Should I Get Another Budgie?

[samrose]

I've had my budgie, Haven, (female) for almost a year now. She used to be very social and let people hold her all the time. After about a month, she started pecking my finger when I held her. I looked it up and trained her out of it. Now she hates being held, and has for months. I have been trying to train her out of it, but she hides when I reach into her cage, and avoids my hand, and anyone else's, at all cost. 
I keep her in my bedroom, which I spend a fair amount of time in, being homeschooled. Most of the time I am reading or painting, (I am 15). She just hangs out in her cage, playing with her toys. Bells are her favorite. Anyway, I am a little worried about her lack of being social. Sometimes she chirps and flaps her wings, and I worry she is lonely.
There are two things I am thinking of. One is I could move her into a different room where she would get more human interaction. My dog used to be able to get downstairs, which is why she is in my bedroom in the first place. Now my dog can't, because we put up an electric fence. So I can move her to any room in our large, finished basement that we spend a lot of time in. 
My second idea is to get another parakeet. I've read that it would have to be a boy, because females fight amongst themselves apparently. So, if I can't train her out of her skittishness, would it be better to get another bird so at least she isn't lonely? Or should I just keep trying to train her to like human interaction more? I also had the idea to get another cage to keep the second parakeet in, and they could stay in separate rooms until I had trained the second parakeet to be social, then put them together? Would the second parakeet rub off on Haven and make her more outgoing? 
Sorry this is so longwinded. I would love some advice! And hopefully not too expensive ones. XD My limit is probably less than $100, being an average teenager. Thanks in advance!

[blueelephant]

Hello! Welcome to the forum. When you say your Budgie doesn't like being held do you mean with your hand physically around the birds wings so that you can pick her up? No bird likes to be held in this way so I am not surprised she seems skittish. Catching them in that way makes you a big scary predator.

A tame bird should be happy to step up onto a flat hand, sit on your shoulder, and interact with you but all that takes a lot of time to build the trust up between you. This all has to be on her terms. She gets to choose to trust you rather than being made to act a certain way. Grabbing her will prevent that trust from happening as she won't trust you.

You seem really concerned about her happiness which is great. In terms of one bird Vs two I will let others guide you there as I have always been a one bird owner.

I'd perhaps work on taming her, and trying to improve her trust and happiness. Grabbing should only really be for emergencies like if she is about to be injured or if she needs a health check. Can you give her small treats held in you hand so she has to step up to get it? Like a single millet bobble perhaps? That way hands can be seen to bring good things. Does she have toys to play with? Things to chew and destroy? Does she get regular time out of the cage to fly and play? When you are not there can you leave the radio on so she has background noise? It's a slow process taming a bird but very rewarding ultimately.

[samrose]

Re: Thank you for your answer! No, I don't grab her around the middle. It is stepping up she won't do at all. I've tried using treats, but she doesn't seem all that interested in them when I offer them to her. She just eats her normal food and doesn't care about the various treats I have tried. But the rest of the advice is very helpful! Thank you for taking the time to reply!

[ffiscool]

Welcome. Where did she come from? A pet store or breeder? I’m thinking she didn’t seem to mind being held, due to possibly being scared, normal in a new environment, new people.

Can I ask why you were holding her anyway? Maybe it’s genuinely she doesn’t like being held, a lot/most perhaps, of budgies don’t. Or something happened and she associated it with being held. I’d say the only time to hold her is if she perhaps needs medicine or has fallen. Otherwise you need to do what she allows and if that is not being touched, so be it

Re stepping up, you might need to regain her trust. She might think you’re going to try to hold her. Budgies need a lot of patience.

[samrose]

Re: Thank you! I have been leaving her alone lately and not trying to hold her, but I have four younger siblings and they always try to make her step up, so I think she is scared. She came from a pet store, because I couldn't find any breeders in the area.

[ffiscool]

I think you need to treat her as if she had just come to you, i.e. start again. I suggest you do not try to hold her anyway.

it needs to be you training her, give her time, talk to her, don't put your hand in, unless you have to do food or water. She needs to trust you and then you can start with the other things. It is hard if you have younger siblings, but perhaps explain, it needs to be just you for now and once she is not scared/tame, I am sure she will want to interact with them.

[samrose]

Thank you so much! I will do that.

[snowylily]

Did something happen one day that put her off being held? Like a sudden noise or something that suprised her? I have noticed that budgies are quickly put off being tame if something surprises them. Is she happy if your hand is in the cage or does she flap about or try to get as far back away from your hand as she can?

[samrose]

I don't think there was any specific time. She used to stay on our fingers and be perfectly fine, but then she started biting, and the way I trained her out of it was moving my hand around whenever she did that, so she would have to let go. After I trained her out of biting, she just refused to stay on my finger and would let me take her out of the cage before flying back to it. Now, she occasionally will let me hold her in the cage for a few seconds, but she always seems nervous and will flit off at any movement or sound. I'm not sure why.

[snowylily]

Maybe she doesn't like being out the cage, and thinks you are going to take her out again? I think maybe put her in a more sociable room in the house, and regularly put your hand in the cage to offer treats etc, but don't take her out. Then see if you can regain her trust that way. If you put your hand near and she shuffles away, then just leave your hand in the cage for a bit and talk softly to her and then remove your hand. Repeat this until she doesn't shuffle off, and then gradually try to teach step up again, offering treats.

[ffiscool]

Feb 23, 2021 22:23:02 GMT samrose said:

I don't think there was any specific time. She used to stay on our fingers and be perfectly fine, but then she started biting, and the way I trained her out of it was moving my hand around whenever she did that, so she would have to let go. After I trained her out of biting, she just refused to stay on my finger and would let me take her out of the cage before flying back to it. Now, she occasionally will let me hold her in the cage for a few seconds, but she always seems nervous and will flit off at any movement or sound. I'm not sure why.

Agree with all snowylily said

I’m still not sure why you were taking her out? She’ll come out if she wants. Please don’t try to hold her again. You have a lot of trust to gain from her

[samrose]

I think she actually does like being out of the cage, since lots of times I will sit on my bed and shut the door to my room, and just open the cage and leave the door open, and she will usually fly out and do a few laps around the room, before landing on top of her cage, one of her favorite places to be. I think it is just being on my finger that she doesn't like. Or maybe just being on something that moves around of its own accord?

[snowylily]

It sounds to me like she went off your hand after you kept moving it about to train her out of biting. I'm sure she'll go back to sitting on your hand again, just keep offering treats and being slow and letting her lead the way.