Training and BondingTraining your budgie can be quite a feat, but it's well worth the effort. We'll help you get through the training and bonding process.
I think my little guy will be a person bird. He is very sweet. Every time I walk around the room he makes sure he can see me. He will let me pet him a bit right now and hopefully he will continue to remain receptive to me. Already when I say the word "hello" he chirps!
I would really like to get another..........
Should I do it now, or a bit later?
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Originally Posted by SpickyDavies
nothing is ever easy, anything can be achieved with patience, effort and understanding
if you can get a young bird from a breeder who handles his chicks on a daily basis, you won't have a problem training them
saying that every bird is different and it may turn out your current one may not be a person bird so a friend is allways a fantastic idea- you can't always be there
whoever said a flock will never bond with you, tell that to my group...
their wings are not clipped nor have ever been
i see no reason to keep a bird on it's own so it's bond with it's owner- anything else but for our own selfish benefits, they should be appreciated for the wonderful birds they are
tame, cuddly, wild and snappy
off course, this is just my opinion
if you'd love a new bird go for it! follow quarantine rules and this will allow you plenty of time to interact with them both- they are very social and nothing makes your day more then seeing them give good ol' head scratchs!
up to you
when you buy a new bird, they need to be separated for 30 plus days anyway, so this gets plenty of time to them settled and gives you time to interact with them sepratly
once you pop you can't stop with budgies
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Spicky
Kiwi, Zebra, Pepsi, Bananas, Twirl, Circus, Forest, Zipps, Butters, Mallow, City, Errol, Nimbus, Luna, Pie and Toby. Mango & Melon the Kakarikis x Put your bird's happiness before your own.
ask the store if any new birds have been introduced the cage between when you bought the first cutey and the date you go in- if not then i'd put them together unless clearly ill
that's just personally
but it would still need it's own cage anyway as you not not just put them in togther they need to be introduced slowly
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Spicky
Kiwi, Zebra, Pepsi, Bananas, Twirl, Circus, Forest, Zipps, Butters, Mallow, City, Errol, Nimbus, Luna, Pie and Toby. Mango & Melon the Kakarikis x Put your bird's happiness before your own.
My budgie Rain is five years old... I tried for a year to tame her... she was a scared bird from the get go and still kind of is. Rain is afraid of hands.. if i put a dowel infront of her and say up she will step up and she responds to my voice and loves it. I had only Rain for this whole time... I would recommend taming this little guy as it sounds like he's more sensitive and needs more time to get used to you. You can always buy another bird but this means quarantine for atleast 30 days.. that means you can use this time to get the other bird tamed and used to you before you introduce the new bird to your current little boy. It's all up to you. Goodluck and welcome... keep us updated
oh and P.S. it's great progress that your budgie is letting you pet them when they are shy good job!
i reckon if you tamed him then got another, he may become less tame as a result. however most likely he will be more happy. and it would noy be too hard to "re bond" with him if it was really really necessary, but you probably wouldnt need to. as theyve said the quarantine can be a good time to tame the new bird
Keep in mind, some people are better at taming and interacting with birds than others. And if you can't tame a single bird, it is very unlikely you will tame two untame birds. So, if you are new to this, I'd tame the one you have first and then get another a few months later.
Since you work at home, you have an advantage. Put the bird cage on your desk while you work, if you can. You can bond slowly that way, just being together all day. When you get around to letting it out, do so in a small room, with a closed door. The last thing you want to do is chase it around room to room and scare it.
As for wing-clipping, it's up to you. It usually makes taming faster and you can alway let the feathers grow back after 1 clip. I know some people are complaining how cruel it is to clip but I think it's worse to have an unclipped bird that stays untame and can never leave his cage. But if you work in a small room (again, with a closed door), you can certainly tame a young budgie with no wing clipping. I've done it in one day in fact. But maybe I'm good at it?
One little secret - once your bird is finger tame and you let it out, let it come to you. Some people get all weird about needing the bird to sit on their finger every second. You just have to be patient. The less threatening you are, the more likely your bird will want to come to you. One option for you, if you work in small home office: Get the bird tame to where he will sit on your hand in the cage - do this repeatedly so he understands you are "safe" - and then one day, open the cage door and let him come out when he wants to. Just keep working as usual and you might be surprised and he'll come to you! Especially if you have a millet spray on your desk outside his cage!!
I have a Bourke Parakeet, which is similar to a budgie. I got her to sit on my finger but she would always hop off when I tried to take her away from her cage. As soon as she could see her cage, she flew back to it. So I used some psychology. I just leave the cage door open when I watch TV now. Sooner or later, she flies into the livingroom. I whistle to her, she whistles to me. Eventually, she will jump on my knee and sit there. Lately, she goes from my knee to my shoulder. All by herself - I don't do anything except chatter back to her. Now she's kind of getting tame because she wants to. Now if I started chasing her around to make her sit on my finger, she'd start flying back to her cage and we'd be a square one again. See what I mean about being patient and non-threatening?
__________________ Ron (a.k.a. Twitter09)
Owner of 1 Bourke Parakeet named "Twitter", an as-yet unnamed Scarlet-Chested Parakeet, 4 doves and 10 finches (and a 16-year old dog)
i reckon if you tamed him then got another, he may become less tame as a result. however most likely he will be more happy. and it would noy be too hard to "re bond" with him if it was really really necessary, but you probably wouldnt need to. as theyve said the quarantine can be a good time to tame the new bird
I agree. Charles had just started really bonding with me when I first got Theodore-- Charles would step up all the time and hang out with me, not quite snuggle but he didn't mind my hands at all and liked being outside the cage with me. After Theodore's quarantine was through and I introduced them, they have become much, much less tame. Charles will still step up most of the time but usually wants to go right back to Theo, and with Theo it was like we'd never met before (despite having been in quarantine for a month). But they seem 1000 times happier-- and they really adore each other-- so I don't regret my decision at all. I've been working really patiently with them as well and I think that I'm making slow but steady progress.
Well I had an interesting time last evening. I opened the bird cage because I am trying to get him accustomed to my hand and he flew out of the cage!!!!
UGH!
Like I said earlier I have 12 foot ceilings all over the house downstairs and the stairwell going up to the 2nd floor - that ceiling is 40ft! I could not catch him. After awhile I just decided that he was going to do what he was going to do. Giving instructions to my children to NOT open any outside doors I just let Mr. Quigley "be".
For most of the time he sat high up on the top of the cabinets in the kitchen and watched while I did the dishes. After a time he flew into the living room and landed on the hearth. I went in there and sat next to him and talked to him.
He eventually flew into the downstairs bathroom and I went in there with his cage and shut the door. After a while I was able to get him to hop onto my finger and he would let me pet him - chest only. Then I started kissing him and made "kissy" noises when I kissed his beak. I would say "kiss" over and over. He would lean up and kiss back! It was really cute!
I spent quite a while in the bathroom with him then I put him back in his cage.
Today I took his cage back into the bathroom to try again and he would NOT come out. I could NOT get him onto my finger and he would NOT leave the cage with the door open.
What he DID do today that he has never done yet was he ate some millet out of my hand. I started with a large piece and then I held a little bud (so he would get closer to my finger) and he had no problem.
He likes his chest petted, he bends his head down and closes his eyes.
He likes when I sing to him, he sings back (well....or maybe he doesn't and he's telling me to shut up LOL!). I have noticed today that when I have to leave the room for just a minute he will make this sad little chirp....not like his usual one.
I hope (even though he won't come out again yet) that these are signs he is beginning to bond. He is a very young bird we were told (but we don't know how old).
He is going to the VET on Thursday for a check up.
OH! And I can't tell you all how MUCH I appreciate you all chiming in and helping a new Birdie Mommy!
I have had every other pet that most people have had (and some many have not) I have always had wonderful luck with all my animals.
Currently I have:
One Abyssinian cat - Harley
One Basset Hound - Cleo (we had two but our old girl Daisy recently passed away :-( )
One Robo hamster - Emma
Three - Firebelly toads - Charlie, Mica and Michaela
First time for a birdie!
Last edited by FeatherBaby; 02-08-2010 at 10:49 PM.
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