Is just letting your birds out actually detrimental to them? Or is physically taking them out for their out of cage time only beneficial if you want tamer birds?

 

Cupid and Psyche have been much quieter since we've been letting them out of the cage on a daily basis. I think the extra stimulation and exercise really has helped. Cupid readily steps up, but its really difficult to move him while he's on your finger, particularly when he's in the cage. When he's out of the cage, Jared has been able to give him kisses a couple of times and we can move around the room with him on our finger. Psyche still is hesitant to even eat millet from our hand. Before they learned how to get back to their cage, she has allowed me to take her back to her cage with company from Cupid.

 

I have read suggestions to others to only allow them out if you take them out. I'm afraid that if we didn't let Psyche out unless we handled her, she'd become a nuisance again. I also know that it is important to accept how your birds are going to be; some just won't be very tame at all. If what we're doing right now seems to be working, do we really need to keep working on getting them tamer?

 

I did manage to actually take Cupid out today, with the help from some millet. He doesn't mind moving if he's eating. *L* After he was out, I worked with Psyche and was only able to get her to eat from my hand. I closed the door so she wouldn't fly out on her own, but then Cupid wanted back in and when we opened the door for him she came out too.*L* Perhaps if we make it a point to keep working on taking him out and getting her to eat from our hand that will be good enough. Like letting her out is a reward for eating from our hand and it will eventually progress to taking her out. I just don't want to cut back her out of the cage time because it really helps with her obnoxious behavior.

Well here is what I do. I take Merlin out and Pretty comes out on his own afterwards. Do I see a difference in being tamer vs not, not really. Tameness I believe comes through other factors and working on trust. . This is my experience.

Believe it or not, I find this a tough question to answer. Part of the theory is that if you take them out, not only are you reinforcing the step-up command (which may come in handy later) but you are reinforcing in your budgie's mind that stepping up on your finger is the precursor to FUN! Which is coming out of the cage. It helps the bond.

 

That being said, I will be the first to tell you that I don't get my birds out on my finger. The top of their cage opens, and I just open it and open the front door. If they want to come out they can. For the most part my birds come and go as they please. BUT (and this is a big BUT) I have had my birds anywhere from 3-5 years. 3 of them were born in my living room. They are used to me, and I am used to them. They will step up on command outside of the cage. They are fully flighted, so they could give me a hassle about it if they wanted to, LOL. I can have them in the cage in a few seconds. At any moment. I do not doubt that should I need to catch them for any reason at any time I will be able to do so in a few seconds. Usually I just tell them it is time to go in and they put themselves up. They are such sweeties. Allowing them their freedom works for us. It's what we are all used to.

 

I can suggest that you look at how comfortable you are with the level of control you have over your birds. If you wish it were better or more consistent, then insist upon getting them out on your finger until you are more certain of their step-up compliance. If you are happy where they are, and it works for everyone, then do whatever is most comfortable for you. You can always change your mind later.

It is best to take them out when they aren't very tame. Because by letting them out when they are like this, they think they have managed to scare you away and are able to have fun with out needing you. I would work on having your budgie stp up on you finger and feeding them inside the cage for a week or two. Test to see if they will come out on your hand every time you handle them. Once they are tamer you can probably let them out.

They don't seem to get into trouble at all when they're out. They've learned about the walls and stuff and mainly stay on their cage or Baby's with the exception of a circle around the room now and then. It does take a while to get them back in their cage, but we don't go places often enough for it to be a problem - yet. *L* They go back inside when they're ready and it has worked for us well enough so far. I think continuing to work with them but still letting them out will be the way to go - take them out if we can, but not deprive them if we can't. Maybe Psyche will make the connection of the hand comes in and Cupid gets to go out and be more open to it too. But maybe she's not quite that bright. *L* We'll have to see. *L*

I have only had Scuttle for nearly 6 months (he's only about nine or so months old) and I've already adopted both ways of getting him out of the cage. I generally let him out most days, and 70% of the time I get him out myself. Other times I just open the door, stand back and wait for him to come out.

 

The other day I thought he wanted out so I opened the door and he ran away from my finger, so I thought 'fine' and left the door open and went back to what I was doing. Several minutes later I heard flapping and next thing I knew he was on my shoulder.

 

So both works for him. He also goes back in quite easily, either by himself or with a little psychology from me (eg I make him think he wants to get back in (Laughing out loud)) Whether thats really the case I'm not sure, but he comes and goes as he pleases and sometimes I take him out myself.

taking them out of the cage is alright if you want to have a tame budgie , but for me it is a bit of a hassle to let all my budgies out by hand one by one , if l do let them out like that , one or two usually escapes out of their cage door and when one does it most often they all try to follow the escapee , but l don't mind , so l usually just leave the cage door open and let them decide when to come out , 4 of them aren't tame , one is semi tame ( l'm still working with him and l see a bit of a progress ) and another one is only a baby ( around 3 - 4 months old) is very tame .

I do both. I let him out every day, and I usually take him out of the cage and put him on his play gym, or let him fly up to his spiral rope that hangs from the ceiling. Other times, I'll just leave the cage door open and let him leave when he wants to. If he wants out immediately, he'll let me know, and he'll already be trying to step up before I even get my hand in the cage. :(Laughing out loud):

 

He almost always puts himself away though. If I need him to go back in at that moment and he's on his play gym, he'll step up right away. If he's on his rope, that's a little more tricky. I don't know why, but he won't let me take him down from there, unless I have millet of course. Then he's more than willing. :(Laughing out loud):