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Taming when the bird just wants the treat

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sky__1y
I'm having a bit of a scuffle with my new budgie, I'm trying to train him in things like target training, stepping up, flying to me, etc. I'm using millet to do it and although he is able to do the trick he doesn't do it on command and keeps trying to go to the millet. For example when target training he does bite the end of the stick but the second I pull out the millet he climbs onto it, starts eating it and won't let go. And when I want him to fly to me or step up he won't get on the perch and instead climbs all over me to find where I'm hiding the millet. And when I manage to get him on the perch he flys back to me. I have tried it with other kinds of food but he doesn't really have the motivation for it. What do I do?
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Sweety's mom
sky__1y said:
I'm having a bit of a scuffle with my new budgie, I'm trying to train him in things like target training, stepping up, flying to me, etc. I'm using millet to do it and although he is able to do the trick he doesn't do it on command and keeps trying to go to the millet. For example when target training he does bite the end of the stick but the second I pull out the millet he climbs onto it, starts eating it and won't let go. And when I want him to fly to me or step up he won't get on the perch and instead climbs all over me to find where I'm hiding the millet. And when I manage to get him on the perch he flys back to me. I have tried it with other kinds of food but he doesn't really have the motivation for it. What do I do?
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Keep in mind that they don’t want to do the trick, they just want the treat. So what I would do is take a few of the little parts with the millet off the stem and keep them hidden in one closed hand while you are trainnng. Then give him just one at a time for doing the trick.
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sky__1y
I'll try doing that, thanks for the reply!
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ChickWas
http://instagr.am/p/CplYCgJBpJo/
Get one of these treat dispensers? On the instagram post I linked, scroll to the right for the video. It's a little dispenser that lets you slide open and closed the door to the treats which makes it way easier to train your feathered friend.

I have no idea what this is called or how you would find one on Amazon.
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FaeryBee
Sweety's Mom has provided you with excellent advice.

Additionally, be sure to take the time to read the information in the stickies at the top of the Taming and Bonding Section of the Forum. ;)

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sky__1y
I got my new budgie recently, he seems to be comfortable around everyone and has no issue hopping on me given I have a treat however whenever I approach him with my hand he gets scared. Around a week after I got him he seemed to be fine with my hands and even let me pet him sometimes but has regressed to being scared of them (not really sure what I did wrong) I tried hand feeding him and putting my hand in his cage for a while and he doesn't seem to mind it but still hasn't made any progress. Usually when I try to put my hand near he inches away or bites me if I am too quick, so I usually give up because I don't want to make him wary of me, but I'm a bit worried that I'm doing something that increases his fear. Will he eventually warm up to it or is there some special technique I can use to hand tame him? Thank you
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BudgieJeffery
Start from scratch with a millet spray. Try and use the same procedure and hand each time. Slowly reach your hand into his cage with the millet between your thumb and forefinger and let him start to munch on it. As he's pulling seeds off the spray, talk to him in a calm, quiet voice. Do this for a couple of days and make sure he does not cower when your hand and the millet enter his cage. Move onto holding millet between your first and second finger when you feed / train him. Make the piece smaller, maybe and inch long or so. Move slowly and he will eventually reach over your index finger to reach the millet. Have your palm facing up. After he's comfortable with this, move the millet to between your ring finger and middle finger and have him reach for it. He won't be able to resist and while he's reaching he will put one foot on your index finger to access the millet easier. A few days of this and he'll be stepping on your hand before you know it. The key is to work with your budgie regularly, you can't do it once or twice a week etc. and expect him to learn. After he learns to eat millet from you hand you can become creative and feed him seeds or pellets one at a time by hand if you like. You want him to associate you with food and treats. Be careful to go easy on the millet- it has a high fat content and is not very nutritious. Make sure his main food dish is pellets, NOT seeds! An all seed diet is to be avoided. Good luck and I hope this helps!
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Sweety's mom
I wish I had learned this when mine was younger. I don’t know if this is true for yours, but I was feeding mine entirely too much seed and didn’t make sure he got veggies and pellets when he was very young.

So he was always full of seed and never even food motivated enough to go for millet.

Once I rationed the seed he would get willingly in my hands to get some. I made it so that he had to eat veggies or get in my hands to get seed. Otherwise there were pellets to eat. He quickly then agreed to come around my hands and veggies in order to get the seed.

Have you tried this?
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sky__1y
BudgieJeffery said:
Start from scratch with a millet spray. Try and use the same procedure and hand each time. Slowly reach your hand into his cage with the millet between your thumb and forefinger and let him start to munch on it. As he's pulling seeds off the spray, talk to him in a calm, quiet voice. Do this for a couple of days and make sure he does not cower when your hand and the millet enter his cage. Move onto holding millet between your first and second finger when you feed / train him. Make the piece smaller, maybe and inch long or so. Move slowly and he will eventually reach over your index finger to reach the millet. Have your palm facing up. After he's comfortable with this, move the millet to between your ring finger and middle finger and have him reach for it. He won't be able to resist and while he's reaching he will put one foot on your index finger to access the millet easier. A few days of this and he'll be stepping on your hand before you know it. The key is to work with your budgie regularly, you can't do it once or twice a week etc. and expect him to learn. After he learns to eat millet from you hand you can become creative and feed him seeds or pellets one at a time by hand if you like. You want him to associate you with food and treats. Be careful to go easy on the millet- it has a high fat content and is not very nutritious. Make sure his main food dish is pellets, NOT seeds! An all seed diet is to be avoided. Good luck and I hope this helps!
Click to expand...
Thanks for your reply, I'll try this. Do you know around how much millet a budgie should eat a day?

Sweety's mom said:
I wish I had learned this when mine was younger. I don’t know if this is true for yours, but I was feeding mine entirely too much seed and didn’t make sure he got veggies and pellets when he was very young.

So he was always full of seed and never even food motivated enough to go for millet.

Once I rationed the seed he would get willingly in my hands to get some. I made it so that he had to eat veggies or get in my hands to get seed. Otherwise there were pellets to eat. He quickly then agreed to come around my hands and veggies in order to get the seed.

Have you tried this?
Click to expand...
Ok I just tried this and he has zero issue stepping up on my finger as long as I have millet. He only is scared of my hands when I don't have any food
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BudgieJeffery
sky__1y said:
Ok I just tried this and he has zero issue stepping up on my finger as long as I have millet. He only is scared of my hands when I don't have any food
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That's great! Your well on you way to gaining his confidence! Most important is to keep up this type of training and give him as much attention and praise as you can. Before you know it you won't be able to leave the room without him following you and landing on your shoulder! Make sure you talk to him reassuringly when doing the finger training with millet. For the time being, don't give him ANY millet unless it's during this training. Jeffery (my budgie) learned this was in only a few days and slowly gained the courage to explore his surroundings and determine they and me were safe. You can modify this rule after he's tamed. I use Zupreme pellets for small birds (not the fruit variation because of all the food coloring) as his regular food and feed him dried greens because he would never eat vegetables. Make sure your guy always has access to clean water. Bottled water is better than tap water. I only give Jeffery about two very small (3/4" - 1") pieces of millet a day in oneof his bottle caps that he considers 'toys' to make sure he stays hungry enough to eat his pellets and not relapse back to the seed diet pet stores keep their birds on. Also while your doing your millet training you can pick out a short two or three word phrase and repeat it while he's eating and there's a very good chance he will start to mimic you after a while but sadly there is no guarantee. The most important thing to remember is to pay as much attention as possible and spend as much time as possible with your budgie to change him from an ornamental bird into a tame, bonded wonderful pet. You might consider getting him a small playgym (very inexpensive online) so he has a reason to come out of his cage which will invite interaction with you and provide him with exercise both mentally and physically.

Also, I'm assuming you have only one bird so it's imperative that you DO NOT put a mirror in his cage! Single budgies will make friends and mate with the 'budgie in the mirror' and you will be hard pressed to make any progress at all in trying to tame him. Once again, he has to learn that you are his source of tasty food and mental stimulation. You can have some shiny surfaces on his toys that you keep in his playgym OUTSIDE of his cage. After he's bonded with you and comes out of his cage to play with his toys, you, etc. seeing another bird in a small mirrored toy will not cause a relapse. Best of luck and keep up the good work!
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Sweety's mom
sky__1y said:
Ok I just tried this and he has zero issue stepping up on my finger as long as I have millet. He only is scared of my hands when I don't have any food
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Yes, that's totally normal. Slowly over time he may get on your hand without millet, but for now do not try to do that. Just keep showing him that your hands are safe, they have treats and they will never try to grab or harm him. When you need to reach in the cage to clean or change food and water, do it slowly and talk sweetly to him. Don't react if he reacts, like if he flies about the cage trying to "get away" from the hands, just stay calm and slow and talking sweetly. Try not to make any sudden movements with your hands and arms when near his cage at all. It takes them a bit of time because they are instinctually just trying to stay alive and hands are something they know could harm them. We have to prove to them that we will not harm them! When they do finally believe and understand this, it feels so sweet because it is not in their nature to trust us huge meat eating mammals.
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FaeryBee
I've merged your two threads regarding Taming and Bonding and changed the title.
Please keep all future references to training in this thread to avoid multiple threads on the same topic.

What is your budgie's name?
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sky__1y
Sweety's mom said:
Yes, that's totally normal. Slowly over time he may get on your hand without millet, but for now do not try to do that. Just keep showing him that your hands are safe, they have treats and they will never try to grab or harm him. When you need to reach in the cage to clean or change food and water, do it slowly and talk sweetly to him. Don't react if he reacts, like if he flies about the cage trying to "get away" from the hands, just stay calm and slow and talking sweetly. Try not to make any sudden movements with your hands and arms when near his cage at all. It takes them a bit of time because they are instinctually just trying to stay alive and hands are something they know could harm them. We have to prove to them that we will not harm them! When they do finally believe and understand this, it feels so sweet because it is not in their nature to trust us huge meat eating mammals.
Click to expand...
Sweety's mom said:
Yes, that's totally normal. Slowly over time he may get on your hand without millet, but for now do not try to do that. Just keep showing him that your hands are safe, they have treats and they will never try to grab or harm him. When you need to reach in the cage to clean or change food and water, do it slowly and talk sweetly to him. Don't react if he reacts, like if he flies about the cage trying to "get away" from the hands, just stay calm and slow and talking sweetly. Try not to make any sudden movements with your hands and arms when near his cage at all. It takes them a bit of time because they are instinctually just trying to stay alive and hands are something they know could harm them. We have to prove to them that we will not harm them! When they do finally believe and understand this, it feels so sweet because it is not in their nature to trust us huge meat eating mammals.
Click to expand...
Tysm for the advice, hopefully he will be comfortable with me eventually 🙏
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