Hello everyone, hope you and your flocks are well!
I have sort of dumb question. I've two female budgies, both rescues. Iris is over a year old and was about so even when she flew into my room in February. Even though she was in great shape, she must have been kept in squalid conditions, because she had never seen a ladder, toys or a cuttlefish bone(which she is still afraid of, but that's another story). She was terrified at first, but now she's learnt a few simple commands and even hopped up to my elbow the other day. She's a very clever bird! Dawn on the other hand is reaching adulthood just now and was hand-raised by the breeder, then bought by a man who had a lot of different parrots, maybe every species that's legal to own. Then I adopted her because he got a promotion and had no time for all his birds, he only kept a kakariki. Anyway, I'm giving all this background, because even though Dawn, who's been handraised, isn't that good at training, she can grab things with her toes, like we do. She doesn't know any commands yet, not from me, not from her dad, but if she wants to eat something, for instance, she'll grab it with one hand - I mean, foot- to keep it from falling and eat it, while Iris only uses her beak. She's been taking some advice from Dawn and will now use her toes mostly to grab toys, but not food.
My question is, is this a natural budgie behaviour or did Dawn learn it from the larger parrots in her previous home? I know macaws and all big parrots can hold a large seed and dehull it, but I've never seen a budgie do something like that before. Really curious if anyone has seen similar behaviour occur naturally! Thanks for your time!
I have sort of dumb question. I've two female budgies, both rescues. Iris is over a year old and was about so even when she flew into my room in February. Even though she was in great shape, she must have been kept in squalid conditions, because she had never seen a ladder, toys or a cuttlefish bone(which she is still afraid of, but that's another story). She was terrified at first, but now she's learnt a few simple commands and even hopped up to my elbow the other day. She's a very clever bird! Dawn on the other hand is reaching adulthood just now and was hand-raised by the breeder, then bought by a man who had a lot of different parrots, maybe every species that's legal to own. Then I adopted her because he got a promotion and had no time for all his birds, he only kept a kakariki. Anyway, I'm giving all this background, because even though Dawn, who's been handraised, isn't that good at training, she can grab things with her toes, like we do. She doesn't know any commands yet, not from me, not from her dad, but if she wants to eat something, for instance, she'll grab it with one hand - I mean, foot- to keep it from falling and eat it, while Iris only uses her beak. She's been taking some advice from Dawn and will now use her toes mostly to grab toys, but not food.
My question is, is this a natural budgie behaviour or did Dawn learn it from the larger parrots in her previous home? I know macaws and all big parrots can hold a large seed and dehull it, but I've never seen a budgie do something like that before. Really curious if anyone has seen similar behaviour occur naturally! Thanks for your time!
