Concerned-Is This NORMAL???

[Donna]

I hope that someone can help me with a question that concerns me very much.

I have 3 Budgies. I bought the first two in June and they are caged together. Then about a month later (in July) I bought a 3rd Budgie. This newest Budgie is caged in the same room only about 2 feet from the other Budgies but is in it's own cage. I thought by keeping this one separate, I could work with it and train it faster because it's the calmest of my 3. At first I thought I was making progress but then I'm finding out that during the past couple of days, my 2 Budgies are upsetting my newest bird when they squawk or carry on. My newest Budgie is now squawking and getting more tempermental. I feel like I'm stepping backwards with the hand taming and have found that taking the birds out, one at a time to a small room works better. Trying to even hand feed my Budgies from the palm of my hand isn't even working anymore unless I remove each bird to another room to feed it. If I don't, they scare easily and fly off my hand and won't finish eating. They seem more nervous than they've been and I feel like I'm losing ground when it comes to getting anywhere with my 3 little guys.

My question though is completely different from what I've just talked about. I just wanted to fill you in on the situation so that I could ask you something else that just started happening about 10 minutes ago. I was sitting here reading the forum when my newest Budgie started bobbing it's head strangely and then seed would come up it's throat and it would move it's beak over the seed and then it would throw the seed around the cage. My bird kept doing this over and over as though he were vomiting. The seed would come up each time he bobbed his head.

I removed my two other Budgies to another room (earlier today) so that I could try working with this newest Budgie more easily. They have been out of the room a few hours and I have been thinking about keeping them in a separate room for a few days to see if I can make progress with this little guy.

Is my newest bird bringing seed back up because it's missing the other birds or is this just something that is normal? I have never seen this before and my other 2 Budgies haven't done it that I'm aware of. As of this moment, my newest Budgie has stopped doing it now. He probably did it for 5 minutes or less - but it scared me. I just didn't know if this is normal or if I should be concerned.

This newest Budgie has been sooooo calm since I removed the other 2 Budgies from the room today. He was squawking and jumping at every sound and movement the other birds made. Now he's not. . . But he's sleeping more, too. I hope that's not a bad thing. . . I was letting them all out to play together and they got along fine.

Any answers I could get about the seed coming up would be greatly appreciated.

Also, If I try and work with each Budgie separately and then go back to letting my birds eat on their own from a dish, will they regress back and not come to me anymore? I don't want to go through all of this time trying to work with each bird and have them comfortable with me and eating from my hand and then have them scared to come to me the rest of the time. I want so badly to have my Budgies jumping on me and interacting with me. I don't want to get them eating from my hand and then have them run from me when they are not eating. They'll eat from my hand now but then they run from me if I want to put them back in their cage or pick them up to lift them to another spot.

I also don't know that if I keep my 2 Budgies in another room and then let them return to this room to play with my newest Budgie, will that just undo what I've tried to do with them individually???? I sure could use some advice from someone who's been there.

Please help. . . Especially on the seed problem. . . :S :S :S Thanks so much!

Donna

[shannon]

Wow! I've never herd of a budgie up chucking food??? Beside that, When I brought home rainbow 5th bird. I put him in another cage and another room. He was hand tamed where I would hand feed him and walk around the room with him on my shoulder. He showed no fear. Till my other budgies discovered he was in the house. Once they found him. All five budgies would not stop yaking and flying back and forth to the cage. So I put rainbow in the same cage has the other 4 and they've had some of there fights in the begaining. Now there great! But now rainbow dose not like to be held at all. I would say he's the fastest to get away from you. Thats natural for birds to go back to there natural habits. I still will take him and hold him, just with his wings clipped now. So its probably normal they are yaking at each other, but truly they are all better off togeather than seperate rooms or cages. This is just from my experience only. Good luck and hope nothing is wrong with the little guy!:(

[Alfie]

My Alfie has done that before after ive given him a honey seed bar. Did the budgie eat anything different apart from its normal seed before this happened? Im sure its nothing to worry about.

With the taming of the three birds. I think you should work with them on there own for a long time. When i bring Alfie to my friends to play with his budgie they always prefer to be with each other and Alfie is very tame with me when on his own so i think its just a natural peferance.

[Dinky]

Head bobbing and bringing up seed is perfectly normal. It's called regurgitation and it's something they do when breeding (or wanting to) so they can feed their mate and/or the babies. Continue working with them and you should still be able to train them. It just takes longer when there are multiple birds. Good luck!

[jayjay]

you may have more progress training them in seperate rooms. even if they are seperated, the sight of other birds of their kind will make them not want as much to do with you. even more so in my opinion because they are constantly wanting to be with the other birds that they can see but cant interact with and so focus more on them than you.

[tacoeater411]

Charlten always does the head bobing and bringing up seed thing. He loves to feed his little friend that way aka the mirror.:p

Don't give up on the training! I'm still in the process of trying to bond with Charlten and Cosmo better and what works for me is bringing them downstairs (I keep them in my room). Because they are not very familiar with the rooms downstairs, they become more dependent on me and so are more tame outside my room. When ever I ask them to step up, they eagerly do so.:)

[Donna]

Thank you so much to each of you who have responded to my most recent post about my newest Budgie bringing seed back up from his beak. That makes me feel much better knowing that this is normal.

Also, I have other questions from those of you who have commented on taming my Budgies and I would also like to hear from others who have things to share that would be helpful.

I said in my last post that I had bought 2 Budgies together and they are being kept in the same cage. I have my newest Budgie in it's own cage. They had been placed a couple of feet within each other but now I just removed the cage with the two in it, last night so that my single Budgie would be easier to work with. Plus, all of the squawking and carrying on was bothering my newest Budgie, and ME. They've been squawking almost continual for 3 days and it's been driving me nuts, ha!

Anyway, I feel so guilty keeping the cages in separate rooms because my single and newest Budgie is alone now and when it hears the others call it, it calls back. Also, I hate to have my other 2 Budgies in another room because I can't watch them play and interact with each other and I feel like I've deserted them by putting them somewhere else.

Are some of you saying that I should separate all 3 Budgies and put them in separate rooms of the house until they are trained or am I suppose to be keeping them all 3 in the same room and just removing one at a time to another room to work with it? I guess I feel like keeping them in the same room is not getting me anywhere because if I remove them one at a time and work with it, they do pretty well with me until I return them to the cage and then they run from me the rest of the time. I am just so confused about what the best technique is. I feel like I'm depriving them by keeping them in a separate room because they can't interact. The two in the cage have each other but the newest one doesn't have anyone but me. He is so calm when the other two are out of the room but I don't know if this is good or bad. At any rate, all of the birds call each other and so this is a problem.

Are any of you owners of multiple Budgies where you are trying to hand tame them and have more than one to tame? I was just curious how you do it. I don't know if I should be working on ONE Budgie at a time or all 3. I would just like to have at least ONE Budgie that I can totally interact with and I don't know if that's possible with 3 in one room. Will the one I work with the most, revert back and not want to be personable with me if it's mixed with the other 2? :S

I look forward to some more imput. Thanks again for your help!

Donna

[shannon]

I still work on hand tameing 3 of my 5 budgies. Do not put them in 3 different cages. I let all 5 share the same cage. I take one and two at a time and hand tame them. I walk with them into another room and they do just fine as long as I dont keep them away from the others to long. If not wing clipped, you might want to think about it while your hand tameing them. The wings grow back quickly as long as you are giving them vitimans. I have pics for you to see, just click on the http: below and nothing happends over night. It'll be worth it in the end good luck and let me know what worked best for you!http://www.talkbudgies.com/image.php?u=367&dateline=1154214973my 2 yr old can hold them
http://s95.photobucket.com/albums/l145/5shannon/th_Copy1ofIMG_9864.jpg (http://s95.photobucket.com/albums/l145/5shannon/?action=view&current=Copy1ofIMG_9864.jpg&refPage=20&imgAnch=imgAnch27)http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l145/5shannon/Copy1ofIMG_9864.jpg
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[Donna]

:D I would like to say thanks to all of the people on this forum who have been so good to share their knowledge of Budgies and what works for them.

After cleaning 2 cages tonight, I decided to let my 3 Budgies play together. They haven't been near each other ( for a day) so I wanted to see how they would do. I couldn't believe the difference in my newest (unnamed) Budgie. Before I separated him from the other 2, he was quiet and shy and didn't do much. He played a little in his cage but that's it. Then when I separated him from the others (yesterday) he was even quieter and mainly slept. He wouldn't hardly move around.

When I turned my 3 Budgies loose tonight I couldn't believe my eyes. My newest Budgie hogged all of the toys and was so agressive with the other 2 that it cracked me up. I have never seen him show authority or fight for his rights until now. After seeing my 3 Budgies have so much fun playing together, I decided to move both cages back into my office, near my computer.

In order to get my Budgies back into their cages for the night I had to bribe each one with millet. Finally, with a little tempting, patience, and coaxing, they all 3 hopped on my hand (separately) and I was able to lift them back to their cage. I then let each one feast on a little millet just to reward them for their obediencel. I could tell that all 3 of my Budgies were much happier being back together while playing tonight, so that's what changed my mind to house them in the same room, again. I also got to thinking - What fun is it to have my 3 birdies if I can't have them close to me where I can enjoy watching them interact, sing, and play????

Sooooooo anyway, the good news is - my office has once again come to life and I really enjoyed watching my little guys play and have fun tonight. As usual, I took lots of pictures and it's just like they enjoyed showing off and posing for me.

And I thought kids had a lot of energy!!!! :D Nothing like photographing 3 MOVING targets, ha!

Have a Great Budgie Day everyone. . . :D

Donna