Correct taming?

[parsnipstew]

Hi all,
I've just got my first budgie since childhood from a breeder on Sunday and have been advised to keep him in the cage relatively alone for three or four days to acclimatise. He's already step up trained from the breeder but is a little unreliable for us as he didn't trust us yet (can't blame him!)
So, come back from work the following day to find he's broken out through the feeder and is proudly sitting on top. So we let him stay a while and talk, then put him back.
Later, I put my hand in the cage to adjust a perch that's causing him an issue and he jumps into my hand, scurries up my arm and climbs on top of his cage.
He happily sits there quietly for an hour or so with one short flight before we put him back for the night.

Is it worth simply not bothering with the wait period since the little one seems to want to come out? I thought I might start "home" training him and reconditioning his step up response instead.

[Hezz]

Personally, I feel the wait period is over-rated and you are best taking your cues from the bird; it would seem to me that he is more than ready to socialize with you, has no fear of you at all, and the sooner you get the trust forming between you, the better.

I would still start his training inside his cage, until he is doing all his step-ups and down without fault, then try a small room such as bathroom (toilet seat down and no basins of water etc) or small bedroom for his out of cage training, initially.

One question; is he able to fly, or have his wings been clipped? Hopefully his is fully fledged and will enjoy having a fly around.

[suesbird]

How lovely for you, hope all goes well.

[parsnipstew]

Thanks, yes again I put my hand in and he climbed on and up my arm to get to the top of his cage.
He is clipped from the breeder but can fly short distances (yesterday he flew down and around the floor, and at the breeder's he was happily fluttering when needed. Today he just sat on top watching us).

He doesn't make many noises, the occasional peep especially when we put his cover on, and add mentioned doesn't fly a lot.

We think he's rejected his cage as too small as he's scrabbling in the corners and we were told on purchase that if he did this we need a new cage. So we bought the big double height Hagen, which arrives tomorrow

Step up is currently based more on light pressure than command, and he often wants to step over, back onto his roof, especially at bedtime!

Would you say this is all normal behaviour?

[Hezz]

Definitely normal baby budgie behaviour; the quietness might simply be because he is not yet truly comfortable with you yet, or it could be that your boy is a girl .... your other photo doesn't show much. I really wish breeders wouldn't clip budgies' wings, just because they think it makes taming easier.