tameing my tiels

Question
these are my first birds no sure on the sex but they are bonded and living in the same cage no other animals in house   
except 3 kids the yellow tiel has learned to whistle a tune and will ring a bell for a treat but this is when i am not in the cage.      thank you-------------------------------------------
The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
i have two tiels and have been try to tame them for a while but no luck. i have got then to go on a stick but a soon as you put your hand near them they bite. help
-----Answer-----
Hi, Simon.  Thanks for posting!

How old are your tiels?  How long have you had them?  What are their sexes?  Are they a bonded pair?  Do you keep them in the same cage together?  Any other birds/animals in the home?  What have you been doing up to now to try and tame them?  Do you intend to breed them or keep them as pets?  The answers to these questions will help me help you further.

The first problem is that you have 2 birds...birds prefer other birds to humans.  The best pet bird is a single bird in the home.  Another problem you have is that, evidently, these birds were not handfed as babies, which didn't allow them to imprint on humans, therefore, they fear fingers/hands.  Getting past this will be tough and will take much time and patience.  

If you could answer my questions, I'll see if I can help.

Chrys

Answer
Hi again, Simon.

Your bird that whistles is most likely a male bird.  Males sing and whistle, where females don't.

You'll likely have to work with each bird separately in a room where they can't see/get to each other (or their cage) when you want to work with each because they will focus on each other and not on what you want to do with them if you don't.  This will be difficult, particularly at first, because they are bonded.  If these birds weren't handfed as babies, they didn't have an opportunity to imprint on humans, so they most likely fear fingers/hands.  

It would be best if their wing flight feathers are clipped so they can't get away from you.  The first thing they need to get used to is coming out of their cage on their own.  Just open the cage door and allow them to come out.  They will need to get used to being out before you can work with either of them.  Once they are used to being out, you can take each one individually into a room and close the door.  The cage can't be in the same room or the bird will want to go to its cage.  Just place the bird down in the room and interact with it.  The first time or two, the bird will want to check out the room.  This is fine...let s/he do so.  Each session with each bird should only last as long as you have the bird's attention...might only be a minute or two.  Once you lose the bird's attention, you'll need to stop the session and start again later.  Do this as often as you have time.  Taming takes much time, patience, and knowledge on your part.

If the above doesn't work, there are other ways of trying to tame.  Each bird is different so different methods might be necessary.  However, what I said in my original response still applies...you may never be able to tame these 2 birds since they are bonded and are together.  Your goal in attempting to tame them is to build trust between you and each bird.  When there is trust, the birds won't be afraid of you.  

If your children are young, young children often like to tease birds by sticking their fingers inside the cage and/or aggravating them.  If your children do this, the birds will learn to fear fingers/hands/humans in general.  When trying to tame, you need to avoid anything that will cause your tiels to fear humans.

Try the above for a few weeks and let me know how it's going.  You won't get results overnight!

Chrys