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Post by tweetiepiesmom on Apr 5, 2022 14:04:26 GMT
That's how I got my two millet junkies out of the cage!
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Post by Loz on Apr 5, 2022 18:29:16 GMT
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Post by tweetiepiesmom on Apr 5, 2022 23:51:21 GMT
He looks so good out there - good job!
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Post by Loz on Apr 6, 2022 18:19:31 GMT
Herman did my hair earlier and then posed for a selfie.
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Oct 6, 2011 7:41:27 GMT
Marianne Marlow
Administrator
George, Daisy, Iris, Billy, Peter, Chipper, Dinku, Barney, Ayla and Rocky
Posts: 28,805
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Post by Marianne Marlow on Apr 6, 2022 21:41:22 GMT
Herman wants to be a hairdresser
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Post by Loz on Apr 7, 2022 8:55:38 GMT
Today Herman's official quarantine period has ended. Decision time now.
I would like to feel entirely confident that Herman has thoroughly bonded with me and sees me as a safe space, so that the bond survives his introduction into the flock. Readers of this thread may have formed an opinion on this and I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts. Herman is very hand-tame, he rarely shies away from my hand and if I am careful, he won't fail to hop-up onto my finger, even if he doesn't always stay there. He will tolerate me stroking him with finger or nose - the finger must be introduced slowly or he'll fly away. I can, again if I am careful, transfer him from one hand to the other. Herman often perches on my spectacles or lately, the top of my head. He happily preens me when he's in the mood.
OTOH Herman will not fly to me at all. If I want him, I have to get him. If he takes up station on the curtains (the only place outside of his cage he will willingly settle), I have to get him down. I have never seen him fly from the curtain to anywhere other than back to the curtain.
Is he ready to join the flock, from a taming standpoint? My instinct is No but I accept that his exposure, especially to Mr Hibs, may bring him along the last part of the training road. Mr Hibs flies to me willingly, and regularly and often initiates contact with me. However, Herman may go the same way as Patch and Squeak, and lose 99% of the tameness they had when they were quarantined.
Is it selfish to continue to isolate Herman? Or prudent?
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Post by Loz on Apr 7, 2022 17:25:49 GMT
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Post by tweetiepiesmom on Apr 7, 2022 18:13:18 GMT
I don't think it is selfish to keep him isolated from the others while you continue to bond more with him. Hold a bit of millet between your fingers where he can see it. Standing far enough away so that he has to fly to you, hold up the millet while calling to him. For my Buddy, I say "Buddy, come". Be patient. You may have to stand there while he makes up his mind. If he turns his attention to something else, move closer to him and repeat the command. It may take a few tries before he gets it. You'll be able to call him without millet and he'll come once trained.
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Post by Loz on Apr 7, 2022 18:23:26 GMT
That's a good plan tweetiepiesmom but I can rarely get Herman interested in millet! When I tie some to his green perch he goes bananas over it - sometimes - but he rarely takes it from my hand. I never had to bribe him in order to hand-tame him, in fact I had to dump the millet for that! I will persevere though.
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Post by tweetiepiesmom on Apr 7, 2022 20:05:06 GMT
Interesting. Does he have a food that he loves so much that could be used for bribery?
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Post by Loz on Apr 7, 2022 21:04:37 GMT
He likes his ordinary seed and he actually ate some from my hand the other day. The things he loves the most are his plastic flower with bell, his swing, the tassels on his shreddable and my specs. Food is just something you eat as far as Herman is concerned.
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Post by Loz on Apr 8, 2022 14:23:20 GMT
Herman carefully evaluated the kale that had appeared in his cage: This is what he decided: 1drv.ms/v/s!AnyoyWilEZ_Xh4Vm63KeS39AVqHNBg?e=Xpr5IrLater, we posed for selfies: Not content with being a brave boy and trying the kale I put up for him, Herman also performed heroics when he stepped off of my right index-finger, into my left hand in order to nibble on some millet. This is a big thing for Herman and I hope to build upon it.
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Post by blueelephant on Apr 8, 2022 19:09:36 GMT
I can only comment on my own experience with three tame budgies. Barney number one bird we had for 8 months before Finlay arrived. He's quite happy with just me. Sometimes I steal him and take him upstairs to the office while I work. He's quite happy with this and sits on my laptop and sings.
Finlay was a super easy to tame not scared baby budgie that we quarantined for 4 weeks before she met Barney. She does not look to me for company but he's still just as tame and not scared of me. She comes to see me mainly if someone else comes first and will stay only if I'm wearing something she wants to chew. I often wonder what she'd be like if she was more attached to me. However I can't imagine her being attached to anything to be honest. She rules the world and everyone else does as they are told.
Toby is an adopted bird that was tame when we got him. However he's the most skittish of the three. He's not friendly as such. He prefers the budgies but he does like to come for a chat from time to time where he will sit on my hand and listen to me talk to him. I have to talk continuously mind you or I get told off with a peck. They are all sweeties in their own way.
What I am waffling on to say here is I suspect Herman will get more attached the longer you leave it, but I suspect you'd be talking months to get a really attached bird. My first budgie Silver was a single bird and he loved me dearly. He wanted to sit with me. Next to me, ideally next to my face, just snuggling up like a kitten. I miss him to the moon and back a million times. However, I don't think any of these guys would ever have been like him regardless of how long they had been on their own. We only had Silver for a year and that was just his personality. He was just one for snuggles.
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Post by Loz on Apr 8, 2022 19:41:51 GMT
blueelephant, your thoughts and experiences ring true with me. I think I had Mr Hibs for 2 months on his own plus my EX-GF had him on his own more than 2 months prior to that. Hibs was very bonded to me and that bond has survived the creation of the flock. I need to decide whether to keep Herman isolated for another three months minimum, or just let him join the flock.
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Post by blueelephant on Apr 8, 2022 19:55:41 GMT
I think as long as he's seeming happy with just you, and you have the time to give him lots of attention then, in answer to your original question, no it's not at all selfish or unkind. I think you can tell after a month if he has the potential to become lots tamer and more bonded to the odd looking man shaped budgie 😉.
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