New Bird New Owner ! Advice please

[onebird]

Hi I have two days ago brought a gorgeous budgie!

I think it is a she, as she has a brown bit across the top of her nose. I see from reading it says the bird should be allowed to fly daily, but she isn't tame yet and how would I get her back into the cage? Or should I wait until I am able to handle her and hold her?
Thank you.

[Hezz]

Take time each day, as many times as you can afford, to spend 5-10 minutes working on her training. The more you work with her, the better chance you have, and the faster your bond will form. Once you have her stepping up and down, move the training into a small room - bathroom or small bedroom, but something not too cluttered, and safe, and start to let her out for a fly. Practise putting her back into the cage, use a spare perch if you wish and if she is still wary of your finger. A small room gives her room to exercise so, but not get enough speed up to damage herself, and also allows you to follow her about when it is time to go back home. Generally your need for her to go home will correspond with her need to do exactly the opposite, so only do so when you have the time free to not stress out if she takes 10x longer to get back into the cage than you might have envisaged.

[onebird]

Thank you, sounds like great advice. I have started to put my hand in flat and leave it there for five mins at a time, as I read on this site. When you say , when I have her stepping up and down, Im not sure what you mean?
Its all very exciting !

[onebird]

Also the cage I brought has naff plastic perches Im not confident enough to put a natural branch in? what should I do? and how do I attach? sorry for all the questions. Thanks.

[Learner]

Jan 10, 2017 20:44:05 GMT onebird said:

Also the cage I brought has naff plastic perches Im not confident enough to put a natural branch in? what should I do? and how do I attach? sorry for all the questions. Thanks.

Changing from plastic to wooden perches is fairly easy.

Go to a local B&Q (or timber merchant) and find the timber section. Look for some round dowel (fat knitting needle style timber). Ask if you can't find the dowel - they will help you. You can buy lengths of dowel in different thicknesses. Go for one length the same diameter as the existing perches and one slightly thinner.

(The idea of having two different thicknesses is to give the birds feet some exercise and avoid cramp... holding on to the same diameter perch is not as good as gripping different thicknesses.)

Back home use a junior hacksaw (or small saw) and carefully cut a couple of lengths slightly longer than the existing perches. (Keep the left over length for another time or a spare set).

Next carefully cut slots at each end of the dowel (new perch). Make sure the slots at both ends are at the same angle to each other. Carefully fix the new perch in place in the cage.

It may take a bit of trial and error with the lengths and size of slot. Slots should fit onto the cage bars without being too tight or lose.

Just thought: The plastic perches may have a cap pushed on each end. You might be able to carefully pull these off and fit onto the dowel perch if they are the same diameter. This would avoid you having to cut slots in the dowel... Worth a thought.

Natural perches?
At the moment I would avoid using wood collected from outside as a precaution.... avian (bird) flu!
A wild bird may have perched/messed on the tree and you don't want to introduce any bugs or mites into the cage. Later you can research which natural woods/trees are safe for budgies. Some trees are dangerous / poisonous... others fine.

Budgies, especially hens, love chewing. You may find the new dowel perches need replacing fairly often - a spare set is useful for when you need to wash/clean one set and replace with fresh while the first dry.

You are right to replace the plastic perches... not the most comfortable things to be sitting on all day long

Hope this helps.

PS. A spare long length of dowel can be useful when training your bird - they can be encouraged to sit on the long perch when they prefer not to sit on your hand. Sometimes this can help transport a bird back into the cage (if they co-operate). A length of dowel somewhere in the room when budgies free-fly can be a safe and useful place for them to head off to if you put it in the same place each time.

But...as Hezz says... don't rush it. Wait until you and your budgie are feeling confident and calm and have loads and loads of time.

[Hezz]

Jan 10, 2017 20:36:20 GMT onebird said:

Thank you, sounds like great advice. I have started to put my hand in flat and leave it there for five mins at a time, as I read on this site. When you say , when I have her stepping up and down, Im not sure what you mean?
Its all very exciting !

Getting your bird trained to step up onto your finger when you offer it, or others find that if this doesn't work, use a spare perch to get the bird stepping up. To do this in the beginning lay your finger across the chest/stomach area horizontially, give a small push and say step up. Once the bird is getting to do this regularly, and will stay until you ask him to step down, this is the time to start the out of cage training, in that small room.

You can purchase some lovely natural branch perches from the natural bird care company; they make lots of useful things, and these would be much better for your bird's feet than dowelling which is a uniform thickness and texture. Your budgie needs a variety of thicknesses for its feet and a variety of textures to keep the feet healthy and exercised. Dowelling also becomes very slippery over times so that the bird has to grip harder to be be able to keep its balance.

[Marianne Marlow]

Some great advice given already. Welcome and she's a very pretty girl!

[onebird]

Thank you all so much!  

Its brilliant to have so much knowledge, and be willing to help others like me! Me and Molly, are getting on great. Just a quick question, I am picking up Molly in her cage as I move from room to room to do things, she seems happy but is that ok for her? Im putting her in kitchen ect when Im cooking.

[onebird]

Hi Marianne, 
Thanks for the welcome! yes I've called her Molly, your birds are really nice also.

[Hezz]

Molly will let you know when she is not happy with being moved about ..... provided she has full use of her wings (), but the kitchen is probably not the best place for her. Anywhere else, as long as the room is safe - no ceiling fans on, no quantities of standing water, toilet seat down etc. Doing this sort of things now, while she is still young and you are both learning is good for her; yes budgies like a set routine, but they don't freak out from a change of scenery any more than any other animal. They really are quite adaptable, in spite of some stories you might come across. Just make sure you are vigilant about where you are moving around to, no open windows, doors that might slam shut on a small body, heat sources etc, as it would be terrible for something to happen when you are just starting out with Molly. After a while you will find that your vigilance becomes second nature.

[onebird]

Thank you, very much. I have only had Molly for four days so she is still cage bound, but I will really think about safety when we venture into the bathroom ( probably safest ) I haven't got her to step up yet but she has walked across my hand a few times! She has started to play ! She is awesome. I don't know how long it will all take to get her flying ? is there a time that I should be aiming for, so Molly gets to stretch?
How will she let me know if she doesn't like being moved? Loads of chirping? flapping?

[Deleted]

I've also read that Teflon pans emit fumes that are dangerous to budgies.

[Hezz]

Over-heated Teflon is the danger, but most of us have removed Teflon pans for good as, if you are like me, sooner or later you are going to overheat/burn something!!!

Have Molly's wings been clipped? If they haven't, then she should be flying by now. Post up a photo or two from her back and side. The fact that her cere is brown means that she is not a baby, so she should be able to fly as long as her wings haven't been clipped, and she hasn't suffered any injury to prevent flight. A photo will tell.