Yoshi the budgie

[Hannes]

Hello!

So we finally decided to add a budgie to our flock. He is a 6 month old yellow and green little budgie. We've had him for 5 days now, and I have a few questions...

First of all, he is very friendliy, and jumped up on our finger the first 5 minutes after the arrival. He is still not sure about us, and doesn't seek our company. But we ususally take him out of the cage in the morning, placing him on top of it, or carrying him around on our shoulders.

A few things though:
He usually wants to sit on his cage and nap, alot, i mean if we dont talk to him or pet him, he'd probably sleep most of the time. Normal in the beginning?

He calls on us when he wants to go in the cage to eat and drink, and when he wants to jump out.
Some times it seems that he wants to go somewhere, and calls, walks around as if he is looking for something.Normal?

He picks himself alot, not plucking out his feathers, put picking off small white "crumbs" from his body. Normal and OK?

Finally, are we going about the bonding the right way? talking to him, petting him eventhough he is a bit "scared". Lifting him out of his cage in the morning, letting him sit on the cage in our livingroom when we are in the room, carrying him with us on our shoulder when we are somewhere else in the apartment? At night we take his cage with us to our bedroom, so he stays with us during the night.

constructive and informative answers, tips and suggestions are more than welcome.

Cheers,

Hannes

[GlassOnion]

Congratulations! Sounds like you have a very happy, responsive Budgie.

The 'picking of feathers' is called 'preening'. Birds preen to groom their feathers.

I'm not sure how you do it, so I will say what I think works best. I would recommend lure over force for most things. Sometimes they don't want to step up, but instead of forcing the act anyway, lure him with a piece of millet. Reward him every time he steps up so he genuinely WANTS to do it.

Over time, remove the millet from sight and ask for a step up. When he does it successfully, pull the millet out as a reward. This way, he learns that if he steps up, there is something good waiting for him even if he doesn't see it.

From experience with my Budgie, I can tell you that these guys absolutely need a HUGE variety of toys. Spice (my Budgie) is EXTREMELY active and is a huge clown. She runs around the top of the flight cage, beats up toys, picks up pieces of Yucca (wood) that are twice the size of her, shreds more toys, flies around, drops toys on the floor on purpose, etc. She plays like she's on crack.

I'll take a few pictures or a video of my setup later today and post it for you to see. I can't emphasize how important a large space with tons of toys is important to the happiness and well being of a bird.

One thing, don't really bother going to local petstores for toys, because the selections simply suck. I buy only from online vendors because the quality is great and the price is great. http://www.thingsforwings.ca is my favourite shop, Danita's products are amazing and my birds LOVE them. "Busy Basket" in particular, was a hit with my Budgie. Spice would spend several hours on that toy daily, slowly ripping it apart.

[Hannes]

Hey GlassOnion, thanks for the reply!

Yeah, the millet lure seems like a good idea! Also, thx for the link to all the toys, will check that one out more thuroughly when he gets a bit more comfortable with us.

So, about the sleepyness, is that normal? was thinking that maybe his first days were stressful, and now that he allows himself to relax a little more, he sleeps to make up for the lost energy? What do u think ppl?

Noticed today that the feathers on his head has changed, or atleast some of them, looks like a few have sort of come together, or that, thicker down/feathers are coming out...don't know any other way to explain it...what are those things, and is it normal/ok?

he eats and drinks wiith us around now, so i guess that is some progress. He has never bitten us, and we 2 children that wants to pet him now and then. So i guess we are very lucky to have such a friendly budgie!

I put on some guns n roses today, and he started to chatter, chirp and tweet, i guess he knows good music when he hears it!

cheers,

Hannes

ps. yes, some vids and pics would be nice!! ds.