Hey Ya'll!

[Pete]

My son (14) has had a budgie for a year and a half and she is still so skittish. She freaks out if we do anything to her. Part of it may be because she got sick right after we got her and she had to take medicine for several weeks. (Catching her was NOT fun!)

Anyway, I am hoping to learn some things to help her from this site.

Her name is Chi Chi and she is beautiful...yellow head, lime green body and bright blue spots on her cheeks. She chirps and makes all kind of noise during the day. If my son tries to sleep in, she will chirp at him until he gets up!:) She "calls" one of our cats, they are friends, but she freaks out if the other one comes in the room.

I just want to learn how my son could interact with her more and make sure we are caring for her the right way.

Thanks!

[Dave]

Hey Pete! Welcome to the site :) .

[Kelly27]

Hey Pete, welcome to the forums! :wave1:
Just make sure your son spends plenty of time with Chi Chi every day. Also practise hand exercises and play with her.
Kelly
xXx :)

[Budgiekin]

Welcome to the forum! We're so happy you have joined. You have certainly come to the right place.

In terms of getting the little sweetie to become more friendly and tame, this requires plenty, sometimes infinite patience. Are you or your son able to stick your hand in the cage at all without her moving away? If not, start by opening the cage door and simply placing your hand near the doorway and maybe even partway in the cage. Hold it there for several minutes (or as long as you can get away with).

Once you can do that, you can try offering millet in your hand and hold it in the cage for several minutes.

You will want your son to try to work with her for short periods of time (no more than maybe 10-15 minutes) in one sitting. It is also best to try to work with her as many times in a day as you can fit in reasonably (at leat 2-3 times). Also, it might help to try working with her when she is in a quiet mood and/or in a fairly quiet room that is free from too many other distractions (like birds chirping outside, or people walking by all the time).

Are her wings clipped? Having them clipped often helps with the person/budgie bond since your sweetie will become more reliant on you for getting around.

Let us know how the little sweetheart is doing! :p

[Pete]

Thanks!

My son was putting his hand in her cage quite frequently, but is starting to give up. I had wondered about clipping her wings but wasn't sure if it was best. My vet is a bird expert and I trust her with Chi Chi, but I am concerend about taking her in because she freaks out so easily. I know that stress is not good for them and we think that may have been her problem when we got her.

What about adding another budgie to her cage? Do you have to introduce a second bird while they are younger or can you do it later? I was just thinking it might help her.

She is in my son's room, and other than when he is at school (he is out now for the summer) she see's people all the time. She is fine with us being around, but does NOT want us to mess with her.

All help is appreciated.

[Budgiekin]

If you get another budgie, the two budgies will most likely be more interested in their fellow budgie companion than with humans....so that is something to consider....although you can still work on taming them (but individually, away from the other) - that is a lot more work. It might do wonders to help Chi Chi calm down though. I know that with my budgie Skyla, she just did not adapt well to being on her own. A couple of months had passed and she just didn't seem to adapt so we got her a friend (Kiwi) and she was a much much happier budgie!!!:p

[bluebird]

:) welcome to the site. hope you find it useful.

[BUUZBEE]

hi and welcome!