harnesses????

[scarlettbird]

hello everyone,

i am new to birds and to this forum but i don't know anyone with bird experience so i decided to ask on a forum. i have two birds, a male and a female. they both really hate coming out of their cage. they go on top of my high bookshelf and on my fan, so i can't get them down, and they are panicked and breathing heavily the whole time. i have had them for a few months and they have never enjoyed coming out. i feel very bad for them because they are not getting the proper exercise that they should. in the past, i have considered clipping their wings temporarily so they will be less cage bound and can later regain their flight, but i think i have decided against that because it would be too expensive at a vet's office and i don't know how to do it myself. should i use harnesses when taking them out? i think this would help get them used to coming out and would make it easier to take them in and would be a more enjoyable experience for both of us. if so, are there any good harnesses that someone could recommend to me? if i'm going to use harnesses, i want them to be good quality. 

thanks,
scarlett

[ffiscool]

Hi. Welcome. Please don’t get their wings clipped, in my opinion that would be stopping them from being able to fly when they wanted. Also please don’t do harnesses. It would be traumatic I think

It might be you need to go back to the beginning and get them totally used to you, by just talking quietly when they are in the cage. Getting them used to you, trusting you

You say they breathe heavily when out, are they coming out themselves or do you take them out?

[mona]

hey scarlettbird, I am not in favor of wing clipping as well. I correlate that with a human's legs being chained or chopped off (imaginary, to think it will grow back again). When the bird cannot fly, which is it's normal response to fear, it gets frustrated. The frustration can result in a number of side effects, which, we, as humans, might or might not understand. So, it's a good step to not have their wings clipped. Kudos!


No to harness as well.
I have got untamed budgies (male female pair) since a year. Their wings aren't clipped. They have eaten veggie leaf from my hand since the beginning. That's all. Even if I kept the door open, they won't come out. My cage has a small & big door. I would then handfeed them their fav veggies by opening the bigger cage door. Eventually, they were curious just last month and came out on their own. If they are scared of a giant room and are comfy inside their cage, give them their sweet little time. Mine flew right to the ceiling fan, but were used to eating from my hand, so they used to come down to eat from my hand..and the story goes on.

The gist is to let them be comfortable and enjoy what they do. I have never forced them to come out of the cage.. I have never grabbed them, unless it was really urgent and an emergency. Imagine a lion chasing you to catch you - that's how they see us when we run after them to grab! Every bird is different and has got its own baggage. They just need their sweet little own time (which can be a long human time 😅). I would also agree with ffiscool to back off and start from the beginning. Later, when they are used to you, eating from your hand, you could instead try luring them with a treat.. starting from moving the treat from inside the cage to near the cage door, then just on the cage door, and then on the outer wall of the cage. These little creatures love food 🥰

[blue48]

Oct 22, 2020 8:12:13 GMT ffiscool said:

Hi. Welcome. Please don’t get their wings clipped, in my opinion that would be stopping them from being able to fly when they wanted. Also please don’t do harnesses. It would be traumatic I think

It might be you need to go back to the beginning and get them totally used to you, by just talking quietly when they are in the cage. Getting them used to you, trusting you

You say they breathe heavily when out, are they coming out themselves or do you take them out?

Totally agree with this.   Back to basics is the way to go.

If your birds are panicked and breathing heavily a harness will make them worse.   My budgie is very tame, but I know he would freak out if I tried to put a harness on him.    You will be much happier seeing them free-flying and carefree than strapped into a horrible harness.

[Deleted]

Plus budgies are a bit too fragile for harnesses anyway. They could injure themselves taking off suddenly.

[scarlettbird]

Thank you all for your advice! I've never taken them out, I think usually they try to climb on the sides but when the door is open and they don't expect it, they end up out of the cage and scared. I was misinformed when I first got them that I should not interact with them for the first month, so they're not that used to me. I will take your advice and not use a harness.

[Hezz]

Thank you for taking the above advice on board. Any parrot needs a lot of trust and being slowly allowed to get used to a harness but the smaller the bird the less useful a harness is. The smaller birds find them very overwhelming, probably due to the relative size and weight. Clipping wings is not going to improve your relationship with them either, more likely to set you back even more as they then have very little defence against you, the predator.

Unfortunate advice you were given about not interacting with them in the beginning. All you can do for now is start trying to gain their trust, interacting with them on and off as many times a day as possible and allowing them to learn to trust.

[blue48]

Good luck.   It's really rewarding gaining the trust of a little bird.

You know, my budgie loves poetry. He's obviously a bird of culture I have a couple I know by heart and I don't know if it's the cadence or rhythm but he really listens with his head cocked on one side. As soon as I start the first line be stops whatever he's doing and pays attention. In fact, I'm trying to learn more as I've heard it's good for staving of dementia. Talking to them is the first step to gaining trust.

Edit:  Not that I'm suggesting scarlettbird or anyone else on here is at risk of dementia any time soon 

[ffiscool]

I used to play a particular song to Bailey, that I’d sing along to. He would also stop and then sit on my finger with his head by my mouth.

As I can’t sing, maybe he thought it would shut me up, lol

But I did it over and over. They like routines

[scarlettbird]

That's so cute how your birds enjoy music and poetry! I read to my birds and they are used to my voice. This is probably a stupid question, but how would I go about gaining the trust of my birds when they are not used to trusting me? The male can step up when he feels like it, but my female doesn't really enjoy being trained.

[Hezz]

Hens are often the more cautious ones and the males more curious. How do you gain their trust? Very slowly. You can't force the issue, all you can do is set yourself up as the good guy. Don't stare at them - wink, blink, turn your head to one side so they can only see one of your eyes, close your eyes completely for short periods while talking to them. Two eyes at the front of your head screams "predator" to a bird, so break up that predator stare as I've described above.

Spend as many periods of 10-15 mins per time during the day around them, offering treats and generally getting them used to your voice, your smell, your general being. Offer small amounts of millet. Madam Hen will probably get annoyed at Mr Bud for daring to go near the nasty hoo-man thing - boys are always more open to bribery than girls - but persevere and she may start to feel that fear of missing out and just have to come over to inspect as well. That will take some time, how long, no one can predict. How old are these two? Older birds are much less bribable than their younger siblings, but not totally incorruptible. You'll just have to work a bit harder. Also don't expect results in the short term. Just like people, budgies don't trust someone just because they say "trust me". It is something they have to decide for themselves. Good luck and if you have more questions we are always happy to help. Patience and persistence are your biggest friends right now.

[scarlettbird]

Thank you so much for the advice! They are siblings and are about 7 months old. They do seem to like me when I don't have my hands in their cage. When I sit and read to them, they enjoy it and when I leave my bedroom (my bedroom doubles as my office, so I'm in there most of the day) they call for me to come back.