Taming a budgie

[Shelby]

I babysit a 10 year old who has 2 budgies from a pet shop. They aren't tame. I've been helping him target train them for several months, but we can't get them to step up yet and they are very distracted by being in the cage. Whenever I try the "force out and reconcile" method, they run all over the cage and budgies are slippery little buggers when they want to be.

My question is, if you force out and reconcile with a budgie (in order to train more effectively outside the cage) will it eventually learn to step up on your hand inside the cage? The little boy wants so badly to play with his birds but they are just SO distracted in the cage that we aren't really making any progress, even after months of training. I don't want him to give up on them.

[Michael]

This is the problem you get from keeping them in pairs. They viciously protect each other and are concerned with that more than anything. The force out and reconcile method probably isn't the best approach but if done right it's a lot quicker and works. If done wrong it can make the bird hate you for and never let you hold it. This is why I recommend targeting the parrot out because you can't push it further than it is comfortable. Luckily budgies have fairly short term memory and you can get away with a lot more with them than with bigger parrots. The important thing if you're going to force it out of the cage, is that it is as quick and painless as possible. You really don't want to let it turn into a 10 minute game of chase cause the bird will not only be more scared of you but also learn what kinds of moves help it get away. You have to get it in a corner and scoop it up with both hands.

Have a good training area ready and put the budgie on it. After it calms down let it eat a little millet and reintroduce target training and proceed to teaching step up. By giving lots of millet and positive attention out of the cage, it will eventually learn the benefit of coming out. If it learns to step up for treats out of the cage and learns that being out is good, it will become more likely to step up in the cage to come out for this. The thing is until the bird has been out, it doesn't know that being out is good so it won't come out but if it doesn't come out it can't find this out. This is why it is sometimes necessary to just get them out and make it up to them by making it really good. This is exactly how Duke was tamed. Even Kili clung to the cage bars unwilling to come out when I just got her. But once they realize how good it is to be out and the step up training is complete, it all becomes much easier from then onward.

[GlassOnion]

I would actually suggest putting them in separate cages beside each other and work with one bird at a time. It's really hard to tame a pair of wild anything.

[Shelby]

Thanks so much for your reply Michael! I'm more confident now that the force out and reconcile method will work as long as I just grab them quickly and get it over with. I think taking the perches out before I reach in will make it easier too...

I wish I could separate them, but they're not my birds. They belong to the boy I babysit so I can't really change the way they are housed, etc. Thankfully, they aren't very frightened of hands and they're not "bonded". They usually stay on opposite sides of the cage and will chatter to each other, but for the most part prefer to ignore each other or alternate pushing the other one off the favorite perch of the moment. If you approach one with your hand, the other will either ignore you or scoot a few inches away. They'll eat off a little "ball" of millet from your hands and the younger one does get the concept of target, but being in the cage is way too distracting to make any real progress.

I babysit again next week so I'll start using the force out and reconcile method and let you know how that goes!

[mtaylor1021]

Seriously you should ask the boy to sell or give away one of the birds (maybe to you). My sister had 1 budgie and all was well so they decided to get another one. Both budgies ignored them after that. Eventually she gave away the second bird they got so the original one would start paying attention to them again.

[Shelby]

Seriously you should ask the boy to sell or give away one of the birds (maybe to you).

I'm going to college in a few months and wouldn't be able to take them with me (no pets allowed in the dorms and freshmen MUST live in the dorms). Then, the birds would be stuck at my parents' house in the same situation because my parents don't really like birds all that much. The people I babysit for are really nice, but I get the impression that working with the birds to make them "pets" is not a priority. I feel bad for both parties involved. The birds are scared of people, cooped up in a cage all the time and never get to experience the joy of flight. The owners will never know what charming companions birds can be.

Wednesday I did the force out and reconcile thing. It took about 3 minutes to get the younger and more tame bird out because the cage door is really small and at the bottom of the cage and they hang out on the perches near the top of the cage. REALLY awkward to try and reach in, much less get one cornered for a swift grab. Once we got her out she explored on the bed for a good 15 minutes, eating millet and doing a little targeting but still won't target onto a hand. I think we could make rapid progress if the training was consistent but I don't foresee that happening. I've pretty much given up at this point.

[mtaylor1021]

"It took about 3 minutes to get the younger and more tame bird out because the cage door is really small and at the bottom of the cage and they hang out on the perches near the top of the cage."

That's exactly how my cage and bird are. I really want a new cage with a large door. Anyways, the way I get my bird out (when he doesn't come out on his own) I hold millet with my thumb and then have the bird step up on my finger and he gets so engaged eating the millet he doesn't realize I'm taking him out.