[Sweety's mom]

Sweety is from a pet store and clearly wasn't hand raised. Like a lot of new birb parents (who haven't done enough research) I mistakenly thought Sweety would want to sit on my hand and shoulders, etc. I learned right away that this isn't a natural thing and only hand raised ones do this immediately with a new person because they already trust people.

Reading, learning, growing with him...and I finally get it. I do not want to "tame" Sweety. I want to bond with him. I want him to want to touch me, but I also will never be disappointed if he doesn't! I know he loves me and we really have bonded so much. He trusts me, sits there and watches with interest when I clean out his cage or change his food and water with my hands in the cage. He knows I will not try to grab or touch him because he set that boundary with me very clearly!

He will eat some millet from my hand and sit on it, but he doesn't want more touch than that and I have respected this.

We are working on getting him out of the cage safely. Since he won't allow touch and definitely will not perform any kind of tricks for treats, then I have no way of getting him back into the cage until he chooses to go back. In my place, this is dangerous for him because outside doors may need to be opened or other issues can pop up and if he doesn't go willingly back to his cage, he could get outside or get hurt. So I bought this really cool pod type tent thingy, it is sort of like a pop up phone booth!

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I can set his cage inside, open the top up, and he can play or fly around safely. I can even fit in there with him and I do go in there and spend time with him. He is getting closer and closer to me when I do this. It is so sweet, he definitely is not afraid of my face and head, he is only afraid of my hands. So slowly slowly we will get to where he may actually get on my head or shoulder or whatever, but at his pace only!

Now that he is used to his pop up tent, he loves it when I pull it out (he is never in it without me supervising). Then today I bought this other kind of tent that will be almost as big as my whole front room. This will allow him to fly around so much more and test his environment out safely.

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I can't wait to set this one up and give him an opportunity to actually fly more! He flies a lot already, but he hasn't been able to fly across the room back and forth. Now he will be able to do that.

Anyway I don't really have a question or anything I just wanted to share. I love this little guy so much and again, bonding NOT taming!

 

[Sweety's mom]

I have a pic to share of one other flying time play pen we have. This is meant for a dog or cat and only opens on one end. I can put toys and treats in it and not only does he go hang around he also flys around and sometimes flys expertly between the tent and the cage. I can get down on the floor and talk to him and cheer him on through the mesh sides.

 

[Sweety's mom]

Also that pic with the giant twig of millet was only to draw him into it the first time and once he got in there I made sure he did not gobble the whole thing. He now will go in with no treat just because he knows it is a fun environment 🤗

 

[Sweety's mom]

Just back to give a product review! I don't know how to post just the pic, but this link is to a mosquito tent which I purchased for Sweety to be able to fly inside of.

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I installed hooks to tie the corners to in my front room and tried out the tent this weekend. Unfortunately, the netting is so tiny and flimsy (similar to a nylon stocking with tiny fishnet) that if he landed on it he could get his little feeties stuck in the net, which also put holes in the net. I was worried about that but hey, this thing was super cheap and was worth checking it out. The good news is that it did provide a very large safe area for him and he did fly around several times, and that was the most he's ever been able to fly in terms of area covered and length of time flying at once! And he loved it sooo much! I also was able to get into the tent with him easily and I sat there with him on top of his cage where we could see face to face with no cage or screen between us, and the little sweetheart let me scooch right up to him with my face in his, and he just looked at me so sweetly and contented about the fun times he just had. He also sulked for an hour when I finally closed up the top of his cage and put him back where he normally sits (he had been in the tent for over 4 hours!)

I found something better to try, also very reasonable cost. It is also a mosquito net but not quite as flimsy and also is taut because it has wire pop up corners and top. It has places I can hang perches around to encourage him to not hang on the net, but I also think this net probably won't be all snaggy like the other one was. Either way, this is a thing that he would never be in without supervision, it is for play time only when I have lots of time to spend with him.

I can't wait to get the new one I found and try it out, I think it will finally be exactly what I've been looking for to make my place safe enough for him to fly around in most of the area of my front room. And I still have the two smaller pop ups for him for different adventures.

 

[Sweety's mom]

Great information, thanks so much for posting it! It must be a relief to have a reasonable solution for budgies' safe outdoor flying time

After hunting around the entire internet for months now, I am shocked that some pet company hasn't yet figured out they should make a pop up bird safe flying tent. They make them for cats, dogs and rodents. But not birds! They are cheap and easy to set up. Someone should do this and make a fortune.

Having said that, I am also working on ways to make my front room safe for him. It will take a little time, planning and help from some friends. One of the things I will be doing is putting an enclosure outside of my slider door. So that when I get to the point where the rest of the room is safe for him to fly, then there is no way the slider can accidentally be opened to the outside, there will be that fail safe enclosure.

I will also need to create a safe wall between living room and kitchen/front door. I have a few different ways I can do this so I'm working through them to find the best way. When those two things are done, he will be able to fly in the front room safely. In the meantime I've got these other solutions. I'm excited for the day when he is flying all around.

 

[Sweety's mom]

Just a flying update - I finally got the correct type of room divider I needed in order to allow Sweety a safe, full sized room he can fly around in. So now he doesn't need the pod/tent environments anymore - though he may still want them for play environments later on.

After I got it all installed and buttoned up, I started opening the play top on his cage every night after work and baited him out to the top with some millet. He sat on top and ate his treats, and then looked around at every nook, corner and cranny in his safe room over and over for hours each night! Because he has rarely seen his world without the view of the bars in the way, at least not outside of his pods, so it all looked so different to him.

Even in his pod environments, he has never done a lot of flying. He does like to sit on the top of the cage and observe everything though, so I never spooked him to make him fly (at least not on purpose) I just let him do what he felt comfy with. He might be in there for a few hours and only take one quick flying lap around the pod, then chirp happily and sit on top of the cage again.

So after 3 nights after work, and one entire Saturday of him having the top open and free to fly if he wanted to but not doing it....finally on Sunday he flew! He made about 10 big circles all around the room, and then went for the sliding glass door (of course, lol) but I was anticipating that and I have long blinds which kind of let him in there without letting him completely splat on the glass (as you can see in the pic above with the blue pod/tent). He ended up kind of gently sliding down between the glass and the blinds. Ended up at the bottom, not phased at all and sat looking out the glass with excitement to the world of my porch. Then he expertly just walked out from the window through the blinds and out into the middle of the floor in the room. Sat and looked around for a minute and then flew perfectly up to his cage top and sang with pride. (I can't even relate how CUTE he looked on the floor, he's so tiny and he's literally never been on the floor before, OMG).

It was only a few moments really, but these moments were the first time he has ever had that kind of freedom in his young little life. He was on top of the cage free to fly more the rest of the day but he did not, he just sat up there taking in his new freedoms, although not really looking around at the nooks and cranny like he did previously. I think when he took his flight he tested all the birdie theories he had about how the space was going to be and now he "knows". He also let me so close to him while on top of the cage, almost close enough to give him a real kiss. I'm so proud of him!

5 nights a week and all day on weekends, Sweety will now have his cage open. I am sure he will fly again and eventually fly more often. But just knowing that HE knows he is free up there on top and could fly if he wants to, and gets a break from cage life regularly, warms my heart so much. It took me too long to get this set up, I wish I could have figured it out sooner!

 

[Sweety's mom]

Just a little update! So Sweety now is safe to fly (outside of the cage) if he wants, but he very rarely chooses to. Which makes me sad because I think this is because for the first few months with me I couldn't allow him to because my space wasn't safe enough. So he learned that his only safety is in the cage (or in one of his PODS) and now doesn't necessarily want to explore what is outside the cage. I'm hoping he will live such a long life that eventually he will keep gaining trust and curiosity and spend more time outside the cage.

So when he does actually decide to take a flight, it is so cool to see it. This weekend he finally took flight around the living room a couple of times, and then sat on top of his cage and chirped about how proud he felt. He flies so well considering how few times he has flown outside the cage. He also for the first time figured out how to get from the top of the cage (which was closed) to the side open door to get back in after flying. That was also super cute to see him do it as before, if he went out the side door he would go back to the top but be confused about why it isn't open, and could not figure out the open side door. All of that is over now, he totally gets the side door and in and out, etc. He also now has decided he wants to sit right on the opening of the side door all day so if I am home I just leave it open and he sits there looking out at the world and loves it. When I have to shoo him back into the cage and close it he gets annoyed and gives me a sharp "chirp!" rebuke. Though he does the same thing if I turn off his favorite show, Ru Paul's Drag Race.

He also will now allow me to give is beak a kiss (though he's clearly just doing this for me, he would prefer no touchy at all, but that actually makes it even sweeter somehow).

Still absolutely zero chance that he will allow touch by my hands, but that's ok. He doesn't mind my hands, unless they are trying to touch him. Even near him they are ok, as he knows I'm just changing toys around or whatever. But I also hope over time as he comes out of the cage more, he will at least tolerate being near me even if no touchy.

 

[Sweety's mom]

One thing I've discovered is just when you think you have things all buttoned up regarding budgie proofing a room, they will show you areas you never thought of that they can get into lol. My birdy proofing tactics aren't pretty. I used the cardboard from cases of soda to block off the area behind my bureau have fabric storage containers adjusted closely together to block access to the area under my bed. I block her view when I am constructing these safety measures because she watches what I'm doing and her curiosity draws her to that area like a magnet haha. What a lucky bird to have a great mama like you!!!

I've blocked off what I can see as obvious issues, but so far he has not explored anything outside of his cage (other than a quick peek out the window from the floor at his crow friends once in a while). I'm sure eventually he will and then I'll have to find out what else needs to be blocked or corrected. I'll be so happy when that time comes! I can't wait to see him exploring anything at all, poor little guy, so in love with his cage and uninterested in anything else.

I think the main worry I'll always have with him is that he wants outside sooooo bad that there will never ever be a moment I can let my guard down when it comes to the glass sliding door. He knows his friends are out there and they are the only thing he is interested in other than his cage/toys.

 

[Sweety's mom]

@karenblodgett3261 Unfortunately, Sweety does not allow any touch so there's no step up or anything like that. If he comes out of the cage, he does not want to explore anything. He may do a quick fly around the room and then hang out on the top of the cage or in the open side door.

I live in a studio apartment and Sweety having the sliding glass door in view is his favorite enrichment. It all started last summer when I would take him out the sliding door to my porch with me (I just grab the whole cage and take it out). This became his favorite enrichment and every day we would sit out on my porch, sometimes for a few hours. During this time he made friends with some crows who hang out around my place. The crows would come sit on the wires or tree above us and were very curious about Sweety, and he would squak and fly and do anything to get their attention, which actually worked.

So then the weather got cold and no longer could he go outside (which made him really mad, especially at first). But since he could still see out the sliding door to the porch, I started putting a little treat out each day for the crows, and at least one comes by each day and gets the treat and Sweety gets to feel like he visits his friends this way even though he can't go outside. Here's what that is like. He's so cute, he shows his friend all of his toys, his water, his cuttle bone, like "come visit me, look at all the food water and enrichment I have!!"

So now....if Sweety does fly, if the blinds are open on the sliding door, he will go straight for the glass door and bonk on it. Therefore I leave the blinds either totally closed or 3/4 closed (meaning the blinds are drawn across but the vertical slats are closed 3/4), and that way if he does go for the glass door the blinds will keep him from bonking on it. Its hard for him to get the concept of it being a barrier, because he knows sometimes the barrier is open. And also because he simply doesn't fly enough or explore enough to get the hang of it. He would never go to any hanging toys there or anywhere else in the studio, he simply does not take interest in anything outside of his cage, other than engaging with me or with the crows.

But! I think this will change over time and he will fly and explore more. For now, I just never have the cage open at all unless the blinds are closed and so far that is working out. My cute little cage loving guy.

 

[Sweety's mom]

Today was a great day for Sweety! He flew around the studio so many times! The most he has flown before. And then on his last flight he went from the air straight into the side door on his cage and perfectly lit on his perch, for the very first time. He peeps and squeaks so proudly after some good flying.

Then later in the day I took the last dowel out of his cage and replaced with a branch. Also put one new toy in and replaced an old one with the same exact new one. He is always afraid of new things in his cage for a day or two. So this is him sitting on a lower branch and staring at the new branch and new toy as if they may murder him

I know by tomorrow he will be all over the new branch and toy but for tonight he has to stare the new things into submission.

This all led to some wonderful bonding as well. When I first had to reach in and rearrange the cage, he flew to the front of the cage and clung on. So he was as close to me as he could be. When I was done and took my arm out he stayed there, afraid of the new things. So I stayed right at the cage and I was able to kiss him on the feet and beak several times while he clung there. He was there out of fear but he stayed out of comfort. I sang songs to him and comforted him and kept kissing him while he stayed so close and even seemed to lean into it after several minutes. This boy doesn’t want me to touch him but he does sometimes come for my touch or comfort and it’s so endearing since he is so independent.

 

[Sweety's mom]

Yes, he has now stared the new branch and toy into submission enough to play with and perch on them!

He had another great day with some flying, which also resulted with him flying into the kitchen and the bathroom. My screen room divider was open, because so far he had not headed that way. Well I really need to keep him out of the kitchen, so once he had his fun I quickly closed up the screen and it will need to be closed if the cage is open from now on. But in his little adventure he got to see much more of my studio and he also sat on top of the kitchen cabinet singing proudly for so long before I finally convinced him to go back to his cage. Then he fought me for half an hour not to go back inside, he had had too much fun!!

Also I have this little travel cage which I used to be able to get him into and then we would travel around my place together much easier (or take it outside when it was summer). Something happened at some point several months ago that made him afraid of going into the little cage. So I moved the little cage out of his view for a long time, and just tried pulling it out again on Sunday. He was almost happy to see it! And basically hopped right in. This was fun because then I took him for a little walkabout in it around the apartment, and then sat him in it in front of the glass door that looks out onto the porch, and put some treats out right in front of it on the porch. His friends, crows, squirrels and some little birds came by to eat right in front of him and he loved it so much. He then refused to get out of the little cage for several hours, bless his heart he's so cute and stubborn and fun.

 

[Sweety's mom]

Here’s another example of the kind of bonding Sweety wants and we can enjoy together. And it’s also hilarious.

Sweety still hates my hands but ever so slowly I’m trying to get him to at least let me boop his beak. He will sometimes let me kiss his beak but so far no finger boops. Tonight I tried for the first time in a long time to gently finger boop his beak and he hopped away (which is normal for him) but he did tolerate it much longer this time before he hopped. Progress!

Then the actual bonding happens. I pulled out the vacuum and the hand hose and cleaned up all around his space. Including putting the loud scary hose tip right up to and under his cage.

I have another post about how he loves motors, loud sounds of any kind, and doesn’t seem to be afraid ever of any of them (as long as not inside his safety bubble/cage). So pulling out and turning on the vacuum was literally FASCINATING to him and he sat on a perch in his cage watching every move I made and every move the vacuum made and was just so engaged and happy to observe the wondrous loud motor cleaning machine in my hands.

So then I needed to hose down another area in my small place, but an area he doesn’t get to visit too much. I moved his whole cage to another place so he could see me go into the other space and clean it up with the loud hose.

I move his cage all over my space and we have a little “ready? here we go” ritual when I move him. This ritual is bonding, and he’s the one who showed me how its done. Once he’s ready to be moved he is happy to go wherever we are going. He bravely welcomes this kind of change and he knows he has to trust me completely to not drop and harm him.

After I was done actually cleaning, I put the hose directly up to the cage and right in his view and shook it about and he still just gazed at it with wonderment and stayed on his perch but in a pose that said “I’m ready to party with this noise”.

The trust he has for me to do that and move his cage all around is the real bonding here.

But the hilarious part is: my gentle fingertip that has fed and cleaned him most of his life = terrifying.

Loud scary motor sucking things up put right up to the cage = ooooooooh! More!!!!!

Heres a video of him happily watching the hose go off by his safety bubble. At the end I tried to make it look like the hose eats him

Sweety loves the vacuum

www.youtube.com

 

[Sweety's mom]

I think I’m finally understanding just how smart budgies are.

Exactly like a toddler, they can fully understand you if it serves them. Or be completely unable to understand your language at all and act like you are insane by even trying to communicate verbally to them

But during those sweet moments when I know he understands exactly what I’m saying and he is genuinely interacting with me, my heart melts.

Example:tonight I moved a toy in his cage over closer to his main perch. He loves this particular toy so he wasn’t mad about the moving of it. He moves it closer to his perch sometimes himself.

Then later I went over to him and he was sitting there on his perch just staring at his current favorite toy. I said gently “is that your toy? Do you love your toy?” And that made him gently reach his neck out and nibble his toy.

I stayed and talked gently to him some more about his toy and how much he loves it.

Most of the time he acts like I am a mad woman to be completely suspected of murderous crimes. Just tolerates all the pampering and loves from me but won’t trust me on principle

But these moments when he really bonds with me, shows me he heard my sweet comment and agrees with it somehow. Proudly shows me his toy and how much he loves it when I mentioned it. So sweet.