calls maybe once every 2 weeks. this has made me quite sad tho - from what you've all said there isnt much that can be done. I just don't understand, if they dont have the time/can't be bothered to take care of the birds properly then why don't they rehome them, and why do they want them to breed?