New budgie, tips and advice appreciated

[beauderek]

Hello all

We got a new budgie Harry a couple of weeks ago, he's now 10 weeks old. He's an English Show budgie, so a big fella lol. As some may know, he joins us to be a new friend to our existing chap Beau.

They are in separate rooms for now while we try and tame Harry. Beau is around 3 and has never been hands trained, so we want to start early with Harry and hopefully that will help Beau come around too later.

I've been placing my hand in the cage for the last week, for around ten minutes at a time, 3 or 4 times a day, to try and get him accustomed to it. He still seems very wary of it though and won't allow me to go near him (he hurries away lol).

He seems to be uninterested in millet so far, so I'm stuck on ways to bribe him to be my friend. I know it's still early days, but with no prior experience in taming a budgie I'm not sure how long to expect to see results.

I would be extremely grateful for any and all advice and tips on the hand taming process for a young bird. Or if someone could point me to a resource, that would be great.

I'll attach a couple of pics of my birdies below. Green and yellow is Harry, white and light blue is Beau, bright blue is Derek (female, sadly recently passed away 😢).

Thanks in advance everyone x

[tweetiepiesmom]

All beautiful budgies! You know that Beau is a hen, right? Sometimes hens can be a bit stand-offish which might explain why she hasn't warmed up to you. I can't quite tell from the picture if Harry is indeed a boy. A picture in natural light, nose on will help. Some budgies tame quickly while others take more time. I suggest you leave the millet in the cage until you see that he has eaten it and then you can only give it to him as a bribe. You are doing right by placing your hand in his cage a few times a day. Also every time you go into his room, stop and talk to him a few minutes. Looking forward to hearing more about him.

[beauderek]

Thanks for the advice, I'll definitely stick with it. Beau is on the right of the bottom picture, is that the one you mean? White feathers, blue cere. Bottom pic, top left is Derek, a hen x

[Hezz]

tweetiepiesmom, I think you will find that the cobalt hen is Derek, who has since passed away, and Beau is the pied showing mostly white in the photo.

Your new bird is going through a moult at the moment, which can leave them feeling less than sociable at the best of times. Moving house can be doubly stressful. If he doesn’t know that millet sprays are food which is what it sounds like, hang a small piece in his cage and allow him to discover it for himself. Once you see signs that he is eating it, you can take it out and use it as your treat tool. In the meantime try to find other foods that he might show some interest in. If that doesn’t work, a little of his regular seed in the palm of your hand usually works. Otherwise keep doing what you have been, bringing him something until you find something that works.

[blueelephant]

Hi Harry, you are a very handsome young man! It's nice to meet you. I am sure he will do well in time. Was he from the breeder I suggested?

I've tried various things with taming. Holding a flat handful of seed, millet, talking to them lots, reading them a book and long slow blinks. It does take time but I am sure you will get there. Barney was slow to warm up to us but now is an absolute bossy fearless terror. The key with him was after he came out the first few times and crashed behind various bits of furniture he came to see hands as a useful tool for jumping on and being rescued by!

[beauderek]

Thanks blueelephant, yes he is from the breeder you recommended and thanks again. A really nice chap too with a super set up, lots of gorgeous birdies!

I didn't think about using regular seed for now, so I'll definitely try that. I'm also keen to get him eating others things besides seeds so a good time to start introducing new foods maybe.

I'll put a millet in the cage for a few days too so he can learn all about budgie crack lol. I'm probably trying to run before i can walk, I just wanna be friends with him right away. 😆

Will check back with regular updates. 👍

[beauderek]

OK, so he is swerving between being totally chill with my hand in the cage to running around and looking completely perplexed with its presence in his space. He's been here 3 weeks this coming Saturday (3 days from now as I write). He will allow me to get right up close when he's chillaxin, sometimes. He's so inconsistent haha 😄

Should I let him out of his cage in a safe environment, windows/ curtains closed etc? Or is it too soon? Will he ever like me? I'm being dramatic of course, I know it takes time. I wish there was a step by step guide lol, this is not as easy as a puppy lol.

[Hezz]

It is best to have a little training in place before attempting to allow free flight time, but better to allow him some exercise than none at all. Do so in a small room initially so you aren’t changing him all over when you need him to be back in his cage. Have a spare perch to use as a pick-up stick, and make sure there are obvious places to perch in the room so he doesn’t fly around and around looking for somewhere to land.