Ask Lafeber

I’m just a little confused about Echo’s age.  If he’s only 10 months now, then he’s too young to breed so without knowing for sure, I’m going to assume he’s 10 years old and not 10 months.  So, if he’s been one half of a successful breeding pair, it’s not surprising he’s not as hand tame at this point.  His attention and devotion has always needed to be to his mate and offspring.  He’s probably not used to having a lot of human interaction up to this point of his life.  However, that does not mean he cannot get used to more human interaction.  He may not end up being as tame as a hand fed baby, but I think you can get to a point you can interact with him and not have him bite you like he is now.

The first thing is to gain his trust, and it sounds like you were on the right track for a while by eating food from the palm of your hand.  Then something changed all of a sudden.  Without having additional information, I can only speculate a few things, but I’ll go over some of the potential reasons.

The first thing I think about is if there is anything in his cage he feels like he needs to stand guard over such as a sleeping sack that hangs from the top of his cage or a box for him to chew on?  Cockatiels are cavity nesters, and they will seek dark and enclosed environments to crawl into and create a nest.  So, if you have anything like this in his environment, I suggest removing it right away.  Also, if you have any mirrors in his cage, I suggest removing them also.  If he’s able to see his own reflection, he can mistake it for another bird and feels like he needs to protect it.

Other things that could be causing this is cage placement.  His cage needs to be in a room against a wall, even better in a corner of a room so he can observe who is coming in and out of the.  Birds are prey animals and they are always on the lookout for predators so if his cage is next to a doorway, he will always be on guard and most likely not be resting well.  That could be one reason he could be biting now.  The same concept is true for his cage being placed in front of a window.  Placing only one half of the cage in front of the window is okay, but if all of the cage is exposed to the window, he will not have a way to step out of sight of anything that may be stressful to him outside.

As I mentioned, if any of these things are in his environment, remove them and then you can start the process of earning his trust. The first thing to do is to determine his most favorite treat and only give it to him while interacting with him.  It’s important to keep the interactions short and start and end on a positive note.  Each interaction should be no longer than 15 minutes at a time, and it’s okay to have a few of them per day.  Positive reinforcement works well with birds so make sure when he shows trust, always praise him in a fun, high-pitched voice while giving him that favorite treat.  Patience on your end is a must, because this can be a long process.  If by chance this does not work, you have a few options. Male cockatiels are usually very vocal and like to mimic words or sentences and whistle little tunes.  You may even be able to teach him some new tunes of your own.

If you decide on getting another bird, I suggest getting another young male rather than a female, so you don’t end up with them breeding and her laying eggs.  That can become an entirely new set of problems.  Two males often cohabitate well if one is younger when you introduce them and give them time in their own cages to get acquainted.  This can be a process, so I invite you to please call Lafeber’s customer service team at 800-842-6445 and ask to get in touch with Debbie and I’ll be happy to call you if you leave your phone number or email and I’ll email you back.

Good Luck,

Debbie