I think we are getting along amazingly well.

[Beannifer]

Okay so I just got my two boys on Friday night and today I hve been putting a bit of Millet in my hands(shaped like a bowl) and my boys will come and sit in my hands and eat the Millet.

I am planning on doing this 3 or 4 times a day for the next few days and hopefully they will gain more trust in me.

I am still scared to bring them out of the cage... even indevidually.

Can someone tell me how to do it for the first time? Please.

[redgirl]

Hello Jennifer, I didn't let my budgies out till they were finger tamed and then I knew they would go back on my finger to go back in the cage, so if I were you then I would continue with the finger taming first and then let them out.xx

[Beannifer]

Well I let Odie out of the cage last night :) He sat on my arm for a while and then he wanted to explore or something, but I wasnt ready for that so I got him and put him back on my arm... he went to explore again so then I knew it was time to go back into the cage again.

it wasnt really hard to catch him again.

it was funny though... the whole time Odie was out him and Ozzy were chirping really loudly backand forth to eachother!... I was going to take Ozzy out ofter i put Odie back in, but I think he needs a bit more time to get used to me.

Both of them will perch on my finger if I ask them to, but Ozzy seems to be a bit more unsure of me.

[Karla]

When I first go Miko, he flew out when I opened the door on the second day:P I must've scared him. I figured out that if I held him up by the ceiling, I could get him to stay on my finger. It's great that they're eating millet out of your hand. Miko loves millet but he'd rather chew on me!:P

[Beannifer]

Yeah I can put some millet in my hands and rest my hand just inside of the cage and they will both come over and eat the millet out of my hand...

now I have a treat cup in there with a bit of millet in it and they enjoy that.

[robbyf]

mine just loves to come outta the cage.. but not to see me.. I've only had sid for 1 week today and I think he is finger trained... he knows the 'step up' command but chooses to ignore me outside.. to busy exploring or looking for millet I honestly think

[kisses]

That is pretty cool that they are eating the millet out of your hand like that already! I think you are going in the right direction with them. It just takes time for them to be completely trained.

[Beannifer]

im to scared to let mine out of the cage

[Cosmo's Mom]

We have had Cosmo for 4 weeks. He was hand-raised, so he was tame when we got him, but he is still not certain that we aren't going to eat him. He will step up and he will come out of the cage, but he doesn't do it willingly. When he is out, he just hides in my hair. I have been training him to come out on command using millet, we will see how this goes.

[redgirl]

You are doing great by the sounds of it..if he will perch on you then i think he will be fine out of his cage xxx

[Beannifer]

well now we seem to have stepped backwards about a bazillion miles. Ozzy is afraid of me, wont even perch on my finger but Odie will. for a short period of time. They wont even eat millet out of my hand.

I put some fresh parsely in the cage and they dont seem to interested in it. I dont know what I am doing. I read that if they are preening, vocalizing, and stuff while in the cage then they are ready to start training. but I dont know yet. Im scared that I will do something wrong.

[Beannifer]

I have taken Odie out of the cage and I sit down in a chair with him and he sits on my chest but I have to have my hands over him so he doesnt fly away.

Is it okay to tame Odie first and then Ozzy. Like completely get Odie tamed and then work on Ozzy?

[Donna]

Hi Jennifer,

I can tell you are really frustrated. Please know that you are doing nothing wrong so don't be so hard on yourself. Some Budgies don't tame well but I thought of one suggestion that might work better for you. First of all, do you have a 2nd cage? If so, you could take one cage with your Budgie out of the room (away from the other Budgie) and try to work with it, one on one. I found that when I started working with mine, it was much more effective to do that. Otherwise, they tend to pay attention to each other and they won't respond to you. Make sure you go to a room where they are not able to hear each other and call each other. If they do call back and forth, they'll just fly off your finger, or where ever they are perching.

It probably would be best to just focus on training ONE of your Budgies for now. You will probably get further that way because you can spend more time with just one. And maybe working with it a couple of times a day (away from the other one) will be just what is needed. If you don't want another full size cage, you could always find a small one for transporting a small bird or animal in or even use a box and cover it with some screen wire or something to keep him from flying out. Then after you've worked with your one Budgie, you can return them both to the same cage.

My Budgies haven't taken to vegetables or other foods, either. I had all 3 of my Budgies eating seed out of the palm of my hand but now that I've quit doing that, 2 of my 3 Budgies run from me again. The other one will hop onto my finger and let me lift him off the floor or to another cage, but if I start to walk with him, he just flies away, too. So persistance is the main thing.

I have heard (and believe it's true) that if you take your Budgie to a small room, they do better with training. They feel safer, like being in a cage, and that way they don't have so many distractions. Staying away from windows and noisy areas would be best, too.

Let me know how things go, and hang in there kiddo.

Donna

[Beannifer]

AHHH I typed out a whole big thing and then somehow I lost it!!! :(

I do have another tiny cage that is like 12" X 9". I guess i could put Ozzy in there and take him upstairs and then work with Odie downstairs. That is the only way that they wouldnt be able to hear eachother.

As far as a small room with no mirrors or windows, that would be nearly impossible. I have a vestibule(sp) room but it has a door that has a huge mirror in it and then the opasite(sp) door/wall has a ton of small windows.(i will have to take a picture, it's an odd room). Other than that I have the world's Smallest bathroom downstairs but it has a radiator that the birds could easily get stuck behind and I wouldnt be able to get them out. Plus if the radiator was hot that would be really bad. Another problem with the bathroom is that when we put a new sink in there my dad cut a hole in the wall behind the sink that the boys could get inside and then all would be lost.

[BirdieBabi]

For my budgie, taking them into a small room with no windows or mirrors is impossible. Chico is clausterphobic. The poor thing starts screaming and once I get him out, He'll stop. I might beable to get a video of him, and what he does. (It would explain it more)

The only way to do that is to know how your budgie acts

[Beannifer]

how do you guys get your birds to not poop all over you! Everytime i take Odie out he poops on my shirt! How do you guys deal with the poop when they are out of their cages???:S :S :S :S

[redgirl]

I just cleaan it up hun, it dont bother me because they poo in teh same place all the time xx:)

[Beannifer]

mine dont. they poo alllll over!

I got poo'd on 7 times yesterday and adding up all the times I held Odie yesterday it was only about thirty minutes

[BUUZBEE]

LOL thats what birdies do!

[Beannifer]

i dont like getting pooped on. I dont freak out or anything I just dont like it.

[BUUZBEE]

lol, you better get used to it. have an old tee shirt that you put on when you birds are on you, then you dont have to worry about your good clothes getting messy

[pretty_bird]

I just let mine out...orginally their wings were clipped by the store or someone, but after a few times of my fiance clipping them a little, we let them grow back and they'd fly around, but only in a circle around the living room before landing on their cage. To catch them, I was able to train them to step on my hand with a hand towel over it (I was more afraid of them...biting, nails, etc...than they were of me at one time, lol), but that's how I got them back in the cage. Now, two of them are finger trained, and I'm still working with one (although that one still lands on my towel covered hand...he's the only one I use the towel for now). I found that not pushing them toooooo hard and letting them do things in their own time was the best. I also found that there's no need to be afraid of budgies...most, at least mine are, very nice. I also found that with their own time, they started going back into their cage on their own after they got used to the freedom routine, lol...although for a while they didn't want to go back in and would try to avoid it, lol. If you use a towel, don't terrorize them with it or try to throw it over them to capture them. What I did at first was cover my hand with the towel, and when they were flying around and ready to land on their cage, I'd put the towel in their landing path. At first they would take off again or avoid it, but within a day or two they were landing on the towel...then I practiced moving them and talked to them. Hope this helps! Don't be afraid of them because you'll miss out on a lot otherwise!

[Beannifer]

im not afraid of them. They have bitten me a lot. Odie usually will bite at me when I first get him out but once he is out of the cage and cant see it anymore he stops biting.

[Beannifer]

I just take Odie out three or four times a day for 10 to 15 minutes at a time and just hold him and stoke his back and talk to him.

[redgirl]

I always have an old towel on top of the cage too and that is where most of ot goes, it doesn't bother me at all lol, you will get used to it hun :) x