I'm honestly at a loss again...

That time where Lucy willingly came out of the cage is probably one of those rare moments that come once in a lifetime, because she never wants to go out of her cage again. I did manage to get her out again, though she was not very cooperative with me. She didn't want to train or anything, though she had no problem taking teats. So I took her to a different room, and while she did cooperate, she didn't want the treats.

I feel like I'm going nowhere with this bird. One day, we're doing so well, and next day, we're literally at square one again.

I feel like I'm never going to move forward with Lucy, and it's frustrating me so much. I want to have a bird that's willingly comes out of it's cage, that's not afraid of me, that will walk or fly to me, and will let me pet it. I honestly can't see that happening with Lucy, and it just makes me sad that I can't show affection towards her and have it be mutual.

Carolyn, would you be ok with giving an unweaned bird to someone with hand feading experience? If I can convince my mom to drive me to your area (I've still yet to learn how to drive), I may or may not be giving Lucy back.

It would be best to wait another week or two until the babies are weaned. I frequently deliver birds to people so I could bring some chicks to you so you can pick one out. Every bird has a different personality, and it's possible that Lucy would be better off in a situation where there are some other cockatiels to hang out with.

I'll take a couple of weeks to think it over.

Do you by any chance deliver to the northwest side of Tucson? I'm not sure how far away you are from there, but if that's too far, I could find a way to get to you.

To be quite honest, Lucy is the first parent-raised cockatiel I've ever had. All the ones I've has beforehand were hand-raised, so I'm so used to interacting with birds that have had that kind of imprint in their lives. I don't really know how to deal with a bird that's actually been raised by birds. Now granted, I'm sure it depends more on the personality, rather than how they grew up.

On top of that, I seem to have a higher affinity towards birds that are the opposite of my gender. No idea why this is. I guess getting a female wasn't the best option for me, though I didn't realize until after I got Lucy, that the strongest bonds I had with cockatiels were always males.

The answer to your problem is:
Patience. patience and more patience...
It takes a lot of trust, time and luv on the birds side to bond with us humans.. it cant be rushed.

Don't worry. It's quite common to want a bird the opposite gender of yourself. I read about it the other day actually.

I actually wanted a hen. I didn't know a thing about Beaker when they brought him over and I had a 66% chance Jaid would be a hen... the odds were not in my favor.

Lucy was co-parented, meaning that she was partly handfed and partly parent fed from the age of two weeks onward. I do this with all my chicks so they're socialized to both humans and birds. She wasn't the most social chick of the year but she wasn't anti-social either and would interact willingly with me. I do think that the dogs might be the real problem, since even when they're not in the room she'd be worried that they might suddenly show up. But another bird might adjust to them more easily. The majority of my chicks were male this year so it would be easy to provide a boy. Right now I've got 9 guaranteed or almost-guaranteed boys, three guaranteed girls, and three I-don't-knows.

P.S. I'm on the northeast side but northwest is not a problem.

Even babies that were purely handfed can take time to settle in, and I've bought handfed birds from pet shops that took two months to really relax and start being friendly. And that's without any dogs or cats in the house. Birds are prey animals in the wild so they're instinctively programmed to be cautious in a new environment.

Indeed it does take a while, but I'm also thinking of Lucy's sake. There are some birds that would love to be with humans, and some that would much prefer to be with other birds. Based on Lucy's behavior towards mirrors, Dudley, and sounds of other cockatiels, I think Lucy would prefer other birds.

And indeed, the dogs do make it a problem, especially if I open the cage door to let Lucy climb out on her own accord, and my small dog just sits there and stares at her. I have to do whatever I can to get him away from the cage, and even then, Lucy still feels uncomfortable about the whole situation. On top of that, I've been trying to work with her, and so far, it seems the only thing she really likes about me is my hair, since she likes to be on my head or shoulder, and play with it. Other than that, she wants absolutely nothing to do with me.

My mom tells me not to give up on her, but I honestly don't know what to do. She recommended just taking her out and spend time with her, petting and all that. You know what good that did for her? It made her develop a fear of my hands. I've read countless of articles on how to improve the relationship. All recommended training, and that's when I started target training. However, she's not willing to go past it, and so we aren't progressing with anything. I feel stuck, and I don't know what else to do. I feel like every time we take a step forward, we take two steps back again. I feel like I'm doing something wrong, but I just don't know what it is.

Is it possible to move her into a different room where the dogs won't be in? There's not much I can suggest besides clipping because that was what worked for me when I had stubborn birds that won't really want to proceed.

I honestly think you should maybe exchange her for another bird that is more friendly. Males don't go through egg laying and stuff like that so it will be easier but they can get aggressive but you can work on that with hormonal reduction.