So upset...

[rebeccaturpeinen]

oh thats great news!! Have you thought of a name yet?

[Hidden]

I've decided to name him Bobby.

I've also got some more great news! I've been talking to him and playing him music all day, and he seems to have developed some trust in me. Over the last few hours I have been slowly putting my hand into the cage while talking to him softly. Each time I put my hand in, I move it a little closer towards him. I am now able to pet his chest and beak, and I've also managed to teach him how to step up onto my finger. Things couldn't be going better right now - a complete turnaround from this morning. Tomorrow I'm hoping I can get him out of his cage so I can hold him and get him to trust me even more.

[rebeccaturpeinen]

oh wauw thats really great!! you are making great progress already!! im really happy for you, it sounds like you really did your homework and then having such a bad start... but yeah, it sounds like its all gonna work out. you think bobby is gonna be scared of your mom?

[Ariahna]

Wow that is great news, and I am happy for you and Bobby.

[Hidden]

oh wauw thats really great!! you are making great progress already!! im really happy for you, it sounds like you really did your homework and then having such a bad start... but yeah, it sounds like its all gonna work out. you think bobby is gonna be scared of your mom?

I haven't really introduced him to anyone else yet, but after time I don't think he will be scared. I'm just trying to get him used to me first.

This morning he woke me up with his chirping haha. I then got out of bed and played with him for a bit. I put my hand in the cage again and did some more step ups. I then got him used to my whole hand, to the point where I was able to put my hand around him and pick him up. I took him out of the cage for a bit while I held him. He tried to bite a little bit, but I repeated the process a few times until he was biting less. I think he knows that I'm not going to eat him now haha.

[GlassOnion]

Good job! One thing of caution though, do not push anything he doesn't want to do.
Lure him with a treat rather than force! looks like you're making amazing progress though

[Kathleen]

It's a good idea to get a vet check for a new bird anyhow, so you could consider doing that and combining it with this possible injury. The problem is that it is going to appear a little "sick" for the first few days because it's already stressed from being in a new place. So even if this incident didn't happen, it might just stay on one perch and appear lethargic because it's afraid of its cage.

I wouldn't worry about the relationship too much because budgies are more forgiving. Give the bird a little time to relax and get used to the cage and eat/drink in there. Then you should do target training inside of the cage. Once you can sort of manage where the bird will go, it will be much easier to take it out.

Hey Kathleen,

Thanks for your response. Do you think I should wait to take it to the vet? I don't want to stress him out even more. It will involve trying to transport him there, then the vet will handle him, and then he'll probably come home even more reluctant to settle down. I don't know, I have never owned a bird before.

Thanks!

Well on the human side, I bet your mom feels bad for what she did, she should anyway. But moving on to your little birdie, a vet check would probably be a good call, however, the stress might be a little much after what you described. I would give the bird some space but talk softly to it. Remember that he/she can sense your emotions. If there is any tenseness due to what happened he/she is probably feeling it, even if it is directed toward your mom Talk sofly and offer it a treat like some millet. I bet he will come around but just needs a little time to settle in and get used to things. Please keep us posted.

Yeah, she felt bad. She came into my room and apologized. Now that you mention it, I feel bad for being mad at her. She didn't know what I had planned or what I had read about taking care of budgies. I'm going to go and reconcile with her.

I'm also playing budgie sounds to my bird so that he can calm down better. Hopefully he will get used to the cage soon. I have put some millet at the bottom but he hasn't touched it yet.

Fingers crossed!

If the bird seems to be eating and drinking and moving around, behaving normally, it's probably okay and was just a minor problem which healed itself. Especially if you see the bird preening itself and standing on one leg to relax (tucking one leg into its feathers). If the bird was sickly or injured, it wouldn't do many of these things and you would notice. It would look weak, it would stay in one spot and probably go to the very bottom of the cage and stay in one spot, it would sit very low or lay down etc. If your bird looks lively and is eating well and the poop normalizes after the initial scare, I'm sure it's fine. But congrats on your new bird and I'm glad things are going well now. Hope you will be able to do some training with it, like tricks, taming and flight recall. It's quite a thrill when you can call your bird's name and it flies right to you. And I adore budgies.

[Hidden]

Thanks Kathleen. He seems absolutely fine! He's been preening and jumping around his cage a lot. I can't even shut him up sometimes! Haha. So yeah, he's very lively.

I have one question regarding treats. He likes his millet, but is there anything else I can use to reward him? Millet is super messy and I don't really want to be vacuuming every 5 seconds.

Cheers!

Edit: Nevermind, I figured I would use a towel and do the training on it. It went swimmingly! I would have him step up onto my finger as I said "Up!", and then I would reward him with some millet. I repeated this about 15-20 times and he seemed confident towards the end. After it was done, I just gave the towel a good shake outside! Quite convenient.

[liz]

One thing you are forgetting. Your budgie is used to having other birds around him.

It is a shock to go from noicey birds everywhere to no birds. That is why they bond to us. It just takes a while to get over the shock.

Sounds like you are doing good. I commend you on your research before purchase. Also for finding theparrotforum.com .