what can I train by budgie to do?

[Moonstar]

What can I train my budgie to do? He will sit on my finger inside the cage, sometimes he will let me stroke him (well sort of anyway) but thats about it, I dont know what else to try with him/her. I would love for the budgie to come to me when out the cage but it will just have a little fly around then sit on top of the cage. Any simple training ideas would be appreciated, look forward to hearing from you.

[Kelly27]

Well huni, you can train your budgie to fly back and forth too you. But first of all you need him hand trained. When your budgie is sitting on top of his cage, move your hand slowly towards him. Do you have any other budgies by the way? If so it would be best to work with your bird alone. I did this with my Chrissie and she is perfect now! (Well almost...lol.) Move your really slowly mind and when you reach him, press your habd lightly against his tum and push up. This should encourage your bird to hop up. If he flies off then just keep trying! I honestly thought Chrissie was hopeless at first but she's done sooooooooo well! Hope this has helped!
Kelly
xXx ;) :) :D

[Moonstar]

Thanks for that kelly I'll work on that next. I do try and approach her with my hand when she's on the cage but she backs off all the time, I suppose its just try and try again and eventually we'll get the hang of it. She is only about 4 months old. :)

[softie]

Here is a link of a youtube video, of this man's two budgies, doing tricks.

I think its amazing how intelligent they are. Must've taken the man a long time to teach his budgies these tricks.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lEjNDgoXgbE

[i<3mrchirpydoodlebirdy]

That video is so cute! I love the bit where he is asking one of them to wave and they both do it!

[Kelly27]

Well huni, if he's only 4 months old then your doing fab!!! ;) Chrissie was like that at first and i thought she was far too nervous for us to get anywhere but she's done really well! Believe me if i can do it, then you defo can! Lol.
Kelly
xXx :D :)

[my budgie billy]

if he lets you stroke him it means he isnt COMPLETLY scared of you hand.

[alicia]

how do you train them to come to you
what do you say how to you tekll them ahh im confuzzeld goi to my post a horribul thing has happend to a birdie

[Susie T]

I trained my Coco by doing a specific whistle, and whe she heard it, she would automatically fly to me no matter what she was doing, even in the middle of eating. Say his/her name a few times and the do a certain whistle or purse your lips together and do the kiss sound. What ever works for you. It will come in time, trust me. I always said that Coco will never do anything...she's afraid of me, blah blah blah, and she ended up doing everything with me. Patience sweetie.:) :budgie: We even ate meals together!!:eek:

[alicia]

cute i just put my hand up and then say mardy or frankie or shimmer and one will come or something
????

[Manuela]

Hi,
I train my birds with the clicker training. Do you know what it means? I think it is often used to train dogs but in a adapted form it is also possible to train budgies.

My budgies have learned to come on my hand, to fly to me and to give me kisses on my nose. But there are lots of tricks you can train them (to play wiht a ball, to turn around and so on)

[redgirl]

Sounds great, please tell more xx :cool:

[Manuela]

Okay, I will try (hopefully my english is good enough:o )

First of all you need this clicker, a littly thing which makes a clicking sound.

Then you make this sound and give him a goody. Then again click/goody and so on.
He learns, that if he hears the sound he will get something good. Usually they learn it really fast. After two days or so you can start with the real training.

If he does anything you like, than you make the sound immediately and give him his goody. If you would just give him his goody, you would always be a littlebit to late. Because of the sound your bird knows "okay, this was right and I will get my goody in a few moments". If he does something you don't like, you do nothing - so he will learn that he can always trust you.

Another thing you need for the training is a targetstick (sticks, chinese eat with for example). With this you can train him to climb on your hand or to fly to you.

First you have to train him to bite into the top of the stick. You hold the stick in front of his beak as near as possible (if he is relaxed it is okay, if he becomes nervous you have gone to far and you should go back a bit untill he is relaxed). For the beginning it is enough if he just looks to the stick, if he do so - click and goody. than he gets his click and goody when does some steps to the stick, than when he touches the stick with his beak and so on. Earlier or later he will bite in the top of the stick. Now he will follow the stick and you can guide him. This makes it possible for you to teach him to climb on your hand or to fly to you or whatever.

I hope you got the idea of the clicker training. If you are still interested in it I will try to find a better explanation.

[nessa]

^ that is a very good suggestion :)

[redgirl]

Thats great Manuela, thankyou xxx :)

[Manuela]

There is a book just about clickertraining for birds, which explains everything perfectly. It is in German but in one or two month it wil come out in English.

[spike]

clicker training is fab! It was first used for training dolphins, but more commonly known for dog training, people have even trained chickens using this method. The timing is really important, you have to click at the exact time that the behaviour you desire is being performed, and then reward. If you want more complicated tasks performed, you break it down into sections. For example, for a dog to spin in a circle, you start with the dog looking in the direction you want, click and treat, then turning, click and treat, you build up to the whole movement slowly. You dont add in command words until later , its good for getting any animal to think about what they are doing and what you would like them to do. For dogs in particular its a fantastic way to train. Id never thought of training budgies in this manner ! Great post Manuela! There are books out already in english about clicker training for birds, so I must get one, its the same prinicipal as clicker training any animal, but I do love my books!

[redgirl]

Okay, I will try (hopefully my english is good enough:o )

First of all you need this clicker, a littly thing which makes a clicking sound.

Then you make this sound and give him a goody. Then again click/goody and so on.
He learns, that if he hears the sound he will get something good. Usually they learn it really fast. After two days or so you can start with the real training.

If he does anything you like, than you make the sound immediately and give him his goody. If you would just give him his goody, you would always be a littlebit to late. Because of the sound your bird knows "okay, this was right and I will get my goody in a few moments". If he does something you don't like, you do nothing - so he will learn that he can always trust you.

Another thing you need for the training is a targetstick (sticks, chinese eat with for example). With this you can train him to climb on your hand or to fly to you.

First you have to train him to bite into the top of the stick. You hold the stick in front of his beak as near as possible (if he is relaxed it is okay, if he becomes nervous you have gone to far and you should go back a bit untill he is relaxed). For the beginning it is enough if he just looks to the stick, if he do so - click and goody. than he gets his click and goody when does some steps to the stick, than when he touches the stick with his beak and so on. Earlier or later he will bite in the top of the stick. Now he will follow the stick and you can guide him. This makes it possible for you to teach him to climb on your hand or to fly to you or whatever.

I hope you got the idea of the clicker training. If you are still interested in it I will try to find a better explanation.
Your English is perfect, you know you speak as in terms of the words you use, and write better then me xxx

[Moonstar]

WOW All of your information on training is great, I'm so glad I posted the thread, those video clips on you tube are amazing and the clicker training idea sounds really good. What should i use as a treat when clicker training? Any ideas?

Keep the training hints, tips and ideas coming there really helpful.

[Manuela]

foxtail millet is often used for the clickertraining, for two of my budgies I use chickweed. It is important that it is their absolutely favourite food to stay motivated.

It is also important not to train too long. You have to stop before your bird gets tired. Otherwise he will remember how exhausting the training was and he will lose his motivation. Stop at the climax and he will remember how much fun he had.

Usually it is enough to train a few minutes, have a break of a few minutes and train again for a few minutes. After that he needs a break of a few hours.

If it is not possible to train every day, it is okay. It will just go more slowly.

@spike: books about clicker training are out in English? How interesting, would you tell me the titles? I just know the book of Ann Castro.

[spike]

Yes of course Manuela..



The Click That Does the Trick by Robin Deutsch.

Clicker Training for Birds (Getting Started) by Melinda Johnson .

Im almost sure that Karen Pryor included some clicker training for birds within her book too.

:)

[alicia]

oh my dear frankie is hurt he has 2 cuts in the smae spot just one is under the top one like a sandwich under and on his wing

[Manuela]

@ Alicia
what had happened? have you gone to the vet? is he bleeding?

[Maja]

Here is a link of a youtube video, of this man's two budgies, doing tricks.

I think its amazing how intelligent they are. Must've taken the man a long time to teach his budgies these tricks.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lEjNDgoXgbE

Hi,

that is very funny. I saw this video a few weeks ago. I like the trick, where the budgies put their feed on the finger before they get a goodie. So I try to train my two budgies Jamie and Luka to do this. Like Manuela I used the clicker for training, and it works. When they put one food on my finger, I make a click and then I give a goodie. In the same way, they learned to give me a kiss, come on my hand and fly to me, when I call them.

This was my first post here. I'm from germany an I have two budgies :budgie: :budgie: called Jamie and Luka. My english is not very good, but I hope, that you'll understand me. ;)

Greets from Antje.

[monsoon]

Mitsi is trained to fly over to me when i whistle.

Claire

[Ruta<3]

That video is amazing. :) I wish my budgies could do all that!

[thegownchick]

Moses used to come to me, he trained himself to do that, I can't really take the credit. I would sing "moey, moey, moey bird ...." and he would go 'CHIRP CHIRP' and fly to me from wherever he was in the house. Oh how I took that for granted!!! I miss him every single day.

[maska]

i need hlp i have this budgie for maybe 1.5 months and he is still afraid of me running from me....his cage dors are open and he always goes inside to eat and drink water then he get's out ant stay whole day long on the top of the cage ......write me e-mail dejan4390@hotmail.com tell me what to do plssssss