aggresive cockatiel

[nacho_novo]

:confused: hello there,
i know there is another thread about this ,but i didnt want to hijack it,
my bird is about 1 1/2 years old and has become very aggresive in the last couple of weeks,he flies at us(my family) and clings to our clothes while atteming to bite,we arent sure what is wrong with him but reading the other thread it appears he is "growing" up,he does his thing with the remote control and is out most of the day but after a couple of attacks today i have kept him locked in his cage in fear of him harming either me ,my wife ,or our kids,he hasnt stopped chirping since i locked him up,
is locking him up going to damage our relationship or will he learn that the attacks are the reason for him being locked up and maybe stop attacking us?
i feel sorry for him,but in the interests of my family i feel this is the best action,
i really need some good advice,ty.

[kimm]

Is he clipped? If not clipping may tone down his attitude a great deal.

Locking up all day won't solve things. If you lock him up, make sure it's only for a few minutes & don't forget to let him out ONLY when he's been nice & quiet, conitune doing this & he'll get the msg. Don't allow him out if he continues to chirp though. If you do he may think all he has to do is make a lot of noise & you'll give in to him & let him out. If he doesn't stop, cover him or shut the door & walk away, he will stop then. Lots of praise when he is quiet. Show him that he gets love & attention when he's being sweet & quiet.

At approx 2 years some seem to go through a 'terrible twos' stage. It needs to be curbed straight away with discaplin or it will get out of hand.

[Kippsmommy]

Do you know how to clip his wings?
if not i can guide you through the process. If he decides to be a bad boy put him in his cage lock the door and cover it up with a thin blanket, but not for long. He will forget why he's in there and resort to nasty habits such as feather plucking. You have to show him what you want him to do, but yes protect your family until this problem has ended.

[LadyLynn]

are you kidding? Clipping wings to adjust an attitude of a bird? that'slike saying, ok, let's give him an enama to adjust his attitude, or a hystarectomy for being himself!!!

Clipping wings is strictly for human comfort, not the birds!!! arg!!!!

Anyway, you have to remember that tiels at some point begin to think they are the boss and it's up to you to tell them firmly, No. and also to show them without striking that you are firmly in control of the situation, and that he is little enough to be moved, not necessarily back to his cage, but away from you, and away from treats.

Sometimes, it's also the opportune time to begin snuggling with him.

We know because we've had tiels for 11 years now, and our first was quite the sass and would often do the behaviors you are talking about and not once was it necessary to clip his wings.

It was pretty much, "you little snot!, no you don't.

And there is also another point here:
your tiel could be tired and you not even aware, or not feeling his best and he's trying to tell you that he isn't feeling well.

If our little tiels behavior seemed incorrectable after we said no moved him, thenwe had to think, where is his cage located? Has the computer been running all night where he's been trying to sleep? Has something been waking him up?
At that point our little Lexi bird was put back in his cage, he cage was moved to a quiet location, covered and he was always given the opportunity to sleep.

It always worked. Once he came out he was a much happier bird. If sick it was a trip to the vets office.

so there are ways.

Just please don't resort to drastic measures. He afterall is little.
and birds were meant to fly.......

good luck.

[nacho_novo]

thanks for the advice all,
i wouldnt clip his wings even if i knew how,i like it when he flies upstairs to me from the livingroom and flies back down when he wants to,
he seems to be ok now,i didnt do anything of note except locked him up for a couple of hours,and when he does anything he aint supposed to i just say NO!!! in a firm voice like i do with the kids and lock him up for a wee while (i dont lock the kids up,although maybe i should,lmao),he seems to be getting the message and hasnt attacked us since,he still nibbles at my hands but doesnt bite,
my wife leaves the TV on all the time when we aint at home,she says its for company for him,do you think maybe it should be turned off?
1 more thing,we've bought him a few toys but he never plays with them he seems to prefer riping the wallpaper or biting our doors,he's always biting the wood,you wouldnt believe how much damage he's done to the doors and surrounding frames,i've tried putting the toys in his cage and out on the floor but when we put them near him he hisses at them so he obviously doesn't like them or they scare him,we bought wooden toys thinking cos he's always biting the doors etc he would like them,thanks again for the tips.

[LadyLynn]

Your wife is right, leave the T.V. on.

Chewing the door frame up is natural, just be really careful about letting him sit on top of them. We let our precious first bird do this, and we forgot a couple times, and had to rush him to the vet for badly damaged nail.
He was spoiled absolutely rotten!

Anyway, give him some unscented white tissue paper to shred. All birds love that.

The toys, some birds simply don't play with them. In fact I have two birds that won't touch any of their toys, and it is flustering to me.

anyway, watch your bills too. He'll gladly get rid of them for you to, by chewing them up. Unfortunately, it doesn't do much for getting the bill paid.

:)

[nacho_novo]

Your wife is right,
ye just ruined my day,lol.


Chewing the door frame up is natural, just be really careful about letting him sit on top of them. We let our precious first bird do this, and we forgot a couple times, and had to rush him to the vet for badly damaged nail.
.
unfortunately we already been there and it was heartbreaking :(
http://forums.petlovers.com/vb/showthread.php?t=16766