Bringing home 2 Princess Parrots, how to settle?

[InsanityShard]

Alright, thanks. I'm more worried that I might have spooked them when I had to pull them off the window twice. The first time, Ian went past with a weed whacker but it was making smoke, so I pulled them off the window and shut it. Then later I had to do it again because they were pulling the flyscreen off. But I can still pet them, even though they only tolerate it for about 3 seconds before one tries to climb on the other. Aside from that they had started moving away from my hand as soon as I got Chatters, and both do it, but I might have made it worse... Do you think I can coax them with fruit?

[InsanityShard]

My new profile pic is cut from a picture of Chitters pretending to be a bat. He was hanging upside down just like one, eyes shut and everything. XD

[Wolf]

I don't know if you could coax them with fruit or not, my two budgies are really not all that impressed wit fruit, they seem to prefer vegetables over fruits. I would probably try some romaine, but they will probably respond best with pieces of millet or maybe some cookies made from oat s and whole wheat flour and ground up veggies.

Because they have each other, they will not need you as much, but overall they will be much happier than being single birds. But this only means that you have to be a bit more patient and spend more time with them and they will come around wanting to spend time with you as well.

You might want to try making a couple of perches that fit across the entire window on the inside far enough from the screen that they can't reach it while on the perch. They may just be using and picking at the screen because there is no other way for them to hang out on the window. It is worth a try.

[InsanityShard]

How do you make cookies for budgies? Also, my mum said to just persevere with them not wanting to go on me. I just got Chatters to sit on my finger! =D First time I've gotten him to do it, hopefully soon I can get Chitters to go on my finger again too. =P Chatters is a lot more open to training and handling then Chitters, and maybe me petting them helped. XD Though they keep moving away from my petting them and climbing onto each other.

[Pajarita]

If they move away, don't touch them. By insisting you are, in effect, telling them that no matter what they want or do, you will prevail and this is called 'flooding' which is no longer recommended as a training technique. They won't go anywhere for fruits but they will for seeds.

[InsanityShard]

Okay, thanks. My mum bred budgies a fair few years ago, she's 60 after all. XD

[Pajarita]

Many (and I do mean MANY, unfortunately) things that we used to do with and to birds years ago have proven to be wrong. We did not do them out of malice or because we did not care, we actually thought we were doing the right thing but they were not. I have made soooo many mistakes and some of them real doozies! Almost everything has changed from what we used to do to what is now recommended: diet, housing, training, etc. All wrong, poor things! But the good news is that we have learned A LOT lately and that people are becoming more and more aware of the necessity to satisfy animals' physical and emotional needs in order to keep them happy and healthy, and that people's mentality is evolving VERY rapidly in what is right and what is wrong in terms of animal husbandry.

[InsanityShard]

How do I get them to come onto my hand again?

[Wolf]

In a word... Bribery!

I would probably begin the process while they are in their cage. What you are doing is winning their trust because they will not come to you or perch on your hand or step up for you without trust. Start by talking to them, using their names and giving them lots of " good bird" type of praise. Every few minutes while talking to them offer them a bite or two of spray millet through the bars of the cage. It might take them up to a few days but they will begin to come over to take a bite of the millet. Until they do this make sure that you leave them with a few pieces of millet when you leave. What you want them to do is come over and get a bite and remain there while they eat it so that they can get another bite.

Once they are doing this move to the front of the cage and sit or stand in front of the open door and talk to them just as before and offer them the millet at the open door to their cage. Do not reach into the cage, the birds need to come to you to get the millet. If they do not put a few pieces in their cage before you leave. Again you are looking for them to calmly take a bite or two and eat it. The next step is to hold the millet in one hand so that they need to stretch a little bit over the other hand in order to reach the millet. in due course they will begin to step up on their own and then you start adding the verbal step up cue.

[InsanityShard]

Would this work with vegetables instead of seed? They have a lot of seed in their cage, but it would offer them something different if I used something else, right? I don't want to take their seed food out, Chatters won't eat the other food, even though it has dried fruit and nuts in it. It's blueberry flavoured pellet type food, high nutrient. First night he kept throwing it out of the bowl and burying his head, looking for seed. Now that I put the seed back in, even though Chitters had preferred the pellet type food, he now only eats the seed with Chatters. Aside from romaine lettuce, what other kinds of vegetables do you recommend? The bird club here gave me a small book I thought was for safe fruits/veggies, since that's what I'd been asking about, but it's just what wild seeds, including from weeds, are safe. Most of them don't grow around here and what do are all covered with weed spray anyway.