Hi! I'm Heather, I'm new here
So I have had small birds (keets) for most of my life. My keets had to live with my parents last year due to an excessive amount of mold in the house I was living in. Long story short... My father has claimed them. About two days ago, I found an ad on Craigslist for a tiel who needed a home. She was completely free including cage and some toys and food and a playgym and shower perch. The girls who used to have her even gave us up to date vet records. They seemed to have been very good owners, they had to rehome her because her chirps were waking the new baby... Which seems like a silly reason to me, but whatever.
Anyway there are many pictures of them cuddling with our girl and it's very clear her playgym got a lot of use. I've been trying to move very slow with her since she got here. We leave soft music playing at night and the hall light on (trying to prevent night terrors) and when we're in the room we talk to her when she's calm and ignore her when she's over excited. I leave the cage door open when we're in the room so she can come out of she'd like.
Here's where it gets interesting. She's constantly contact calling us and doing the let me out dance (even though the cage door is open) she hangs out on the side of the cage where she's closest to us and can see us, but if we go to her cage she starts exhibiting super over excited sort of aggressive body language. She hangs upside down with her wings spread and crest up or she'll open her beak in a way that (in keets at least) means back off. Last night as I was covering her she was hissing at me with her wings spread and crest up... Her previous owners covered her btw, they even gave us the cover they used.
When we brought her home, I found out that she was apparently a rescue for these girls a little over a year ago (yay for vet records). I am just not sure if I'm going too gentle (keets are less sensitive) or if she's just going to need more time.
I just get really confused because she seems to wants to come out to be with us... But whenever we try to get her out she flips out on us...

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Welcome to the group, I hope you'll enjoy it here!

The bird herself is kind of confused, since her whole life has been turned upside down and she's in a new place with people she doesn't know. It's possible that the contact calls are meant more for her old owners than for you. I've had new birds that did the "let me out" dance, but it clearly meant "let me out of this entire situation". She'll settle down after a while, so continue to deal gently with her and respect her boundaries.

One way to get her more accustomed to your approach is to slowly but casually walk toward the cage while watching her body language, and stop just before the point where you judge that she'll start to freak out about it. Then just stand there for a few seconds, not giving her a long hard stare (because that's what predators do when they're getting ready to strike), then turn and walk away. Not triggering her fear/defense reaction will help her learn that it's OK when you approach, and you'll be able to gradually close the distance. When you're able to walk right up to the cage you can work on some food bribery. There's more info on that here: http://www.littlefeatheredbuddies.com/i ... ibery.html

While walking toward the cage, you can look at her and talk to her, but look at other things off to the side sometimes too. You don't want to look like you're stalking your lunch, so act like you're not particularly paying any attention to her (even though you really are).

Carolyn has 13 cockatiels, and I have 4. There are a lot of cockatiel owners on this site, so I'm sure any question you ask about your tie will get answered! It sounds like she's really tame! I can't believe you got such a tame bird for free! Btw, What's her name? Anyway, I agree with Carolyn. She just getting used to her new enviorment. Just give her time to settle.

By the way, it sounds like you know how to help a bird adjust to new things!

Welcome!

You already had great advice so I won't add anything. I can't wait to see pics of your girl

Hi! Thanks for the responses. Apparently we are doing something right because she was sitting in her cage for

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Door* sorry tapatalk issues...anyway, she was sitting on her door and I went over and offered her a finger to step up and she leaned her head for scritches... I apparently got the wrong pin at one point because she tapped my finger with her break and then she bent her neck again for scritches... Anyway... I figure this is a good sign.
She came with the name Rosie... Which I'm not a fan of, and before that it was Christa... We've been calling her Rose (like Rose Tyler) but it may end up being Pond or Kaylee... My room mate and I are sort of nerds...


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What a cutie!!! I have to say, I love the name Rose for her. I think all flower names sound so good on them!

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She's a gorgeous girl, and she tamed down very quickly! It sounds like the start of a beautiful relationship.