flycow

Yes, he's going well and begining to like me, I have a fix schedule with him as well. In the morning he will exercise his wings by flying around a few rounds but alway return to me. Then we have breakfast together and a little chat before I leave for work. He's begining to settle into his own playtime in the cage in the afternoons when I'm not with him. I make dinner at night and put on the TV for him a bit then he play on my desk and his playpen, later naps on my shoulder before I return him to the cage for the night. It's going on pretty well I'd say, we can have a "conversation" in chirpy language, and he have loads to say. Get a boy if you want a chatty buddy.

Does anybody know of an Avian Vet in the western suburbs of Melbourne? My budgie is panting away today I need some info handy in case of emergency.

Hello Splat, just saw this thread, may I know what wood you use for the ladder? I'm thinking of making a small one for the cage, do I need to "treat" the wood before use? I mean wash with hot water or soap or something? Thanks.

When I am training him to be returned to the cage, I put him in and leave the door open, he will fly out a few minutes later. By default he keeps thinking the door is close the moment he's in it so he figure it out only after several minutes. Then I let him be with me for a bit before returning him to the cage again. That goes on for several times although the moment I walk close to the cage he either fly away or grumbles. His nighttime sleep has improved. The cage is 90% covered at first with full lights on and me sitting next to him for company, until he settled for bed, then I left him. Next it slowly progressed to just him alone, 90% covered and the lights still on, next to eventually fully covered with lights dimmed. Right now he hardly flap more than a minute or two after lights out and sleeps like a baby until I remove the covers in the morning. So I consider the bedtime challenge solved. :rofl: I did stick to a daily routine like you suggested.

Oh he is so not quiet at all, he is taking over the house, possibly everyone as well :rofl: But I am very glad you trained him to fly back, he does that 90% of the time to my shoulder, whether it's flying away investigating, or something made him jumped for no reason, he mostly come back. No you didnt' chose the wrong bird, I think he is meant to be, he's absolutely fun to play with! Yeah I am embarrassed about the bare cage, I've already added a twin rope swing and another ball in there (not in photo) It's not meant to be this boring, , just that I've ordered heaps of raw materials, beads, bells and ropes online to make him some cool toys and it's not delivered yet. I have also cut some branches but the past few days been raining this way so I couldn't wash and sun them properly. He just have to bear with it a few more days. And I bought some millet sprays delivering tomorrow for training, hope it helps.

Hilarious! I voted too.

Little budgie here is getting very mischievous, jumps wild in cage and tries to escape everytime I open a door. Smart, I've never had such a smart one before. He saw me open the side door once and also removed the bottom tray and figured straight away it's a possible escape route, caught him a few times checking the two doors out when I'm not looking :rofl: Funny to watch. I sat next to the cage with him on my fingers and he complaints (grumbles) quite a bit, not talking to me in affection, but like a protest sort of noise, the only time he makes so much noise. Also has began to bite me when he's not cool with something, like kissing him, also protest with screeches when I touch his body. Any signs of dominance here? :rofl: Cute regardless. And I'm such a lousy trainer. :rofl:

I have a HUGE cage on wheels, that is not easily movable onto the dining table like this.

I don't intend to ever clip wings, I personally liked a free spirited budgie to do as he likes (well to a certain degree) and my goal is make ME the best thing he likes. The flying away tip is excellent, I've been letting him getting away too much to explore, will definitely work on that. At the moment he trust my hands very much, he wants to check out everything I touched. And I always offered finger/palm, never caught him unwillingly. Question: If I were to start cupping him for a scratch, will it work backwards and he get scared of my hand? I'll stop the radio and do the rest you suggested, great tips, thank you, and the FAQs as well, helps a lot. One more question, he doesn't like the process me putting him into the cage and I thought not to associate his step-up on my finger with a negative experience of returning him back there, so I gently threw a cloth over him instead to bring him back, is that okay? I have all the patience in the world for any budgie. :hmm:

Hello everyone, I need some tips on bonding with Giorgio. He's hand/shoulder/finger tamed, wouldn't hesistate to hop on and off (when he wants to) but he wasn't keen on me much. I speak to him daily and give kisses, whistles and hand feed his breakfast. He accepts food I gave him without much hesitation, veggies, apples, honeyed seeds. When he left GB's home he likes a little neck scratch and I could pet him on the back, since yesterday he has started to dislike it, now I couldn't pat him anymore and he is flying away to explore a little more than staying put as long as before. Am I doing something wrong that is untaming him? I have been turning on the radio softly next to the cage to keep him entertained when I'm at work. On average I spend several hours with him by my side or on my shoulder. I chat with him 3-4 times a day, or sometimes play at my laptop, 15 -30mins each time. He likes the laptop, not me though, I'm close to transparent. hehe. How can I bond with him or get him to like me?

How big can a budgie gets? What is consider huge? Anybody with photos? I'm curious.

Great tip, will definitely record my voice tomorrow. my jaw really dropped reading how long since you have started breeding budgies, I am so amazed as you are so young, has it been going on like, forever? Now I'm so embarrassed to have even questioned the sex of Giorgio :raincloud: (off to scold dad)

My last budgie liked her cage more than anything as well but she trusted and bonded with me so if I am available to her I'll be the first preference, for 15mins anyway, then she'd want to return to the cage while continue chatting/playing with me THROUGH the cage. That only happened after I took away her mirror as she bonded with it, so I'd agree with others regarding the shiny toys. Get the non-shiny ones like ropes and beads etc.

when he's on my finger I chat and kiss him often, he is cool and just looks at me but don't talk. But if he is in the cage and I'm nearby, he will call softly once or twice, but mostly do his acrobatic climbs up and down, perch to perch, upside down etc to tell me he wants out. It depends on situation, mostly I just let him out when he asks, but if he's just been out for a long time and I'm cooking, I'll just distract him with a toy and he'll settle down in a minute to play or groom. I think I will go Spotlight this weekend to grab some lace curtains so he doesn't knock onto the windows accidentally, thx for the tip, didn't occur to me the fright part. Oh I forgot to tell you he discovered the outdoors, I took him to the door to watch the garden he likes it so I'll be putting him in a small cage to bring outside to the yard with me for some fresh air.

He sits still for 1/3, flies off to investigate 1/3 and sits+sleep+play at the playpen the rest of the time. Everyday he's a different bird. Yesterday I managed to teach him to jump out of the cage door without my help, then I'll offer my hand. I used to help carry him out from inside the cage as he didn't know how to. Today I taught him to fly to me from a short distance by calling and clapping my hands, he succeeded once, still working on this. The other day he was on the playpen and I walked out for 15mins, he flew out to the kitchen to look for me, very very cute. Also he's realised what are glass windows and learned to avoid smashing into them, he do uturns and balance himself to look for good landing ground, really smart! He still doesn't play or chat with me though, but he's had a few parties with some of the toys in the cage. to add: I'm so lucky, you won't want him back now would you? by the way I've mentioned Giorgio and your birds in another forum I frequent, if anybody is interested I'll let you know.

Hey no sorry at all, it's brilliant what you did! I WANT the human reliance and company! It's just that I worry if I were to go on holidays and he won't get into the cage, but he seems to be adjusting really well. I cover half the cage up for a few hours a day and put in some toys (will be making more on rotation), other times he's with me as I work part time and am a homebody at other times.

Thank you. Yeah she's a lovely bird, called for me when she ran out of seeds or hated the noise from TV. She's in the pot so I could bring her with me to this current home

Chip is the special one who stayed by our side through the past six years, a very difficult period of our lives. We travelled from Sydney to Melbourne, moved from several dodgy houses to eventually buying our current dream home but unfortunately she didn't live to see it. It's one of my biggest regret as I had wanted to give her a big aviary in our new place to replace her smaller cage. Now she has her own lovely potted rose sanctuary. It's the most beautiful plant of the several potted ones I have and it always produce the prettiest and most fragrant lone pink rose. I promised her I'll take care of her resting place, I'll keep to my word.

YES yes yes! He's mine I am really truly lucky and thankful to GB for this bird as he's got quite a personality, he snuggles on my neck at night, I can hand feed him easily in the morning, and I can prompt him out of his cage, in fact he doesn't like to be caged that much, he do acrobatics in there and begs to get out , so he has the run of the house when I'm at home. I'll probably build him a bigger standing playpen when he's older. Thank you GB, yes I do believe in waiting for good stuff, my dog at home, we waiting for a year before getting her too and she's an angel.

Of course I trust her judgement too, just that my dad keeps mentioning the cere it drives me nuts because the last baby I had, we had initially wanted a boy but her blue cere turned brown so I'm really curious how the colour can keep changing, is it hormonal? can diet change the colour as well?

Pardon me for a novice question, so it is possible to grow a budgie with good nutrition? Wouldn't that be just a fat budgie than big sized? I love big budgies

Hey Naomi, congrats! Can I ask when did peanut started talking budgie? My little one is young still, he only chirp, hasn't chatted yet.

Hello budgie lovers, I posted these on another thread introducing him. Now I'm just curious if there's any chance if he could be a she as time goes. If you think it's a he or she can you tell me the reason so I can learn? The cere looks teeny bit more purpish blue actually but I know colours can be deceiving. Also at what age can I be more certain of it's sex? The photos are slightly washed, taken next to the window without flash. Any signs of "white"? Thanks for the help!

Just read this, Fred is gone? I'm sorry GB for your lost, Fred was really cute running around like that, we're so lucky to have met her, she's a darling

Hello, thanks to GenericBlue, now I have a new friend in my life. Introducing Giorgio, ordinary grey green (what I prefered) but he's very tame thanks to the hardwork of GB, it was worth the few months of wait and 4 hours return travel for the little fella. He settles right in from day one and wants to be with humans and get involved in everything I have my hands on. I'm trying to train him to be a bit independent right now. I have a question regarding his sex though, my last budgie's cere was blue but turned brown eventually. Now Giorgio has a little sign of blue turning purple brown, can you guys help me sex him? He also peck a little at my fingers, does male budgies peck or bite at all? GB said he is roughly 6 or 7 weeks old, how old can I be certain he's a cock? If Giorgio turns out a hen she'll be called Giorgie, THEN I'll get another male as I really wanted one. My last three budgies were all female, I've not much luck so far, the last male was more than a decade a go and he's a charming prince, my favourite. Anyway, here's the cheeky baby. His cage and playpen . Look how he lean his body onto me before bedtime.