hi

I know that you cover a cage to put your budgie "to sleep" and I was wondering when settling the budgie after you bring them home should you cover or leave the cage uncovered for the first day at home? We have just bought Jinx home and we have him covered tonight but should I uncover him tommorrow morning or shoud I leave him covered for the first day. No one will be home for the majority of the day and I was going to leave the radio on for him. Is this a good idea or a waist of time?

To cover or not to cover that is the question

This is part of the training article that I wrote up for BBC

 

When you first bring your budgie home let your new pet settle in before you start the taming process. This is what I personally did when I purchased Pretty, a pet store bought budgie. Before he arrived I made sure his cage was set up with all the essentials. When I put him in the cage I kept him in a quiet room with not too much action for the first couple of days. I also kept his cage covered on all three sides with a sheet so that he felt secure. It is very common for your new budgie to retreat into the back of the cage as this is where he will feel the safest. After 2 days I slowly started to bring the cover off the cage until it was completely uncovered. This took about a week. Some birds might already have a trusting relationship with humans, for others it could take months. Watch your budgie’s behavior as he becomes more comfortable with his surroundings. You can remove the cage cover a little everyday. We suggest that you keep your budgie in the cage and do not take him out of the cage until he is comfortable in his own cage first (this could be a couple weeks) and it is best to wait until he has learnt how to step-up. It is also suggested that you keep your hands out of the cage unless you are working on taming procedures or changing their food and water because your big hand is very scary for them. Remember they see you as a predator they don’t know whether to trust you or not and your hand is very big to them.

 

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