my cockatiel hates me :)?

Question

omgsh my cockatiel of 5 months who i just bought about a month ago hates me :|
well she doesnt reslly hate me but she wont let me take her out she hisses at me and bites me wen i try to go near her...althought at times she lets me stroke her tail andd when shes hanging on the bars i someimespet her stomach throo the bars...i really want her to be comfortable with me and start to like me but its not happening! any ideas how to get her to be comfortable and start to love me :P
oh and she sings alot too :)

Answer 1

Some of the answers are a bit strange and some are right on the money. Find out what is your birds favorite food (whatever the bird eats first) take all the favorites out of the food dish and give these to the bird through the bars. The other food left in the dish (not the favorite items) will ensure your bird does not starve. Your bird will soon associate you with choice items of food, if she is already staying against the bars to be petted it means she is not totally terrified of you.

It is probably easier to take the bird out on a perch rather than you hand, it sounds like the bird is a little cage aggressive. Once out the cage she can probably perch on your hand. If the bird is not ready for this yet, this is the step after she eats her favorite food through the bars. Hissing and biting is because she is protecting her territory from you. If she was scared she would be hiding in the furthest corner away. Once she is ready to stand on your hand, let her be rewarded by eating the best yummiest food from your hand. She wont bite the hand feeding her.

Holding a beak closed is seldom successful as this can make the bird more aggressive. Using a glove is also not a good idea because the bird will then learn not to bite the glove but will continue to bite your hand. Do you want to use a glove for the next 20 years?

Food is the trick to any parrots heart you just have to find out which food is best. The bird will tell you which she like best.

Answer 2

I'm not sure what someimespet means. Try showing her a treat in your hand and use a key word. Repetition is the key. After 4 days of this, use the key word and let her have some of the treat while she is in the cage and you are out. After a lot of praise, open the cage door and let her come to you offer her the treat in your hand using the key word. Praise a lot. Then offer a hand held perch using the treat and keyword. Practice this a couple of days. Then offer her your finger as a perch.if she bites, don't overreact and push towards the bite and give her a firm "No!". A two minute time out works with some and she will learn good behaviour means more play time. Make her foraging toys like small pieces of wax paper with a treat put in the center. Twist the ends. Stuff Cholla wood with treats. Put treats in empty baby aspirin boxes and show her what you are doing.She may enjoy tearing adding machine paper refills. use 2-3 training sessions of 10 minutes a day. Birds are intelligent and must not be bored. I think she will love you again. Be persistent and have a tweet year.

Answer 3

Persistence and all the attention you can give her. That's the only way. If she was hand-fed, you can use a food reward for her when she's out. My cockatiel was hand-fed and went through a period of time that I couldn't take him out of his cage. Needless to say he wasn't thrilled with me so it took awhile for him to "like" me again.

Another thing that seemed to help was to walk around the house with him on my shoulder or sitting on top of his cage while I did whatever I had to do around the house. It took about 2-3 months and I am a stay-home-mom so it may take you longer.

She'll come to trust you. Just make sure you don't let anyone convince you to get her a partner if you really want her to become attached to you! Much luck!

Answer 4

Sounds to me that you are having trouble knowing how is the best way to tame the bird...time, patience, treats, love. Purchase a book on them, do a search on-line or ask the person you get her from for assistance.

They are high maintenance birds and I had two that died and never had cockatiels again.

Answer 5

Birds are like any other being they love attention. Take your bird out of the cage and cuddle it. When it bites just gently hold its beak together and say, "no, no" in a firm but sweet tone of voice - sort of question mark the tone in your voice at the end. Your bird will learn not to bite.

Answer 6

I worked at a pet store that had an evil macaw. No one could handle her. She screamed and bit people and drew blood.

Every day I started giving her sunflower seeds through the bars, and she grew to like me. I could handle her and turn it upside down, she trusted me.

It takes a lot of time, but you can eventually get her handleable. You need to find a yummy snack and lure her by having her associate you with yummy foods and good times. It will take a long time to build trust but it will be worth it.

Answer 7

Hi, I had a Cockatiel like that, until I learned something,

A lot of birds Large and small, are very protective of there cages, it's there safe place, so if you try to put your hand there they will get very mad. Naturally you back off, so you re in force this behavior.

What you need to do is open the door cage when you want her to come out. Back off and let her come out on her own, and once she comes out , like she stands on the door or something, make her step on you. She might want to threaten you even there just do it fast make her get on you and walk away from the cage. The further from the cage is better. a diff rent room is the best. She might be a different bird in the other room. A lot of birds just get very protective when you are in the area of there cage . try it. and please let me know.

you can all so join this group
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/Bird-Click/

Buy this book if you want to have fun with your bird
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1890948152/Friendlyparro-20

Answer 8

I have a cockatiel that i got from a breeder. This is how i got her to like me:
1. I read aloud to her
2. I removed her food bowl and fed her out of my hand once in the morning, noon, and sometime between 4-6. (if your gone during the day, place the food bowl back)
3. I spoke to her
4. when she behaved i gave her treats
Hope that helps!

Answer 9

I have a cockatiel to and she did too hate me at first but, now he doesn't. All you have to do is pay attention to him or her and make sure you haven't bothered it when it eating or trying to sleep. Another thing is........JUST BE PATIENT, your bird probably just hasn't got used to you because it use to be in a big cage with a bunch of birds. So just be patient and your cockatiel will get used to you.hope all this helps BYE BYE

Answer 10

sometimes the bird's eyes are higher than the woman's and children's and lower than the tall man's, so the bird things the man is dominant and the others are beneath it on the pecking order. Sometimes the bird bonds with one person and bites everyone esle to "protect" that person. Sometimes birds just don't like ppl for no reason... you can be the perfect owner and the spouce can ignore the bird, and then the bird one day wants a change starts biting you and bonds with the spouce. crazy birds. hope that helps.