Hey, as you can tell I'm new here and I have one current budgie, Tinkerbell. She is Petstore bought, I could put my hands up to the bars and she would stay, unusual for the petstore type bird, So deciding i would get her, at the time I still had one of my first two budgies BlueSky. Who passed away last year. I brought her home in a diffrent, spare cage to intraduce them. Letting her settle in. Getting up in the morning before school to feed her and Whats this? A Egg at the bottem of her cage. But she Is now treeably skittish. Sadly i dident know she was going to lay so the egg sadly broke. Now I have a skittish budgie who I tried to train but it never worked And I have no idea what to do. My profile picture Is Tinkerbell and her cage.

Hi Tinkerbell, do you mean she has JUST LAID AN EGG or was this when you first bought her? If you have had her for some time and she is an older bird it might be hard to tame her now, that is, so she will come out of her cage and sit on your hand etc. can you tell us a bit more?

Hi Tinkerbell, do you mean she has JUST LAID AN EGG or was this when you first bought her? If you have had her for some time and she is an older bird it might be hard to tame her now, that is, so she will come out of her cage and sit on your hand etc. can you tell us a bit more?

 

I got her about a year back, She sat in the cage for the first day all fluffed up and the next day there was a egg. Now about her now, She seemed calm when I got her but now she is quite skittish. She is used to me by her cage for feeding but no where else. I can also put my hand in the cage and keep it pressed up by the door. Im not 100% sure so I'm going to search up and do some research. Right now (Sadly) I only have 1 rope perch, a pedicure perch, one she wont leave unless I'm near her... and a mirror because her companion had died and because we live in a area where the birds pass she chirps at them so I decided. Though its brain-killing she needs a companion. Though she only sits there and when she is used to a toy i get her. She has no intent play with it.She also has no band so I wouldn't be able to look at it.

Edited March 25, 201213 yr by Tinkerbell

Well firstly I would take out the mirror. If you catch her (only indoors with windows etc covered and closed she may fly into clear glass and injure herself) hold her gently so she can't fly and talk quietly to her as often as you can, until she quietens down, enough to see if you can then get her to sit on your finger without flying off in a panic. Are her wings clipped or not?

This won't happen overnight you'll have to try for some time. If you can't teach her to do that much I think you will just have to accept her as a caged pet. Hope this helps a bit good luck.

Her wings arn't clipped, Do I take her out of her cage to hold her, or somewhere else like outside the cage. She has been hand fed before by me, and then my sister got her budgie in her cage. And I couldent do that anymore. Here is my plan based off of reaserch and such

 

-Spend time by her cage talking calmly until she is used to it, so when I put my hand in there, she knows its okay, when she is okay with that ill put my hand by her belly, so she will step up. Or if that isent working take her food out for a bit till she is hungry and feed her from my hand... Just hope she wont bite

I agree with Robyn about the mirror. And as far as depriving her of food so she eats from your hand ...you should never take food away from them, not for any reason.

I agree with Robyn about the mirror. And as far as depriving her of food so she eats from your hand ...you should never take food away from them, not for any reason.

 

Alright. Ill take it out. And Im not going to starve her, just picked up some millet today. She naver had it and she really loves it. Im going to give it to her and then she will try to get it from me when i stick it through the bars.

Her wings arn't clipped, Do I take her out of her cage to hold her, or somewhere else like outside the cage. She has been hand fed before by me, and then my sister got her budgie in her cage. And I couldent do that anymore. Here is my plan based off of reaserch and such

 

-Spend time by her cage talking calmly until she is used to it, so when I put my hand in there, she knows its okay, when she is okay with that ill put my hand by her belly, so she will step up. Or if that isent working take her food out for a bit till she is hungry and feed her from my hand... Just hope she wont bite

You would take her out of cage, holding her in one hand cupped so she's secure, let her head pop up between your thumb and finger. Then talk to her and gently smooth her head feathers or maybe a little scratch.

Once she gets used to this she will not be so scared of you. Don't let her go until your hand is back in cage then open your hand. I'd try that for a while to see if she can be tamed.

 

BUT like Kaz said DO NOT TAKE HER FOOD AWAY. Being a hen you can nearly guarantee you will get bitten. l.o.l

Im Not sure if Im going to try holding her in my hands due to the fact she probbally will bite me, Evert 10-20 min now im going by her cage and softly talking, saying her name and such putting millet by the bars. So far she hopped closer and jumped back. Thats a good, wanted reaction. Though I will try that, but isent that flooding, or something similar to it?

I Know im not sopposed to doubble post but Thanks so much everyone, within the past day ive had her not freak out as i re-arranged her cage. Thanks so much again and im happy with the progress. Hopefully soon she will be on my finger or playing outside her cage.

H Tink, There seems to be some confusion in your taming methods. Pleas checkout my Taming Blog post on

 

this site. A few members don't agree with it but that's their choice. If you decide to follow it, can I stress you don't take

 

any short cuts or rush from one step to the next before you are 100%, sure that both you & the bird are ready

 

to move on...If your unsure about any point, don't be afraid to ask. Yours B.J.

Hi Tinkerbell, welcome to the forum! BJs articles on taming are good, and there are also good ones in the FAQ section.

 

 

I don't think any of them recommend grabbing her and holding her against her will to make her get used to it. That would just make her really distrust you! And if she gets loose outside of her cage while she is fully flighted, you will have the devil of a time getting her back. (Unless she already knows to go back into it to sleep at night, if you left her out until then.) A net would be required to catch her, and chasing them around with a net really sets back their trust in you.

 

 

Since she loves the millet, that's going to be your best tool. Once she will take it through the bars, then graduate to putting your hand in the cage and feeding her the millet that way. Once she will do that, hold the millet farther away from the perch so she has to reach for it, and then far enough so that she has to put one foot, then two feet on your hand to reach it.

 

 

I think it's really hard to tame them when they are fully flighted, because they know they are independant of you. My preference is to clip their feathers and work with them a lot, so that when the feathers regrow, they trust you enough to fly to you on their own.