Adopting a pet for the first time can be tricky. Especially if you want to adopt a bird like cockatiel, before you can do much about it, you will have to be able to gain the trust of your cockatiel to get advantages of keeping cockatiel.
Since bird is not like human and you cannot possibly understand it in an instant, there are some effective ways to get your cockatiel to trust you. Those are simple steps in which you do not have to worry if it will fail miserably. Even though they do need effort, it is never a waste to try the ways explained below.
Effective Ways to Get Your Cockatiel to Trust You
Here are some effective and simple ways for you to gain trust from your cockatiel.
- Give Your Cockatiel A Treat
The best way to win your cockatiel’s heart is by giving it a treat. Sure thing spoiling a pet too much may not really end up well. However, if you as the master can give your cockatiel a treat such as cockatiel’s food or snack, the bird will stop acting defensive to you since it sees you as someone who cares enough to share food. Learn things you should know about cockatiel.
Be careful not to give treat too much, especially if your cockatiel behaves negatively. When they do something that is disturbing or too much for you to handle, ignore them instead. Otherwise, it will think you are encouraging bad behavior. Thus, only give treats to reward its positive behavior.
- Talk to Your Cockatiel Frequently
Even though cockatiel is not human, its social perceptive is well-developed to understand the value of having communication with others. This way, you can start to get your cockatiel’s trust by engaging it in conversation. You may not going to receive proper feedback; however, this is the easiest and most fulfilling way to gain cockatiel’s trust.
In order to make it successful, do not just do it once or twice. Instead, do it frequently in a routine to make your cockatiel’s get used to you. For example, talk with your bird every morning or early evening. Ask question or just whistle around its cage. Gradually, your cockatiel will grow attachment to you.
- Try to Make Cockatiel to Fly to You
Another one of effective ways to get your cockatiel trust you is by training it to fly to you. Sure thing this is not really easy at the beginning since it requires patience and attention until your cockatiel can flap its wings and fly to you. Start by coaxing your cockatiel using treats for short distance. After that, go by gesture and command. You can extend and open up your palm to let cockatiel knows you want it to fly to you. You can also use command such as “Come Here (Cockatiel’s Name) repeatedly
If you can train cockatiel to fly to you successfully until it decides to fly to your direction, it means you have gained the trust of your cockatiel. Make sure to do it consistently and start from short to long distance. Eventually you will get cockatiel to trust you.
- Get Them to Play With You
Cockatiel is also fond of playing with toys and flapping its wings around the house. This bird does not really favor to stay in cage all day long. What you need to do in order to get your cockatiel’s trust is by letting them play with you along with toys.
You can start offering fake branches, mini ball, or set up a garden-like indoor atmosphere to make a safe and exciting playground for your cockatiel. Â If you are still new to cockatiel, clip its wings to make sure it will not run away and causes havoc.
- Do Something Close to Your Cockatiel
You do not always have to engage with your cockatiel to always have direct interaction with you.  Especially if your cockatiel has only been recently move to your house. The bird will need to adjust itself to the surrounding to get familiar to it. To make you not disturbing the bird in its alone time, do something close near the cockatiel’s cage. You can also pet your cockatiel by giving friendly gesture like extending palm.
For instance, watch television near your cockatiel’s cage, play music when it is around, or read a book near it. Cockatiel is an observant animal and it will eventually learn your face and start to trust you since it sees you not doing anything that harms them.
- Greet Them Everyday
Greeting your cockatiel is also a way to get closer to your cockatiel. Every time you go outside and come back to your house, greet your cockatiel with warm greeting. You can also pet its head to show affection. By greeting your cockatiel, you are exuding friendliness instead of hostility. Saying something routinely every day will also help if you want to train your cockatiel to sing fluently. Since cockatiel is able to mimic voice, you may see your cockatiel copies your greeting to greet you back.
Moreover, if you live alone, greeting someone when you get back home is a good way to ease loneliness inside your house. This is surely an easy and heartwarming ways to get your cockatiel to trust you.
- Learn Their Body Language
Some birds use gesture to communicate to others, cockatiel is no exception. There are certain situations where cockatiel produces sound, or move their bodies to show something. For example, a cockatiel will bob its head when it gets excited from seeing toys or another bird. A cockatiel also flaps its wings and flies in frantic when it gets scared.
By knowing their body language, you will know how to respond to it. If you can read how your cockatiel shows hunger, you can feed it in time. A cockatiel that sees its master responding correctly to its need will gradually trust you.
These are all effective ways to get your cockatiel trust you. By gaining its trust, youkan improve your relationship with it and enjoy more time with your beloved pet.