I wanted my new budgie (who Ive decided to call Meeko, which means little bird in a different language) to be nice and tame before I put him/her in the avary. Ive had her for about a week so I thought she'd have settled down by now. She seems really comfortable in her cage, but as soon as you walk past the cage or get anywhere near her she starts to breathe really really heavily as if she's terrified! She was from a pet store and Im pretty sure she wasn't hand reared and was possibly a colony bred bird and isn't use to humans... but I really want her to be tame, but I also dont want to scare her.... Does anyone have any suggestions?

Try walking slowly up to the cage for a few days without touching it and just speaking softly to her, blink your eyes a little cos that sometimes helps. She will slowly learn to trust that you mean no harm, then you can try talking to her with your hand in the cage holding some millett and go from there.

 

Pet shops arent always careful with them and they may have scared her when being caught (or when catching another bird in the cage). It may take a little time but she will trust you in the end.

 

Meeko is a lovely name.

 

Sal.

Thanks, Ill try that!

Last night and this morning I spent about 10 minutes or so just sitting by Meeko's cage and softly talking to her and singing to her and she's stopped panting when i come near her! She's still a little nervous, but nowhere near as much! I have a feeling that she wont be too difficult to tame

Thats great news Shann!!! Keep us posted on how she gets on.

 

Sal.

well sounds like you in the right track, just talk to her .

 

Claire

xXx

I thought I was the only person who did the eye blinking thing... I don't know why it seems to work, but it does.

 

Risha

this might sound a really dumb suggestion as i have never had an aviary...

 

but even if you tame your bird, will it not revert back to its old behaviour once you put it in with the other birds? just like, well the birds in an aviary are like a minature flock of wild budgies in the way that they interact. sorry if this is a really dumb question!

pixie could be right tho..i wonder too

I would think that it would still be reasonably tame. After all it has lost it's fear of humans, and has learnt that humans can be fun, useful (good for those hard to reach scratches), and the bringer of wonderful food. I think it would greatly depend upon just how tame they were when they went into the aviary.

The birds in my avary are still tame, they dont particularly like to be held, but I never trained them. When Im in there with them theyll fly onto my arms and shoulders and sit there the whole time Im in the avary. In fact, since theyve been in the avary, theyve become even more tame!

how wonderful i would like an aviary one day.

 

i like the name meeko too. in fact, i really like it!

I thought I was the only person who did the eye blinking thing...  I don't know why it seems to work, but it does. 

 

Risha

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Only a calm bird will blink at you. Supposedly if you blink, you are telling the bird you find it comfortable to be around them and are not threatened by anything going on around them. Predators (you) don't blink when they are ready to ambush prey, and prey (budgies) don't blink if they think there will be any reason to flee a predator. A blink at the wrong time could mean they are lunch. If you can get your bird to blink back, you are doing great! Pretend to go to sleep (just put your face up to the cage and close your eyes for 30 seconds or so) then slowly open your eyes and close them again. This can be calming too, because a bird won't go to sleep if it thinks there is danger around.

 

It may take a long time before your bird is comfortable enough around you to remain tame after you put it in the aviary...especially if the aviary birds aren't as tame as he will be when you put him in. I've found it takes months to tame some store-bought birds. Have you thought about keeping him inside with you all the time?

Yeah . I've been thinking about that... but if it turns out that we cant put George with other birds cause of his lung problems, I wont be able to keep her inside. Besides, I was thinking about breeding from her cuz she's such a pretty colour, and I thought it'd be good for her to be slightly tame so she wont mind me checking the eggs as much. (oh yeah, Im pretty sure now that shes a she)

Edited July 15, 200519 yr by Shann

Thought I could add my own experience with my bird Kikay (Means Funny Bird A.ka. Cyndi Lauper pesonality (Laughing out loud)).

 

I got Kikay with barhead and all from a local pet store in here, sort of a bin o budgie kind for about say three months now.

 

First few times she was frightful of me but even though had already shown such level of intelligence (She managed to open her cage door and was calmly sitting in the sofa when I got back from work!, would throw her ladder off the perch to get my attention that she wants to be with my other adult untamed budgies in the living room and run frantically to and fro in front of of her cage door as I watch her from a certain distance in the room...even resort to strumming the cage grill on the floor with her beak.)

 

Taming couldn't be rushed and best coped with patience and determination, try opening the cage slowly, pause and slowly inch the dowel near the bird's belly in between the legs speaking softly his/her name in a calm voice, it doesn't work at first but repitition is the key. Once she accepts perching on it stay still and continue talking calmly . This won't happen immediately, and often times would require a few days or a week at the most to have it sink in to the bird that you mean no harm..move slowly as always once the bird is accustomed to the dowel you can try using your finger stretched on top of the dowel, if it is taken then that would be fine if not keep on trying . If the bird is stressed out let it off and try again later to reinforce the training. In time the bird will trust you and don't forget to use the word up when offering the dowel or your finger and down when setting the bird off .

 

I also accidentally had discovered blinking as a game between us during those times I just tried to talking to her without putting my hand in the cage, she seemed to be listening at that time and I played along sort of copy what I do and ended up with our first trick which we refer to as Beautiful eyes. I'd say the words and do the blinking display and she does it herself each time I do and say the words. The key as always is constant repitition, also another tick/ganme we have is hitting the bell attached to her her swin in the cage, whenver she hears me say kling kling she'd immediately drop whatever she's doing and hit the bell with her beak just to see me clap at her ..again this is repitition.

 

Last night tried giving her good night kisses and she followed it with version extending her head and seemed to yawn in appearance the same no. of times I did it. Would need re-inforcement still in the next days.

 

Sorry for making this too long, bottom line is spending time with your bird, patience and of course repitition.

 

My bird hasn't spoken a word but uses bird language each time we interact, I will just continue to try hopefully she will if not I love her anyway.

I should try the bell game with Blinkie! He'd love it!! Thanks for the idea!

ONe thing I'd like to ask in turn, my bird perches on my hand inside the cage or when I try picking her , problem is she looses confidence when I would bring my hand outside her cage..this is where she jumps off and run back inside the cage, I usally have to slowly clasp my fingers on her and take her out. If she doesn't see the cage she perches on my hand and shoulder still and never flies off, I could scratch her and pat her gently she is used to that by now. SHe doesn't want to go out of her cage thoug... any tips available?

Hi Miggy,

 

Take your time and be patient My Cha Pou is tame to the extent of allowing me to scratch her tummy and cheeks but she wouldn't want to perch on my fingers unless she feels that she is lost when she is out to play then she will look for my finger to perch on I have been trying to get her to do step up for the past few weeks with not much improvement though I can say she is very very comfortable and relaxed with me being around. She is just a lovely little angel. :(Laughing out loud):

ONe thing I'd like to ask in turn, my bird perches on my hand inside the cage or when I try picking her , problem is she looses confidence when I would bring my hand outside her cage..this is where she jumps off and run back inside the cage, I usally have to slowly clasp my fingers on her and take her out.  If she doesn't see the cage she perches on my hand and shoulder still and never flies off, I could scratch her and pat her gently she is used to that by now.  SHe doesn't want to go out of her cage thoug... any tips  available?

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Hi,

sounds like you have already gained her trust inside the cage, now you need to give her a reason to like being outside with you.

Start by giving her some millet spray, or a few seeds held in your palm, near the door of the cage, as she gets used to this, take her a little further away from the door every day.

If she panics and flies back to the cage, thats okay, cause she is learning that she has a safe place and she can fly back home safely. Just let her settle for an hour or so and try again. Never chase her back to the cage, or make sudden moves around her.

Experiment with different treat foods, fruit veg etc while encouraging her with you away from the cage, this way she will grow to associate being with you with nice things to eat, also offer her a shallow bowl of water to splash around in,( make sure it doesn,t have slippy sides !), add a few leaves of lettuce she may like to roll around in amongst them.

By making her time outside the cage with her fun, she will soon look forward to your visits and start to DEMAND to be let out !.

best of luck !

cal.