My friendly babies became unfriendly to me. What can I do?

[hdoone]

I bought 3 young budgies at different times, and after a few weeks they became 'cold'. They only interact with each other. I think it was a mistake to let them be together, day and night. I heard that if you have more than one budgie, this will happen. But my babies were hand fed and they were very clingy to me in the first few weeks. So I thought this won't happen to me! My question is: is it possible to get back (from the friendliness perspective) at least one of them? If yes, how? If no, should I buy another baby and make sure he is not interacting with the others?

[tweetiepiesmom]

Yes, you can get them to be friendly with you again. Right now they are getting used to their new home and their new flock. Continue to interact with them as you have been or even more. Feed them a treat while they are standing on your hand. When they are out flying around, call them to your hand and treat them with millet. Spend as much time beside them as possible, even putting a chair by them and sit in it whenever you are home. Talk to them constantly. Once they get over the "newness" of their home, they'll start exploring and take more interest in you. Have patience, this could take a couple months or more.

By the way, this is not a unique situation. Many new budgie owners post here about a budgie that was very friendly when they first brought it home and then stopped being so friendly. It just means they have settled in and now are turning their attention to the new home rather than the new owner. They no longer see the owner as a big threat.

We'd love to hear more about your budgies including their names, gender, how old they are and pictures are great!

[hdoone]

They are pretty young. They were hand fed by the owner when I bought them, with 3 different occasions in April. And I still had to hand feed them for 1-2 weeks more. They should be 2-3 months old. The one in my profile (right in this pic) is MELON (the eldest), the green one is TIGER (middle) and the blue one is...BLUE (left). Gender unknown. This picture was taken 3 weeks ago when they were still friendly. I decided to separate Melon from the other two and see what will happen.

[tweetiepiesmom]

They are all very cute! Budgies all have different personalities. I'd be interested in how that works out for you. Please come back and keep us posted on how they are doing. I hope Melon (and the other two) becomes your best pal.

[mona]

I wouldn't separate the birdies, if they are happy to stay together, just for taming them 🧡 The one who is staying alone could be missing out on the fun - just like a human locked out in one room with adjacent room full of friends 😒

They will still be tame with your efforts and patience, even if they share the same cage. Sometimes, it just needs a bit more patience. 🤗🧡

Treats work the best for taming as tweetiepiesmom said.

[Hezz]

I wouldn’t separate one from the other two, either. It is not fair on the birds to do this unless there is a threat of violence between any two. These birds are flock birds, not solitary birds and need to be with each other. They aren’t as interested with you since they have each other, regardless of being hand fed. it is a common mis-conception that because a bird has been hand fed, it is going to be tame but many breeders will hand feed without any actual interaction between human and bird. They will feed and then stick them back in their cage.

It is now up to you to become one of their flock. This means you will have to try harder to be accepted in to their space since they don’t need your companionship. Don’t be pushy, allow the birds to become used to your presence, always (at this stage) approach with something to offer them - you have to give them some reason for wanting to be around you.

[blueelephant]

Agree with others not to separate them. If it gives you any hope I recently got a young budgie who we tamed during a 4 week quarantine from my other budgie. During that time he was very tame. Happily sitting on me, climbing around preening my hair etc. Once he was introduced to my other bird he regressed a lot. Suddenly running away from hands and not interested in me at all. Only interested in his new friend. We are two months along from then now and he's back to being completely curious about humans again. He comes over to see what we are up to and what he can chew on. He sits with us and just chills. It's almost as if he has got to know his new budgie buddy and now that excitement is over he is happy to come and be friends again.

If they were tame before, as long as you don't do anything scary and come with treats for a bit I am sure they will come round. It's also quite fun to just sit back and watch the between budgie antics! Good luck with them. They look like a smashing little flock.