A Parakeet That Wants Nothing to Do With Me

Last Updated on October 1, 2023 by Mitch Rezman

Hi WindyCityParrot;

My sister has a green cheek conure and has been sending me your bird self help articles and I thought I would give it a try (if you have time). We’ve had birds our whole lives, our cockatiel is somewhere around 20years (he was a rescue) and we’ve gone through two parakeets in about 24 years.

My problem, we recently bought the cutest parakeet and have had her for about a year and she wants absolutely nothing to do with any of us. She lets out distress chirps if we even open the cage and she hops to the back.

We can’t get her to eat that much (although we have changed both their diets, the cockatiel is a lot more alert since starting his veggie/fruit pellet diet with healthier poops) and she likes the cockatiel but he’s pretty much antisocial (except for about 30 mins. in the morning when he whistles in the morning).

When he’s out, we usually bring her out and place her on the play gym (she has her own) across from him and she just sits. She DOES NOT like fingers but I can get close to her and give her beak-nosed kisses. I’ve brought her up a few times, to study with me, but she just doesn’t want anything to do with me. I have had her with me a few times and she’s preened and taken a nap (so I know she’s not always wary). We also have a window suction cup perch, and she seems to like that as well.

Is there anything that you can think of that could help. I’d love to be hands-on with her but respect her space at the same time. I’m at a loss of what to do and where to start. Sorry for the information-packed note.

Thanks for listening.

Regards,

Nick

Dear Nick

Your parakeet may never come around. It is at least a year old and is not progressing as a pet well. A baby parakeet is best for training as a pet, (they have the stripes that come down low on the face, which go away as they age)

You may do it best by getting it a fellow parakeet in its cage (or a larger one) If a female, I recommend you remove her, rearrange the cage, then put in the boy and then the girl. Otherwise the female will be territorial and could abuse the new male. Another female would be fine too.

Or if you don’t want any more birds. You may consider a plastic parakeet, lonely parakeets really enjoy them.You can find them here. http://goo.gl/iJ4uF

If you wish to continue to try, I suggest you trim its wings (even just once), and it will be forced to depend on you to pick it up, put it on its perch, or cage, or stand and look forward to seeing you. Right now it can fly away if it wants to. That makes for a very hard time at bonding.

If you have any more questions, please let us know.

Thank you

Catherine