[NowhereElysium]

I've seen a few other threads like this, and figured that it's probably a good way of charting how he's doing, as well as getting a bit of feedback on his particular circumstances.

SO anyway - he's getting progressively more settled generally, although he's still afraid of my hand getting too close at the moment. I still feel awful for not letting him fly free, but it's simply not safe enough if I can't handle him directly. Generally he's doing well at the moment; still happily vocal, and will come over to talk to people - at least, he doesn't run away, and will usually respond.

I think he's discovered the art of the wind-up, too: I had a panic yesterday, when he started making movements that I thought were vomiting motions. It transpired that he was adjusting his crop (so no reason for distress), but he saw that it got my attention and my concern initially, and seemed to love all the fuss being made.

I'm a little worried about the length of his beak - it is a touch on the long side, so I'm going to try and modify his diet a bit. He's still not convinced with regards to pellets, and is an absolute pig for millet, so that's coming out of his cage for now, and I'm going to try the seed/pellet mix in the mornings and evenings, with pellets only left for him during the day. I've got to try a selection of veg on him at some point, but he's nowhere near tame enough to take it from my hand yet, so it looks like we're stuck with him staring angrily at the transgressors that are occupying his food bowl.

Beyond all that, I'm happy with how he's doing. We've already discussed the possibility of getting him a friend in the future, due to Dave's absence, and we're likely to go for a budgie from a breeder that actually handles them, so he'll hopefully become tame by proxy.

 

[Riovedo]

Are Jimi's wings clipped? I'm figuring that they aren't because you're concerned with his safety being outside the cage. I've had the most luck training my budgies when they are outside their cage.

 

[NowhereElysium]

No, they're not. I'm unsure how I feel about the idea of clipping a bird's wings to be honest, although it is a thing that I've considered.

 

[NowhereElysium]

Big progress today: he ate from a bit of spray millet that I was holding
My wife found out this morning, but didn't tell me until I picked her up from work - he's eaten from my hand the once so far, and I'm hoping it's the big first step needed to get him more acclimated to our hands.

Really chuffed about this

 

[StarlingWings]

Wonderful progress! That definitely is a good first step

Also, I wanted to say that clipping his wings isn't necessarily a better way to tame him or facilitate taming and bonding. My little girl has never had her wings clipped and I still had great success with taming her.

Of course, there are benefits and downsides of wing clipping, and sometimes there is no "right" answer

I'm attaching a link that maybe be helpful if you do consider clipping him: http://talkbudgies.com/articles-general-budgie-info/103950-wings-clip-not-clip.html

 

[NowhereElysium]

I'm most likely not going to, since I know I'd be truly furious if someone forcibly removed my ability to run, so why would I want to put the same limits on Jimi? I understand the practical reasons for doing so, and have no intention of antagonising people who choose to do it, but it's not for me, I think.

 

[mexicoandice]

Getting a bird to eat out of your hand is a huge step! Once they know you won't hurt them, they will come to your hand more readily. Good job!

 

[NowhereElysium]

He's eating the millet that I hold between thumb and forefinger for him (I'll usually have an inch or so of spray exposed for him), but he's still quite cagey around my hands in general. I slowly touched his chest with my index finger this evening, and got the warning sign of an open beak and visible bodily tension, so I withdrew.
There was a weird moment earlier when he was eating some millet from my hand, and accidentally brushed the tip of my finger with the tip of his beak, then he withdrew and went very still and very quiet for about a minute or so, then slowly came back to the millet. I spoke to him quietly throughout the hiatus, but I'm not entirely sure what that particular body language episode was indicating.

 

[mexicoandice]

Yes, I have a similar relationship with my budgies right now, they like my hand as long as it doesn't try to move!

 

[NowhereElysium]

Well now, there's been a further improvement in mine and Jimi's association: he's eaten a single 'berry' of millet from my fingertips this evening.

He's been out of the cage for about half the day, so I guess he was a bit tired and hungry, but the fact that he didn't get notably nervous at all was quite something.

 

[NowhereElysium]

He stood on my hand tonight! I am ridiculously excited about this: we got home late from work tonight (just after his normal bedtime, as it happens), and he'd run out of seed (he's still refusing to eat pellets at the moment - there were plenty of those in his bowl, so it's not like I'm starving him) - as such, I decided to give him a small snack of millet, and he jumped on to my hand to get to it I understand that his nerves were overridden by his stomach, but it's still a massive step forward (pardon the pun). He was also doing the quivering tail thing that I've come to understand to mean "I'm excited", so I'm hoping he was as pleased about it as I am. I'll try to upload the photo my wife took in a bit.

 

[StarlingWings]

That's great! He saw that you weren't going to hurt him and any doubts were overridden by his hunger :thumbsup:

Wonderful I can't wait to see the picture!

 

[NowhereElysium]

Isn't he brave?

 

[StarlingWings]

He sure is Jimi, :urock:

 

[mexicoandice]

He looks adorable on your hand! It's so wonderful that you're making such good progress with him. Keep up the good work! :2thumbs:

 

[NowhereElysium]

I am in shock. He came out of the cage a little earlier on, sat on my finger, and just chilled there for a good ten to fifteen mintes: I even managed to walk across the room to the sofa with him perched on my finger. Totally calm, very quiet and not at all panicky. He was relaxed enough to preen and stretch while on my finger, which is stagering, given that he was terrified of my being near him at all a few weeks ago.

He's since flown back to his cage, and is warbling away happily now. We've left the cage door open for him now, as we're intending to do so for the evenings of the foreseeable future. We've also bought him a humidifier, since he'd been sneezing a fair bit, to the point where it's staining the feathers above his nose a little. Since turning the humidifier on, there's not been a single sneeze, so I class that as a win. Perversely enough, he also seems to like the noise it makes: he responds to the sound of running water, and this humidifier makes a constant dripping noise as it fills its reservoir.

 

[FaeryBee]

You've made incredible progress with Jimi :jumping: in a very short period of time! :2thumbs:

I'm looking forward to following along as Jimi's taming progresses!

I've moved your thread over to the "Training Journals" section of the forum.

 

[NowhereElysium]

Thanks Deborah - I wasn't expecting the thread to get to this stage quite so quickly, hence starting it in 'General chat'. However, it looks like we're most definitely within the realms of training and bonding at this point, doesn't it?

On an aside, what is it with budgies and behaving like they've been on a starvation diet as soon as millet enters the equation? I keep Jimi well fed on a seed mix (I'm trying to get him interested in pellets and veg with limited success), but as soon as a millet berry appears in my hand, he's stuffing his face like it's the first food he's had in days. Don't get me wrong, it's very handy to have a definite incentive foodstuff like that, but millet's got next to no nutritional value, and surely it doesn't taste as good as fresh foods?

 

[FaeryBee]

All I can say to that is....

Millet is to Budgies
As Catnip is to Kitties
And Expensive Chocolate is to Women!

:laughing:

 

[NowhereElysium]

"I'm sorry, you had something you wanted to say, human?"