First time taming

[flook1e]

Hello everyone,

Nice to be here!

I bought my first young budgie from a local breeder after a long period since my last. He's around 9 weeks - not hand reared and wasn't used to a cage. I got him on Saturday evening and he was obviously pretty frightened.

The reason why I'm messaging is because I've noticed different patterns of behaviour. On mornings he can be really skitty and fly around the cage and not let me near him. On the evening he is USUALLY more relaxed and I've managed to touch his belly today. I'm just a little confused why he will allow me near him one minute and be frightened another? When he looks more tired he seems more accepting. Just wondering if anyone can shed some light?

Thanks in advance!

[mizloco]

Welcome flook1e to the forum. My two are quite wild in the mornings and have slowed down a bit in the evening. There are lots of posts on training/taming on here so hopefully you will get some info.

[Moogie]

Hi and Welcome
how long have you had your little one?
when i got my first budgie Elfie i let him be for about a week or so just gently talking and blinking at him so he got used to me and his brand new enviroment...
I didnt attempt to touch him until he was more comftable around me...once he had settled in i used to put my hand in the cage so he would get used to it...after some more time i put millet in the palm of my hand,at first he would not come near my hand but after alot of time and patience one day he decided to eat out of my palm,i kept this up for a week or so and then started finger taming him...It took what seemed like forever to get to the point where he would step up on to my finger but we got there in the end....
Just remember to take things at his pace and be patient and im sure he will be tame in no time...

[flook1e]

Thanks for the warm welcomes

I've had Alphie for 4 days now. I've made attempts to get near him but as soon as he looks like he wants to fly I hold on for a bit and then remove the hand.

I'm probably expecting too much too soon. I just feel that when he gets frightened I'm back at the starting block again (when I'd previously made progress).

He doesn't know what millet is yet - I've got some in the cage in hope that he will sample it soon.

I couldn't find anywhere a rough estimate of how long it will take a new budgie to trust and then become hand tame.

Thanks again

[Moogie]

4 days in his eyes really isnt very long atall-he has come to a strange new place with new people cage ect ect i would take it slow it took me a good few months to get Elfie eating out of my hand and some times i felt i would NEVER get there and lots of times i was back at the starting block-1 step forward 4 steps back ha ha =Elfie didnt even play with toys for at least 5 months i thought he never would but he did in the end....I dont think any one can say how long it will take to tame as each bird is different,,,all i can say is-how ever hard it may seem or long if you have alot of patience and take things slowly one day you will be giving other people advice on how to tame their new budgies-i promise....x

[Deleted]

Moogie has great experience with this. Definitely take it slow. I had no idea what I was doing at first with my budgie, Munchy, and rushed him quite a lot. He also had a feather complication, though, which meant I had to hold him, which put him off me more. I was lucky to be able to get him eating from my hand on the 2nd or 3rd day of having him, though.

Munchy is also more active in the morning. He doesn't generally like hands near him (and as such hops onto my hand from a distance when he deigns to 'Step up', I need to retrain him) but generally doesn't even tolerate noses in the morning and will bop us if we try for kisses. By evening though I can normally nuzzle into him and he'll just stay still and look sleepy, or nibble me.

Once your little budgie settles in I'm sure he'll be quite the character. He'll warm up to you, like Moogie says it just takes time. If you listen to her advice and the advice of the other more experienced budgie owners then you won't go far wrong Good luck! x

[flook1e]

I really do appreciate all of the kind advice.

I've been in all day today so had a bit of time with him whilst he was helping me revise hah. As normal I've been trying to take it very slow paying particular attention to his body language. Although I managed to rub his tummy a couple of times he was very flighty today about movement.

After seeing him looking more relaxed (albeit tired!) I thought I'd have another go. I managed to get him to climb onto my finger 3 times without him flying away! Some obvious progress.

I'm still confused as to why he allows me to do this at night but is still frightened during the day!

Thanks again guys!

[Hezz]

Can I say leave his tummy alone? Most budgies never like being touched. Even the tamest of the tame will only put up with it. In time he may allow you to give his cheek feathers a scratch, or the top of his head, if he is moulting and itchy, but even with a really bonded bird this isn't an every day thing.

[stace]

Yes. Best not pat their tums. They don't generally like it. To get them okay with you touching them, wait till they are happily preening and their feathers are poofed out and try to very gently fluff their big cheek feathers upwards.

[flook1e]

Well thanks for further great advice.

I've had Alf a week now. Today I re-read the newbie taming pages and noticed that I'd missed the part about putting a towel over half the cage... Woah has this made a BIG difference!!!

Both me and my partner have had him on a finger. And he seems to be that relaxed that we are having to put our fingers further into his feathers to get him to make a move onto it. Looks like he is starting to trust more. He even had some millet out of our hands for the first time too. It's so nice that things are coming together!

Thanks for all of the help, I couldn't have done it without you!

[Hezz]

That's really good news, then. Keep taking it slowly. Quite often people will come back after a week or two complaining that their budgie is no longer as tame ........ it is more about the fact budgie has become more settled and is asserting his personality - he feels comfortable enough to be thinking "no, I don't want to step onto that finger, I want to fly over there" or whatever, so if this happens don't despair, its pretty common. Just stall the training process at this point and don't move on until he has the stepping up or whatever you are working on, down pat.

[Deleted]

As Hezz says, don't despair. I've had my budgie a year and a half and he's only just started letting me rub his cheek feathers with my finger these last couple of days You'll get there eventually, probably faster than I did with all my impatience, if you just keep trying

[flook1e]

I saw that YouTube video, Ira. He's so cute! It must be so nice.

I'm currently training Alfie to come to and climb onto my finger and it's working really well. He seems to enjoy it too, even though he's still not 100% sure of me. He's only doing it if he gets millet too the sneaky little budgie hah.

I've noticed him biting his tail feathers the past couple of days, and he seems to be grooming himself a lot. I don't know if it's excessive but its noticeable. I'm just wondering if you guys have any thoughts? I'm collecting a new (larger) cage for him this weekend because it appears to reduce mess around the cage. I'm concerned it may be a medical problem like mites...

Cheers!

[Hezz]

Budgies spend a lot of time keeping themselves looking gorgeous. I doubt it is anything to worry about. If he really is chewing on feathers and wreaking them, rather than putting them to rights, that's a different story.

[mizloco]

My two are always preening...so vain.