Frequently Asked Questions
Training: Taking your pet out of their cage
Training: Putting your pet back in their cage
Splayed / Spraddle Leg
Feather Plucking
Toys
Air Sac Mite
Weevils & Bugs
Q: I would like to know how to teach a bird to talk. I have a handreared cockatiel, but whenever l try to get him out of his cage he always tries to bite me. When I finally get him out, he is so friendly.
A: One of the most common problems which pet bird owners experience is due to the extremely territorial nature of their pets. This applies mainly to their cages, but may also extend to other areas and items. Many birds try to take over the whole house!
This is the reason why your hand-reared cockatiel, which has no fear whatsoever of humans, will bite your hand if he feels it is invading his personal space.
You need to train him to come out and step up on to your hand at command. Do not put your hand in the cage, just place your finger at the door and say `up' or `come on' (the words have to be easy for him to learn to understand).
This training might take a little time, but if you do not allow him to come out unless he steps up without biting, he should soon learn not to bite.
As far as talk training is concerned, I have to say that cockatiels are rarely very good talkers in terms of how much they can say that you will understand. You should talk to your bird as much as possible; just small phrases and a few words at a time and see what he manages to pick up. He may well be a good mimic, learning such things as telephone rings and other sounds. Much depends on how much you repeat the same words over and over.
Q: I have had my cockatiel for a few months now. He seems happy playing with these things, but I would like to let him out of the cage. However, I don't know how to get him back in. When I clean his cage I leave the bottom open so that he has a chance to come out, but he always goes to the top of the cage and stays there. Have you got any advice?
A: A pet cockatiel's cage is his castle. He will feel safe inside it, but the world outside his cage will appear hostile. However, once they do come out they can be very difficult to get back inside, unless you have carried out some basic training.
You must train your pet cockatiel to come to your hand and you must be confident at handling him. Start by offering him food items he really likes and get him to take them from your fingers through the wire of the cage.
Once he readily approaches you, slowly introduce your hand to him in the cage with the food. After a while he will accept your hand being in his cage, then you must try and get him onto your finger. When he comes readily you can think of getting him out of the cage. Slowly move him out of the cage and, after a few attempts, he will come out on your hand.
Once he is out, he will fly round the room exploring and looking for safe perching spots. Do not chase him. Let him find his own way round and let him settle. Once he has settled, offer him your finger and he should come onto it without any problems.
To move him around, especially when trying to get him back inside the cage, cup your spare hand round his head, not touching but close enough so it acts like a blinker, and hold him facing you. He will not be able to see where you are taking him and you can get him back inside his cage.
If he gets out and is not tame, the safest way to get him back inside is to cover him with a dry tea towel when he has settled. Pick him up in the tea towel and quickly put him back inside his cage. This will cause him a little stress, so be careful he doesn't bite you. Never chase him round the room if he gets out. Let him settle before attempting to catch him.
Always make sure there are no open windows or doors. Draw the curtains unless you have net curtains covering the windows, as birds cannot see glass and will fly headlong into it with disastrous results. The same goes for mirrors and cabinets with glass doors.
Remove any houseplants, as a cockatiel will chew on them and most are poisonous. Do not let him out in a kitchen or a room with an open fire.
If he comes out on a regular basis, remember he must have rest time during the day in his cage so he can sleep.
Q: How do baby cockatiels (roughly 2 weeks old) get splayed leg(s)/hip? And is there a recommended way to attempt to correct splayed leg(s)/hip?
A: The other common name for this problem is "Spraddle leg".
There are two main types of splay leg:
- where the splay is from the hip joint, and
- where the splay is from the knee joint - this is usually more serious and more difficult to treat.
There are the several things that may contribute to this happening in young birds:
- nutritional deficiencies (especially birds on a diet that is low in vegetables and high in seed);
- injuries during the nesting period, while the leg-bones are still soft;
- the floor of the nestbox being slippery and the birds have trouble keeping their legs underneath them
- gene combinations that predispose to this condition
So if you have a "Splay Leg" problem, take some time to think how one or more of these causes may be affecting your birds and use your imagination and experience to determine what you can do to rectify them.
If the splay is minor, hobbles that rotate the legs into a normal position and improving the diet to a more balanced mixture of foods, may be useful. But if the deformity is major, the bird usually requires surgery. This is a good reason to have daily check of all chicks in the nest - so you can pick up any deformity early and have more success with treatment.
The diet that is fed to the parents is important. You need to feed a balanced diet that has a slightly higher Calcium level beginning from when the birds are first paired, as the hen places calcium inside her bones as a store to pass onto her eggs. If she does not have enough Calcium in her diet during the early stages of courtship; the problem will most commonly be seen as poor shell formation in eggs she lays, or bone deformities in her young. Correcting this is not as simple as just raising the Calcium levels as they have to be balanced to Phosphorus - it is usually worth a chat to your avian vet to see how is best to deal with this problem.
- Dr Michael Cannon BVSc, MACVSc
Q: I have a hen that feather plucks all her babies on the head, and down the centre of their back. What should I attempt to do to prevent this behaviour?
A: There is not a simple answer to this as there are many causes that are thought to contribute to this, but the underlying problem is that the hen feels insecure. For some reason she is unhappy and takes it out on her young - similar to people who chew their fingernails when they are stressed. It is common that birds that were plucked as young will in turn, pluck their young. This is something that is learnt from the bird's parents and is possibly an indication that they cope with the stress of raising birds in a similar way to what their parents did. It is strongly recommended that if you notice the first signs of feather plucking you remove the birds and hand-rear them to try to stop this being passed on.
Possible causes to consider:
- malnutrition - observe what the hen is eating - you may provide a good diet but she may be selective and not eat all the components
- hen wants to go back to nest or is being driven by the cock
- hen has a hyperactive or obsessive personality
- hen feels threatened by other birds, people, other pets in the yard etc.
- Dr Michael Cannon BVSc, MACVSc
Q: I want to make a toy for my pet cockatiel. What kind of material should I use so that the bird can chew and play with it, and it will not harm him?
Obviously you want to use materials that are non-toxic and will not harm the bird. Leather, cotton ropes, wicker basket material and non-toxic wood (pine, most Australian native trees) are the most commonly recommended. Any metal components should be stainless steel - avoid copper, lead, aluminium or any galvanized metals.
There are several websites on the internet, that you will find useful. One of the best is :
http://www.birdsjustwannahavefun.com
This site is in the USA and most of the website is trying to sell you toys that they make - you can browse through this and it will give you lots of ideas, but there is also a section that describes how to make your own toys.
http://www.birdsjustwannahavefun.com/info/toyinfo.htm
This is full of ideas and materials that you can use.
- Dr Michael Cannon BVSc, MACVSc
Q: What is air sac mite? And what is the best treatment for air sac mite?
A: Air Sac Mite is a small mite that lives in the windpipe and air sacs of birds - the scientific name is Sternostoma tracheocolum.
The most common bird species that are affected are: Gouldian Finch, Cordon Bleu finch, canary, European Goldfinch. It can occasionally be found in other birds. These mites cannot live long outside the bird, so the main way they are transmitted is by close contact with an affected or carrier bird - usually a parent or mate. The affected bird coughs up mucous containing eggs from the mite and this is then inhaled by the birds close to it. It is especially a problem in crowded or dusty aviaries. So the best prevention is to:
- quarantine any new birds and treat them with Ivomec® before they enter the main breeding aviary
- keep the breeding aviary as clean and dust-free as possible
- isolate any coughing birds in another building or as far from your birds as possible.
Signs that a bird may have air sac mite are similar to any other infection in the windpipe or air sacs:
- sneezing or coughing that may sound like a click - especially noticed when birds are settling down at dusk
- decreased singing or other vocalizations
- tail bobbing when breathing
- weight loss and lethargy
- unwilling to fly and do so weakly
The best treatments are Ivomec® or Cydectin®. Both these drugs are best given as drops into the mouth or by crop needle - discuss the dose and use with your avian vet. . The often recommended use of a spot-on on the back of the neck is far less effective for the air sac mite - it is better of you have feather or skin mites.
- Dr Michael Cannon BVSc, MACVSc
Q: How can I stop weevils/bugs from breeding in my seed drum?
If you talk to different aviculturists, they will describe many different strategies and insecticides that will help control the weevils and bugs that like to invade your seed storage drum. None of these is perfect and all will have a breakdown from time to time. The trick is to find a combination that works well in your situation but has a low chance of harming your birds. I have described below a list of repellants, storage conditions and treatments that you can experiment with to see which is most useful to you. These are all environmentally friendly treatments as the use of most insecticides can cause problems for your birds.
Repellants: Sticks of Spearmint Chewing-gum, Coriander, Dill, Cinnamon Sticks, Bay leaves, Fenugreek, Tumeric roots, lemon peel and black pepper have all been used as repellants. Remember, these products do not kill the weevils - they make it less attractive to the weevils, so you need to experiment with placing varying amounts of these products in a holding container, attached to the underside of the lid, to work out how much is best for your situation. The holding container needs to have many holes that will allow the aroma from the product to escape and build up in the air throughout the storage container.
Storage conditions: grains stored at 4°C have no pests or weevils. While this extreme temperature is not available in most houses, if you can place the storage bin in as cold and dry conditions as possible you will minimize the weevils numbers and limit their breeding. The best storage containers have a screw lid with a rubber washer that seals and stops the weevils from crawling around the grooves to enter the container.
Heating: heating the seed to 60°C for 30 minutes in an oven will also destroy any weevils, but this is time consuming and expensive so it is rarely done. The seed needs to be evenly distributed in a baking pan so the seed is equally exposed to the heat. After treatment, the seed must packed in tightly sealed packages until used.
- Dr Michael Cannon BVSc, MACVSc