beginning to train a budgie questions!

[MeanDonnaJean]

I'll be going to college next year, so I want to get a good start on Jack so Hyrum will be encouraged to keep working with him after I'm gone...And thanks for your encouragement Donna Jean!

U r most welcome, Shelby. Whether u know it or not, u r doin' that entire family (both humans & animals alike) a great service. I just hope they realize how lucky they are to have a sitter as caring & compassionate towards their family members & their pets as U are (cuz unfortunately, and very sadly, yer type is too few & far between these days).

I think ya've gotta GREAT future ahead of ya, kiddo, and I wish ya all the best.

[GlassOnion]

Maybe you should explain to the mother how removing the mirror will encourage Jack to bond with people and develop a relationship with Hyrum.

[Shelby]

Well, I did try, but she said he was so sad without the mirror that she felt she needed to give it back. I guess when Jack was given to them, he'd already had his mirror for a couple years (and they've had him for at least 2 years now) and after I took the mirror out he stopped singing or playing and just sat on one perch doing nothing. She said he was so excited when she put the mirror back in, so it was done with good intentions. Also, Hyrum leaves for a few months during the summer to live with his dad and his mom works long hours so she feels bad about leaving him alone all day with nobody for company. I don't really know what to do with the mirror now. She really wants to leave it in the cage, and for now I think it might be best. I hated to see him so down in the dumps when I took it away. I'll just keep trying to get him used to hands and not ignoring people so much.

And DonnaJean, we get along very well. Hyrum is the sweetest kid - so easy to get along with! And his mom is always saying how lucky they are to have found this arrangement with me and how sad they'll both be when I go to college. It gives me warm fuzzies.

[Shelby]

Another update.

Last Thursday was the last time I saw Jack and I'm seeing him again later today. He is still skittish and nippy. After stepping up a few times, he went into a high corner of the cage, hanging onto the bars with his feet and beak. When we tried to get him to step up, he either ignored us or lunged at our fingers. He doesn't really bite down hard, he just lunges and barely touches the approaching finger before leaning away again. I think he is just terrified and doesn't know what is going on because he's had very little human interaction throughout his whole life! Sometimes, when he was gripping the bars with his beak, I would reach out to him and wait until he calmed down and pull my hand back - trying to get him to see that if he is calm, eventually we will leave him alone. A few times I touched his beak while he was holding the bars with it. He seemed a little confused and frightened by the contact. A couple times I even slowly went for his head and gave him a little scratch. He usually leaned away or opened his beak, so I took it slow and reached for him a few times until he got more comfortable with the motion. He did let me gently touch the top of his head or scratch it slightly a few times, but he seemed confused and/or uncomfortable with it, probably because it never happened before. By the end of the 20 minute session, he moved to the far side of the cage, wedged between a perch and a toy, obviously wanting to be left alone, so we did. He still won't eat millet if you offer the spray with your hand, but he will eat it if it's clipped to the cage.

Am I still going about this the right way? We don't seem to be making any progress and he's not stepping up very much or staying on our fingers more than a few seconds.