There’s no easy and straightforward answer to how long it takes to tame a cockatiel as it depends on each individual bird.
For example, it is easier to tame a younger cockatiel than an older one that has gone through trauma.
Taming your cockatiel can take just a couple of days, but in other cases, it may take weeks or even months.
No matter how long it takes, make sure you persevere and work to tame your cockatiel every single day.
Perseverance will lead to great results in the end, with a beautiful bird to call your friend.
Here’s what you’re going to discover in this article
- Is it easy to tame a cockatiel?
- What age can a cockatiel be trained?
- Do tamed cockatiels fly away?
So if you’re interested in learning all about cockatiels and taming then you’re going to love this article
Sound good?
Let’s get started!
Is a Cockatiel Easy To Tame?
The difficulty in taming a cockatiel depends on a variety of factors.
It will depend on your cockatiel’s age, whether your cockatiel was hand raised, and more.
Hand taming takes a lot of patience and perseverance.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to taming your cockatiel:
- Introduce yourself. When taming a cockatiel, it’s best to have just one human working with it so that it can get used to that person. Take it slowly. Start by staying in the same room as the cockatiel and not get too close as it may freak out. Instead, slowly introduce yourself to the cockatiel by moving closer and closer as time passes.
- Talk. Once the cockatiel is used to your presence, talk to it softly. Lower yourself to the cockatiel’s eye level so you don’t look so threatening.
- Offer treats. Next, feed the cockatiel a snack. The more you feed it, the more it will start to understand that you are not an enemy and instead a friend that brings delicious food.
- Put your hand inside the cage. Once the cockatiel seems fairly comfortable with you, try putting your hand inside the cage. Stick out two fingers like a perch and try to get the cockatiel to jump onto your hand. Withdraw and go back to previous steps if the cockatiel freaks out. It helps to start from further away from the cage and slowly move towards the cockatiel.
- Take the cockatiel out of the cage. If the cockatiel is now comfortable on your fingers, slowly take the cockatiel out of the cage. Have some snacks handy to keep making friends with your cockatiel.
- Repeat. You should do the above daily or even several times daily. It might even take days for your cockatiel to get to stage 2 or 3, so take it one step at a time!
It must be noted that if you have a pair of cockatiels, this can be an additional hurdle in taming your cockatiels.
The pair will likely bond with each other and will not want to interact with you as much as a single cockatiel will.
Related articles which I think you’ll find interesting!
When do cockatiels start talking?
Are male or female cockatiels more affectionate?
At What Age Can a Cockatiel Be Trained?
The ideal age to hand tame a cockatiel is when it’s very young at around eight to twelve weeks of age.
This is when the bird is the most amenable and easily trained.
After around six months, cockatiels become a bit more difficult to handle and it may take more time and effort to tame and train the bird.
Young birds are quick to learn new tricks and are able to adapt to new situations.
It’s easier for them to adjust to a new home, a new schedule, and a new person to call their friend.
They will easily catch onto your patterns and start to interact with you.
Young cockatiels at only a couple months will not have yet developed any bad habits either, which makes them easier to train.
You can easily entice them with snacks to train them.
Older birds can be more difficult to tame and train, but this does not mean that you can’t at all.
If you adopt a bird that has already been handled by a good owner, you’re in luck!
These birds will be even easier to train than the younger birds as the training has already been implemented in their brains.
However, if you adopt an adult bird that has not been handled or has trauma, you will have your work cut out for you.
Work slowly to gain the cockatiel’s trust.
Patience and key is very important here
Do Tamed Cockatiels Fly Away?
Just like untamed cockatiels, even tamed cockatiels may sometimes fly away when given the opportunity.
The freedom might excite them for a moment and they may stretch their wings and fly away.
But not to worry, there are ways to get your cockatiel back.
Firstly, if you know where your cockatiel has gone, keep your eye on it and don’t lose it.
Once it’s landed on a tree or the floor, use a snack to bribe your cockatiel to come back to you.
If that doesn’t work, use a light cloth or pillowcase to pop over the cockatiel so you can easily grab it and pop it back in its cage.
If you can’t find your cockatiel, go around the block, calling for it.
Put its cage outside and leave the cage open for it to fly back inside when it’s hungry.
If this doesn’t do the trick, list your cockatiel as missing and use posters and ask your friends for help in searching for the cockatiel.
Cockatiels can’t fly too far, so it won’t have flown too far away.
Here’s some related articles that may interested you about cockatiels
Can cockatiels be kept outside?
Should I let my cockatiel out of his cage?
Wrapping Up
Cockatiels are not the easiest pets to tame.
They require a lot of patience and determination.
In particular, if you have adopted an older cockatiel that has not been handled in the past, you will find that it may take even months before your cockatiel is fully tamed.
But it will be worth it.
Once you tame your cockatiel, you will have a friend for life!
Related article – My new cockatiel is very quiet