Minion's Bird Blog

[Decolor]

Figure I may as well ramble at myself over how Minion's taming/training goes. Staring EARRLY, and I know not much will probably happen for a while, but we'll see how it goes.

Day 3, he's no longer shaking or being a statue when I go near the cage. He's also getting more talkative, he'd been silent for a few days. He still puffs up when I get close, I was worried he was feeling unwell until I noticed he isn't puffy when I'm not nearby, I'd say he's still just a scared and nervous little budgie. No screaming or panicking when I do cage maintenance though, he just keeps an eye on me.

[helloyo53]

I'll be watching this thread to see how Minion's training goes. Good luck! :)

[Leel]

Sounds like his settling in, good luck.
I'm sure he'll warm up to you.

[Decolor]

Two days later, he's eating millet offered to him by hand, he only gets millet from the nice, friendly hand. I'm veeeery slowly working my fingers further up the branch. About 4 inches away now.

[Beena81]

I'll be checking in too! Good luck!

[Decolor]

Great news, I got my finger nibbled :D. Compared to snakes, chinchillas, rabbits and big hairy spiders, budgie nibbles are a piece of cake. He was nibbling the millet, then testing my hand a bit, then went back to nibbling.

Just curious, but what's the best way to start getting him used to my husband? Wait till he's tamed, then make my husband go through the same procedure, or should we both try to work with him in this stage?Right now he twitters happily at me, but puffs up when my husband comes into the room.

[Kristie]

My boyfriend and I are both training Sky at the same time. We have had him for a little over 2 weeks now and he lets us take him out of his cage on our fingers and sits out with us either on the couch or on my shoulder or a finger. I'm a little less pushy than my bf is though and I think Sky is less skitterish around my hands than his. I tend to leave Sky alone more when its clear that he doesn't want to be out with us than my boyfriend. We leave Sky's cage open all day and I can't wait until he ventures out on his own!

[Decolor]

Good to know! I'll see about getting my husband more involved with him.

Big step today ( at least I think so) He let me pet him, twice, before flying away. He no longer puffs at all when I go near him, in fact, he seems to twitter for attention at times (He's quiet when he thinks I'm not home). He's also readily accepting millet by hand, no longer hesitating when I wiggle fingers, but still flees when I get to close without millet.

[Decolor]

Today's Trick is called "Scaring the daylights out of Mommy"

I was doing the usual millet offer, and Minion didn't seem very interested, and was avoiding me. As I started to pull back my hand, he flew, Out the cage door And across the bedroom. The next minute was him frying loop-de-loops around the room, looking for a way out or his cage. I 'chased' gently, more or less just trying to shoo him back to his cage, and away from my studio supplies and computer. He found it after a minute or two of panic, flew in, and just as I was shutting the door, tried to fly right back out.

I caught him by the HEAD between the door and cage :eek:

I pulled the door down, nudged the budgie back in, and prayed for a split second that I did not just kill my bird. I cringe to think about how it could have gone had I shut the door any further. He didn't eek or scream in pain, so I don't think I got him hard at all, he just flew up to his favorite perch and started to preen.

I don't know what got into him today, maybe because it's rainy and dreary out, but aside from cleaning his cage, I think I'll leave him be. Still keeping an eye on him to make sure I didn't hurt him. I feel horrible about it, still.

Though I must say, he's a strong flier!

[Decolor]

Min escaped again, no more using the top door on his cage because he has no problem with flying right out.

He's not taking millet much anymore, for reasons I cannot figure out, but he is letting me pet his belly and has "stepped up" once... usually he side-steps along his perch and skitters away. Going to step back just a bit and try more millet bribery.

He's still scared of my husband, but having him in the bedroom has helped, because he hears us just talking with each other often.

Should I wait for him to be hand-tame before I start letting him come out? Just curious.

[riotfox]

^ as for the letting out, thats kind of whatever you want to do. if you let them out, ti helps them get used to coming out and gets them exercise, but it can lead to stressful situations getting them back in and may make it harder to tame. if you dont let them out, tamin might be easier, but they might be fearful of coming out when they are ready

[bex.ryder]

i've been told that if you don't let them out early then they become cage bound and will very rarely come out at all after that.
and i think its true!! my male budgie whom i've had 18 months, after about 8 months or so i started letting him out - he didn't wanna come! even though he was hand trained etc. just didn't like the idea of it. sometimes when i fully clean the cage i sort of make him get out so that he can fly around - he does like it when he's out... just not the whole coming out thing!!
but i've recently got a new budgie - a hen who's called khyra. opened her cage door up the second day. she wondered out :) and loves me! i found it way easier to tame and i think less stressful for her because she had the option of flying away if she wanted - although she rarely does. ha.
she does have her wings clipped - and my male doesn't. really i don't see much difference. she can fly heaps!! probably just a bit crappier at it!
just make sure your budgie proof the room before you let him out ok!
hope that helps! keep us updated :)
i've just started training officially with khyra today... ha. interesting i must say!!

[Decolor]

Well, there was almost a week of Min being generally difficult, I had moved his cage closer to my studio desk so that we could bond better. I was fearing this was a bad idea because he was being extremely skittish and flighty. After a little while he started to warm up more and more. I soon realized he wasn't showing any skittishness of the hand anymore, he didn't overly like it without millet, but wasn't fearful, just nuetral.

Today I had a longer session with him, mostly millet bribery, but guess what it ended in :D

http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m337/DecolorDomina/IMG00372.jpg

I had a bird on my hand, twice!

[Decolor]

Hops pretty readily onto flat-palmed hand, if food is involved of course. Still hesitant of my finger.

Also tried introducing him to my husband, it went semi-well. Minion at least nibbled at the millet, even if he was looking at me the whole time.

I think clicker training will start soon, now that he's showing he's not hand-fearful. As I type, he's clinging to his bars, twittering at me sweetly... probably wanting more millet.

[Decolor]

The Minion has learned to "up" (at least for now) and that clicker equals millet, and even "upped" onto hubby's finger.

[Rebeccaveggie]

Sounds like your doing brilliantly!

[Decolor]

Great update!

During a training session, Minion decided to fly off. The last two times this was a nightmare. This time, though. I sat back and let him do a few laps, knowing he'd tire himself out in a moment, and went to where he perched on the curtain. Said "Up", gave millet, and walked him back to his cage.

When I clean the room up a bit better, I'll be able to let him fly intentionally.

[Decolor]

Minion has learned two and a half "tricks" so far.

"Minion up" - Obvious
"Tch Tch Minion" - Come here
"Minion Go!" - Fly briefly and return to hand, working on this going between progressively longer point A and point B He's getting pretty good, but doesn't quite know what to do if he can't clearly see point "B". We've been jokingly calling this "bird juggling" because of how he darts between hands so eagerly.

He's also going more easily to my husband, but still, only with a bribe.



I want to teach him to go out and come back to the same hand, but I'm not sure quite how, any tips?