# How do you play with your budgie?



## Zigzagma

What kind of games do you play with your budgie? or what kind of fun stuff can you do with your budgie?, looking for some ideas on how to play with my little feather friend when she is out of her cage and also would like to hear how you play with them for a fun topic .


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## Hunterkat

My guy doesn't really come out of his cage, but he LOVES bells. I'll take one of his bell toys and hold it towards him and he'll have a lot of fun "attacking" it with his beak.


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## StarlingWings

I usually play tricks with her; my girl loves to learn new tricks to do (I don't use a clicker; we are very closely bonded and therefore she does things to see me get excited) and so our favorites are to do some recall training, or I'll ask her to spin in a circle, etc. Each of these are punctuated by me excitedly praising her and she'll run up and down my arm for a while :laughing2: Then we'll do some kisses and then maybe a lettuce bath and we go on like that for a bit  A lot of this came after a few years of us being very close.


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## Zigzagma

Hunterkat - well its hard to keep her in the cage, she wants out so bad lol, shes only been here for 3 weeks and yet shes climbs all over me, comes to the door and jumps on my finger right way, flies to me if she flies away, it blows my mind how close she is already to me. She doesn't seem to care much about her toys at the moment, she just wants to come out all the time, but i didn't think of just taking one of the bells and holding it up to her while shes out, maybe she will like to attack it if its in my hand, thanks . 

Starlingwing - i dont use a clicker either, right now im using treats as positive reinforcement, she will now do up with out treats, ive gottin her to fly from her cage to me, but only using treats so far, today we will be learning with out the treats, i think she might be like yours, learning is gonna be her fun time . 

I cant wait to try baths with her, but i'm waiting till she really trust me to start giving her fruits , or bath time and stuff that isnt normal to her, maybe she wont be so scared to try new things .


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## tarrynclaire

Our budgie spends a lot of time out of his cage playing with us! He loves being talked to and listening to us make funny sounds, he'll sit at our lips for ages just listening.

He also likes some cat toys we got for him - small plastic balls with a bell inside. He'll throw these (and anything else he can find) off the table and tell you to pick them back up for him!

A more energetic game we'll play is I make him chase his favourite toy- a mullet stand with bells on. He loves running after it as fast as he can.

Of course he also likes his own time talking to himself in his mirror 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Zigzagma

tarrynclaire said:


> Our budgie spends a lot of time out of his cage playing with us! He loves being talked to and listening to us make funny sounds, he'll sit at our lips for ages just listening.
> 
> He also likes some cat toys we got for him - small plastic balls with a bell inside. He'll throw these (and anything else he can find) off the table and tell you to pick them back up for him!
> 
> A more energetic game we'll play is I make him chase his favourite toy- a mullet stand with bells on. He loves running after it as fast as he can.
> 
> Of course he also likes his own time talking to himself in his mirror
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


 Well that's good to know, she sits and listens a lot, figured she was board though, maybe not lol. I'm going to have to try the ball thing, maybe she will chase it or something. Your boy sounds very delightful and fun .

I'm no expert, but im going to assume some one else will tell you this any ways, that you shouldn't use mirrors, BUT if you know he is alright with it and isn't trying to feed it or being obsessed with it, then don't take away his toy , some one might tell me i'm wrong, but why change something if its not hurting, IN MY OPINION . i did take mine out, but they are all young and didn't want them bonding with it, just incase


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## FaeryBee

*You are correct, it is best not to give budgies mirrors as they can easily become obsessed with their image. This can lead to the budgie becoming aggressive and or territorial.
Some budgies will regurgitate to the mirror to the point they become malnourished.*


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## ceruleanblue

When Artoo is out for her playtime, what she wants to do all depends on her mood. Sometimes she just wants to sit on her “porch perch” and go in and out of her cage as she pleases. Other times she flies into the office and over to my desk to look at my computer, or run back and forth on the top of the vertical blinds, then swoop down to my shoulder and preen my neck. 

I have a dish of plastic toys that we play “throw all the things on the floor” with and that’s always great fun for her. Anything she can throw, shred or wreck is Super Fun. Yucca disks, lettuce, kale, small toys.  

Artoo also seems to love art. I have some framed prints on the wall in my living room and she will fly over to them and hover in front of them, then back to me. She’s never really been the kind of bird who plays with toys too much - even though she has a whole drawer of them now. Mostly she loves to be wherever I am or my husband is and the “human things” are the most fascinating to her. I supervise her closely when she is out and she’ll come when I call her, sit on my arm and lean in the direction of a thing she wants to look at. And we’ll go over to it and I’ll talk about it to her. Such a smart and curious little friend. 

She’s come a long way since that day I found her on my patio.


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## Zigzagma

ceruleanblue said:


> When Artoo is out for her playtime, what she wants to do all depends on her mood. Sometimes she just wants to sit on her "porch perch" and go in and out of her cage as she pleases. Other times she flies into the office and over to my desk to look at my computer, or run back and forth on the top of the vertical blinds, then swoop down to my shoulder and preen my neck.
> 
> I have a dish of plastic toys that we play "throw all the things on the floor" with and that's always great fun for her. Anything she can throw, shred or wreck is Super Fun. Yucca disks, lettuce, kale, small toys.
> 
> Artoo also seems to love art. I have some framed prints on the wall in my living room and she will fly over to them and hover in front of them, then back to me. She's never really been the kind of bird who plays with toys too much - even though she has a whole drawer of them now. Mostly she loves to be wherever I am or my husband is and the "human things" are the most fascinating to her. I supervise her closely when she is out and she'll come when I call her, sit on my arm and lean in the direction of a thing she wants to look at. And we'll go over to it and I'll talk about it to her. Such a smart and curious little friend.
> 
> She's come a long way since that day I found her on my patio.


 There yeah go, good way to find out what she likes, just throw everything on the floor or bed and let her go to town with what ever she seems to like lol , 
it sounds like Artoo is out a lot and goes around the house, does she ever hit into the wall and go the floor, not hard, but still, hate to see her to do that, sweety does, i feel bad, but shes not scared, just flying every wheres and some times goes a little to crazy , nothing she can get hurt on, but still getting use to the place and im scared for her.... did you or do you have the same problem?


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## ceruleanblue

She gets between 1-4 hours of playtime every day - sometimes more. And then there are days when she doesn't feel like coming out, but I'll leave her door open and put out her "porch perch" just in case.

Oddly, Artoo never had an issue with flying into walls or windows. I was worried about that at first but she's a very careful flyer and tends to fly up to, then hover in front of new things rather than fly full speed around. 

It was a full 10 months after I rescued her before she was brave enough to even come out of her cage, but she got very familiar with the layout of the downstairs. I have her cage on a rolling kitchen cart and I would roll her into different rooms when I was doing things so maybe that helped. I call it the Mobile Bird Unit.  

We still have our little regular routines -- I uncover her in the morning, then we roll into the kitchen so I can make her breakfast and clean her cage. Then we roll into the living room and park in front of the sliding door so she can look outside and eat her breakfast. For supper time, I roll her back into the kitchen to make her supper. She watches me intently when I make her meals. It's really cute. Bedtime is when the sun sets (unless she's hormonal and then it's much earlier).


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## Zigzagma

ceruleanblue said:


> She gets between 1-4 hours of playtime every day - sometimes more. And then there are days when she doesn't feel like coming out, but I'll leave her door open and put out her "porch perch" just in case.
> 
> Oddly, Artoo never had an issue with flying into walls or windows. I was worried about that at first but she's a very careful flyer and tends to fly up to, then hover in front of new things rather than fly full speed around.
> 
> It was a full 10 months after I rescued her before she was brave enough to even come out of her cage, but she got very familiar with the layout of the downstairs. I have her cage on a rolling kitchen cart and I would roll her into different rooms when I was doing things so maybe that helped. I call it the Mobile Bird Unit.
> 
> We still have our little regular routines -- I uncover her in the morning, then we roll into the kitchen so I can make her breakfast and clean her cage. Then we roll into the living room and park in front of the sliding door so she can look outside and eat her breakfast. For supper time, I roll her back into the kitchen to make her supper. She watches me intently when I make her meals. It's really cute. Bedtime is when the sun sets (unless she's hormonal and then it's much earlier).


 Lots of patience then, but so worth it, good for you , for some reason Sweety just really wanted a friend, so she just let her self be part of the family, shes special for sure lol. The other two might take 10 months or even longer, but i got the time lol. 
I think that's what the problem was, she didn't know the room well enough, cause today she did great with her morning fly, hovered around instead of flying full speed to check everything out lol, to curious for her own good lol.

Your routine sound like it really helped her out a lot and it sounds cute lol, i bet she has a lot fun and you put a lot of work into her, you're great parents lol. So what is it you make her for meals?


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## ceruleanblue

Zigzagma said:


> Lots of patience then, but so worth it, good for you , for some reason Sweety just really wanted a friend, so she just let her self be part of the family, shes special for sure lol. The other two might take 10 months or even longer, but i got the time lol.
> I think that's what the problem was, she didn't know the room well enough, cause today she did great with her morning fly, hovered around instead of flying full speed to check everything out lol, to curious for her own good lol.
> 
> Your routine sound like it really helped her out a lot and it sounds cute lol, i bet she has a lot fun and you put a lot of work into her, you're great parents lol. So what is it you make her for meals?


Budgies are so precious and smart! They are super curious for sure. I'm really glad your Sweety is learning her way around.:clap: Thanks to this forum, I learned to do things on Budgie Time.  And I was totally prepared for the possibility that Artoo would never want to bond or want to interact with us. I just wanted to give her a good life. When I found her almost two years ago she was scared, hungry, thin and full of scaly mites. It took more than a year to completely earn her trust.

As for food...I keep about 2 teaspoons of dry seed (currently Dr. Harvey's) in a cup in her cage around the clock. She doesn't eat a lot of it (some days she's more interested in it than others), but it's there if she wants it. I also keep a cup with some Zupreem Fruitblend pellets (the tiny ones for Finches), and a bit of Morning Bird Miracle Meal (about a half teaspoon of each). And then she has another cup with some Twin Beaks Aviary dried Herb Salad. These things are in her cage all the time as well. She will snack on these things occasionally. She also has a mineral block and a cuttlebone available.

I buy Hagen budgie seed and chit (where the seed just barely sprouts) that for her weekly. I use a mason jar and some nylon netting and use Morning Bird's Sparkle to make sure the water is purified. I rinse the seed thoroughly and soak it for 8 hours, then pour the water out and sit the jar in a dish at a 45 degree angle for about 15-17 hours. When I can see the tiny white nubs on the seed, I rinse it again with apple cider vinegar and water, and store the chitted seed in a clean airtight cup in the fridge. I only make enough to last her about 5 days at a time since it's so easy to do and she loves it.

For breakfast I give her some of the chitted seed mixed with either a little Harrison's Adult Mash or crushed Roudybush pellets, moisten that with a little water or occasionally some Aloe Detox, and garnish with a little cayenne pepper, or bee pollen or ginger or cinnamon. She also gets a little Soluvite D sprinkled on her breakfast.

I hang either kale or romaine lettuce in her cage in the afternoon. She'll eat some and wreck the rest.  I also have a little birdbath that I put in there every other day, and usually put something leafy and green in there for her to play with if she wants.

Supper is more sprouted seed mixed with either chopped kale, romaine, broccoli, shredded carrots, shredded zucchini, the occasional spinach, watercress, arugula, parsley or basil. Sometimes she likes mashed lima beans in there too. Everything has to be chopped tiny or she'll just throw it out. Bird is very particular about the size of her foods!

I add a couple of drops of apple cider vinegar to her water (changed twice daily or more if she throws food in it), and a few times a year I use sodium benzoate in her water as a preventative.

I've been growing millet for her this year too and she really loves it when it's still green.

My husband and I both work from home so we give her lots of attention.


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## justmoira

Both Lemon and Sweetie love to....
-run around in circles on my arms and behind my head (I'll hold my arms up so they are level with my hands overlapping)
-play peekaboo
-stick their heads in one end of a paper towel tube while i make noises in the other end
-try to stay on my foot and I gently move it up and down 
-copy new songs/whistle/noises I make up for them 
Sweetie also loves to try and pull my wedding ring off. Maybe he's trying to tell my husband something... LOL!


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