Budgie can't find cage

[cozyquail]

Hello! I have two male Budgies (One is 2 months old while the other is 4 months) and hand taming them is going slowly but surely. (At least with the 2 month old, my 4 month old is still too nervous to 'step up' on my hand)

I'm at the point where they can eat from the palm of my hand and they enjoy coming out of their cage whenever they please. However, my 2 month old budgie doesn't have his flight feathers so he never strays far from the cage so he can easily climb back in when he needs to while my other one has his flight feathers and it seems the moment he flies away from the cage he doesn't know how to return to it. He'll perch on the shelves around my room and usually will never fly to anything lower than them (like the cage). He's been out of the cage a good few times now so I've been hoping that he'll eventually figure out his way back but every time he comes out, he'll stay out for hours and never make any attempts to fly back to his cage, no matter how late it is or how much my other budgie will call out for him.

Sadly, since he isn't hand tamed yet the only way I can get him back into the cage is to turn the lights off and throw a towel over him (Yes, I know this isn't the best way to get a Budgie but I have tried so many other methods but to no avail) and thankfully this hasn't ruined any trust he has for me but it still makes me very nervous to do it so I was hoping if I could get some advice on how to get him to know where the cage door is so he can go back inside. I've tried searching this topic up but it seems that this isn't a very common problem people have with their Budgies, hence why I made a post.

(Another thing, should I get my 4 month old's wings clipped? I figure it would be the best thing to do but the one thing that has me very hesitant is the possibility of ruining his trust for me)

Thanks in advance!!!

[Hezz]

It is certainly not uncommon but they usually get there with a little help. Will this bird step up onto a spare perch, so that you can move him towards the cage. It is possible that instead of not being able to find the cage, he simply doesn't want to go home. Can't blame him for that. How is clipping wings going to help in any way? Taking away the bird's ability to move freely is not the answer, many times all this achieves is to make the newly non-mobile bird stressed and anxious because it no long has any defense mechanism to remove itself from danger. That's a very bad idea, in my opinion. Has the younger bird had its flights clipped as well? A two month old should be fully flighted and in the air, which is why I ask.

Do the birds have another place to land outside the cage? A playgym, or perching tree elsewhere in the room? Very important for them to have their own safe perching place. There have been many a budgie who has spent the night asleep on the curtain rail because they haven't gone home to their cage. Also only keep food inside the cage so that to feed, which most will do towards evening, they will look to going back to their cage. Your help there, with using the spare perch to get them stepping up onto and then ferry them back to the cage. Also make sure that their cage up not sitting down low - having it up higher than the majority of the room's furniture will make it seem a safer place for them, and naturally much easier to land on.

[cozyquail]

I'm glad to hear that it isn't as uncommon as I previously thought! He will step up on a spare branch but he won't stay up on it long enough for me to get it back to the cage because he'll fly back to the shelf almost immediately.
I haven't considered how bad clipping his wings could actually be, thank you for bringing that up. I'll make that my last possible decision!

Though, I do really think the main reason could be that he doesn't feel safe enough to fly back to the cage since it does sit rather low in the room. (It's one of those tall bird cages and i'm 5'5" and it comes to the top of my neck) I should see about raising up the cage a little to see how that'll work. As for play perches, I do not have any at the moment, I've been trying to find a decent size one for a reasonable price so they can actually have their own little space outside of the cage.

My other male came with his wings already clipped (I got him from Petco and I think they clip the bird's wings before putting them on display)

Thank you so much for the help!

[Hezz]

Think about getting them another cage, one that is wider than high. Tall cages are not helpful for any bird as birds need some width to fly up and down, they are not helicopters. Also tall and narrow limits the amount of exercise the birds can get as they are mostly too narrow in width and depth for the birds to be able to flit from perch to perch.

[blue48]

You could try playing budgie sounds on your phone placed next to the cage. That's how I got mine back when he was new and got out accidentally.