[D3ll3t]

So, i recently got my second cockatiel, a male one, and brought it into my new home.
He's not a young bird, as far as i can tell, because he already knows how to whistle a lot of things, even though i didn't teach him any songs yet.
I bought a big cage, some toys, good food and everything, and waited for him to settle.
He's already comfortable in my presence and eats from my hand, however, he bites a lot, an he bites HARD and at completely random times.
Whenever i hand feed him, he tends to go and eat the food from my hand normally but then suddenly without any warning he bites a chunk off of my hand, i start to bleed all over his cage, and then he goes back to eating like nothing happened.
He doesn't hiss, he doesn't scream, he doesn't give the beak, he does absolutely nothing, he just bites for apparently no reason
When he bites, i tend to not react, ever.
I just keep my hand still and wait for him to stop, i never punished him or reacted in any way.
Obviously i won't give up on him, and i won't stop trying to tame him and develop any sort of bond.
But it got to a point where both of my hands are completely covered in wounds and constantly bleeding/hurting.
I need help.

 

[Daytontiel]

Typical hormonal male cockatiel behavior. His cage is his nesting area,his territory, is a no no area. I have hand tamed male, will absolutely attack my hand if I my hand reach inside his cage. But, out of cage, he is very different, still will let me scratching his head, and very tame.

I don't think you have the right approach. If you want to work with your cockatiel. Take him out of cage, and work with him in an area not his territory.

My suggestion for you, learn to tune down hormone level of cockatiel and learn to respect his territory.

 

[D3ll3t]

Typical hormonal male cockatiel behavior. His cage is his nesting area,his territory, is a no no area. I have hand tamed male, will absolutely attack my hand if I my hand reach inside his cage. But, out of cage, he is very different, still will let me scratching his head, and very tame.

I don't think you have the right approach. If you want to work with your cockatiel. Take him out of cage, and work with him in an area not his territory.

My suggestion for you, learn to tune down hormone level of cockatiel and learn to respect his territory.

I had no idea.
Thank you for your help.
I'll try to train him on a different environment

 

[Mariabar]

He was probably abused and thinks of you as a bad thing! Just take small steps and act as the bites dont hurt you! If you want more advice, respond to my comment, im happy to help
Maria

 

[tielfan]

Trying to pretend that bites don't hurt isn't very effective because birds are perceptive enough to read your body language. This bird is actually drawing blood, and there's no way to avoid flinching a bit when that happens so he knows he's hurting you. When you try to ignore the bites, you're teaching the bird that he needs to bite harder to get your attention. Perhaps someone has already taught him this, and that's why he bites so hard.

It's much better to avoid provoking the bite in the first place. You can use millet spray as a way to offer him hand-held treats without getting bitten. Millet spray is long, so you can adjust your grip to keep your flesh out of biting range.

When I have a bird that is being "bitey" in the cage, I often use millet spray to help him work out his aggression enough that it becomes safe to ask for a step up. I hold the millet spray in a hand-defending position when I first put my hand in the cage and let him attack it all he wants to. Attack-biting soon turns into eating, and at that point he's not so angry.

You specifically mentioned that this is happening in the cage, so it sounds like he's hormonal and is defending his "nest". If he's being cage-territorial, you can interact with him more safely when he's not in the cage.

Here's an article on natural hormone control that might help reduce the aggression: Little Feathered Buddies hormone control

 

[Mariabar]

absolutely! it was just a tip!!!