I cant get any of my budgies to come out of the safety of their cage to have some flying time I have tried everything I can think of and it's got to the point where they get stressed if I try..I leave the cage door open for them and they either cling to the back bars looking scared to death and if I walk away they will relax after a while but all 4 line up on the back perch in silence not moving for hours just looking terrified.

Last week Pluck landed on the open doorway of the cage and Jack the bravest of the 4 decided he would advance towards the intruder while his back was turned..he ended up sliding past him and falling out of the door he set off flying I was horrified he was flying into walls and doors and landed on the floor in a scared panting heap with his heart pumping like mad he looked ill too, I picked him up and put him back in and shut the cage up for the day to let him recover he was greeted and fussed over by the other 3 and I felt like I had done something wrong to him{well thats how the birds made me feel} .

The next day I thought I would try Billy who will sometimes let me touch her through the bars I put my hand in and graduly went nearer to her she was going from side to side to avoid my hand and she must have got spooked out as a toy behind her touched her..she must have thought someone was behind her and to my absolute horror she shed several of her tail feathers to get away from what she thought was grabbing her..I shut the door and left them in peace.

I dont want to cause them anymore stress and I am begining to think they will live their lifes inside that cage and never feel free to fly..I would love to interact with them but they seem happy in their own little group and I dont know how to deal with this thats why I am asking for advice from you good people I would never have kept these wonderful little birds if I had known that this was going to be the life I had to offer them as I feel they are missing out and I think they will loose the ability to fly if I dont get something sorted soon..sorry for the long post but this realy has me beat..linda

I've had this problem with birds before, once you can get one out it's not long before they all come out. Is there a favourite toy? So they love millet? Hang it just outside the cage. Find whatever works with your birds, and make it inaccesible unless they come out. Make sure you have a perch just by the door - they need to feel safe coming in and going out. I wouldn't get them out physically if their not tame, just leave the door open as much as possible, before you know it they'll be demanding flying time!

have you tried a smaller room to work with? How about use a small room with no bird hazards, put the cage down on the ground (if you can) open the door and leave for like 10 minutes. (I know they shouldn't be unsupervised but in a safe room, you at home) As Lin said put some of their favorite treats outside the cage. You can put toys on toys on top of the cage, have food dangling on the outside. See if they will try and be brave enough to go outside without you there.

 

Are they tamed down at all? This is another problem, I think once they start to trust you more then they will trust being out of the cage more. Ya know? You may try to have separate or together taming sections.

With them being so untame, I think it would be in all of your best interests to slowly tame them before trying to get them out. Let them get used to you before trying to coax them out. How old are they?

 

I'd have to disagree about putting them in a room with the cage door open. Never let your birds out of the cage unsupervised even in a room that you believe is bird safe. Even if they came out of the cage, there's no telling what panic would ensue when you open the door to go back in. On top of this, it would just be an even scarier experience for them.

 

It's going to be a slow process but if you fill me in on their ages and maybe a little on their background (where did you get them?) I might be able to give more specific taming advice.

I'd have to disagree about putting them in a room with the cage door open. Never let your birds out of the cage unsupervised even in a room that you believe is bird safe. Even if they came out of the cage, there's no telling what panic would ensue when you open the door to go back in. On top of this, it would just be an even scarier experience for them.

 

I agree, I didn't think about going back in - thank you for pointing that out. In the end it is really the bond that you need with each of the birds to have them trust you. I believe the real issue at hand is that there needs to be a trusting relationship between you and your birds. They need to first feel secure.

 

What are some steps that you have done on a daily basis to form a trusting bond between you and your birds?

I got Billy 1st all of them were bought at different pet shops and they are all around the 9/10 months stage..Billy was bonding with my partner Daz but would not have anything to do with me at all..she is a skittish bird but calmed down a lot when we got her fella major..we had difficulties telling if Billy was a female {see picture below}

 

 

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y132/snai...4/billybam1.jpg

 

 

We then thought we had two males so we got Daisy , she is the bird that never put her head up , at that stage it was obvious Billy was a girl and we used to see Daisy looking at the bonded couple with her head hung low and felt she was never going to get on with these two if she went near the other birds she got a peck on the head..we got Jack and he was the turning point for her he used to feed her as she would just not venture to the seed pot to feed herself...she is a different bird now but it has took some months for her to come round..I did not quarantine the birds I was not aware back then that I should have done..looking back now if I had have done we could have bonded with these 4 birds individuly but we never gave it a thought it's only with coming here and reading up about how it should be that I have picked up a lot so I know it's my fault and we have had them for some months now we got Billy in early june and by july we had all 4 of them...I feel real bad I know they are happy little birds and they have lots of toys and all good stuff to stimulate them but I know they could enjoy life more if they had flying time..but to be truthfull the only bonding they have is with each other..we try to talk to them..we have lots of time as we are both disabled so we could try anything that is suggested we would be willing to give it a go for the sake of the birds..if you need anymore information just give me a shout thanks all of you for your help...Linda

Edited March 6, 200619 yr by Bea

It sounds like they really just need a LOT of time getting used to you being in and around the cage. I would follow the guidelines for taming an older budgie listed here. It's focused on a single bird but really the same things can apply to multiple ones: http://budgietalk.com/taming.html#older

 

It's going to be a long process, but they can become tame with patience.

 

Also, what size cage are they in? Is it the round one in the photo or something different? Round cages tend to make a bird feel more vulnerable as there are no corners to make him/her feel secure. This is especially true if the cage is too small and they feel they have nowhere to escape to. The round ones aren't wide enough to provide enough space as budgies normally fly left to right rather than up and down. They also spend most of their time at the top of the cage.

 

Hang in there and you'll get them to the point of being able to fly freely and safely in your home. It's a wonderful thing to see but it's far better when you know they're doing it without fear of being eaten by you! :(Laughing out loud):

(Laughing out loud) I long for the day they dont look at me like I am going to do them some harm...no this cage only housed Billy ,it was a tempory one that I brought her home in..I have had several cages and each time I have gone bigger and better..the one they are in I call the pink palace is square and its I think 24 wide and 20 depth and very high not ideal but all I have room for at the moment...I will read the taming of older budgies thank you for that link and I will give it loads of time and patience..I will update when I get results thank you for your help...Linda

No problem. Good luck, I'm sure you'll get them to come around.