Hi
over the last couple of weeks my cockatiel has changed completely, he hardly ever wants to come out of the cage when i leave it open and when he does he sometimes swoops at me and tried to bite me hard.

Whenever i go over to the cage, he clings to the bars to try and get to me and bite me. He never used to be like this and i really dont know what to do with him. Before he used to be a nice cockatiel and he would fly out of the cage straight to my shoulder and used to love being tickled and stroked. No chance of that happening at the moment.

Does anyone know what may be wrong and what i can do to change him?
I have been told he may be going through the moulting process which can make them grumpy. Today i bought some Johnson's Moultone moulting tonic that you put in the birds water. Do you think this will help?

Kind regards,
Stacey xxx

we had a problem with ours once and it was just cos we had changed the livingroom round and had put some boxing gloves at the side of his cage he took a dislike and was very moody till we found out what was upsetting him! he is the same with anything new he gets very upset and moody so maybe something has changed in his surroundings that has upset him?

I dont know what is wrong with him at the moment i havent changed anything. He did have a mirror in his cage but kept attacking it so i took it out.
I dont know what else to do. x

ive had my cockatiel 7 years so know his moods quite well by now,,, he was hand reared and ive had him since he was a little fluff! 1 thing i have learnt with birds (i had a grey too) is sometimes their is no reason for their behaviour!!! sometimes they are just moody!!! its what they do lol its what gives them character, i bet yours will snap out of it as quick as it all started

How old is he? Sometimes birds that are going thru a "teenage" stage get hormonal and moody. Otherwise like someone said. Probably just moody. Whatever you do don't back down to him. You need to remain the boss. Even if it means putting on a set of gloves. If you show fear and pull your hand back he will get it in his head if he acts nasty you will leave him alone.

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Koda-my best friend, don't tell my husband, he thinks he's my best friend..lol

I dont know what is wrong with him, ive had him out tonight and he didnt attack me or anything, he sort of warned me off if he didnt want me to touch him but most of the evening he sat on my shoulder and let me kiss and tickle him. xxx

from what i know they hit a terrible 2 stage then same at 6yrs as the reach sex peak how old is your bird?

He is almost 1 yr old x

I would say he is just in a moody phase. Birds do that. If he is almost a year that is when I have been told "teenage" sets in and they can get very nasty. Just keep doing what your doing and all will be well.

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Koda-my best friend, don't tell my husband, he thinks he's my best friend..lol

He is odd as sometimes he will really go for me and bite me. Then sometimes i can be talking nicely to him and he wants to come out the cage straight away and will sit on my shoulder. Really odd.. i guess hes just a stroppy teenager at the mo lol