Any good games to play with a cockatiel or good ways to give them affection?

Question

I've heard of playing "toothpick tug-of-war"- which is played by putting a toothpick in your mouth and having your cockatiel (who is on your shoulder) tug it away from your mouth...

Does anyone have any tips for other games I can play with my cockatiel? I'm even open for tips on how I can show him affection.

I already pet him, kiss him, nibble on him (lol), and everything else. I just want to know of other ways I can express affection towards him.

BTW, I ALREADY spend a LOT of time with him. Please don't leave me with a one-statement answer that just says "spend more time with him." I already give him a lot of time... except my bonding and loving-ness is getting a little dull for myself. I want to show him love in more than one way. :-p

Also, what are some good toys I can give him to play with? He's so damn adorable!! :-D

gra_wlf: How 'bout getting your head out of your a** and taking your bogus answers, elsewhere? Hmm? I'd love to see YOU play with a cat... not a small tabby, but rather with a huge, hungry, and ferocious bengal tiger. :-)

Answer 1

My guys love this toy called a 'carousel'. It's a plastic treat contraption with bars that the bird has to work around in order to get to the food. You pop in the top and stick treats or food inside and you hang it from the top of the cage. The bird is then expected to work for their meal. It helps them satisfy their foraging needs. Spray millet is popular with my breeding cock. He will methodically pull everything out then drop it. When he's done, he will then play with the food on the bottom of the cage. He's a little stinker! You could probably personalize this by pulling the treat carousel out only at play time and putting your guy's favorite food in it. Then you can flirt with him and encourage him to find the treat while you hold the carousel in your hand.

Peek a boo is another popular game with cockatiels. If I'm working on one cage I'll hide behind it and go 'Peek a boo!' when one of the other birds in their cage comes out of the nest box or out from behind a toy. My conures get a kick out of that game ^.^ . I think my tiels do, too, but all they ever do is stare at me with that puzzled tiel look, complete with raised crest.

I do this game most often with my chicks when they're learning to fly. It's a form of flapping exercise spoken about in 'A Guide to a well behaved parrot' by Mattie sue athan. I'll have the bird sit on my fingers and I'll quickly drop my arm, forcing them to flap. I go 'Weeeee!' when I do this and when I'm done I give them a light misting with a water bottle. I do a silly dance while they're bathing. My chicks seem to love the flapping and the dance. Screw the bath they say, LOL!

Some bird owners will pop on their favorite music and dance with their birds. Remember - parrots love drama and the sillier you act the more they'll love it! I feel like a fool when I bounce around to Aqua's 'I'm a Barbie Girl'. The birds, however, go nuts ^.^ !

I hope I've helped somewhat. Cockatiels are SO worth the cage cleaning!

Answer 2

Many cockatiels love to have their head rubbed. Mine especially like it around their ear holes which are under the orange spots on the side of their head. Mine also like to play with q-tips, scraps of paper and jewelry. Just be careful that the jewelry can't break and the bird accidentally swallow pieces.
My bird loves to each raw broccoli, spinach leaves, artichoke leaves (cooked), toast and sometimes watermelon. You can have fun sharing meal time with your bird. They are flock animals and love to do things with you, especially eat. Mine also enjoy showering, dancing and whistling with me.
You can also take your bird with you when you go places by using a bird pack or a harness device of some type. It will take a while to get a bird to accept a harness device though. Cockatiels can be especially suspicious of new toys and food so you should show them how good and fun a new thing is by letting them watch you interact with the new item first.
If you don't already offer fresh greens to your bird, please start. It is important for the long term health of your precious bird to offer food other than seeds.
I'm happy to know there is a little feathered kid out there with a Parront :-) who loves him so much. If only all pet birds had such dedicated owners this world would be a better place.
Please check out the following sites for good info.

Answer 3

I know how you feel on how adorable he is, because my cokatiel was just as cute. Well my cokatiel didn't really like to play with toys, so I played little games with him. First while I was watching tv, I would wave my finger in a circle around his beak, and his head would go round and round. Well his name was Duster, and I would always say his name so he would start talking ( Well he died before he could talk so I never heard him talk :-( Also I would have small bird ladder, so he could go up and down, while you hold the ladder. Well I don't know if this is a game, but this is what I did... I left Duster on the one side of the hall, and then I would on the other side and call his name. It was so cute when he wobbled twards me as fast as he could. Well there you have it, hope your bird likes them like mine did. Later

Answer 4

I put a link below conures and more. Great place to get good advice on birds of most any kind. I agree they are very big on conures but there is a lot of talk about tiels too. They have a recipe area where you can learn to make some bird treats.

Answer 5

I truly have considered human beings practice their cockatiel to bop. You play some music and then tap their foot on the beat. eventually they are going to stumble on trouble-free methods to boost there foot to the music. that is not any longer somewhat a recreation, yet my lovebird loves when I cup my palms lower than the tap and make a poultry bathe/bath in my palms for him. He has an exceedingly good time splashing round.

Answer 6

my birds seem to like shinny things so ill let them see me put my ring under approx 20 toothpicks then they have fun digging them out another more common one is peek a boo do that enough and she or he will start saying peek a boo it sounds kind of like they are whistling it

Answer 7

Buy a cat and let the bird play "dodge the cat"--that will keep him occupied and also give you more time to search for a real life.

Answer 8

i had a cockatiel that used to love chasing little balls with bells in them, a cat toy lol. also, they love jingle bells, jewlry, earrings. even take a piece of string amd drag it on the floor, he will go for it. they love little paper balls to. just take a little piece of paper wad it up and give it to him. just make sure its notebook paper and nothing with ink on it.

Answer 9

Me and my tiel Eddie Byter used to "box". He'd sit on my hand, close to my index finger and him and my thumb would have sparring matches, you know, like "Rockemsockemrobots", lol.
He used to get so excited from doing that.

Answer 10

This sounds strange, but they like it if you stand around a corner, where they cant see you, and you wistle to them while peeking at them now and again.