Baby Parakeet - Training Question

[MrWoppit]

Hello Friends!!

Last week I got a 7 week out parakeet. He is now 8 weeks old.

I got him in Minnesota, and I live in South Dakota. I stayed in Minnesota with him for two days before transporting him the 4 hour drive.

I got him from a very good private party Parakeet breeder whom has already started training the Parakeets before he sells them.

My parakeet already knows the command "Step Up" and does it willingly, a generally very mello bird.

He was very comfortable coming out of his cage the first couple days, but after the 4 hour drive he is scared of leaving his cage... He still does the "Step Up" command without issue, but constantly tries to fly away from me (clipped wings, doesn't get far) and into his cage...

Should I leave him alone for awhile so he gets used to his new home? Or should I spend more time with him outside of his cage?

I work 12 hour days, or when Im at work its a long day for him... But on my days off I spend a lot of time in the room with him and his cage.

How should I move ahead training with him??




***Another question--- Every two weeks I go to Minnesota (The 4 hour drive) and stay for two days, and then come back. Thats 8 hours in the car every other weekend.. Should I take the Parakeet with me on these trips? Or leave him at home with lots of food? Its a full three days I am gone. Whats the best option?

Thanks so much!

[Wolf]

I normally try to be as gentle as I can especially with new people as many have problems with plain straight up honesty. I am going to be as gentle as I can, but I am also going to be as honest with you as I can. Please accept my reply in the manner that it is intended, which is above all else the birds welfare and not the humans.
This is at best a bad situation for your bird. to begin with all parrots require not only your companionship, but also a certain degree of stability as they do not handle change very well and were intended to never be alone in their entire lives. To be honest, your lifestyle is exactly the opposite of what this bird needs. When you went to get this bird it stepped up and was at ease with what was going on because it was comfortable with its surroundings and with the person who showed you the bird. When we get these birds and take them home with us we take this all away from them and they are suddenly confronted with being all alone in a strange place, with a human that they don't know or trust. In respect to the way things are in the wild and thus the way that they see this and respond to it, this is nothing short of a death sentence for them and they are very much aware of this and they are terrified. That is why he is responding in the manner that you describe.
This bird needs you to spend a lot of time just hanging out in the same room with him just talking and singing to him to get used to your presence so that it can learn to trust you. The amount of time that he is all alone is going to work against you earning his trust and his developing a bond with you. The best thing that you can do about that is to get him a suitable mate.
I am really hoping that you have family where you live so that you can have someone that you can trust to help you with him for the long days that you are working and for these trips that you have to take. You simply can't leave a lone bird for three days in its cage until you return, the stress alone will kill the bird. You might be able to take the bird with you but even with a mate this will be highly stressful to them and counter productive. This is a bad situation. The stress of taking him with you and coming back home is really not much better in many ways.
If you have people at home that are willing to help you with this, then there is a chance of finding a way for this to work, but if you do not have this the to be honest with you the best thing that you can do is to return this bird to where you got it and get your money back because neither you nor this bird have any chance of being happy with the present situation. I really wish that things were different but they are what they are.

[Pajarita]

Wolf is absolutely right in everything he said but he forgot still another thing that won't work out: your schedule. If you keep this bird, you will have to keep him at super long days in order for him to have any company whatsoever (not that been alone all day long is acceptable) and budgies are one of the most opportunistic breeders there are (so much so that there is still people who believe that they breed all year round as it was such an ingrained concept until a few years ago) so we are talking about a bird that will live in physical pain for the rest of its life. Not good.

[Wolf]

Alright, now that you have the bad news based on the information that you provided us with, lets see if we can come up with the means to change this. As I said, I am here for the bird and that is actually my sole purpose for being here as I figure that we humans can take care of ourselves.
At the very least you will need someone at home to help you to keep the bird tame while it gets accustomed to its new home. Given the hours that you are working it is very probable that they will have to do at least one of the daily feedings and possibly both of them, unless you can work out how you can do one of them. Once the bird learns to trust you and will come to you willingly and step up and even if it does fly away from you will come back to you or will step up again and remain with you, then if your work will allow you to take him to and from work with you then there may still be a way to make this work out. I don't think this is the best scenario, but if you can manage this then I will do all that I can to help you to make it work out, If you can't find a way to do this, I don't recommend that you keep him until you can make at least this much happen.
This early period of stability is really very important to the birds well being, partly because of his being afraid and alone all day long and partly because of the way that birds bond to you. At this point it is a dependent parent/ child type of bonding and its parents would not ever leave the baby alone and you have taken on the role of the birds parent and it counts on you for everything from security to learning what foods to eat and how to eat them. You may not have realized this but you are responsible for not only the birds physical needs, but also it mental and emotional growth and well being.
Just so that we understand this, I will still do everything that I can to help you but I know that this is not a good situation as described to us and so I am very skeptical of the outcome. I don't think that we can get very far without honesty, given the circumstances and so I am being totally honest with you and hopefully we can find a way for this to work out beneficially.