Eden's Little Journey

[Esther]

So I've had my teal blue female parakeet, Eden, for a little over a week now. She has adapted well (sings, spazzes out, flaps around the cage and acts like a monkey) you know, normal stuff ;). She is originally from Petco and therefore has no formal handeling other than being grabbed or caught by a net :(. She's my first parakeet.

Yesterday, she did well and was very excited when I entered the cage. I'm following Training Your Budgie(s) - YouTube training program for her. She ate some millet and then flew off and did some very monkey-like things and then came back. This was around 10 in the morning (I woke her up late by accident and I think threw her off a little)

Today, I woke her up at her normal time (6:30 AM) and changed out her food/water. After waiting for her to calm down, I brought my hand barely in the cage and laid the spray millet on a perch. She flew into the back corner of the cage and preened herself for the entire 10 minutes. Once I left, she was energetic again.

I'm not sure if this has anything to do with the disruption in routine or what, but it was VERY different then yesterday. I'll edit this with afternoon training :budgie:.

EDIT: I started working with Eden at 7 PM tonight and the moment I stuck the spray millet on her perch she flew over and began eating it. MUCH better than this morning :). I continued moving my hand closer and she continued to eat until I was about an inch away. This is a huge step for her and I'm very excited!

Eden is a bit of a difficult parakeet to train because she got out of her box before she was put in her cage and flew around my room. Unfortunately, my brother's friend grabbed her and dropped her after she bit him. Then, my brother grabbed her and she bit him four times before he practically shoved her in the cage. It's awful and I feel terrible about it now that I understand what kind of harm it causes parakeets. She's definitely perking up though so I think it'll soon be forgiven. :budgie:

[ronsig]

Maybe 6.30 in the morning was way too early for her.:p
My budgies do not like to get up that early.
Was it still dark out? My budgies get active when it is getting light..:)

Sigrid

[Esther]

Sigrid:No, it's just about dawn at 6:30 here :). I have to get up for school and to ensure I have enough time to feed/water/bond with her, I tend to her when I get up. However, training went MUCH better at 7 tonight, so I'll try waking her up about 15 minutes before I leave tomorrow and see how she does :).

[Esther]

So it's been about ten days since I last updated. I train Eden twice a day now (once at about 7 AM and 7 PM). I cover her cage at 8 and uncover it when I go to bed. I then leave the blinds open so dawn can wake her up rather than a blazing florescent light. I figured that I hate being woken up by someone slamming on my light so why do that to Eden? Dawn is much nicer :).

About a week after I got Eden, I had to go out of town for a few days and my cousin came and watched her. She then stayed for about a week and, while I was gone at school, sat in my room next to Eden talking to her and just playing games or whatever. When my cousin left, Eden was very depressed for about four days. It hurt a little bit because it felt like she had bonded more with my cousin than me because she was there so much. I felt worse for Eden though and have officially decided to get a new bird in roughly 4-5 weeks.

Now for the training part ~_~. Eden is still a bit skittish around me (especially if I accidentally drop the cage door. Yeah, I was stupid and bought a guillotine door, but I'll be fixing it into a hinge type door soon). The past few days have been nice though cause she seems genuinely excited when I come home. She'll start stretching and preening herself and looking at me curiously, sometimes even chirping :). I've discovered that Eden is a quiet bird and only really makes a lot of noise around 7:30 PM and right after I leave (according to my family).

She eats spray millet from my hand when my fingers are about an inch away. I have begun opening my hand to let her see how big it is and every time she scoots away on her perch. I'm glad she isn't flying away in horror, however :). I am extra conscious of making sure she has an escape route if she needs it. Eden is interested in the millet for (at the most) 5 minutes before she climbs across the cage and gives me this look as if saying "I'm done. Go away." She's such the little diva :D.

Last thing: Eden hasn't really touched her toys at all. I'm not sure if this is normal or if they've already bored her.

I'm hoping for a breakthrough soon! I really want Eden to come out of her cage so she can finally stretch her wings and fly. The cage at Petco was way too small for how many birds it housed and really had no flying room. I'm so glad I was able to save her from that place :).

-cheers

[FaeryBee]

Sounds like you are making good progress. :thumbsup:

[eduardo]

All I can say is that Eden is one lucky bird. She is obviously very loved by you and I think your training is doing well. Good job! Looking forward to hearing about your new addition when you get closer to it.