PLEASE HELP my cockatiel is so attached to me I can't walk one dfoot away without it freaking out?

Question

I got my bird about six months ago an when I walk about 1 foot away it freaks out is it because it's young or is it because I am with it too much and is there any way to make it more independant?

Answer 1

The only thing you can do is walk away and stop answering to it. Once it realizes it's behavior will not get your attention any more it will settle down and begin waiting on your attention instead of demanding it.  

Answer 2

oooh.. luky

im the opposite, i cant walk one foot near it b/c it freaks out... :(

Answer 3

You're right, you're with it too much--you have over-socialized your bird and now you are paying the price. Because you spent so much time with it when you first got it, it is used to you being near it all the time, thinks that that is normal and the way things should be--so its frame of reference is skewed, so it thinks that you being away from it is abnormal and even scary; something must be wrong, you aren't acting the way you usually do. Unfortunately this is what happens when someone spends excess time with a bird when it is new and a novelty--of course the bird can't understand that it won't always be getting so much attention, so when the novelty wears off and the owner goes back to their regular schedule, the bird thinks things have gone horribly wrong.

First, the best thing you can do is to ignore your bird when it acts up. I know it sounds harsh, but if you run back to it or answer it every time it freaks out, it will learn to behave that way whenever it wants your attention, and you will be creating a problem screamer. A friend of mine did just that, and even after I took the bird and spent six years trying to train her out of that habit, she never stopped. She did improve a little, but she never fully stopped, the habit was just so firmly engrained.

A happy medium would be spending time in the same room as the bird. Keep it covered with light-colored but non-transparent material while it is screaming/freaking out, and once it quiets down, come over, give it some attention, maybe a little millet. If it starts to freak out when you leave again, re-cover it. Parrots, even small ones like cockatiels, react most strongly to social-based reinforcement: they are flock animals and are highly sensitive to the moods of their flockmates. A bird doesn't *want* to be ignored, and if it realizes that it is causing its flockmates to shun it, it generally stops that behavior. It can take a little while for the bird to figure out that you are responding to its behavior, especially if it freaks out a lot because it doesn't give itself many chances to be rewarded, but with patience you can teach it to behave itself again.

It will also help if the bird has a mirror, because it will think its reflection is another bird and this will give it something to keep it company while you aren't around.

Answer 4

it does this because you are its mate now and when you leave it gets scared. so just get it a nother bird for it to play with.  but when you do you bird will c=hange because the bird you get for it it will be its mate then. or just give it a toy or two. and change the toys every month so it wont be bord. good luck.

some thing happend to me so i got another one. now shes hapy but yet plays with me. but if i take her out the other one will chirp like crazy so i have to take him with her too. so yeah good luck.