[MidnightIris]

Hi guys, I wanted to create this taming journal before I began Ollie's and Daisy's taming process to keep track of their progress throughout. I have had Ollie since 24th December 2016 and Daisy since May 18th 2017. I hadn't committed to begin the taming process with either of them yet because I've still been grieving over Budd, my little boy who passed on April 19th 2016. But I miss that special bond that we get with our budgies when they trust us and feel comfortable with us. And it'll be more beneficial for them to keep their stress levels down with doing everyday things (cleaning the cage, feeding, etc).

It's going to be a slow process but I'm finally starting it now. I'm excited!

Would it be better to do taming/bonding sessions with each budgie individually or together?

I'll be updating soon :flowers:


Ollie


Daisy

 

[Iris]

Congratulations on starting the bonding process! We can go on this amazing journey together
I wish you good luck with your two precious babies

 

[MidnightIris]

Congratulations on starting the bonding process! We can go on this amazing journey together
I wish you good luck with your two precious babies

Thank you so much Iris I find it hard still to bond with my babies because I miss my previous budgie Budd so much, but we will always miss the pets we lose, because they are a constant good in our lives

 

[MidnightIris]

Today when I got home after uni, I let the birds out of their cage to fly around the lounge room. They were so happy and were flying around like usual, but they were flying around much more today. In particular, Ollie was happy to fly from his cage to his play gym, to the curtain rod, back to his cage back and forth. He was flying super close to me and fluttering mid air right in front of me for a bit- he was flying around so much, when usually, Daisy is the one who leads the flight and he follows. During all of this I was talking to them. I got out their food bowl to change the seed and he flew directly onto it while it was in my hand! then, daisy did too! they were on the food bowl eating seed for a long while and and I was so so happy. After a while passed I handed the bowl to my partner so he was holding it while they were on it too

We are so happy that today they felt comfortable enough to be that close to us. Ollie was chewing on my hair after a while, too!

This is a great start! I got my partner to capture the moment:

 

[Hunterkat]

That's awesome! Way to go Ollie and Daisy! :thumbup:

 

[MidnightIris]

That's awesome! Way to go Ollie and Daisy! :thumbup:

Thanks, it was! Daisy is not as comfortable as Ollie as we've had Ollie longer but she trusted him enough to trust us

 

[StarlingWings]

That's fantastic, they're definitely on their way to trusting you now It's always such an amazing feeling when our little ones come to us!

 

[FaeryBee]

:jumping: :clap: :clap: :clap:
That is totally excellent news, Bee!

Ollie and Daisy :urock:

:smiley-talk017:

 

[MidnightIris]

That's fantastic, they're definitely on their way to trusting you now It's always such an amazing feeling when our little ones come to us!

It really is! I feel like my heart is bursting with joy!

:jumping: :clap: :clap: :clap:
That is totally excellent news, Bee!

Ollie and Daisy :urock:

:smiley-talk017:

Thankyou! I'm so happy- I'm just so curious why Ollie has started to become more open/trusting lately- it feels like it's sudden.
Who knows. I'm really happy.

 

[MidnightIris]

Today when Ollie & Daisy were flying about, again, Ollie was flying super close to me, as if he was going to fly onto my head, then flew off. I put my finger out so he could step up but he backed off. He's okay with me putting my hand flat, because he nibbles the tips of my fingers. My partner suggested I put some seed in my hand since he seemed to want to come over, so I did, and this happened! :thumbup: pics aren't the best quality!

Yay- so happy... my heart is all warm! :001_wub:

 

[Hunterkat]

Yay!! How awesome that they're eating from your hand!

 

[FaeryBee]

Bee,

You, Daisy and Ollie are making great progress! :thumbup: :urock:

 

[MidnightIris]

Hey guys! The birds, especially Ollie, are so cute and cheeky! Our couch is right by their cage, and I leave their cage open whenever we are in the lounge room relaxing (up until it's bedtime, then they're covered and moved to the bedroom). What they do is fly out and play on top of their cage, fly around the room to their play gym which is on top of a cabinet, and sit at the curtain rod and talk. They pretty much almost swoop us, it's hilarious. It's because they want to fly over to sit on us but change their minds split second mid flight, it's so funny.

I was studying tonight and it looked like Ollie was wanting to fly over to me. So I got some seed and hid it to reward him if he did. I put out my finger and he stepped up, and he was rewarded with some seed from my hand. I was going to take my hand away to see if Daisy would do it too, but I was just too in love I let him stay- then Daisy flew over too. I told my boyfriend to put some seed in his hand so we could see if they'd eat from his hand too (they haven't previously). They did. Smiles all around! here's it recorded :hug: :001_wub:

 

[FaeryBee]

That is incredibly sweet! :flowers:

 

[MidnightIris]

Thanks Deborah
I recorded a better quality video after uni this morning of hand feeding them again

 

[Hunterkat]

They are so cute! You're making great progress with them

 

[MidnightIris]

Thanks Katherine

Today I have been trying to call them over without seed and using positive reinforcement by saying "good girl/boy" then giving them seed when they did fly onto my finger. It's challenging though because I'll call Ollie or Daisy over to my finger and one will come, then the other will want to as well and then excite eachother and fly around the room or fly on eachother's back instead of stepping on my finger/hand (as there's not much room on my finger).

Maybe I should try to do this in the future while one budgie is still in the cage? Think I need to read up to get some more direction now with taming them.

They have become much more comfortable and curious in the lounge room which is adorable because when they're not in their designated areas (play gym/cage) they look even tinier lol. They were walking around the coffee table and on the speaker. They still randomly fly to us and then change their minds mid flight. I also just called them over to my finger and cupped my hands (with nothing in there) and let them just be curious and nibble on me a bit.

During all of this I have been introducing pellets to their diet which they've started to eat when mixed with their seed when moistened- I don't want to feed them too much seed though while trying to tame them. I think what I'll do is measure out the 4 teaspoons of seed (in total) per day, mix some of that in with their moistened pellets/seed and the remaining seed i'll use throughout the day when interacting with them.

 

[Hunterkat]

If you're wanting to train them, one at a time is definitely easier!
Glad they're getting more comfortable with their surroundings! :thumbup:
They do look super tiny when they're not in their cage or on their playgym, don't they?
The food rationing system sounds good! Just remember you're going to have to eventually separate the seeds from the pellets anyway.

 

[MidnightIris]

That's good to know, I'll have to see how to go about it all... They don't step up if I were to put my hand in the cage. They just fly out whenever and such. I wouldn't want to stress them out yet- don't want to take two steps forward then three steps back so I won't try separate them yet.

Any suggestions with working on stepping up and such?

 

[MidnightIris]

Just a small update, the birdies feel very comfortable to fly around and randomly land on my legs, the couch, my hands (as well as my partner's) and the little coffee table when I'm using my tablet- typing this up. They perch on the screen or walk on the keyboard (when I'm not typing) :001_smile: