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Is this normal in a cockatiel

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Is this normal in a cockatiel

Postby Waffles » Tue Jun 13, 2017 7:25 pm

I recently got my first bird 5 days ago, and so far she has been bending her head back repeatedly and screaming throughout the house, she also paces bavk and forth at the bottom of the cage. is this normal? how long should I wait to try and train her? :greycockatiel:

sincerely, A bird lover.
Waffles
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Re: Is this normal in a cockatiel

Postby Navre » Wed Jun 14, 2017 6:00 am

How old is she?
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Re: Is this normal in a cockatiel

Postby liz » Wed Jun 14, 2017 6:04 am

She is confused and scared. 5 days is nothing in a birds life. Follow the standard instructions. Give her a perch where she can be at eye level and hands out of sight. You took her from the only world she knows and put her in an alien place.
Even the little cuties that have been handled as pets will suffer the change of life shock.

Don't try to train until she responds to you.
Give her the respect of keeping your hands out of her cage as much as possible.
Parrot proof a room so you can open the cage door and let her come out on her own.
Let her be a part of your day. Keep her ware she can see the activity of your house.
Follow diet and sunlight information.
Treat her as you would a scared child. You would not push yourself on a scared child.
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Re: Is this normal in a cockatiel

Postby Pajarita » Wed Jun 14, 2017 9:40 am

Welcome to the forum! No, it's not normal but we can't help you unless we have more info. How old is the bird? And what do you mean by 'bending her head back and screaming throughout the house'? She does this when she is flying through the house? Does she keep her head back all the time? What are you feeding her?
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Re: Is this normal in a cockatiel

Postby Waffles » Wed Jun 14, 2017 12:08 pm

Well, the pet store I went to not give me her age or her gender, and I'm mostly saying she because the pet store said that they mostly carry females. also, she just bends her head back when shes perched, and then puts it back up again, and she does this repeatedly. I keep her in my room atop a dresser where I sit in a chair below her cage. she runs across her cage a bunch and screams mostly all day, but is also very quiet
Last edited by Waffles on Wed Jun 14, 2017 1:56 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Waffles
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Re: Is this normal in a cockatiel

Postby Waffles » Wed Jun 14, 2017 1:55 pm

also, she stays in her cage all the time since
Ive gotten her, and I got a mix of sunflower seeds and mixed seeds but she hasnt touched that at all, and only eats the millet spray I left in her cage, im also quite worried because Whenever she screams I leave the room and she still does but when she doesnt and i come into the room she still screams so Thats what confuses me.
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Re: Is this normal in a cockatiel

Postby 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.
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