Rescued a cockatiel — need all the advice I can get!

Hi everyone! I recently adopted a rescue zebra finch from a shelter near Roncesvalles. Their name is Storm (the shelter named them but it stuck). They're a bit shy and don't trust easily — no idea what their previous situation was. I want to give them the absolute best life possible. Any tips for helping a rescue bird settle in and learn to trust again?

Welcome to the forum! Great to have another bird lover from the GTA. Your cockatiel sounds adorable — what's their personality like?

Welcome to the forum! Great to have another bird lover from the GTA. Your cockatiel sounds adorable — what's their personality like?

Reading this hit home. My cockatiel went through the same phase around the same age. What helped us was leaving the radio or TV on when I'm out — background noise helps. Also just accepting that birds are gonna bird, you know?

Oh man, this brings back memories. When we were dealing with this with Paco, I thought we'd never get through it. Now it's just a funny memory. It gets better, I promise.

My Sky read this post over my shoulder and started nodding. I'm only slightly concerned.

Anyone near downtown Toronto should check out the bird section at an avian specialty store — surprisingly good for the area.

I switched to TOP's pellets last year and haven't looked back. My cockatiel's feathers have never looked better.

Second vote for BST. They boarded my cockatiel last summer and I could tell Charlie was well cared for when I picked them up. Total peace of mind.

So what I ended up doing was spending at minimum 2 hours of supervised out-of-cage time daily. Within a few days there was a noticeable improvement. Definitely worth trying.