You might remember (or maybe not...I don't know if I posted about that here or not!) that I rescued a budgie that my (crazy, mental, violent, PLEASE BAN ME!!) uncle had been given for Christmas. Here is an update and pictures of her progress!

 

Paine is doing awesomely. It took a LOT of work (in a short time, but hey it was still a lot of work!) to get to the point of not having to use gloves but we've made such great progress. Here are just a few pictures to show Paine's "breakthrough" training session:

 

 

She's still in quarantine but I tried to make the most out of that tiny cage. She seems pretty pleased. About as pleased as a bird in a tiny cage can be, at least.

 

 

 

I contemplated getting a video to show just how evil she is with the biting. That was when I had gloves on though. I let her get sick of gnawing (which took forever) and then laddered her, one gloved hand, one bare hand. Eventually, she got the point in a big way.

 

 

 

Excuse the spotty mirror and my horrid hair and the awful quality of this shot but anyway!! After she showed a bit of confidence stepping up on TWO bare hands I let her climb up my shirt to my shoulder. She really liked it there but stepping her back up onto a hand wasn't difficult at all.

 

 

 

The flash caught her off guard, but this is her right next to my cheek. I cut my face out because I was looking pretty wild there. I thought I'd spare you the horror. :hap:

 

So, Paine is now finger trained and making extremely fast progress! Budgies are smart little birds, for sure.

:hap: not your favourite uncle I'm guessing!! How did he end up with her for xmas? was she not wanted as a xmas present?

well done with the progress so far. So your not moving overseas anymore? It did sound like a huge amount of work for you and the birds

Great work! bless you for your kindness,

:hap:

Shell

She's a little beauty

Good work. How come she was so bitey?

not your favourite uncle I'm guessing!! How did he end up with her for xmas? was she not wanted as a xmas present?

well done with the progress so far. So your not moving overseas anymore? It did sound like a huge amount of work for you and the birds

It was so much stress and I worried about the tiniest things like what if I filled out the forms in black ink instead of blue by accident and they didn't let them through?? Everything has to be perfect, and I don't work well under stress. Plus, my husband can be here in 3-6 months whereas it was going to take longer than that to get the pets to England due to my snub-nosed dog not being allowed to fly in the summer. Headache and a half! It's such a weight off my shoulders not to have to worry about that. Paine will most likely be rehomed though, she's a foster and I want to get her vetted and tamed so she can find the right person.

 

Good work. How come she was so bitey?

I don't think she was ever handled and even though she's young (just going through her first molt) she's just WILD (or used to be, at least). I have never seen a budgie so bitey in my life! And Phizzy was a good biter when I first got her. I'm partly chalking it up to her being opaline. I have no evidence to back that up, but every opaline I've met has been far more skittish than the other birds I've seen. It could also have something to do with my uncle and his wretched temper. He tends to do a lot of yelling and fussing and arguing so I can imagine she had some scary moments in her very short time living with him and it only made her more afraid of humans.

Edited January 6, 200718 yr by eterri

she is so pretty .