Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We already have one cockatiel her name is Gerti. I saw this other cockatiel in a store about 2 months ago and i passed him up. Well we just recently moved to the area and he was still in the petshop. I felt so bad for him his tail feathers were completely missing. His wing has dried blood on it from a blood feather. Well anyway out of pitty i bought him. If i reach in his cage he just flies right out on to the floor and he is unable to get off the ground after that.Our other tiel has her wings trimmed and this new one doesnt look like he has his wings trimmed but he he sure cant fly. Our other cockatiel walks around, this one seems to Wattle like a penguin, is that normal? He is slowly growing his tail feathers but he is really non friendly. I have been letting him fly on to the floor and walk around and explore for about 4 hrs a day. Then when i have to pick him up i cover him in a shirt and lift him back into his cage. He isent hissing so much at us as he was. I bought some gloves to handle him with but he runs away and i feel horrible chasing after him he must think i'm a monster. Any advice i really want to tame him. Everyone told me that getting a non handfed bird is bad news but i really want to attempt. He so pretty, he was in that petshop for 3 months and i think pretty much ignored, i really wanna give him the chance he deserves. The woman who sold him to me was the breeder and she said he's 6 months old so he's pretty young still

How long have you had him for? Did you quarentine him for 1 month before introducing him to your other tiel. He just may need more time to get used to you. It sounds like he's been through a bit so don't expect him to like you so soon.

You need to gain his trust & to do that the first thing you should do is ditch the gloves! I don't know a cockatiel who isn't scared of gloves & it's dangerous too because you can't feel your true full grip on the bird. Replace it with a perch or stick & teach him to step up. Follow him around (quietly) with little treats & try & coax him to going to you & taking a treat from you. Eat the treats yourself so he see's it's safe to eat.
Take him to a vet for a general check. You may just notice a different walk because of his lack of featehrs or their could be or could have been something wrong.

Getting a non hand fed bird not being trainable or tamable or friendly is a big load of rubbish. Hand rearing/taiming DOES NOT make your bird bond closer to you. What makes your bird bond closer to you whether handreared/older/rehomed is you gaining his full trust & you being patient. For any bird (even hand reared) that's had some kind of trauma takes alot longer than normal to gain trust & allow itself to bond to you.