Day 3, and I'm learning how incredibly impatient I really am..

 

I want Maurie to be my bestest bird buddy in the whole wide world. Yesterday. Maurie, on the other hand, wants to sit on his swing and glare at me all day. I'm having a hard time convincing him that my plan is the way to go. I think his first words may end up being "Aww c'mon" and "don't be a fraidy bird!".

 

He's moving around a lot more; spends a lot of time doing somersaults and generally acting like I fed him neat red cordial.

 

Why didn't I buy millet sprays? I meant to.. I just forgot.. now I'm regretting it. He doesn't know I'm the Food Goddess yet, not interested in greens.. I need to get me some of those secret weapon millet sprays everyone raves about. I need to get some decent bribery material.

 

For now though, I'm happy with baby steps. He seems to feel most secure on his swing, and is less inclined to fly away when he's on the swing rather than just on a perch. He sleeps on it (so cute!) So I usually wait until he hops onto his swing to try to get close. Just now I verrrrrrrrry slowly put my finger next to the perch and rolled it upwards a little until he took some tentative steps onto it, then stood properly and got a nice firm grip going. By resting my weight on the swing, it kept my hand steady, and let him stand there for a while.

 

All, of course, while I'm cooing "Oh you're such a good boy! Yes you are!" like an idiot..

 

He stayed for about 2 minutes, hopping onto one foot and then the other to preen, but mostly just staring at me like he was humouring me, silently telling me to enjoy it while he was feeling generous enough to stay there.

 

I managed to contort myself and take a (bad) photo - it was pretty difficult with my left hand and considering that I couldn't see the screen. Apologies for the flash!

 

 

PROGRESS!

 

Now to repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat.

 

And get some millet.

Wonderful to hear your progress. There is a article in the FAQ section also about Taming your Budgie if you haven't read it to get more tips .

Wonderful to hear your progress. There is a article in the FAQ section also about Taming your Budgie if you haven't read it to get more tips .

 

I have, thank you - it's great

You are doing fine, keep doing what you are doing. I'm sure in a little while he will get use to you more and will bond with you. It just takes time :rofl:

I've read so much of these forums and the FAQ lately that I forget who said what, but I read someone say that the first thing they do when they bring a new budgie home is to get the wing clipping out of the way so you're only the "mean new mummy" in the beginning.

 

It was starting to weigh on my mind because Maurie only had one wing clipped, and I haven't clipped a wing in years, so I was feeling a bit apprehensive - but I didn't want to undo all my hard work taming him by pulling him out and being a big bully. I didn't want to come a long way and then go backwards because he saw me as the mean new mummy when I finally got around to clipping the other wing.

 

So I bit the bullet today and clipped the other one - and did a darn sight better job than the pet store, rusty as I am, even if I do say so myself - mine was much neater. Not perfect, but I'm sure that will come with time. My sister would have a fit - she has a feather phobia, so she would have flipped her lid to see feathers on the kitchen bench.

 

Afterwards, I spent some time handling him. He sat on my finger happily (unless the cage was nearby, of course, then he wanted IN). He tried a few times to fly up, and failed, poor baby. I feel sad that he doesn't understand why he can't get any height, but I don't want him flying up high and hurting himself. I giggled at the "tappity-tappity-tappity" noise of his little feet on the kitchen floor.

 

Now, he's surprisingly calm, and suddenly much more accommodating when I want him to hop onto my finger. Still not perfect, but definitely not as flighty now. I think I've got the message across that when I take him out, I'm not going to hurt him, and I'll put him back in soon enough. He seems confused about that, I think he had decided I was evil and now he doesn't know what to think.

 

I still need to find a way to his heart through his stomach, he doesn't trust me enough to take any food (even if I just hang something up). I'm hoping the millet I get on Friday will be a breakthrough.

 

I really have to fight the temptation to keep pulling him out. I don't want to hassle the little guy.. it's just so exciting to make progress; I get antsy when he has to go to bed but I want to keep handling him