I think I'm doing well????

[blumuffin]

Hello there!
I've had my budgies since September 29th, 2019. I bought the two of them, flock raised, from a breeder off DoneDeal.
They are my first birds (although I did have three chickens a few years ago.)
So I want to ask - am I doing well?
Here's what happens when I stick my hand in the cage.
+~+~+

I try do do it when Muffin is on the long perch, and Mango is on the swing. 
I get Muffin to face me, and snack on the millet. Mango has to be eating
millet at the same time or he will freak out and get angry at Muffin.
I have the millet between my thumb and my forefinger. Now here's one problem -
I'm only 11, so my fingers are short. There's only enough room to just put two budgie feet on my finger, so it's not that comfortable. 
I might start using my middle finger instead, with my first finger curled around the millet.
Anyway, enough about my fingers.

I usually put my finger on top of the perch, so that if Muffin wants the millet he has to come closer to it, therefore stepping on my finger. But, he only has to put one foot on before he reaches, because if I move too far away, Mango can't reach the millet, then he freaks out. Sometimes I seriously wish i'd only gotten one bird, but hey, i'm here now, probs getting a third in the future, so i've gotta deal with it (and I will give both of them equal lives!)

So what I want to do is what you're supposed to - put your finger laying across both the budgie's feet, then he'll hopy up. But when I try to do that, Muffin just gets scared and moves to the side. I've sort of hit a brick wall here - the only way i've found that he'll step up, is when he moves onto my finger to get closer to the millet.

Now there is one way around it - perch training, then bringing him outside the cage, then getting him to step up without Mango in the way. But, the cage I have is really small, just above minimum size for two budgies! And I DESPERATELY want to move them in to this much bigger cage I bought (literally a macaw cage) - but my mum changed her mind and said i'll have to wait until we can move around my small room and get me a loft bed, so we can put the cage under it, but we spent a lot of money on the bed I have now (which I don't really like,) so we'll have to wait until at least September to get the loft bed, and that i have to tame at least Muffin first, but it's so hard to tame him in this tiny cage, so it's just a loop...

So. What I'm considering is - going to a bird store. Buying a wooden dowel. Shortening it down to just under the length of my finger, getting Muffin to step up onto it, and doing the whole perch training process.

But when I bring something like that into the small cage, I'm worried it will scare the birds, then they'll be scared of me & the dowel... So what should I do?
And I think they will be scared the first few times, but will that move me back at all? Argh... this is so hard.

So my question is basically -
Am I doing well for how long i've had my budgies, and should I begin perch training them first instead???

Thanks in advance for any help. My head really hurts on this one. I wish my fingers were longer.

[ladybird]

Hello dusky, can you put pictures of your cage and budgies on here? Someone will be along to help you soon, I wouldn’t think a macaw cage would be any good for your buds, the bars will be to far apart......Welcome to the forum 😃

[blumuffin]

Feb 1, 2020 16:17:50 GMT ladybird said:

Hello dusky, can you put pictures of your cage and budgies on here? Someone will be along to help you soon, I wouldn’t think a macaw cage would be any good for your buds, the bars will be to far apart......Welcome to the forum 😃

Thanks! I meant it's the size of a macaw cage. The bar spacing is less than 1/2 an inch (or however big it is, but it's safe for the budgies.)

And yes, I will put pics up in a few hours. Thanks!

[ladybird]

That’s good dusky, you sound like you are really trying hard , well done for asking for advise.....you will get plenty on here...

[tweetiepiesmom]

 You are step-up training exactly like I'm trying to do with Tweetie Pie. Since you have small hands, maybe you could hold the millet between your thumb and second finger with your hand open and palm up. Then you'll have room for both birds to perch wherever they want on your hand. The goal is to get him on your hand and comfortable with that, then you can offer him just a finger. Using a dowel to train could work also. I've read one way to teach a budgie to step-up is to get him to step-up on a perch and then gradually move your finger along the dowel, getting him used to stepping-up on your finger along with the dowel and then removing the dowel all together. Part of the fun is learning your budgies personalities and working with that. Good luck and keep at it!

[blumuffin]

Feb 1, 2020 16:55:13 GMT tweetiepiesmom said:

 You are step-up training exactly like I'm trying to do with Tweetie Pie. Since you have small hands, maybe you could hold the millet between your thumb and second finger with your hand open and palm up. Then you'll have room for both birds to perch wherever they want on your hand. The goal is to get him on your hand and comfortable with that, then you can offer him just a finger. Using a dowel to train could work also. I've read one way to teach a budgie to step-up is to get him to step-up on a perch and then gradually move your finger along the dowel, getting him used to stepping-up on your finger along with the dowel and then removing the dowel all together. Part of the fun is learning your budgies personalities and working with that. Good luck and keep at it!

Muffin and Mango are very expressive - and polar opposites. Muffin is chill, and sleepy, less afraid of people. Mango is opposite.

But  I might try holding my hand open. For some reason I tried to do it with just seeds once, don't know why I did that, it just freaked them out. And the thing about the dowel - yes, that's what i'm trying to do.

[blumuffin]

Feb 1, 2020 16:17:50 GMT ladybird said:

Hello dusky, can you put pictures of your cage and budgies on here? Someone will be along to help you soon, I wouldn’t think a macaw cage would be any good for your buds, the bars will be to far apart......Welcome to the forum 😃

Here's a collage of my cage and my birds, and a link to the big cage i've bought.

photos.google.com/u/0/photo/AF1QipPiW2iWFlQaK7rMuYR6SvU8cnHMQpgO_P2DEF8L

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005CAY8QA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1