DD got her ****atiel on Monday. It was a hand reared one. In the shop it was gorgeous, she let DD hold her and was happy. We got her home and put her in her cage. For the first day she didn't eat and was quite scared, I put it down to settling in. Yesterday I came home from work and she'd started eating and walking around her cage but she's still scared. She doesn't chirp, she hisses and kind of squeals when we go near her cage.
I'm actually worried DD has scared her but the pet shop lady said she'd hand reared her.
Is this kind of behaviour normal? Do you think she'll get better?
My parents have had a couple of them over the years and they are one of the cuter bird types
Mum just got a new baby hand reared one a couple of weeks ago too, the first few days it was pretty timid and would carry on everytime you went near it's cage & fly off his perch all startled. You do have to handle them regularly & get them out of the cage, pat, scratch and talk to them. Buddy now gets all excited whenever anyone goes near his cage in expectation of getting a cuddle.......he's even endured a couple of "pats" from my 8 month old
They are pretty good talkers and mimickers, one we had used to ring like the telephone and wolf whistle whenever it saw you but the most remarkable thing I've seen was new years eve while filling with up the car a guy walked out the servo with one on his shoulder and he was chatting to it all the way to his car
Your DD needs her handle him as much as possible. The more she handles him, the quicker he will settle in. If she doesn't handle him much, he will not like human contact at all, he will bite, and be terrified of coming out of his cage.
Hold your finger out infront of him and get him to climb on, alternate each hand, getting him to climb your fingers like a ladder.
Hold him close to your shirt, and gently stroke/cup his back. He will try and climb up, but keep doing it until he settles down. This is a great way to get birds used to being handled.
Whistle to him, talk to him, get him used to hearing your voices. The more you whistle a certain tune (wolf whistle for example), the more likely he will pick it up. Same goes for words the more you say, "pretty boy" to him, the more likely he will learn how to repeat it.
He will love treats, brocolli, apple, some nice long pieces of grass bunched together. Not lettuce.
Make sure you have natural tree branches in the cage, as opposed to the perches which came with it when you bought the cage. Natural tree branches will exercise his feet, and help keep his nails short.
****atiels are beautiful birds, and if you keep it up, he will become a member of the family. They have such lovely little personalites
If she keeps up the hard work, it won't be long and a cage won't even be necessary
I'm so worried about the bird. She's not happy at all. DD saved up all her money because a friend of ours has one which she just loves. It sits on her shoulder and shares her food every time she goes there.
DD's got her out of the cage atm and she seems happy but she's still a little shakey. She's started chirping!! Maybe I should keep the cage open during hte day when we're home?
I had a ****atiel and he was gorgeous!! He took a while to settle at first but keep talking to him and interacting with him to get him used to being handled. My brother's one was always a bit cranky and would hiss at people, its just different personalities.
Pip (my bird) used to copy my dad's whistle and the sound of a spoon clanking on a bowl and make the phone ring sound! He also said "hello Pip". It was terribly sad when he died aged 7
****atiels can live up until almost 30years. Definately handle him as much as possible (what's his name?) - often people who hand-rear them "stick train" them - get a perch and put that under his tummy and above his feet, touching his legs, he should climb onto it. Then you can move the stick out, and he will be less worried about this. Both of my birds were hand-reared and stick trained.
I've found that fingers going towards birds get bitten, instead I have my whole hand, fingers together & palm down when I approach the bird, the bird will step onto the hand.
As a PP mentioned, put the bird on your chest and stroke the bird using the whole hands so he's always got a hand on him. I use a "tunnel" of hands for the bird to climb through instead of a staircase of fingers. Also until you have the bird tamed to your family, I wouldn't leave the door open during the day as they can be a real pain to catch. If you have someone near you who is confident with birds, I would suggest getting one of his wings clipped so he can't escape the house if he does take flight. (else take him back to the pet shop and ask the owner to clip his wing).
We've had her out of the cage this morning. She knows 'step up' and happily walks around DD's lap while sitting on the couch but still is a little scared. I hope she calms down soon.
Thanks heaps for your tips!
Her wings are clipped Kaz. Her name is Honey but that could change in 5 mins lol.
Just editing to say she's soooo cute. She's pale yellow and grey.
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