My budgie doesn't want to be hand tame, not even with millet

[Flowers]

Hi All

Well I haven't had Zippy long but I would like to hand tame her and have been trying to start the millet approach and it just isn't working she simply is not interested in millet.  

I wondered what other ways there are to hand tame.  

The interesting thing is she really wants to come out her cage, she squawks and chirps and flaps around by the door until I open the cage up and then she hops up onto the entrance way and in her own time comes flying out and up onto the ceiling light fitting.  She is quite happy to stay there.  

The problem begins firstly if I try myself to take her out the cage and secondly when I have to get her back in the cage.  She flies around her cage back and forth when inside and won't let me bring her out and when outside she flies around the room sqawking and chirping as if it is a game from one fixture and fitting to the next.  

What can I do to get her hand tame I don't want to frighten her and I am not chasing her around the cage with my hand just putting my hand in to get her used to it.


Thank you.

[suesbird]

I always let Jo come out on his own, to get him I do what others have said I do not put any food out and when is hungry he goes back in. When I need to put him we have 5 - 10 fly-bys as I chase him around with a stick. I do step-ups on and off the sofa. He is hand tame and toe tame, loves a shower under the tap and will sit with me. As I said earlier today Lemon grass is his passion and dill, he will go anywhere for them, no so much for millet, he can take it or leave it.

[OP]

Time, persistence and patience. There is no substitute for those things. There is two terms that get mixed up quite often that is hand tame & hand trained. If your bud (Zippy) flies and flaps about the cage when you put your hand in then she is not hand tame. Until you get her hand tame then you will not get her hand trained. You have to gain her trust. Don't try to bring her out of the cage on your finger until she will sit on your finger whilst you move it about the cage. To get to that stage just put your hand in the cage and talk to her. Ignore her wanting to get out. In fact I'd say don't let her out. Sit by the cage and talk to her as often as you can. Do this for a week or more and then begin to offer your finger to her and say a command like 'step up' or 'up up' and press your finger gently between her belly and her feet. Eventually she should step on your finger. Then begin to move her around the cage on your finger. If all goes well she will stay on your finger. If she jumps off on to another perch repeat the command to step up. When you have her trust you will know. Joey my budgie has taught me how to do all this. He still has a mind of his own and I have to fall in with it. But now I know him. It has only taken me 12 months to half train him. Hopefully it won't take you that long. Most of all be patient.

[Flowers]

Thing is when I put my hand in the cage Zippy is quite happy ie if I am cleaning the cage but when I put my hand near for a step up she goes flapping all over the place. I will try not letting her out but she really needs to fly and stretch her wings I worry if she can't do this for a whole.

[Flowers]

Jun 9, 2014 15:40:33 GMT suesbird said:

I always let Jo come out on his own, to get him I do what others have said I do not put any food out and when is hungry he goes back in. When I need to put him we have 5 - 10 fly-bys as I chase him around with a stick. I do step-ups on and off the sofa. He is hand tame and toe tame, loves a shower under the tap and will sit with me. As I said earlier today Lemon grass is his passion and dill, he will go anywhere for them, no so much for millet, he can take it or leave it.

Jo sounds like a clever budgie.  Why do you chase him around with the stick is he teasing you do you think?  Inhave the feeling when Zippy is out to fly she is teasing me.  Does Jo land on you?

[suesbird]

Yep Jo lands on me, eats whatever he can from my plate, he is hand tame, will jump onto a perch I am holding, even has kisses but boy oh boy if my hand goes into his cage to put his food in or alter something, he will bite me. It is though he is saying "this is mine, go away (probably swear words)" he is very posessive. He thinks its a game my hubby says, he knows whenn he starts to bite my toes I will lift them off the floor so then it's a case of 'i can still reach them!' If they are under my long dresses he plays hide and seek. He is brilliant in every way except with his cage!

Little monkey.

[OP]

Jun 9, 2014 21:10:17 GMT Flowers said:

Thing is when I put my hand in the cage Zippy is quite happy ie if I am cleaning the cage but when I put my hand near for a step up she goes flapping all over the place. I will try not letting her out but she really needs to fly and stretch her wings I worry if she can't do this for a whole.

This means she is not hand tame. This is also what I meant by trust. What you could try is use a spare perch and see if she will step up onto that instead of your finger. You may even be able to bring her out of the cage on the perch. Putting her back in the cage is the same thing in reverse. Do not chase her with the perch but follow her around until she gets on the perch. It may take a few tries, but persevere. ¹This is the very same procedure I had to do with Joey in the beginning. Assuming the procedure works, after a few days shorten the distance between your hand and the end of the perch that you want her to step up on. Be aware that things will progress quite well then for no apparent reason they will regress. It really is three steps forward and one or two backward. Just keep trying.


¹There are many occasion I still have to do this if Joey does not want to get on my finger. He is rather obstinate sometimes. I don't know where he gets that from.  That is a little joke between myself and some other members.

[Flowers]

Great idea I do have a spare perch and can give it a try. Will keep you posted how things go but I know it will take time and patience it will be good training for me also!

[OP]

Good luck.

[ffiscool]

how long have you had her? Bailey took ages and ages to come out of his cage.. even though he didnt mind my finger, he wouldnt fly to me.. even now he only lands on my head unless i am near enough so he can jump on my finger.. and he never lets me get him out of the cage. yet, he is tame.. but for the first few weeks after he did come out, he only went onto a perch.. not me.

so they are all different and take time and some seem to just do it straight away, others, like Joey, Bailey and countless others, just do it in their own time. but until you have either your finger or perch, then it will be harder to get her back in. but routine, and as above everyone has said, patience and perseverance will pay off

[judenmink]

Sounds like my Iffy. I have just let her out 3 or 4 hours ago and there is no chance of me getting her back in he cage. She will step onto a perch that I hold but then as soon as I move it she is off flying around the room again. Its the first time I have let her out. I guess I will have to try and catch her in the dark and put her in the cage. Not ideal. I have only had her two weeks. Early days I guess. Will keep persevering with the hand taming.

[Hezz]

Training your birds to step up onto your finger is the best step to work on in the training routine. I don't even bother with anything else until this is a given. Once you have a bird stepping up on command, or rather as soon as you offer your finger then you can be fairly certain that you will be able to get them onto a perch if needed, such as if they land on the clock or the ceiling fan, or the light shade ........ somewhere you aren't able to reach.

Getting them to stay there is a little more difficult and requires you paying attention to when they are about to fly off and also teaching them to step down, as well as up. To do this you need to step them down before they do themselves.

Also letting them out for fly-time and training in a small room gives you much more control over the training time, and less time following them around from one side of the room to the other.

[OP]

If the budgie is flapping about the cage when approached with a finger would it not be better to calm the bud down and use the perch first method? This is how I eventually coaxed Joey to accept the finger as something not to be afraid of both in and out of the cage.