Pet Forum / Birds / Parrots / June 2005

I've been lurking here for awhile, but now have a serious question.
I've also posted it to Yahoo Groups and Bird Talk forum, so if this is a
duplicate for anyone, I apologize.

I would like some cockatiel advice on a situation that’s a little more
than I have experience with.  First of all, some history…I got my first
bird, a parakeet when I was 6, later had 2 cockatiels, an African
Ringneck and a Quaker.  All of these birds I successfully tamed, even
the Quaker who a pet store GAVE to me as 15 year old because he was a
“bad bird” and had been returned by customers 3 times (I’m 31 now by the
way, so that was a looong time ago ;).  Within two weeks I had him
falling asleep in my hand on his back, that bird turned out to be so
sweet and my best friend.  That pet store gave my name out to people who
had “bad birds” and I made summer money taming birds at my house for 2-3
week periods, then giving them back to their owners “cured”.

I just adopted or rather was given two female grey cockatiels from a
friend who has no clue about birds and had them for a year and hated
their “noise” and mess.  He always played loud music in the room they
lived in and smoked cigarettes in there (which is why I say he was
clueless), yelled at them for whistling and fed them only the cheapest
seed diet from the grocery store.  I begged him for a year to give them
to me so they’d have a proper home.  Before they lived with him their
home was with a friend of his who lived with her grandmother and grandma
thought they were too loud, so that’s how he ended up with them.
They’re at least two years old and I’m pretty sure they’re female
because they’re pure grey with yellow bars on their tails and no yellow
on the head.

These birds have been living with me for approximately three weeks now
and have adjusted to their new environment well. I’ve gotten them lots
of toys (which they’ve already destroyed), put them on a pelleted diet,
have been adding vitamins to their water and keep them in my bedroom
next to my bed where it’s always quiet and warm.  They are comfortable
with me outside their cage.  If I speak to them or whistle, they whistle
back and I’ve been wolf whistling and have heard some attempts at
mimicking.  Whenever they hear me come home, they whistle until I come
upstairs and talk to them and they whistle like crazy when I leave.  I
know these girls are not a lost cause with the rapid adjustments and
progress they’ve made already.  Honestly, from the lives they’ve led so
far I expected them to reject pellets and be completely fearful
constantly.  The problem is they’re deathly afraid of hands.  I think it
may be something bad from their pasts with hands possibly, but they
hiss, bite and definitely have no clue about stepping up.  I’ve never
met a bird that when you put your finger to their chest does not step up
(or on).  They will come out and go back into their cage on their own if
I open the door, and one let’s me rub her back when she’s out, but
that’s the extent of it.  I know better than to stick my hand in the
cage and grab them and wouldn’t do that to the poor things after
whatever has happened to them in their pasts.

My question is, is there hope that eventually they’ll become comfortable
enough to be social with me (head rubs, shoulder rides, food sharing,
etc.)?  This is the first time I’ve seen such terrified birds who I wish
could tell me what’s gone on in their pasts.  Also, any advice on
working with them would be appreciated.