Slowly does it :-(

[garethw]

Hi all.  From getting these 2, Rum has been pretty much ok with you putting your hand in the cage but Raisin has always been scared.  As time went by and they both got closer, I felt Rum were going backwards and getting wary when we went in the cage.  From day one we have been able to slowly put our finger out and stroke his chest and he would some times step up and jump off to the next perch.

Because he is a little more accepting we can now approach him as she stays close by him.


This is me now feeding Rum in the cage as she sits by, I have managed to get him to come to me for the millet instead of going to him



We are now able to feed her millet through the bars, which she is still very on edge about.  But its progress.





I'm not expecting them to be tame over night (would be nice if possible), but are there and tips to speed it up a little?

[Hezz]

No; do not try to speed things up or you will lose them both. You need to let the birds work on their trust at their pace; push it and they will retreat further than they have advanced. Be patient and be persistent. Work with them every day, several times a day if possible.

[Shirls]

That is progress already, well done all of you!!

[garethw]

Thank you Hezz and Shirls, today and yesterday seem to be a step backwards for Rum. He seems to be not interested at all, and is the first to get out of the way. I'm really unsure what to do with them. I'd love to let them fly free asap, but don't want to do it until they are used to us and tame. Starting to regret getting them now, and wish I had spent more on hand reared

[Shirls]

Aw don't regret it garethw, Rome wasn't built in a day!! Your patience will surely be rewarded. It is often two steps forward and four back I'm afraid with budgies, but it is well worth the time and trouble. One day will be good and one day will be the steps back, but each time it should get easier.

[Hezz]

I am going to have to say this: you joined 21st Oct; two weeks ago. As I remember, that was about the time you got these two. Two weeks is NOTHING!!!!, but if that is the extent of your patience, it is possible that you should not have gotten birds. With budgies, or any other bird, you get out what you put in, but it takes time. Time, patience, persistence, perseverance. Birds are not a domesticated animal, used to living with humans and depending on them for 100's of years, like cats and dogs. They are still, essentially, a wild animal, and need to be seen as such to appreciate how their natural survival instinct is not going to turn off simply because a family decides that it would be nice to have a bird as a pet. They are a prey animal; you are a predator - your eyes are at the front of your head, and until you earn their trust, every time you look at them, they are going to think you see them as a feed. Don't stare at them, do look at them sideways, blink and wink at them if you do look at them straight on, close one eye etc, etc. These are all useful tools, not old wives' piffle. Slow and steady, in this case, really does win the race.

Consider that a verbal? slap on the back of the head ..... (be a man, you can handle it   ), work with them as often as you can, as many times a day as you can, for periods of around 10 minutes each. Any more will only lead to more frustration. Take it slowly, and do. not. get. frustrated!!! If you get antsy, the buds will pick up on that and get antsy as well. You might find that they are more responsive later in the day than in the mornings, so use that. The mornings, they might be full of energy and mischief, and take no notice of you.

The other thing that I haven't mentioned is that it is by about now that Rum (and Raisin, too, we hope) will be feeling more settled, not so scared, he will be becoming for familiar with his surroundings, which include you, so he is now allowing his personality to emerge. If I had a dollar for every new owner who lamented that "my budgie was really quiet when I first brought it home, but now it won't let me touch it", I would be well on my way to a moderate amount of wealth. It usually takes around this two-week mark for the personalities to emerge on the older, the more timid and the less-handled budgies. In the beginning, poor bird was too scared to react (bird do tend to freeze under attack), then as they are feeling more secure they feel confident enough to move out of the way of that hand. Another thing to note - budgies, in general do not like to be touched! Touching will happen with the gaining of trust, and then it will be on their terms. Even a bonded budgie will not always allow its human to touch it all the time.

And here endeth the Epistle ....... Hopefully some of that makes sense.

[garethw]

Nov 5, 2016 0:11:25 GMT Hezz said:

I am going to have to say this: you joined 21st Oct; two weeks ago. As I remember, that was about the time you got these two. Two weeks is NOTHING!!!!, but if that is the extent of your patience, it is possible that you should not have gotten birds. With budgies, or any other bird, you get out what you put in, but it takes time. Time, patience, persistence, perseverance. Birds are not a domesticated animal, used to living with humans and depending on them for 100's of years, like cats and dogs. They are still, essentially, a wild animal, and need to be seen as such to appreciate how their natural survival instinct is not going to turn off simply because a family decides that it would be nice to have a bird as a pet. They are a prey animal; you are a predator - your eyes are at the front of your head, and until you earn their trust, every time you look at them, they are going to think you see them as a feed. Don't stare at them, do look at them sideways, blink and wink at them if you do look at them straight on, close one eye etc, etc. These are all useful tools, not old wives' piffle. Slow and steady, in this case, really does win the race.

Consider that a verbal? slap on the back of the head ..... (be a man, you can handle it   ), work with them as often as you can, as many times a day as you can, for periods of around 10 minutes each. Any more will only lead to more frustration. Take it slowly, and do. not. get. frustrated!!! If you get antsy, the buds will pick up on that and get antsy as well. You might find that they are more responsive later in the day than in the mornings, so use that. The mornings, they might be full of energy and mischief, and take no notice of you.

The other thing that I haven't mentioned is that it is by about now that Rum (and Raisin, too, we hope) will be feeling more settled, not so scared, he will be becoming for familiar with his surroundings, which include you, so he is now allowing his personality to emerge. If I had a dollar for every new owner who lamented that "my budgie was really quiet when I first brought it home, but now it won't let me touch it", I would be well on my way to a moderate amount of wealth. It usually takes around this two-week mark for the personalities to emerge on the older, the more timid and the less-handled budgies. In the beginning, poor bird was too scared to react (bird do tend to freeze under attack), then as they are feeling more secure they feel confident enough to move out of the way of that hand. Another thing to note - budgies, in general do not like to be touched! Touching will happen with the gaining of trust, and then it will be on their terms. Even a bonded budgie will not always allow its human to touch it all the time.

And here endth the Epistle ....... Hopefully some of that makes sense.

You are right Hezz, thanks for the slap at the back of the head

[Hezz]

Good! I am glad I read you right, and thought you would be able to take that on board; be able/prepared to listen and learn. They are different, birds, and mostly no one will tell you that. The other thing is that your relationship with them will never stop evolving. You can have a bird for years, and gradually think back and think you would never expected that bird to have gotten to the stage of doing the things with you that you are now experiencing. I have taken on two that have been semi hand-raised, and five that have not had much handling before coming to me. In some ways the relationship building with those five has been much more meaningful than with the other two.

But also, you cannot train a bird and then walk away and expect it to still do those things in a month, two, or six months' time .... training needs to be reinforced, just as it does with that cat or dog.

[suesbird]

I can't stroke Jo but she will sit for half an hour with the hubby having a good scratch, but if there is something frightening her she comes straight to me. Took 9 months to get Jo to trust us, when we had Pippin it took just a few months because he saw That Jo trusted us but he will never be stroked but he is more for sitting on your hand whereas Jo can't sit still, always has ants in her pants, as the saying goes. Even now 3 years on they go and have a nip when I put my hands in to feed them, it is their cage so I'm not allowed to mess with it. I also tend to use a spare perch to put them in or get them from somewhere and then they come on my hand. They like the hubby as he has rough hands and they can nibble him but my oh so soft hands are not for nibbling. 😀

You'll get there.

[garethw]

Back on track guys and girls, in fact we have some improvements. Rum will now (sometimes) step down form a higher perch to come and get the millet, and last night my wife managed to feed Raisin on the inside of the cage. We have found the best time to do this is about 2pm and 9pm when they seem to settle a little.

[jellybean]

Well done garethw. Keep up the good work.

[Hezz]

It is great to see some of your hard work paying off. Onwards and upwards from now on ........ we hope.

[garethw]

Thank you all for your comments. Yesterday marked a mile stone, I had both of them on my hand at the same time eating the millet spray clusters I stick in between my fingers. Although Raisin is still very cautious, she has tonight still come down from a high perch and come on to my hand to bully Rum for the last bit of millet. I have to tease her with a bit of millet, so she know what going on.

Now having two on my hand the nipping is a little more painful, but I can substitute the pain for their progress. I gave them 5 min after having some millet, placed my hand in and got rum to step on my finger and transferred him to the other perch. I did not try with Raisin as she is a little behind compared to him, but she watched all the same.

[jellybean]

It's a feeling you never tire of garethw, when those tiny feet come to land on you to eat or play.......it just makes my day.

[ffiscool]

Well done. Making great progress. Two, I am sure, is harder than one, unless one is tame quickly etc

Bailey wouldn't even come out his cage for weeks and weeks. But once used to me sat on the sofa watching tv.

I was allowed to stroke his beak, but never anywhere else

.