Young 'Tiel Behavior Issues

[Mumble55]

Hello. I am having behavior issues with my (1 year on May 10) 'tiel, Chester. He is EXTREMELY jumpy and skiddish all the time and when I go to take him out of the cage he runs away and spazzes out. He has also begun to screech constantly even when he is out of the cage. When I finally get him to come out of the cage he is very mean, he bites (hard enough to break the skin) and lunges and hisses and flies all over the place. I don't know what happened to him either, he used to be a sweet cuddly little birdie that couldn't stand to be anywhere but my shoulder. I simply don't know what to do and I hate taking out only one of my cockatiels all the time and leaving the other (Chester) in the cage. Any advice on what could be the issue and how to solve it? I don't want to even consider giving him up (back to the breeder) but that is what others have tried to tell me to do PLEASE HELP!

[maxollie]

Hi, Autum. Well, I think that Chester is displaying "puberty behavior" now, and also might be getting "hormonal". Since Chester is going to be a year old, that is about the time tiels, especially male tiels, start acting completely different towards their caregiver, as well as having other behaviors that you've never seen or heard from him before. My advice to you would be that you will need to have "patience" with him, and let him go through this "puberty" streak he is having. Also, he might very well be going to have his first annual molt (losing feathers), and that also could be making him a "crab apple"! I truly feel that once Chester goes through this behavior, which is very normal for a male tiel, he will return to being much more sweet and cuddly than he is now. I hope you will consider riding out the "puberty" with him so he doesn't have to go back to the breeder. I'm sure other folks who are very experienced in tiel behavior will be posting to your thread and give you some other ideas too!

[Mumble55]

Okay. Thanks so much. That was my original thought but my other tiel Mumble didn't do anything like that so I thought it was something else. I will have patience and just wait out these things. I was so upset because I couldn't figure out what was wrong and I didn't want to talk to my parents because they would have suggested giving him back if things didn't get better soon. Once again, thanks

[Marrie]

My tiel when he hit puberty at a year went insane. He was dive bombing my boyfriend, biting the blood out of him, etc. Screaming was all the time, over seemingly nothing - even when he was eating he would scream. He had begun molting during it as well so that just made it worse for him. Took about two weeks for the worst of it to stop and then another two for him to get back to somewhat normal, if hormonal. Now he gets a bit hormonal in spring, but it's not that bad. Just be sure you are not reinforcing any of the bad behavior so it doesn't become a habit and he should get over it soon.

[Mumble55]

Okay, that sounds like my little guy and I think he is molting, too. It just threw me off a lot because my other tiel never did any of those things and he's only 3 months older. I have been sure to not reinforce even the slightest thing because I know that will cause even more issues. It's funny, he was just screeching as i read the post but as soon as I started typing about it he stopped :P Anyways, Thanks for the advice this has only been going on for about a week but I will be back with an update on his behavior soon.