by Pajarita » Thu Jun 15, 2017 9:56 am
Well, the petstore lied to you because you can't really tell the gender of a cockatiel when it's young [they all look like females] unless you have it DNA'd and, if they had done that, the bird would have cost you over $200.
I think you have a very young bird which needs soft food -that's why it's only eating millet, because it's the softest seed there is and that's why it puts its head back and screams and screams. You need to give it cooked whole grains [like wheat, teff, kamut, hulled barley, red rice, etc] mixed with baby jar food (things like pureed carrots, sweet potatoes, peas, butternut squash -no spinach!]. Give it soft food served warm twice a day as well as a seed mix [get a cockatiel one, the kind that has very few sunflowers, some safflowers and some soft seeds in it] and leafy greens [they love leafy greens like romaine lettuce, escarole, chicory, bok choy, nappa cabbage, Swiss chard, etc].
She is lonely and scared. Nature never meat for parrots to be on their own, they are highly social and need constant company so when you take a baby from its parents and family [cockatiels from petstores are not hand-fed so they are not imprinted to humans] and put it in a cage, in a human home, with not enough adequate food and a strange giant predator [you], they feel lonely, confused, scared, insecure and vulnerable all the time. Put a towel or some other sort of material draped along the back of the cage [this will make it feel safer] and do NOT stare at it [always look at it from the corner of your eye] until the bird realizes that you are no threat to it. Feed it warm, soft food twice a day [once early in the am and again at sunset]. Close the door to your room, birdproof it and let the bird come out of the cage by opening the door and walking away where you can sit down to spend as many hours as you can keeping it company [talk, sing, whistle] and, once you see the bird comes out and walks around relaxed when in your presence, start offering it treats from your hand [before that, just put the treat near the bird and walk away].
If you do everything right and are patient and loving, it will learn to trust you which, in turn, will turn to love in time. But I would urge you to consider getting a mate for it once it becomes an adult and you can tell if you have a male or a female because these birds are never 100% happy when alone once they reach a certain age.