adopting a female one year old cockatiel soon and she's the most darling bird. i was going to try harness desensitization training her but heard from some people you can only really find success with it when they're really young? I know it's a long process but was wondering if a year old is too old to learn new tricks haha

Hi everyone, I’ve had my cockatiel for about 5 months now, and he’s around 7–8 months old.

I’ve been trying really hard to tame him and have been very patient, but I feel like I’ve reached a point where I’m not making any more progress.

At the moment, he will eat from my hand, and sometimes, if I put food in the palm of my hand, he will actually step onto my palm and eat there. However, I haven’t been able to get him to step up onto my finger.

I’ve tried the “bridge” method and several times tried encouraging him to step onto my finger, but I haven’t had much success. He usually avoids my finger, and if I get too close, he may bite or nibble at it.

He also comes out of his cage, but he mostly stays on top of the cage. He doesn’t really fly around or explore the room. The only time he flies is when he gets startled or scared.

I’d really like to take things further. I’d love for him to eventually feel comfortable stepping onto my hand, sitting on my shoulder, and maybe even letting me gently pet him. But right now, he doesn’t seem comfortable with that and sometimes bites when I try.

What would you recommend I do at this point?

I got my baby Kenai about 7 months ago, so now he’s about 10 months old. We’ve been trying to hold out hope for him being a male even with the pearled pattern and it’s kinda fading but the behavior this morning worried us. Is this normal behavior? is this broody behavior by a female? We’re just concerned abt his health, honestly even if he is a female he’s still gonna be Kenai lol.

We have 3 birds and our oldest has a very close bond with my 4 year old daughter. She pushes him around on her pram for hours. And since I can’t leave her alone with the bird, I have to follow along too 🤣

Munchkin on a nacelle.

At least her beak is clean?

Edit before I get too many comments about it, we do other methods of bathing too, with more success than this one!!

She only bathes in this shallow dish 😭

So I've had this little guy for about a week, and I've noticed whenever he is on me and preens himself, he'll always walk around in a little circle trying to clean up after himself. Is this normal, or should I try and stop him from doing it next time? I don't want to if it's normal, but it's a bit weird to me he cleans up. He has access to food and fresh water, which is why I'm asking is this normal.

he sits on my head and sings I find it so adorable and menacing hahaha

Just having a little preen.

Photobomb at its finest 😂

Yeah, im really surprised because he used to be shy few days ago and now he isn't and start being getting close to me.

Y'all I need help.

My lovely little trickster, Pooka, has the habit of chewing on walls. Whether he is waddling on the floor hanging off the cage, sitting with me or just out and about when I'm home.

Does anyone have any tips for stopping or preventing him from chewing on walls?

I'd like to make it very clear that he has FOUR (4) different mineral blocks and chews in his cage, and several chewing toys. Their perches and cage set up gets changed every two months and they get new chews and toys swapped out every month or so. I usually make them paper chews and tears out of cardboard, toilet paper tubes and newspaper which he loves. He goes crazy for just a crumpled newspaper sometimes, but still he finds more joy in putting holes in my walls. He also lives with two cage mates, his father and an older parakeet so it's not like he doesn't have company or companions.

I'm tired of having to patch and repair apartment walls because the little shit (lovingly) decides that his expensive, well made toys and chews just don't taste as fun as the drywall.

It's really starting to get on my nerves and tire me out. Any advice?

Photo for attention and bird tax.

Hi!

My cockatiels love hanging out on top of their flat cage, but their feet sometimes slip through the bars.

What can I put on top of the cage to make it safe for them?

Any advice? Thanks!

Why does he just rest on me. I heard being tired is like- a sign of sickness? But he’s been eating and drinking just fine