Last Sunday we drove to North Wales to get a rescue cockatiel. He spent a few months in a foster home up there, and since they have mainly big parrots it was not the ideal place for him. His time out of the cage was limited, to avoid the risk of a bigger bird attacking him.

He is quite beautiful! When I saw his picture on the rescue website I wasn't really sure what to make of him, he seemed missing his tail and his shape and colours were not well defined:




Well, he doesn't look anything like that. I posted on the mutations section asking for opinions, he is so much lighter than my other greys!
Anyway, he is a good boy with a big voice
He yelled all the time during the trip home, but as soon as he saw the flock he became completely mute lol
He has been fed seeds and grit for what I could see, but fortunately likes a bit of veggies and especially the parsley I had out to tempt him.
He isn't tame, and he doesn't hop on the stick. He seems uncertain whether to trust me or not. He isn't a good flier AT ALL (I am not even sure if he's clipped, seems to be missing a few feathers on oth wings) and plopped down when he tried to fly with the other tiels, but to my big surprise he accepted to hop on my finger when I went to scoop him up from the floor. So maybe there is hope for a bit of future taming.

This is him. He was exhausted after the trip




The two young girls were immediately around him, trying to make friends. He seems more interested in Mr Darcy but time will tell how things will go




Welcome home, new boy!

He has a horrid name which I can't say for privacy policy reasons (I haven't officially adopted him yet) so I hope I will be able to change it soon.
What name do you think would fit him?

So that pretty boy belongs to you now (or will soon)! Congratulations!!

He has a lot of wing feathers so maybe his poor flight skills are due to lack of exercise. It's possible that he never had the chance to learn how to fly properly. An older bird doesn't learn to fly as quickly as a baby would, but he'll figure it out eventually. He's definitely in a better place with you!

That is very possible, Tielfan. I read his adoption paperwork and he basically spent his life between his cage and the cage top. I hope he will learn to fly, at least a little bit. He surely tries hard!
He was showing signs of being cage bound but at the moment he seems quite happy to be out and about.
If I get too close for comfort you can see his brain calculating the distance between himself and the cage but I am surprised at how brave he is in that scary, big new environment!

Last night he came to me while I was sitting on the sofa, and started biting my jeans... you know, when they have those biting attacks where they don't bite hard but still show annoyance... so when he got closer (on my arm, moving towards my face) I moved him back to the top of his cage.
Was that a mistake on my part? I just didn't want him to bite my face, and I thought he would because he seemed quite nervous

If he was showing aggression then it's best to move him away before he bites. You don't want him to establish a pattern of bad behavior.

But sometimes birds can be ambivalent, wanting attention and affection but also being afraid of it. So they display affection and aggression at the same time.

I think food bribery might help you a lot with this boy. If you can put a piece of millet spray in front of his beak when he starts the agressive fake-biting, he'll have something better than flesh to bite on, and he'll start to learn that good things happen when he's with you. You can also offer him treats that you're holding in your hand when he's not being aggressive, to teach him that good things come from hands.

If he's never learned to fly his chest muscles will be weak and it will take time to build them up to the point that he can fly. He'll probably never be as strong and skilled as a bird that learned to fly as a baby. But if his wings are physically normal (meaning no old injuries that would interfere with flying) then he will eventually learn to fly reasonably well.

This is one of the great things about cockatiels - they always want to try to fly. Some of the larger parrots will give up if you prevent them from flying, and it's hard to make them start trying again. But cockatiels never give up, and if you give them the chance to fly they'll take advantage of it.

Congrats on your new boy! He is cute

He looks lovely I'm sure he will come
once he settles down.
Drummer: my tiel who was found by the river,
couldn't fly when he was brought to me, over six years he can fly a little, the length of our room.
His landing isn't to good, boy he tries....
I hope he settles... what name do you fancy for him?
Drummer got his name as that was all he could do, he sat and Drummed all day, when he first arrived with me... I look forward to an update!

He is a lovely cinnamon. Congratulations!

I don't think he's a cinnamon, his eyes are definitely black. He is probably just a very very light grey.
Jan, I have no idea, he'll prolly end up with one of those names I cook up, half English and half Italian lol
Or maybe Werther, since he seems the romantic type...

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