Hi, I’m Amber

[AmberJ]

I have a blue budgie parakeet and would really like if I could get some help training him. He’s not aggressive towards me, and he eats from my hand and everything. He comes out the cage and today I was trying to show him to mount on the stick, which I think is working. The only problem is that he thinks everything is food accept for what is really food. He bites up the sticks I try to mount him on, and he picks at my finger when I put it for him to mount. He gave me a deeper bite, like he does the sticks, and I don’t know how to get him to stop.

[Pajarita]

Hi, Amber and budgie, welcome to the forum. He bites the stick and your finger because he is being forced to do something he doesn't want to do. Is he clipped? Because the only birds that bite a stick or a finger when asked to step up to it are birds that have been deprived of flight - otherwise, all they do is fly away which is the normal avoidance mechanism that birds have.

The thing with taming budgies is that it makes them terribly upset because they are not companion parrots but aviary parrots that were raised by their parents and not handfed by people as companion parrots would be (this makes them imprint to people so they regard them as 'family' of a sort). Budgies need other budgies to be happy because even when you handfeed them and do well with humans when they are babies, as soon as they become adults, they only want to be with other budgies. The ONLY way to tame a budgie is to allow the budgie to tame itself through patience and time -and when I say 'time', I mean at least a couple of years. For one thing, they should never be clipped. Depriving an aviary bird of flight, especially when it does not have other budgies to live with is not only terribly unhealthy for them from a physical point of view (their respiratory system atrophies) but also causes them chronic stress (because they cannot get away from danger or situations where they are upset or uncomfortable).

The way to do it is as follows: at dawn, open the door to the cage and allow the bird to come out. Spend as much time as you can in the same room he is, talking, singing, whistling and, every now and then, offer him a high value item (for a budgie, it's usually a small seed like safflower, for example, but it can also be a small piece of a nut). Now, the high value item has no value whatsoever if you free-feed protein food so you need to make sure that its diet is the right one: gloop and a different kind of green every day of the week and, for dinner, a heaping teaspoonful of a good quality budgie mix (like ABBA 1600, for example). You should also not sit down in front of him to look at him or stare at him at any point in time (this makes them very nervous because only predators stare). As time goes by, the bird will get used to your presence (you will see that his body is not tense but relaxed and that he preens, bathes, eats, etc in your presence) and, eventually, he will start showing signs that he wants to have a deeper relationship with you (he will start getting close to where you are, hanging on to the bars of the cage on the side you are coming from and flying to your head and shoulders on his own). When he does this regularly for a week or so, you can start training him to step up to the stick or your hand by offering him the high value item. For example, say he is perching on a table, you approach with the high value item (you should always use the same word so he knows what is coming (I call all the seeds and nuts 'peanuts' and all my birds know what the word means). So, let's assume that you use the same word I use - you would approach him saying: "Peanut peanut" and offer the seed on the palm of your hand and wait and wait and wait until he takes it. Once he takes it every time you offer it, you should start using it as a reward. You put your non-dominant hand (meaning, if you are a rightie, you use your left hand, if you are a lefty, you use your right hand) with the seed at a small distance from him and put your other hand in front of him so he needs to step on to your hand to reach it. Once he steps on your hand all the time, start moving your hand so instead of the flat palm, you are offering the edge of your hand (you put your fingers together with the index on top and the pinkie at the bottom). Once he starts perching on it to reach the seed all the time, you start moving your hand veeeeeeryyyyy slowly so he gets used to the movement - this is so you can move him from point A to point B. And VOILA! your bird is stepping up to your hand!


But, my dear, I am going to ask you to consider adopting another budgie after you get him to step up to your hand because keeping a single budgie is not kind to it, it's a terribly lonely and stressful life for them and, in truth, budgies don't need to be tamed to be enjoyed... they are so very beautiful and mild that all you need to do is watch them to feel joy in your heart.

[DannyTheBudgie]

Hey!!! My Budgie Danny used to do the EXACT same thing... I would simply ask him to step up and he would, but while he was perched on my finger he would bite HARD and latch on for around 40-60 seconds after he bit. I was confused and obviously was VERY upset. once I realized he was only a baby and trying out new things I took it a little less personal and knew I had to stop this behavior early on. so when he bit me I would tilt my hand back FEIRCLY and knock him off balance. I would continue to do this every time he bit me until he realized that if he bit me he would get negative reinforcement. now he is the sweetest little cuddle bug a girl could wish for! good luck with you little guy!



(danny my baby boy) (rip charlie my sweet baby cockatiel)

[Pajarita]

Hi, Danny and its human, welcome to the forum. Yes, they do 'test' with their beaks but, when they do that, they don't hang on for 40 to 60 seconds so, in reality, Danny was biting you and not 'testing'. In any case, there are other ways of getting them to 'release' when they bite like that - knocking them off is not a good way to go because negative reinforcement is a no-no with birds. It's not a matter of whether it's cruel or not, it's a matter of not working out right in the long term.