Can u re tame a bird??

Question

i have a cockatiel he is about 18months old i got him when he was about 1-2 months old...i tamed him then and it was fine..then he started landing on head which i didn't want him 2 do..neway i put my hands over my head so he couldn't land there,eventually he stopped coming 2 me and was getting very hard 2 catch..so therefore he had 2 stay in his cage.now he is very aggressive i cant even get him out of the cage(although he enjoys me being around him coz he chats away and whistles when I'm there,and squawks when i leave).i have tried several times 2 retame him but no success.i would like 2 know if any1 else has had this problem and has managed 2 retame a bird and if so how do u do it?

p.s sorry 4 the long description :)

Answer 1

Of course, it's always possible to re-tame a bird, and unless the bird stopped trusting people because it was abused (which isn't your situation), it's often easier than taming them the first time because they aren't completely afraid of people.

First, though, make sure your bird really has become wild again, and isn't just being a birdie brat because you aren't letting him do what he wants; I say this because your situation sounds very much like what I went through a couple years ago. One of my cockatiels acted just like that when I stopped letting her on my shoulder. She was constantly wanting to be on my shoulder, and would fly up to it from my hand. I'd try to take her off and she'd yell and bite me, a lot harder than she normally did. Eventually I banned her from being on my shoulder anymore--I'd block her from flying onto my shoulder, and if she didn't stop trying I'd send her back to her cage for a time out. Because I wasn't letting her do what she wanted, she turned nasty, and for a while afterward she was always either flying away from my hand or attacking it. It's like a little kid who throws a tantrum when they don't get what they want; she'd become spoiled and wanted her way, and she wasn't getting it, so she was acting out. Even though that meant not coming out of the cage, which she loved to do; it was sort of a "if I can't have it my way I don't want it at all" kind of deal.

If you think this is what is going on--which seems likely to me since he's acting aggressive, rather than afraid of you when you try to take him out--then I'd recommend going to the cage in the middle of the day, when your bird isn't involved in anything but not acting sleepy: when he's just sitting there being his happy normal self. Try to take him out of the cage. Be firm and make it clear that he needs to step up on your hand whether he wants to cooperate or not, that you are the "parent" in this relationship, not him, and that biting will not get him his way--you can use a clean gardening glove or a spare perch to get him out of the cage until he stops being so aggressive, or just grit your teeth and try to ignore the pain (of course, what you choose to do depends on how hard he bites; some know to inhibit their bite so it doesn't hurt that much, but others actually seem to like drawing blood).

Remember, every time you jerk your hand back and leave the bird alone, you are reinforcing the biting behavior, because he learns that biting gets him what he wants: a reaction from you. Once he stops getting that reaction, once he learns that you aren't going to let him bully you anymore, he'll eventually stop biting, and in a week or two he should revert to his usual sweet self.

Answer 2

hey, yea you can re-tame him... now if he was a lot older it would be harder but no hes fine. and if you don't want him flying just trim his wings. Actually i typed this up last night who is having the same, well kind of the same problems but with her jenday conure. you may find some of it helpful but hers is getting really mean, so hope it helps (this jenday is atlest 4 yrs old and they are just now trying to pay any attention to the problem)

  

*watch for serval things if he has more room that gives him more room to do what he wants to do rather than what you want to do.  

*When you are laying down holding him and he starts to throw one of those "fits" again then he is bored, telling you that, and also telling you that he is not getting all the attention she wants. Be very curious/caution to that.



*reward with any good behavior!!!

if he makes a good sound besides yelling reward

if he steps up the right way reward

and maybe everyone in the house he really acts like he dosn't like he just reward her as they walk by then walk away... talk to her telling her what your doing it for, birds can speak your language if you speak theres. But if he gets to being behaved cut back because all these peanuts can be unhealthy.



* maybe eventually you may want to join a birds list... "good Bird"  at yahoogroups.com (which i haven't figured everything out so i cant tell you much on how it works or how to work it lol) but the women that does it is supposed to pub. a mag. and gives you extra tips





*if he is biting you trying to step up he is just testing you to make sure your safe, or to test you to see what you will let him do.



* NEVER wear a ball cap... he fills threatened.



* i understand if your wearing the gloves, towels and more but when you decide its safe to take them off all this starts all over. so ....



* what seems like fun for you is actually hurting the behavior of the bird. Putting him on your shoulder makes him feel superior. don't do much of that right now when she is acting so bad. Once he is well trained no prob but right now it makes matters worse.



i hope all this helps i can help with some other things if you have any question just let me know!

Answer 3

yeah u can deff tame your bird again, its common for some speices to "go wild"     check out http://www.parrotcentral.net/how_to_tame... for good tips on how to train a bird, goodluck!