Finger Taming

[rgandhi]

hi all..
I have a pair of budgies & need help finger taming them.
this is my first pair & its been more than a month since I bought them.
I gained their trust slowly,now they do eat seeds from my hand(inside & outside the cage) infact they sit on my hands while doing so..the problem here is whenever i try to get them on my finger they just back off its not like they are scared of my hands as they only back off a couple of steps,but they just wont get on the finger..
i don't push them too much as i don't want to lose their trust & stress them out ..what should i do??am i doing anything wrong ???one more thing I keep them in the same cage ,should I separate them ???I really dont wnt to do that. all the help will be appreciated..
thnQ

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[BudgiesBuddy]

Hi Rgandhi and welcome to forum

Finger taming is a long and slow process and can take months. It also depends on how the budgies were reared. If a budgie has grown up in a cage or aviary where other budgies were scared of human, he will be hard to tame than others who were brought up in a friendly environment.

It helps to start with a small stick. Once they start to step up on the stick, sooner or later they will step up on the finger as well.

Here is a video, just to give you some points.

[Hezz]

Sorry I missed this earlier. Firstly rgandhi, having them eating out of your hand (pardon the pun) is a very good start. Now you want them to learn to step up onto your finger. So holding your index finger horizontal, put it across their chest/tummy area and give a little push, and say "step-up" while you do it. They will either retreat as you say yours have, or resist. If they retreat, follow them, even if it means you have backed them into a corner in the cage, and try again. If they can't retreat any further, they will probably resist, so push a little harder, from underneath and up. They will realise they will either lose their balance because they will try to lean back away from your finger, or they can lift their feet and step onto your finger, which is what you want them to do. You are not going to lose their trust by such a simple and gentle thing. Speak clearly but quietly, when they do what you want give lots of praise and maybe a reward (bit of millet), put them back on the perch and repeat.

Keeping them together is not a problem, but when you are doing training exercises, it is easier to do (to start with anyway) one at a time away from the distraction to the other. You haven't done anything wrong, you just didn't want to risk losing their trust, but they aren't as faint-hearted as you think. If you have ever had dogs you will know that the human has to be the pack leader, same goes for the birds. They have a pecking order, and you must be at the top of the pecking order, but that doesn't have to be a harsh, dominating thing. Try this several times a day for around 10 minutes at a time (each) and see how you go. Short sessions more often is better than one or two longer sessions. So keep the time short and fit as many in as you can during the day. See how you go with that and let us know how you get on.