[karenblodgett3261]

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.
View attachment 265665

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.

Oh how absolutely wonderful!!! I hope the new perch and toy know Sweety is the boss's lol. From your description, it sounds like he has good flying skills. Somehow my LoVey has amazing maneuvering skills. I imagine, like any living being, that each budgie is better at some things than others. If I'm not correct in this, I hope the staff members of the group will correct me 😊. I'm so excited for you!!! It's just so wonderful to see our feathered babies doing what birds are supposed to do. I'm so looking forward to hearing updates on your sweet boy!

 

[StarlingWings]

Sounds like amazing progress with your little guy. It's also so wonderful to read how you're taking things at his pace and adjusting to his likes and dislikes! Looking forward to more updates

 

[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.

 

[karenblodgett3261]

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.

How cool is that!!! My son commented one day about my growing collection of cages lol. But really, all six of them are vital 🤗! One is for a few hours, like a trip to the vet or to work with me; one for one overnight stay; one for 2-3 over nights; one for more than three nights, and the tall, narrow one that was her home cage until I got the bigger one, and now her flight cage. I also have a very small carrier, about the size of a kleenex box, for dire illness in which she needs to be cradled in a bed of softness and rushed to the vet (that's the one I don't ever want to have to use). I'm so excited about Sweety's adventure!!! It looks like the whole area will need to be budgie proofed should little man decide to take advantage of a screen that gets over looked. Maybe you could put a little note near the cage door to remind yourself about closing the divider screen? As I've gotten older those little reminder notes to myself come in so handy lol.

 

[Cody]

I have several small carriers for going to the vet and then I make a fabric bag for each to go in for protection, this is one of the winter ones

 

[karenblodgett3261]

I have several small carriers for going to the vet and then I make a fabric bag for each to go in for protection, this is one of the winter ones View attachment 265694

You have to share some of your other creations! You have such talent! Please Cody share some more of you work 🥰!

 

[Cody]

You have to share some of your other creations! You have such talent! Please Cody share some more of you work 🥰!

I'll post a few things in the Crafters group.

 

[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

 

[StarlingWings]

Lol, he loves the noise for sure!! Mallorn also loves the noise but she hates actually having the vacuum close to her.. she also loves my hands. So! There's that LOLL.

It's so great that you're so wonderful at picking up on your boy's body language already. I have a similar ritual when picking up Mallorn's cage because while she's very strongly bonded to me and my family, she can be a little bit skittish, so i always say "You ready?" and then count to three before lifting her. Her cage is bigger than it was when she was little so I don't do this as much as I used to, but she definitely liked those little routines we had.

 

[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.

 

[StarlingWings]

Budgies are indeed very, very intelligent, and it can shine through at unexpected times. While they don't have complex cognitive reasoning skills as advanced as the crow family (Corvidae) or larger parrots, they definitely can sense and respond to emotion from other budgies as well as humans, can understand names and words, etc. It's precious to hear your progress with your little one!

 

[karenblodgett3261]

It is amazing how smart they are! When LoVey is a fresh girl and tries to chomp my nose (I can tell when she's doing it in a fresh bossy way. Kind of a "take that mama" kind of way), I say softly yet firmly "NO! You be sweet to mama!" If she keeps it up I tell her that if she keeps being fresh to mama, she'll have to go back to her cage. She looks right at the cage and starts to be the sweet girl she is lol.