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2 New Baby Budgies


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Hi everyone,

 

My wife and I purchased 2 baby budgies, Bart and Milhouse, last Sunday. The birds are still getting used to the new environment slowly and are still hesistant when I go near the cage of an afternoon when I get home from work.

 

I just wanted to ask all the budgie veterans out there for some new budgie tips on getting them used to their new home and how soon do you think it should be until we attempt to finger tame them etc.

 

Im not exactly sure how old they are but the girl @ the pet shop (Kellyville, NSW) said they were babies and could be trained.

 

What are some preliminary steps we could take to get the birds used to us??? Offer them food by hand??

 

 

Any advice from the pro's would be great

 

Cheers

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You have made your life difficult for training your new budgies already since you bought two at the same time. They flock together, which in essence, means they will prefer each others company over yours any day of the week. If you want tame budgies its always best to buy one at a time and train it first before buying another. Then when you buy a second budgie further down the track you keep it in a seperate cage and train it well before you add it to a cage with another budgie. Even then they will prefer each others company to yours.

 

PS like the names you chose :)

 

are you sure of the sexes ?

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You have made your life difficult for training your new budgies already since you bought two at the same time. They flock together, which in essence, means they will prefer each others company over yours any day of the week. If you want tame budgies its always best to buy one at a time and train it first before buying another. Then when you buy a second budgie further down the track you keep it in a seperate cage and train it well before you add it to a cage with another budgie. Even then they will prefer each others company to yours.

 

PS like the names you chose :)

 

are you sure of the sexes ?

 

 

HI,

Thanks for the reply.......oh no does this mean it will be near impossible to tame them then?? Im disappointed the person at the pet shop didnt mention this because she assured us that keeping 2 in the same cage would still be possilbe to team

 

 

Can you offer any taming tips now that you know I have them both in the same cage??

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We have some taming experts and they will be along later. Meanwhile check out our FAQ section.

 

RULE #1 NEVER ever listen to pet store staff......They know NOTHING :D

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We have some taming experts and they will be along later. Meanwhile check out our FAQ section.

 

RULE #1 NEVER ever listen to pet store staff......They know NOTHING :D

 

 

Haha cheers.....if the experts could help us out that would be fantastic!

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Did you go to Kellyville Pets?

 

I used to live near there, and visited that place often. However that was before they did the renovations.

Whenever I went there they would always seem like they knew what they were talking about....but really didn't. I would often go home (with a new pet) and start some internet reading on them, only to find what I had been told was false.

 

Bottom line, they're just there to make money. All pet shops are :P

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Did you go to Kellyville Pets?

 

I used to live near there, and visited that place often. However that was before they did the renovations.

Whenever I went there they would always seem like they knew what they were talking about....but really didn't. I would often go home (with a new pet) and start some internet reading on them, only to find what I had been told was false.

 

Bottom line, they're just there to make money. All pet shops are :P

 

 

Yeah I went to Kellyville Pets to get the birds

 

Where abouts can I purchase millet spray in Sydney?? or budgie toys like a toy swing?? I live in Ryde so anywhere close to there would be great :)

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Millet sprays can be bought in packets in some supermarkets if you cant find it anywhere else.

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it is possible to tame 2 baby budgies at the same time, but it will take longer, and in my opinion they wont be quite as tame as if they were obtained/trained individually.

Our first baby budgie, Charlie, is increadibly tame and does a few tricks. He was bought as a birthday present for my sons 11th birthday, and they bonded almost instantly. He'd been handled quite a bit by the breeder before we bought him, so he wasnt quite as shy as a previously unhandled bird. A few months later we got another budgie, Snowy, for my daughter. Snowy was purchased from the same breeder and had been well handled, spent the first 2 days in a seperate cage, but soon joined Charlie in the bigger cage. Snowy is quite tame, but not as eager to spend lots of "people time" as Charlie is. Snowy is more "flighty" and prefers to do his own thing, and just "be a bird"...while Charlie is much more people orientated. Both birds are much more receptive to being handled if the kids take them into their rooms and away from each other, but they continually call to each other. Both Snowy and Charlie were clipped when we got them, which i believe makes them easier to train and handle, but we are now in the process of wating for their flight feathers to grow back. Snowy is almost fully flighted, and can sometimes be a bit difficult to catch if he doesnt want to be...but peoples heads are one of his favourite perching places :lol:

Close friends of our family also have 2 budgies, bought as babies at the same time, and housed in the same cage. Both of these birds are more bonded to each other than to their owners, but are reasonably tame. Like our 2nd bird Snowy, their birds are more flighty and prefer to do their own thing, but they can be held and played with.

Good luck with your babies! :)

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Thanks for the info Michelle, much appreciated!

 

Last night we bought them some millet spray and im planning on putting a piece of that in the cage today to see how they like it.......then in a few more days ill try and offfer it to them by hand

 

In the first week or so is it important for the birds to get used to the general cage interactions....for example, opening the door to replace water and food and also the removal of the catchment tray down below and the noise it make sliding it back in

 

 

As one of our budgies seems to be alot more confident than the other, im hoping that the shy one will continue to follow the lead of the confident one

 

Also, does it take some time for budgies to get used to having their wings clipped?? even though the perch is on the lowest area it can go the budgies seem to flop jump down to the feed.....i dont want them to injure themselves even though its a very small drop

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i answered to you other post about millet but you seem to be getting some good info here.

 

yes 2 budgies will be much hard to tame but not impossible if you don't give up (most people do)

 

it's been a while since i've tamed any of my birds, i handle my young from the nest and i'm happy for them just being a flock in the aviary.

 

 

Talk to them - silence to a bird means danger and so they are on alert mode and getting ready to fly. Talk when walking past as well as when interacting with them be it changing food/water or a taming session.

 

If one is braver than the other focus the work with them as once one budge does something the other is more willing to follow. My second bird was not tame at all but he loved his partner (who was very tame) and would follow her anywhere including me. He never did so alone tho but i didn't try to tame him further.

 

any change of pictures of the two?

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Just a little something i didnt mention before...Budgies are very social flock birds...so we keep our tame birds in our living area...Charlie and Snowy's cage is in our loungeroom and their playgym is on our coffee table so that when we are home they are always included as part of our 'flock". Their cage is usually left open so they can hop onto the playgym or go back to their cage at will, and they often jump down off of the playgym and run accross the coffee table to us..if anyone has their feet up on the coffee table they will hop on, use our legs as a bridge and come running up onto our lap. They seem to love being a part of our busy, noisy little flock...they even enjoy chirping away to video hits when my kids have the tv blaring...and have no problems with the busy comings and goings of our house. I'd recommend that you keep the cage in the area of the house that you are most often in and dont be too worried about noise and activity...even during these early days while they are aclimitising to their new home.

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I've got millet from one of the Bondi Junction pet stores on Oxford St. I don't know about Ryde. Sorry.

 

Keep on trying to feed them by hand in the cage first. And rather than use the whole big spray, try just breaking off one of the millet flowers, so they have to get really close to eat it. Mine loves seeding fresh grasses even more than millet. If you've got any of that in your garden (free from doggie doo, chemicals and away from high car fumes from busy roads) grab a washed bunch and clip or tie it to the cage. Or try to feed by hand maybe. It's really good for them.

 

Apparently it's really easy to grow millet. Just throw the seeds in a pot. Best to do late Spring/Summer I think. I haven't tried that yet.

 

As for the taming, I agree with Michellet. Keep them near you in your living area where they can hear and be a part of all the activity. Plus it helps them get used to your voices. I leave the radio on for my little guy, especially when I'm out. ABC News Radio, as it's all just human voices. Silence scares them. And just be patient. They don't simply become tame overnight. It's not a case of days, but weeks. Gradually, if you keep on making them feel safe and keep on interacting with them, they'll start to see you as part of their crew.

 

And as for the toys, I don't buy anything from the pet shops. I don't trust them to have bird safe toys and they have hardly anything for birds anyway. Since everything is made in China, you can't really tell if the coloured dyes or metals are okay. Certain metals and dyes are very poisonous to birds and some toys have bits that can come loose and harm them. Since they spend all their time chewing and tasting and pulling at things, it's not a good mix.

 

Everything I've bought for my cage I got from these guys online at My Parrot Shop. They're in Victoria with an excellent postal service and really easy to use website. Lots of natural toys too (all made in Oz from eucalyptus) as well as wood and sisal perches etc. If you're crafty, they've also got toy parts. Way easier and better quality than messing around with pet shops.

 

http://www.myparrotshop.com

 

There's also this Australian site - run by the Parrot Rescue Centre. They also have toys, accessories and food. I liked the idea of using them too, but my shopping cart kept emptying if I left my computer for too long, so I gave up. Pity.

 

http://www.parrotrescuecentre.com

 

Good luck!

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Thanks for your replies

 

I managed to buy some TRILL millet spray from woolworths last night so i have a piece of that clipped inside the cage next to a perch so the birds are free to feed on it......but they havent touched it yet :(

 

So the general concensus is to let them get used to the routine of the goinngs on of the house and the noises involved (they were REALLY chirpy this morning while i was watching the ice hockey!)

 

So once they get more acclimatised ill work on the more confident one so Milhouse (the shy one) wil hopefully follow suite

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