HOW CAN I GET MY COCKATIEL TO GO BACK INTO ITS CAGE?

The bird should be trained in basic obedience. Once this is done, the bird will be easy to be with and will obey your requests most of the time. Cockatiels should not be allowed to stay on the shoulder; shoulder birds often reject training and become difficult to handled. You should get the bird used to being carried around on your hand not your shoulder.

To break any association the bird may have with going back into the cage and being locked in there, you should develop a habit of occasionally putting the bird in the cage without closing the cage door. Then, the bird will simply get used to the cage just being another place you ask it to step down on to, rather than being somewhere where it is locked away inside.

Reward the bird by putting half a soaked millet spray in the cage. (Soak this by pouring hot water over it and leaving it overnight). Cockatiels will usually eat this in preference to dried food, but don¹t leave it in the cage longer than a day.