Budgie Taming advice please?

[kleejerseyci]

Hi!
I rehomed a pair of approx 3 year old budgies a couple months ago, after being given the impression I wouldn’t be able to tame them at this age, I moved them to a bigger cage...
I have bought a baby boy budgie and he lives in a separate cage next to them.
I’ve only had him 4 days and he already will eat a long bit of millet from my hand.
I wondered if having his cage next to the older non tame budgies would make it harder to tame him?
Many thanks for any advice x

[Marianne Marlow]

Well done on rehoming these 3 year old budgies. It's a very kind thing to do.

I'm not really sure if having your new budgies cage next to the untame ones will make it harder to tame him.

Depends on the budgie really!

[Hezz]

So much depends on whether your new boy has been handled before in his short life, and also his own character. As Marianne says, depends on the budgie. No hard and fast rules when it comes to these little guys. Do the older, not tame birds ever come out of their cage? If not, then you probably won't have any interference issues coming from them.

[OP]

Thing is the older budgies will convey their fears and instincts to the younger budgie, even when in a separate cage. As already said it will depend on any previous handling/training that the younger budgie has experienced. I have seen this at first hand through the various budgies that I have re-homed. There is no guarantees of what will transpire. What I would suggest is NOT show favour to the younger one, spread your love between them all. You can still reward good behaviour. that way the older budgies may see that a reward is given and they can also receive a reward.

[Hezz]

Do the older birds do not come out of their cage? That will determine whether you need to "spread the love around". Even untamed birds will learn a certain level of trust, with very little interaction with you. As long as you have systems in place for getting them back into their cage when the need arises, there is no reason for them to be cage-bound. You can teach them to step up onto a spare perch and be transported back into their cage. Many of our members have buds who are not totally tamed but still abide by necessary rules for everyone's sake. If you feel that the caged and untamed two are interfering with your bonding with the younger bird, you can always mover the youngster out of their orbit while you work with him, such as into another room. It is also good for the bird(s) to be used to, and familiar with, more than one part of the house, so don't be afraid to move him/them from room to room. Treat them as fragile mentally and they will become precious, when in fact they really are quite resilient little creatures.

[kleejerseyci]

Thank you everyone for your advice taming was going well at first and he would hop on to my finger for millet but over the last couple weeks he has slowly got less tame and now won’t hop on to my finger for millet at all or even eat it from my hand.
So I have moved his cage next to where I sit and will start again from the beginning and hope for the best

[Hezz]

It is quite normal for someone to acquire a new budgie and training seems to be getting along fine, only for the bird to stop being so co-operative after a week or two. All that means is that the budgie has become more used to routine, settled into its new home and feels comfortable enough to now allow his own personality to come forth.

[kleejerseyci]

Ah I see that’s reassuring, i’ve started the taming again from the beginning and he is eating millet out of my hand but he won’t actually step on my hand anymore, it’s frustrating but i’ll just keep going and hope he gets braver again

[Hezz]

He will; he needs to learn to trust, that's all.

[kleejerseyci]

I’ve also noticed a problem that the two hens that I rehomed are always fighting to the point that there is feathers everywhere and i’ve noticed quite a few of the long flight feathers on the bottom of the cage, I’m not sure what to do as I don’t have space for another age for all 3 of them to have separate cages...any advice to stop them fighting? They have a good bowl etc each

[Hezz]

If they are going to fight, they will fight unless you separate them, or have a larger cage. Sometimes it is just lack of personal space as they can't get away from each other; other times they will be birds who simply can't get along with each other. Just reading back through your original post, these hens ... have they always been together? Just wondering if there might not be a hormonal component to your problems, are the hens in breeding condition?

If you really feel that the hens need separating, you could put your new boy in with the less cranky of the hens (might not work, she still may be cranky) and the crankier hen in his cage.

[kleejerseyci]

Hi Yes they came together, I wondered if it was because the new boy moved in next to them as I hadn’t noticed them squabbling before.
I’m not sure what breeding condition means they are around 3 years old I was told.
It seems to have settled down at the moment they just went through a stage of arguments every day but they seem to have been ok again the last few days.
If they start fighting all the time again I will have to try something x

[kleejerseyci]

Update: So all 3 budgies have moved in together now in a bigger cage. (the Vison Large Short size) it’s a great cage and we have attached perches on top and let them out to fly when we’re home.
I just love to watch them flying around together!
Anyway my little boy Perseus is happy to eat millet from my hand and sometimes Phoenix the braver of the two girls will join him, also I have managed to get Perseus to hop on my finger to carry him
back to the cage once, as he was hanging out on a lampshade upstairs and was struggling to navigate to fly back down so this felt like an achievement that he let me carry him back, I was thrilled

[kleejerseyci]

Also the Hens have stopped fighting so obviously were just settling in to the new situation

[Hezz]

Great news all round from the sounds of things.