Taming when the bird just wants the treat

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...

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...

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...