We have had two beautiful budgies for around a month - both came at about age 6 weeks from a small breeder. We had read that by getting two budgies we were running the risk that they would bond to each other rather than us and be difficult to train.

 

This seems to be true and they are now going backwards rather than forwards in their training. We were able to get them out of their cage (though they'd mainly just sit on top of it) but now they are scared whenever we open the cage and are nearly impossible to catch.

 

They sit together nearly all the time and the female will nip us even if we are trying to get the male onto our finger.

 

Any tips!? We love them and would really like it if they would get used to flying out of the cage and sitting on our fingers.

I have tamed in the past 2 budgies together successfully and they where both in the same cage. The secret to taming them is alot of patient and you need to take each budgie into a separate room in order to have their full attention to you and not to one another. My topic on taming you can find it here http://forums.budgiebreeders.asn.au/index.php?showtopic=18572 .

As I read your question, I also thought of Birdluv's thread about taming her birds. It is a good one.

 

Just remember that taming two together is a lot more work, and you have to be consistent. You have to work with them every day, and not just on weekends. So many times people give up on taming their bird because they don't know why it isn't making progress. They are surprised when I tell them that if they don't work with it every day, it will regress. (That's when I can tell that they were only working with it on weekends!)

Thank you Finnie and Birdluv for your replies!

 

We have separated the two birds (separate cages in different rooms).

 

School holidays are upon us so we will be able to dedicate more time to them. We were trying to train daily but their bond was too strong and they went backwards rather than forwards.

 

The male, who has always been more receptive to us has been out of his cage twice today and sitting on our fingers a little. The female is more wary but we are trying to chat more to her and have our finger in her cage even if she avoids sitting on it.

 

Also, Birdluv, how do I see your whole topic on training? I can only see one post from the link above....

In this section of the forum you can find my topic pinned you should be able to access all the pages.

 

I also found my male more easier to tame then the female, but eventually she did warm up to me.