[Reguba]

Hey everyone!

I purchased a 6month old female cockatiel about 6weeks ago and I've been struggling to make any headway with her. She was desperately shy, purchased from a Pet Company, perhaps a Pet-Co, that had obviously not gotten her from the best supplier.

She was not hand fed growing up and spent the entirety of ages 3mo-6mo in a soundproofed glass enclosure with no contact with other birds or people so she has a deep fear and distrust of practically everything.
She only had one wing clipped by the petstore or supplier and the manager broke a blood wing taking her out of the petstore enclosure, so even our first week or so of being together she spent in a great deal of panicked shock as she acclimated to a new environment, new sounds, actual interaction and puzzles and toys, while also struggling to become healthy.

I've tried to ensure we spend at least 1hr a day socializing, whether that's me reading aloud to her, playing her music, talking directly to her, or what, but even now 6weeks later, she won't even walk towards me when I stand by her cage -She always tries to stay as far away as she possibly can.

Tonight, when I was rearranging her enclosure with her toys (trying to give her some intellectual excitement, although the most she ever does is do circles in her cage and peck at her mirror), she made a break for freedom and started screaming this super sad terrified, fearful scream as she realized she still couldn't fly. She tried to hide in a corner of the room and screamed and struggled the entire time as I brought her back to her enclosure.

Even once she was back in there she continued the same scream for a few minutes, and flapped all around her cage -just jumping wildly from wall to wall, regardless of banging into perches. This was about 30minutes ago, she's since calmed down, but now makes fearful beak clicking noises whenever she sees me move toward the cage.

I've had parrots before, but never a cockatiel or one that had so obviously been secluded it's entire life, but I've never had one that remained distrustful for so long and with this most recent development I'm really scared that she's moved to a place of more permanent distrust and fear. I'd love any advice possible.

Sorry for such a long post, I'm just super stressing out and needed to join some forum or something that might be able to help :frown:

 

[trenttn]

I have never had the experience of a traumatized bird so I can only offer my opinion. It seems like she may be extra fearful of humans due to the wing breaking incident, also a potential bad upbringing by the supplier, added with the seclusion and minimal interaction she has had. I don't think it will be impossible to gain the birds trust, as 6mths is still reasonably young, but it will take a while. At my local pet shop, cockatiels are sold as "aviary cockatiels" and are cheap because they are not suitable for indoors or human interaction and will take a LOT of time and patience to tame.

I would also suggest maybe to learn cockatiel body language so you can tell when to "back off" when trying to tame the bird if she is becoming too stressed etc. Also avoid grabbing her (where possible) as even tame birds hate being grabbed, maybe if she escapes again catch her with a towel or similar. Cover her at night to help her feel secure if you aren't doing that also. There is also a step-by-step guide to taming pinned in this forum, :grey tiel:
Here -> https://www.talkcockatiels.com/showthread.php?t=113153

 

[tielfan]

You could try using food bribery to teach her that good things happen when you're around. Start out by dropping a treat through the cage bars into the bird's food cup, making sure that the bird sees you doing it. Once she gets used to this and starts to respond favorably, you can progress to a level that involves more interaction, but go slow. I have an article with more information here: http://www.littlefeatheredbuddies.com/info/taming-bribery.html