First time bird owner!

[birdxbrain]

Ahhhh alright, so, it's only been one or two days since my cockatiel has been rehomed. He seems to have been well-taken care of, but I'm a nervous first-time owner! Roman is fully flighted, although his right primary feather (I think? It's the longest/last one that forms that nice complete V shape in the back.) seems to be missing its top half! I was told that he's 2-3 years old, and he's currently living in the same cage as before, with all the same toys and perches.

As expected, he (obviously) hasn't entirely warmed up to me yet. He steps up just fine when he's not on/in his cage and trusts me as a perch anytime he's not near his cage, but my problem right now is trying to get him back into his cage when he's sitting on top of it. He also flies to his cage when I get near it. I also saw somewhere that I shouldn't be letting him out this early, but he seems alright? Let me know about that. I did, eventually, get him back into the cage today after he finally stepped up after a freeflight. My main concern right now is getting him that important out-of-cage time while ensuring I can get him back in. I think part of it has to do with the fact that he's used to a constant availability of food in his cage. His previous owners kept his bowl filled to the brim. I'll be trying some of Michael's tips (especially regarding food) but I guess the real reason behind this post is my nervousness.

I just need a little bit of reassurance that he's just adjusting, although I know that no one can really offer me like full assurance haha. It's been such a short time, I know, but it worries me when I see him sitting in the same spot in his cage or not really interacting or engaging in activities and I'm sure my own nervousness isn't helping his state. He's eating for sure, so he's not entirely confining himself to one perch. He's also fairly vocal, though not overly, and he doesn't do anything more complicated than some chirps. I'm starting to wonder if he might be female because of how manageable his noises are, but I was told that he liked to whistle by his previous owners. Once again, is he just adjusting? I just worry that I'll never see his personality emerge. Nobody likes seeing what seems to be a stressed and bored bird! (As entertaining standing on top of your cage for hours might be)

I'd also like to start seeing him branch out and eat some veggies and other types of foods. I understand he's probably too nervous around me right now to feel comfortable around me, but all in all I hope he comes to trust me. I know I just have to be patient!

(PS: Is it alright for him to sleep with one leg holding onto the side of the cage? I'm worried it might be a sign of feeling weak or sickness, but it could also just be a quirk of his. I've heard of birds that sleep holding onto the cage entirely!)

[Chantilly]

Hi birdxbrain and Roman!
Welcome to the forum. What a beautiful little boy Roman is! This is a lovely photo!
Other members will be able to help you out more than me, but I will help you out with the points I can.
I will start by saying, yes he definitely will not be fully warmed up to you yet, let alone used to his new habitat, so try to take things slow with him, he will come to you when he is ready. Parrots are amazing animals, and they are very intelligent, please don't be discouraged at all by things he does/nt do, he will learn and eventually he will love you so much that he will want you with him 24/7, and you will want him all the same.

Right now your bird might not be that interactive or that noisy, that is very understandable, put your self in his place, he is in a strange new place and undoubtedly he is uncertain. He dosent understand who you are, and he is cautious. The best thing you can do to get him used to you is to sing and whistle to him as much as possible, just spend as much time through the cage as possible. It is very good that you are letting him out, but he may not be ready to come out and explore right now, and the flying onto the cage may have something to do with this.
The fact that he is eating is great, some birds will not eat for a few days after being re-homed, so please don't reduce his seed, not yet while he is still settling in anyway, right now the BEST way to help him settle in is to do things the way his old owners did (same seed, same food quantity, same bed time ect:).

His sleeping with a foot on the side of the cage is not a bad thing, my conure will sometimes sleep hanging on the side of the cage and my lorikeet sleeps on the cage grills under her newspaper. They all have their own weird habits, like humans each little birdie is different, so that is not a concern in my opinion.


You are doing well birdxbrain, being a first time bird owner is a very scary time, eventually it becomes natural. So just remember to take things slow. Besides, you have forever

[mmeager]

Welcome to the forum! This forum is a fantastic place for information, and support. I fully understand how scary being a new bird owner is! And your bird is beautiful! How proud you must feel!!!!! Thanks for the pics!
As chantiily said, give it time, and soon you guys will get into a routine together. Roman needs time to adjust to his/her new environment, as well as time to learn to trust you, and you need time as well. You need time to not only learn, but to put your trust in Roman as well, this doesn't happen overnight!
Be patient, and never ever push your bird, allow Roman the time to adjust, and never ever ever underestimate your birds intelligence!!!!!!!!
You and Roman are on a journey together, an extremely rewarding and personal one, thru the good times and bad ones! But soon you will be able to look at each other, and know exactly how each other feels, birds seem to be able to read us very well. It takes us more time to read our birds tho!
If you are concerned about Roman in any way, take him/her to the Avarian, birds are extremely good at hiding any sickness they may have, and better to catch something early rather than late.
There are a lot of very experienced bird owners on this site, and praise to them, they will give any help they can, so please listen to them. And use this forum the best you can to establish a fantastic relationship between Roman and yourself.

[Wolf]

Hi an welcome to the forum.

I think that the majority of your concerns have already been answered, but I am here to help the two of you in whatever way that I can as well.

Cockatiels are prey animals and for this reason alone they are afraid of new places (who knows what dangers are lurking just out of sight), they are also territorial and very flock oriented, so much so that a fair amount of their sense of security and well being is drawn from the support of their flock and their territorialness makes it difficult for them to adjust to change, so you do need to go slow and give the bird time to adjust to his new environment. You are now Roman's new flock along with any other people human or otherwise that live in your home, but you are new to him and he is afraid and does not know that you can be trusted. The good news is that you are doing well and he will come around. Just spend a lot of time in the same room as he is in so that he can watch you while you are doing other things and talk and sing to him, give him a lot of " good bird, Roman" type of praise making certain to use his name. Every once in a while just meander over to his cage and drop a piece of millet into his food dish.

Speaking of food we should really talk about this although, currently, I don't have much to go on, but lets see what goes. First of all cockatiels are partial ground feeders, so if his cage is large enough to do it, I am sure that he would love it if you used a small plate like a saucer for coffee cups on the bottom of his cage for food. It also means that they eat more seeds than many other species of parrots, they will have a greater enjoyment of leafy green vegetables than other parrots as well, try romaine, red leaf lettuce and bok choy but limit the ones that are high in iron such as spinach and kale and forget about iceburg lettuce as a cardboard box has more nutrition than it does. I would say that a couple of tablespoons of his seed mix will be enough to last him from one mealtime to the next with just a little bit left over, that is if you feed twice each day. Please forget about Michaels food management methods. This is not only a very controversial feeding method, it is also very easy to get wrong and create problems that you don't want or need and there are other ways to ensure that your bird will be receptive to your desire to train him. Michael's bird have to perform and they must perform well every time and this is why he has developed his food management method. You bird will probably not need to perform as much or as accurately as Michaels so it is not needed to add that type of stress to the birds life.

If the bird is not yet eating vegetables or leafy greens and to a lesser degree fruits then it is simply because he was not taught that these items were food and it falls to you to teach him, which is a long process in itself, but we can help you with that, but we will need to know the birds daily diet and feeding schedule.

Allowing Roman out of cage time is a good thing, even if you are having difficulties in getting him to return to his cage. You could take advantage of their natural feeding and sleeping habits to help you with this. his natural sleeping and feeding habits are very simple in that they wake up as the sun is rising and they go to the feeding grounds shortly afterwards, then they return to their roosting area for a nap sometime in late morning to early afternoon for a short nap then in late afternoon to early evening it is off to feed again leaving just enough time to return to the roosting area to go to sleep by the time it gets dark. So if you let your bird out in the late afternoon he will have time to fly about and explore his home and to burn off some of his excess energy and then you should show him you placing his dinner in his cage at about dusk and if you keep to this schedule he will shortly be returning to his cage at dinnertime all on his own. The first few time you may have to help him by having him step up and you again showing him his dinner and placing him in the cage, or if that fails waiting for it to get dark and then using only enough light from a small penlight to keep you from stumbling locate and catch him and taking him to his cage.

I hope that you find this to be helpful, we will always do our best to help both you and Roman, however we can.

[Pajarita]

Welcome to the forum, Roman and his human! You have been given all good info and I have very little to add.

I also do not recommend restricting food for birds unless there is a very good reason for it. Putting a plate on the bottom of his cage with cooked whole grains mixed with veggies is the perfect way to go with a cockatiel (use a disposable white paper plate to make things easier on you -no washing!- and on him -nicely flat surface with good traction for his feet).

Letting him out is a great thing to do! But you might want to do it late in the afternoon for now. For one thing, he needs to have some more time to feel comfortable in his new home so a short time out is best for now. Put the cage at your eye level when you are standing up (birds live in trees and the higher they are, the more secure they feel) and place it against a wall or drape a material on the back of it (the idea is to create a blind wall where he cannot be approached by 'predators'). Let him out when you see the sun halfway down to the horizon and about one hour after this, put dinner (seed mix) in his cage and step away. He might not go back to it the first day or two but he will soon learn that, if he wants his dinner, he needs to go back into his cage.

PS Your bird is a male - see how bright the orange spots in his cheeks are? and how the yellow portion of his face go behind the orange spot? The light on the picture is not too good but he seems to be a cinnamon. The cage appears to be a canary one (looks like the kind with a pointed roof and gables) and, if it is, I suggest you start thinking of replacing it asap.