need help with budgie

[retdpd]

I was given a female budgie from a woman hosting a garage sale.

\ She said she observed it feeding in her bird feeder so she set up a trap and caught her. She then clipped his feathers to the point he cannot fly or glide at all. She stated she has had him over 2 weeks, kept her in a small hamster cage. She gave her to me so she would have a good home.

I've had her aprox 3 days. We named her (Zoe)The first thing I did was put her in a bigger cager, she will only eat millet. She barely makes a sound and is terrified of humans.PLEASE HELP should I not push for a week or so ??? Your suggestions would be helpful on how to handle her...

I presently have her quarantined. I also have a Hahns Macaw (named Elmo)my very first bird,we adopted from a rescue a year ago.

We also have 2- cats Bert (25lbs) and Ernie(18lbs) everyone gets along...

[liz]

Zoe has been through hell. First out on her own then confined into a small cage and not treated well.

Everything about you and your home is strange to her. You did good to get her a larger cage. Let her loose in a room. She did have all the open skies before she was trapped. There is no way of knowing how long she was outside. It will take time for her to feel safe with you.

[retdpd]

Thanks Liz,

So far all she's eating is millet.I put a piece of apple through the bars he han't touched yet. She is starting to chirp more. I put a small mirror in the cage which she seems to enjoy.

In the meantime I'm doing a lot of reading and research!!!

We are just going to take it slow!!!



doug

[liz]

Take the mirror out and put a foraging toy in it's place even if you have to put millet in it.

Let it out. It is hard to bond with a caged animal.

[retdpd]

UPDATE!!!

Zoe is doing great !!! Eating well and chirping away. She is out of quarantine. I am working on taming first having her getting use to my hand in the cage (not very successful first week) then we will try to entice her w/millet (small piece). I will then put her in a confined space and start working on stepping up.

Do you think I should get her a male companion now or wait ???

I haven't introduced her to the Hahns macaw yet. Yes, I know they can't be out at the same time. I've done a lot of reading etc..

doug

[pionus]

retdpd wrote
Do you think I should get her a male companion now or wait ???

is your budgie a girl? if so, a male companion might not be a good idea unless you can take care of possibly fertile eggs.

good luck!

[liz]

You have to respect Zoe's space if you want her to trust you. You seem to be working backwards of what we all say. Why would you confine her to a small box and force her to do what you want. You are teaching her that she has to do it your way because you are bigger and can make her do it. Your not giving her a chance to want to do it.

[Polarn]

just a quick note, I actually do have my little ones out together with the big ones (would never cage em together thoguhg) but given enough space they get along just fine, their rarely in the same place but occationally they happen to be close and I feel that little ball building in my guts and I get ready to spring up to interact, but so far Ive had no arguments between em, or well my zon every now and then screetches at them if their someplace he wants to go but they move away before he flies there, all of mine are flighted though and spend enough time together to not really be interested in one another. Its been a good eight months or so now with them all out together, I'm a nutjob thought that actually doent really use cages at all atm but have a birdieroom/office where their confined if they cant roam the whole house. But I saw you listed your birds as clipped, and I would never place a clipped budgie out in the same room as a bigger bird, even if the bigger bird is clipped as well. About the taming, I usually try get the fids to reach out for me, having them out and waiting until they start exploring me before I even try to push their comfortlevel.

[retdpd]

Maybe my post was wrong and not explained right!!! I plan on working on just the hand familiarization for the next 3-4 weeks and then work on hand feeding w/millet for about 2-4 weeks then stepping up !!!

The reason for the confined space is she was clipped real short when I got her and I don't want her to hurt her self. I don't think an 8'X8' room will be that devastating to her.

I did this process with my Hahns Macaw and it worked great!!!! Now after having him a year you wouldn't think he had the issues he had and was unadoptable..

For me its just as easy to train 2 at once vs 1 at a time

[BudgieGirl]

Hello!

That's great that she's doing well! I would not get a male companion for her- they will breed. Budgies breed like rabbits, unless you want them to. Then they don't. Of course.

I don't claim to be an expert at all, but I have done a lot of work rescuing/taming budgies (both with a rescue and on my own), and can tell you what we did if you like, though it sounds like you are doing good. I think she may tame up faster than you think- once the little guys get over their fear of hands, they bond very quickly. Don't wait for her to be perfectly comfortable- as long as she is ok with you, move forward- she needs to get out.

Have you had her to the vet yet? I ask, because you may want to do that before you start really working with her. If not she may see being examined as a sort of "betrayal" on your part, which will set you back a good deal. For that reason we always did that first. Who is your vet?

Though you probably don't want a boy, you should look into getting her a buddy. Budgies are very social little guys, and they need other budgies. I always refused to sell birds singly. This won't make them less tame. I had 4 breeding pairs, two "just pets," an occasional rescue, and some retirees all living together, and they were never anything less than obnoxiously friendly. If the new bird is tame, it will help Zoe a great deal.

Like I said, if you want specific advice on taming her, just let me know!