Approximately 2 weeks ago, I acquired 2 male baby budgies. I have been having some problems taming them. One of them (Ernie) is proving easier to tame than the other, and I have managed to get him to sit on my finger a few times. The other one (Elmo) seems more flighty/nervous at this stage, and I haven’t managed to get him to sit on my finger yet. What also happens sometimes is that I will have my finger in front of one of them, and then the other one (usually Elmo) gets spooked, which of course ends up in both of them becoming nervous and scuttling away. I have a number of queries, as follows:

• When I first got the budgies home from the bird shop, unfortunately, as I went to transfer them from the box to the cage, they both flew out. It took me some time to catch them, and they both appeared very stressed and were panting (it was also stressful for me). I’m a bit worried that this early experience with me might have traumatised them to some degree in respect of me taming them.
  
• From my enquiries before I purchased the budgies, I understand that they don’t bond as much to the owner when there is a pair. I would like to find out though what I could reasonably expect of a pair of budgies in this situation in respect of tameness. I would mainly like them to sit on my finger sometimes, and not be as scared when I put my hand in the cage, and also for me to be able to let them out of the cage sometimes when I come home from work in the evening. I’m not too worried about teaching them to talk. Would these be realistic goals for a pair of budgies? Also, am I being impatient? Is it possible that if I persist they might become tamer? If so, in general, how long might it take? Do they tend to become tamer or less tame as they become adult budgies? I’ll add that I did have some success earlier this week by putting my hand inside the cage and holding out some millet spray in front of them on the perch they were sitting on, and they did enthusiastically eat this, especially Ernie.
  
• Earlier this week, I opened the door to the cage and Elmo flew out. When this occurred, he appeared very nervous, flying wildly from one side of the room to the other, and I had some trouble catching him and putting him back in the cage (he was biting me with his beak as I took him back to the cage). There was also nowhere for him to perch outside the cage except for the curtain rod. Yesterday, I bought an external natural wooden perch to attach to the side of the cage if I try to let them out in the future, which I’m hoping might help them to come back to the cage by themselves. Should I perhaps wait until they are tamer before I try letting them out of the cage again? If so, approximately how long should I wait?
  
• Is it better to move my hand towards them very slowly and gently, or should I approach them in a more confident, faster manner? I’m thinking that the slower movements seem to work better, but just thought I’d see what other people have found.
  
• I went into the bird shop yesterday and spoke with one of the staff there re the above problems. He said that it is most likely because there is a pair rather than just one budgie. He suggested that I could bring them back and they could clip their wings, which he said might help me to tame them. Another suggestion he made was that I could perhaps separate them for a while (e.g. by getting a friend to look after one of them for a while), and then bring them together again once they are tamer. I was wondering if anyone has some thoughts on these suggestions. It has occurred to me to maybe take the flightier one (Elmo) back, tame Ernie properly, then get another bird, tame this separately, and then put them both together. I imagine that with budgies, like many other animals, that individual budgies have different temperaments, and that some are easier to tame than others? I would of course feel somewhat reluctant to take Elmo back, additionally as Ernie and he do seem to have bonded with each other, and preen and clean each other. The reason I originally decided to get two birds is that I live by myself in a studio apartment and work full-time 5 days a week, so I thought two birds would be company for each other, even though I knew they wouldn't bond with me to the same degree as what one bird would.
  

If anyone could offer some tips/thoughts re the above, that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I think clipping their wings at least once would be a sensible idea. You should find that once this is done they will be less inclined to fly madly around the room and it will be less stressful on them if you need to catch them. I wouldn't get rid of one at this stage as I think once their wings are clipped you should see a fast improvement.

Hello and welcome :hap:

 

I agree that wing clipping is a good idea in situations like yours. A wing clip (both wings) instantly makes most birds a lot quieter and more welcoming to taming. Most birds need to have their wings clipped for their initial taming. After a few months the feathers will regrow, your birds will be tame and will fly around the room in a joyous manner, rather than a fearful one :hap:

 

Oh, and be cautious of a wingclip done by a petshop, they often dont know what they are doing and do it wrong

Edited May 17, 200817 yr by **Liv**

Two weeks is only a short time as well. I have had my bayby budgie for three weeks now, and he is just beginning to step up onto my finger without showing any sort of reluctance. I had his wings clipped, which has made it a bit easier in terms of handling him, but he still scurries away at the sight of my hand coming toward him.

 

I have heard suggestions that if you're trying to tame bugies who live as a pair, to try taking one of them to a separate area to work on taming them, one at a time, rather than having their buddy right beside them in the cage. That way, they focus on you, and thereofre might bond better with you.

Hello and welcome. I agree with what the others have said. I wouldn't get ridd of one of them, just do the one on one taming. There is a post by one of our moderators which is about her taming journey: Hobbes & Claire's Taming Journal, and there is also a good artical in our FAQ's also written by another moderator: Taming your budgie. Both should be quite helpful.

 

As to them escaping when you first brought them home. You catching them would have scared them and made then nervious of you and your hands, but over time and with your hard work, they should get over that. You are also correct in saying that all budgies are different... some budgies are easy to tame, some are hard andsome don't tame at all.

 

Good luck and keep us informed on your progress with Ernie and Elmo. Love their names by the way. I have two cockatiels called Bert and Ernie.

Yes to clipping their wings in this situation.

 

I often train several babies at once. There is usually one that is curious and when it works out you aren't a monster who is going to eat it, curiosity turns into fearlessness and it can't wait to get out of the cage when it sees you coming and jump all over you. I concentrate my effort on that one, then often the others out of curiosity will see this happening just outside the cage they are all in together, and they will come over to investigate as well. It is a good way to train multiple birds, because all animals crave attention, and they will follow the example of the boldest one.

 

If they are afraid of your fingers try using a wood perch to get them used to stepping up on the perch, and use a simple voice command like "step up" when you present the perch to their chest, and when they do as you ask, reward them by saying "good budgie" with emotion. They will respond to the emotion in your voice.

 

Start with the wood perch with the better one first, then when the other one gets curious, train it as well with the wood perch, then when they are both accomplished at this use your hand towards the one that is better at it and continue. You may find that the one that starts off the shyest becomes the better one.

 

Short frequent training sessions work best.

Hello and welcome. I agree with what the others have said. I wouldn't get ridd of one of them, just do the one on one taming. There is a post by one of our moderators which is about her taming journey: Hobbes & Claire's Taming Journal, and there is also a good artical in our FAQ's also written by another moderator: Taming your budgie. Both should be quite helpful.

 

As to them escaping when you first brought them home. You catching them would have scared them and made then nervious of you and your hands, but over time and with your hard work, they should get over that. You are also correct in saying that all budgies are different... some budgies are easy to tame, some are hard andsome don't tame at all.

 

Good luck and keep us informed on your progress with Ernie and Elmo. Love their names by the way. I have two cockatiels called Bert and Ernie.

 

Thanks very much to everyone who has responded to my post, those tips have been very helpful.

 

I did end up getting Ernie and Elmo's wings clipped just over a week ago. Although initially it didn't seem to make them less scared of me, it has now proved to be very beneficial. I spend a lot of time on my computer, so I had the idea of whenever I'm doing this, to bring their cage over to my left and open all the cage doors, so that hopefully they'll get used to my presence. Obviously I wouldn't have been able to do this if their wings weren't clipped.

 

This morning, for the first time, some time after I had opened the cage doors, they both flew out of the cage together, to the carpet. I was over at another desk when this occurred. I just left them alone, but kept an eye on them, and they just stayed in the same area, looking quite comfortable and cleaning each other etc. I later went over and fed them some millet spray from my hand, which they both started eating (after a short hesitance). They are certainly not scared of eating millet spray from my hand, which I gather from reading other posts, is good progress. Anyway, the best of all is that I thought I would have trouble getting them back into the cage, but it didn't turn out this way. I put out a short perch in front of them. After some initial reluctance, Elmo hopped up onto the perch, and a little later, also after some initial reluctance, Ernie hopped onto the perch also. I then slowly moved the perch back into their cage, thinking they would fly off, but they didn't, and I got them back into the cage without any problems, so that was very successful!

 

I'm certainly glad I found this forum. I did buy a book on budgies before I acquired Ernie and Elmo, but it only had a very short section on taming. I'm finding a great deal of useful information on this site that isn't in my book. So thanks again, and I'm sure I will have some more questions later

 

PS. I have included a photo of Ernie and Elmo as the personal photo on my profile. It was taken a few weeks ago, so they are behind the cage bars, but hopefully I'll get some more photos without the bars soon. Ernie is the blue and white one, and Elmo is the pale green and yellow one.

Oh, they look so cute I am so pleased you are making progress with them

Thank you for the update.

 

that is great

they are very beautiful.

They are very cute! And you have made some awsome progress. Congratulations