How To Tame An Aggressive Cockatiel Without Losing Trust
Aggressive cockatiels are a big challenge, especially for new bird owners.
Mainly because it takes so much more time, effort, and patience just to build trust with them compared to a calmer cockatiel.
This article is designed for those who have recently adopted a cockatiel and don’t know how to deal with their unexpected aggression.
Before we get into the “how-to” of taming an aggressive cockatiel, I’ll briefly explain why cockatiels become aggressive in the first place.
Quick Navigation:
- Why Cockatiels Become Aggressive
- Earning An Aggressive Cockatiels Trust
- Establishing Communication
- Hands-Off Interactions
- Understanding Your Aggressive Cockatiels Boundaries
- Consistent Routines
- Dealing With Aggressive Cockatiel Bites
- Conclusion
- Sources
Why Cockatiels Become Aggressive
No bird is inherently aggressive or hateful towards humans.
Aggressive cockatiels have been taught to fear humans, the aggressive behaviour is a result of that fear.
There are many horrible situations that a cockatiel can come from that will cause them to fear humans.
A few other reasons for cockatiel aggression could be:
- Lack of human handling (they aren’t comfortable with humans)
- Hormones
- Lack of shredding toys
- They’re living in a tiny cage
But typically, if the cockatiel is extremely aggressive, it’s because of past abuse or neglect.
It would be a good idea to investigate your cockatiels background.
You can do this by contacting the place you adopted them from and asking about your cockatiel and their history.
Most places, except pet shops, will gladly give you this information.
Even without knowing their past history, taming them is still possible.
You just need to have enough patience and determination to tame your aggressive cockatiel.
The first thing you need to work on is trust-building.
All solid relationships are built on trust, especially with birds.
Earning An Aggressive Cockatiels Trust
It won’t be easy to earn an aggressive cockatiel’s trust.
If the cockatiel is new to the household, they’ll need time to get used to their new environment and their new owners.
This could take a while depending on the cockatiel’s history.
Cockatiels who have been mistreated won’t be so quick to trust humans.
This is why you need to be very careful and understanding when trying to tame your aggressive cockatiel.
The first mission with your cockatiel is to show them you aren’t a threat.
This is often the hardest part of the taming process.
Here are some ways you can earn an aggressive cockatiels trust:
- Set their cage somewhere they’ll see their new household members often (perhaps the living room or a bedroom)
- Talk to them in a soft voice.
- Presenting food to them (place it in their bowl)
It’s a good idea to place the treat in the bowl as they likely won’t accept it from your hands yet.
Doing these simple things will eventually teach the cockatiel that you aren’t a threat.
Earning trust with an already aggressive cockatiel will take a while, but the more time you spend with them, the more they’ll start to trust you and you’ll be a few steps closer to having a fully tame bird.
Quick Note:
It’s a good idea to keep your newly adopted cockatiel inside the cage for the first few days without being let out.
This will give them time to observe their new home while having the security of their cage.
Establishing Communication
Understandable communication between you and your cockatiel is important.
Most of your cockatiels’ communication with you will be done through subtle body language.
Your communication to them will be your responses.
This will be mostly how you’ll communicate during the trust-building stage.
Many new owners overlook their cockatiel’s body language, but it’s actually the biggest clue they give you about how they’re feeling.
So, how do you interpret their body language?
The best way is through close observation.
Primarily, you’ll need to observe for two things:
- What they are doing
- How they look while doing it
For example, cockatiels are usually calm and comfortable when eating.
The demeanour they present with body language and crest position while eating must mean they’re calm.
Take note of what they look like when eating.
If they show this appearance when you approach, it means they’re still calm, even with you around.
However, if the demeanour suddenly changes, they could be scared of you.
You should also observe for other appearances such as:
- When they’re curious about something
- When they’re happy with what they’re interacting with
- How they react when they don’t like something
- What they do when they’re startled
- When do they become aggressive and how do they look when angry
The body language they display during different situations will give you an idea of what they look like when feeling different emotions.
Body language and crest positions are their main form of communication during this stage.
They should definitely not be ignored if you want to understand your bird.
Since nervous, shy, and aggressive cockatiels won’t vocalize too often, body language is all you’ll have to help you identify their feelings.
I hope I’ve explained this clearly to you, body language in general is pretty difficult to explain.
Luckily, cockatiels have a crest on their heads.
This crest makes them much easier to read compared to birds without a crest as it adjusts based on their current mood.
When you act according to their feelings, they’ll notice this and it’ll gain you some trust points.
Hands-Off Interactions
Aggressive cockatiels will not want to interact with your hands right away.
If you try to touch them, they’ll probably bite you.
Angry cockatiels will most definitely prefer hands-off interactions.
Hands-off interactions mainly include singing and talking to them.
During the trust earning stage, 80% of their communication will be through body language while the other 20% will be vocalization.
When they whistle or speak, you should always speak back to them.
This will build trust as well as establish some vocal communication.
Also…
Target training is a great training program to start with an aggressive cockatiel.
It’s completely hands-off and easy to start.
Basically, target training is teaching a bird to follow and touch a target stick for a reward.
Thought it was worth mentioning here since it’s a hands-off interaction.
But I wouldn’t start any training until you’ve built some trust and you know where your aggressive cockatiels boundaries are.
Understanding Your Aggressive Cockatiels Boundaries
Aggressive cockatiels will have stricter boundaries than calmer cockatiels.
When I say “boundaries”, I mean the level of interactions they’re comfortable with before becoming aggressive.
A non-aggressive cockatiel could set their boundaries at “no hands inside my cage”.
Meanwhile, an aggressive cockatiel might set their boundaries at “no hands within 30cm of my cage”.
To get an understanding of your cockatiel’s boundaries, you’ll need to push them a little bit.
But it’s important not to push too much as they could lose some trust in you.
Only slightly push the boundary to find out where they sit, after that, you must stay within their boundaries.
As you start to tame your aggressive cockatiel, they’ll gradually set their boundaries back.
When their boundaries are eased, you’ll be able to interact with them more.
However, if you try to rush the taming process by pushing through the boundaries, it’ll backfire, and the cockatiel will be even more aggressive.
Below is a rough idea of how cockatiels will act when they’re:
- Not trusting
- Starting to trust
- Very trusting
Not Trusting
- They won’t accept treats from your hands
- Will become fearful when hands enter the cage
- Will bite if you approach with hands
- They’ll get scared when you approach the cage
- Won’t respond to whistles
- Will be alert/nervous most of the time
- Definitely no touching
Starting To Trust
- May accept treats through cage bars
- Will remain calm when approached
- Will be alert when hands enter cage (could peck)
- Won’t accept scratches
- Might respond to whistles
- Will be more curious about you
Very Trusting
- Will accept treats from your hand outside the cage
- Will be excited when you approach
- They’ll remain calm while hands are inside their cage
- Will be more expressive
- Might accept scratches
- Will vocalize often
- Will want to be near you 24/7
Everybody’s goal when taming an aggressive cockatiel should be to get to the “very trusting” stage.
But remember, your goal isn’t to push through these boundaries as fast as possible, it’s to act within the cockatiel’s current boundaries until they’re comfortable to move forward.
Consistent Routines
From the moment you bring your cockatiel home, you should be establishing a daily routine.
Cockatiels are intelligent and can understand routines if they’re consistent.
If you do the same thing at the same time every day, your cockatiel will expect the same thing to happen the next day.
The main routines you should establish early on are bedtimes and eating times.
Your cockatiel should eat, go to sleep, and wake up at roughly the same time every day.
Related: How To Establish A Sleeping Routine For Your Cockatiel
Routines are a great way to get fearful cockatiels used to a new household.
Aggressive cockatiels will find comfort in knowing what’s going to happen most days.
Once birds follow a routine for a while, any disturbance to that routine can cause confusion.
The more scheduled their day is, the more they know what to expect and the less anxious they’ll be.
However, strict routines are not recommended.
As the aggressive cockatiel becomes tame, they’ll become bored of their routine.
They’ll want variety during the day as they become more trusting of you and their environment.
Routines are mainly used during the taming process just to get them used to their new home.
The only long-term routine you should keep is the bedtime routine.
Cockatiels need 12 hours of sleep every night and it’s best that they sleep and wake up at the same time every day.
Doing different things every day is stimulating and interesting for parrots.
As your aggressive cockatiel becomes tamer, introduce different activities throughout the day to keep them entertained.
Dealing With Aggressive Cockatiel Bites
While trying to tame an aggressive cockatiel, you’re likely to suffer a bite at some point.
Some bird “gurus” will tell you that you should never get bitten.
But I know that things don’t work out like that for the average bird owner.
And besides, most of the bird “gurus” have likely been bitten before as well.
They just don’t show it.
Making mistakes is perfectly fine and easy to do, but learning from those mistakes is key to becoming a better bird owner.
My cockatiel, Arthur, is very tame and affectionate, but he still bites at times.
I’ve written a full article on preventing cockatiel bites, so I won’t go too deep into that in this article.
But the overall best way to deal with cockatiel bites is to prevent them.
To do this, you’ll need to know the signs leading up to a bite:
- Crest going flat
- Mouth slightly open (ready to bite)
- Hissing
- Aggressive screech
These are all signs cockatiels give before biting.
When they show these signs, stop what you’re doing as it could be making them angry.
What To Do If You Get Bitten
When you do inevitably get bitten by your aggressive cockatiel, you need to discourage the behaviour immediately.
Discouragement is NOT punishment!
There is no way to “punish” a cockatiel, you can only discourage bad behaviour.
DEFINITELY do not hit them or yell at them, this will make them fear you which causes even more aggressive behaviour.
You can discourage biting by doing these things after the bite:
- Not reacting to the bite – This shows the cockatiel that biting has no effect on you and therefore won’t get them anywhere
- Walking away and ignoring them – Ignoring them for a while will tell them that you don’t approve of their behaviour. Even aggressive cockatiels don’t like to be ignored.
- Reward behaviour that doesn’t involve biting – This shows that you approve of their behaviour when they don’t bite, further reinforcing the fact that biting is not ok.
Feel free to screenshot these points to use as a guide when dealing with nippy cockatiels.
However, untamed and aggressive cockatiels might not care if you approve of their behaviour yet.
In this case, the best way to deal with bites is to prevent them from happening in the first place.
Conclusion
The aim of this article was to teach you how to tame an aggressive cockatiel.
Hopefully, I’ve given you some helpful tips that you can use with your bird.
But this article was just about taming aggressive cockatiels.
If your already tame cockatiel is acting aggressively, read the post linked below:
How To Understand And Deal With Aggressive Cockatiel Behaviour
I tried to pack as much useful info into this article as possible as I know aggressive birds can cause their owners a lot of confusion.
Keep in mind, that no bird is born aggressive.
All aggressive cockatiels have been taught to be that way from either poor human handling or former owner abuse/neglect.
It’s not their fault they now act this way.
If you have an aggressive cockatiel, your goal should be to show them that humans care for them and won’t hurt them.
All cockatiels can become tame and affectionate if given enough love and care from a dedicated owner.
Good luck with your cockatiel.
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