Jaywire

Wow. thanks ALOT DrNat. I'm saving your post. I'll definatley keep notes and let you know. If only I can get them to breed Her cere was crusty brown for awhile but the male never really tried anything. She did show nesting activity in the box but only for a couple days. Think it's because I have all 4 of them together? THANKS AGAIN!

Hello there, sorry about the enormous delay! I got some better pics. http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q114/Ja...es/P4010040.jpg This is Sky and Sublime, my Breeders. Unsure on genetics. http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q114/Ja...es/P4010039.jpg Another picture of them http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q114/Ja...es/P4010037.jpg A picture of Sky; the female. http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q114/Ja...es/P4010036.jpg Decent picture of the 2 http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q114/Ja...es/P4010035.jpg This is bill; a mis-named female. Unsure as well. http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q114/Ja...es/P4010033.jpg Another picture of Bill. http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q114/Ja...es/P4010041.jpg Tweety, unsure of as well. Not a very good picture. Any more pics needed please feel free to ask; still unsure! thanks alot everyone

http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/4294/p1010174xo9.th.jpg http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/5079/p1010178pl6.th.jpg Had these 2 about a year, plus they were about 6 months when I bought them. I have no clue about genetics! I try to read about them and get mega confused! Any help would be appreciate, thanks!

Well, I've had the one with the white cere a few weeks, and the one with the blue about 4 months.

Yes, just have them together to become bonded. Thanks, my initial prediction was correct!

I've had these guys a few weeks, recently got an interest in breeding after having Budgies for years. I'm almost positive I have a male and female, but I thought I'd ask you guys second opinion. They are both from completely different breeders, of course. I've done months of research before starting into this. Thank you! http://img293.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p1000941bn5.jpg

Yes, I forgot to mention, a warm environment is key. And if they get cold, hold them in your hands, perhaps against your chest.

I know this isn't a very accepted method, but one thing I did with mine was to mist them down real good. Not like, dripping wet but enough to calm them down and slow them down. Then, I'd towel them very gently and get them out without letting them see me or my hands. Then, let them out of the towel into my hand. They are wet and really don't care whats going on. I then just let them perch on my hand/finger and practice the step up method. Again, they are wet, don't really know whats going on, so they'll step up most of the time. Eventually they'll start to dry off and preen once they get back into the swing of things around them. Keep doing the step up method. Every time I've done it, they preen and dry off, then they'll happily sit there. I immediately start feeding them millet and practice the step up with millet, and they start to realize they are on your hand and nothing wrong, and they are getting treats too! If they still start to freak out, then start the tunneling method until they calm down and feed them millet. Remember, it only works if you use millet as a treat and not give it to them all the time! It took me about 3 days to get the budgies at the store i help out at tamed with this method! To re-enforce this method, whenever you mist them to preen, give them millet. Sadly, my 2 budgies died in freak accidents :-( And if you think the water method will make them afraid of water, it doesn't! Even after the water training, my 2 loved being misted! No fear at all! But just always remember, theres a fine line between a heavy misting and soaking the poor little thing! Rule of thumb, it shouldnt be dripping off them! If you soak it, then yes it will still work but it will make it scared of water. Hope this helps!

Well, Sammy went back and Sprite died... so after a sanitization and wait, i got a new bird after my fruitless attempt to get Sammy back. Chirpy is my newest, got him last Sunday. The lady at the pet store said he came from a home breeder, so he shouldnt be too scared of humans. I got him home and put him in his cage. No freaking out, nothing. He hopped from the box, onto the entrance, then up to a perch. Within 5 minutes he was warbling and chirping and singing. He then started exploring the cage, playing with toys, and checking me out. He then got up on his favorite perch (a natural branch) where he stretched, perched up on one foot and sat and chattered to himself. He as been a very good bird since. He never really freaked out when I put my hand in the cage to change food and water, just got his distance. Every day, all day, he sits and sings and chirps and just has a great time. About Wednesday, he hops around the cage bobbing his head and moving side to side very quickly all over the cage, looking around, like hes trying to find a way out. This lasts rouyghly 15 minutes a day, usually in the evening. He then figures out he cant get out and goes back to his perch where he sits kinda sad looking for the rest of the evening, maybe letting out a soft warble here and there. He talks to me alot, sitting on the branch closest to me and chattering at me. If I talk back he gets really excited, warbling and chirping etc. I started feeding him millet from behind the bars and slowly moved to inside the cage, but still doing it from the outside. He's still kinda skittish to my hand, but will come right up to it when he sees food. Sometimes not even food he'll come up and taste my finger. I've kinda tried getting him on my finger, he runs when i get near him with my finger out. I've noticed every once in awhile, he'll sit on his perch and flap his wings really fast and lean down like hes flying, but never jumps or anything, just sits on his perch. He does this a few times then sits and cleans himself. He's clipped for the record... is this normal behavior? Am I doing everything right? Heres a picture, can anyone gimme an idea on age?: Seems all good, right? Well, heres the bad part... No matter what I say, my parents ruin any progress. They walk up fast, yank the cage open and start pushing at it and touching it, trying to hold it and get it on there finger. No matter what I say they wont stop. I said "Don't touch it, they don't like being touched" and they just get mad and tell me to shut up, there older, they know more about it then I do and continue chasing it around the cage grabbing at it. Finally they get fed up, slam the cage shut and walk out. They feed it millet from behind the bars but leave it there. I try explaining to take it out when they leave but all I get is a "Shut up, I can do what I want, its my house" I'm 16. I bought the bird, I bought the cage, I bought everything. I pay for its food, everything. I think I should be able to say dont mess with it, its my bird, your screwing it up. Every attempt to explain hand training is brushed off with a "shut up" or "whatever dr. dolittle" or them hitting the cage or slamming it shut etc... How can i explain not to touch it and leave it alone or make them just stop messing with it completely?

I am getting rid of him lovey, sadly enough. But not until Friday. As much as I don't want to (Laughing out loud)... still trying to talk them into it... poor guy, comes to a good home just to get rejected... Thanks guys, I was hoping I did things right when I started over with Sammy!!!

Some of you have read my older topics. Since then I've gotten really far with sammy. He'll step up willingly, come out of the cage, eat from my hand. If I put my nose up to his beek he'll nibble on it. He sits on my shoulder sometimes. When he does he plays with my hair, goes shoulder to shoulder playing. He's pretty tame so far. He's clipped of course. He kinda anticipates me coming home. He hangs on the bars of his door looking out my bedroom door until I come in, then he hops onto his perch and patiently waits for me to tell him "Up" Hes pretty much hand tame, but I dont feel a 'bond'. I have 2 birds, but they are clearly out of site of each oyher. They tend to call to each other. I've had him about 2 weeks now, and at first i lost alot of progress and got realkly frustrated, so i started over and went slow. How do I get a loving bond like I've read off? I know it won't happen overnight, but I'd like to start like getting it started. His highest perch is at eye level, he's in my room by my PC where I sit 3/4 the time i'm around him. He's a really neat bird though! He sometimes doesnt want anything to do with me though, which is now :-p I think its because hes preening though. So am I on the right track to a good relationship with Sammy? Also, if its worth anything, earlier he was on my finger and hopped down my arm, on my stomach, climbed down my leg, and walked around on the floor inspecting things :-p His toe got stuck in the carpet, and he kinda feel, looked around, and started jerking his leg about and immediatley turned to me and looked like he was trying to run, jerking about etc. I free'd him and he jumped on my hand for a few minutes and caught his breath. He wanted down again, he got stuck again, free'd himself and ran to me chirping and climbed up my leg and into my lap, up my torso and onto my shoulder where he snuggled up onto my neck and sat there, catching his little breath. I guess he see's me as safety? Is this a sign of major trust? Thanks again!

Wow - major update. I seperated Sammy and Sprite, completely. Sammy became REALLY affectionate! He sat on my finger by my cage and warbled, ate millet, and just sat there. Kissed my nose etc, preened my finger a bit. He sat on my finger for half an hour! It's strange. Sprite goes back tomorrow, I hate to get rid of him because he's a sweetheart too. Oh well.. thanks for the advice everyone!

It is quote hard to decide, because I'm not sure how Sprite would adjust to the bigger cage. If he would get less reluctant to step up, etc. I'm taking one back after work tomorrow, probably gonna keep Sprite. Sammy is impossible anymore, but Sprite is pretty friendly. I think he might be a tad traumatized because I toweled him to attempt clipping his wings, but when I opened them up I was like :ausb: Hope that doesnt break any trust we had, I did it a few times. He seems still friendly though. I'm probably gonna keep him. Will clipping his wings make him any friendlier and easier to tame etc? Still a tough thing to decide...

Well, my parents were okay with one budgie, but when I came home with Sprite, they drew the line. Today they told me to choose between Sammy or Sprite because 2 is just too many right now. I plead and talked and plead more, they are set on no. So, I need to decide on one and i'm not sure how... so I'm looking for help on how. Sammy - Sammy was my first, got him a week ago. He's extremely skittish. Whenever I get progress, I lose it to something very small. He's partially tame. He still moves away from my hand unless I have food. He will eat from my hand, no problem. he'd actually rather eat from it then his feeder. He'll step up sometimes but only for a few seconds. But on rare occasions he'll let me take him out of the cage. I keep him at eye level all the time, talk smooth, etc. but he'll either flap off and freak, or get on top of his cage and throw a big fuss. He's never bitten me. He's constantly freaking out, randomly, to get out of his cage. Not sure what else to describe. Sprite - Sprite has been wonderful since day one, I got him a couple days ago. He wasnt very skittish at first, he's actually a bit of a sweetheart. Snuggling my nose from behind the bars, letting me pet and scratch his head lightly, warbling, etc. He even hopped on my finger once and sat there a bit. He has no fear of my hand. He can be skittish if I move a bit fast. He isnt clipped though... which is giving me trouble because i dont know how to clip. So, I'm at a loss. I'm thinking of getting rid of Sammy but i don't know... the pet store said theyd take him back, but i dont know whether to take it there or give it to someone. Any help?

Wow thanks Rainbow! One question, the newest one is for sure a male, and he's alot more affectonate it seems. If I stick my finger up in the bars, he'll kinda 'kiss' them. He's absolutely not scared of my hand or me in any way. He does move when I stick my hand in there, but not like Sammy was at first. He alreadys eats straight from my hand/fingers from the bar AND in the cage. I'm gonna keep talking to him and feeding him, then start finger training. Hopefully he'll tame easier then sammy! Sammy is turning into a rebel child! I think he's getting adjusted though, he's perching with one foot. I also saw Sprite perching with one foot in the store, another reason I picked him. I'm gonna keep working with Sammy but Sprite is my main interest FTB. By the way, I read/heard that males are more affectionate and alot easier to tame then females. Is this true? I also think Sammy is a female :-X