[aidee]

Yip - either clicker training definitely works or I have a really tame birdie :)

I got my 4-month-old cockatiel about 6 days ago. At first, he would start flapping about his cage whenever anyone got within 5 feet of it. So, I bought a clicker and would stand there until he stopped flapping. As soon as he stopped, I would click it and walk away for 5 minutes.

That same day, he let me put my hand in his cage.
The next day, he let me touch his head.
On the 3rd day, he was stepping up when enticed but was REALLY nippy (biting hard sometimes).
By the 4th day, he was stopped most of the biting.
On the 5th day, he was stepping on command (even when my finger was really far away, he would use his beak as a third foot kind of thing).
Today, the 6th day I've had him, he's learning to fly from one hand to the other when enticed.

What was holding his training back was the fact that I could only reward him verbally, since he was still afraid to eat treats from my hand. I tried sunflower seeds, pellets, etc but he wouldn't eat them because my fingers were too close to his mouth. Tonight, I found some millet spray thing that he does eat from my hand!

Tomorrow, I'll try to teach him to wave and keep working on the fly-on-command :-)