A somewhat timid cockatiel

Question
I have two Wild-type male and female cockatiels.  Well I adopted this the male and he is alittle over a year old.  Now I know nothing about his past except that his previous owner didn't want him.  I looked at him and there were no sign on neglect or abuse.  My female she loves to be petted behind the neck but the male freaks out if I get to close to his neck; I can pet his chest but he is real scared about his back and neck.  He also sings to Bella,the female who is about 6 months old, but when she goes to preen him he pecks at her but he has never hurt her.  He sings to her in the nesting box; she comes in there with him and he runs her off.  She loves him and he apparently likes her but doesn't want any touching at all... I thought maybe it was because he had his primaries so I clipped them that stopped the loud cries and he loves to jump on my shoulder so he doesn't fear me...  But it worries me about how he doesn't want any contact though he sings for it..  Could this be a sign of abuse or neglect because I treat Davey and Bella like royality.  They have I nice size cage not too small and not too big they have room to stretch their wings together side by side on the same perch they always have fresh water that has vitamins added, fresh seed and pellet diet fortified with vitamins.  They have nice toys and their cage is cleaned twice a week.  They get 2-3 hours of free play in my room daily where they can get out of their cage two hours before I go to sleep so they are tired by time I go to sleep (of course I supervise).  They get vet care so I can't see it is my fault.  I had Bella for about 5 months (she was a month old when I got her) and Davey about 4 months so they weren't bought at the same time but they took to each other beatifully.  I do think it was the previous owner because the cage he came in wasn't that great (IT WAS LINED WITH NEWSPAPER!!).  Is Davey behavior neglect or abuse related or his that his personality?  He is sweet, hates to be alone want company but doesn't want contact.  Plus I plan to breed them in about 8 months could this affect my plans? I don't care if this affects his ability to reproduce I love him anyway that is not why I got him.  I love them they are my children and it breaks my heart to think someone could have hurt this innocent bird. So is this abuse or neglect related?  Oh by the way she left the bird outside the perstore for god knows how long his food was molded his water was green and he had a dirty mirror as a toy but he was fit no signs of abuse he whistles alot and he is sweet.  But is his behavior steming from abuse or neglect and could this effect his ablilty to father children?  I love him if he can or can't.

Answer
Hi, Juliena,

It sounds to me like the male just isn't a tame bird.  A bird can be treated very well, but unless it imprints to humans as a young bird, or is able to be tamed as an older bird, it will behave like your describe your male is behaving.  Doesn't necessarily mean abuse or neglect.  For example, my pair of adult tiels has a clutch of babies.  If I allow the parents to raise these babies, the babies most likely will not be tame because they didn't imprint on humans.  If I handfeed babies, they will imprint on humans and, thus, be tame.  This will not affect your plans to breed them.  Actually, an untame bird usually makes a better parent bird.  Even some tame birds will not let their humans pet them.  Birds often have a fear of being touched on the head and down the back, as well as other areas of their bodies.  This comes from their fear of predation.  A predator would take them down by grabbing around their wings, their back, head area.  Another fact...birds prefer other birds to humans.  Since this bird has a mate/companion, it doesn't need you!  

Do not add vitamins to their water.  Anything added to water quickly result in bacterial growth.  The bird(s) drink the bacteria soup and get sick.  Vitamin enriched seed is a poor diet for a bird.  Your birds need a variety of healthy, nutritious human food, pellets, and very little seed.  Seed is high in fat, low in nutritional value.  Also, there is nothing wrong with using newspaper as a cage liner.  I like to use newspaper so I can monitor my bird's droppings.  

Chrys