How To Bond With Your Bird or Cockatiel

In this article let’s look at bonding with your bird. If you ware wondering how to bond with your bird this is the advice that I have for you.

In this article, I am referring to most hooked beaked pets, and this advice won’t necessarily work with finches and canaries for instance.

Parrots and Cockatiels are very social creatures, and in the wild, you can observe cockatiels congregating in flocks.  They support and care for one another, and for this reason, it is important that you take some steps to bond with your pet cockatiel, especially if you have only one.  This will keep him from feeling depressed and neglected.

It is obviously a lot easier to bond with a younger bird, but an older bird can also be trained, it just takes more time, especially if they are not used to human contact.

How To Bond With Your Bird

Here are some great ways and ideas on bonding with your bird:

1. Hand feed your cockatiel or parrot, as this is a great way to bond and he will start to associate you with positive experiences.
2. Don’t be impatient. It takes time, patience, and consistency to bond with your bird and to train him as you need to.
3. Do some daily training with your bird. Keep it consistent so that he gets used to a routine. Do this in a quiet environment with as few distractions as possible.
4. Talk to him a lot and get him used to hearing your voice.  Some even enjoy it when you sing to them. Spend some social time with him each day to help him feel comfortable around you.
5. Include him in some of your activities by letting him sit on your shoulder once he is tame.  Just remember to close the windows and doors, as fright could make him take flight.
6. Respect your bird and don’t force him to do things that he doesn’t like.
7. Care for him by cleaning his cage and changing his food and water daily.  Don’t feed him things like chocolate and keep him away from toxic plants or dangerous household objects that could fall on him.
8. If your parrot bites you or tries to bite you, do not react by shrieking or smacking, rather blow into his face to distract him.
9. It is not suggested to use positive punishment or negative reinforcement when training, such as spraying a parrot with water or flick its beak as a way to modify behavior. Such techniques are more likely to cause aggression, apathy, and fear and are not considered good training methods.
10. Using positive reinforcement means that the parrot is only rewarded for behaviors that bring it closer to the final desired outcome. For this technique to work effectively, it is common to have to reward a parrot several times for making very small amounts of progress.

Here are some more great training tips and help with bonding with your bird:

With patience and love, your pet bird will adapt to your routines with ease. Always remember that bonding with your bird should be a pleasurable experience for both of you.