# What should I do?



## INeedHelpLol

Hi everyone, 
I just got a budgie 4 days ago from a local Petsmart, and I have absolutely no idea how to tame it. It seems to be pretty young, because the black bars on its head don't quite go all the way down to its cere and it doesn't have a ring around its eyes. Its nose is still pink, so I can't tell whether its a male or female yet. Anyways, here's the problem: I just found out today that I'm supposed to leave the bird alone for 1-2 weeks to let it settle, and that I'm not supposed to try to put my hand in the cage yet. The thing is, I already screwed up that step, because I stuck my hand in the cage on the first day and tried to lightly pet it. Of course, it ran away from my hand, so I just let it be for the rest of that day. The second day, I took it out of the cage and it flew all over the house. It eventually landed on the chandelier, where I had to wave a broomstick at it to attempt to make it come down. Once it came down, I grabbed it as lightly as I could and put it back in the cage. I know... Already off to a bad start. Anyways the past 2 days have been interesting, because the bird's ok with me slowly stroking it's feathers, it will step up on my finger when I press lightly on it's chest, and it will eat from my hand. The problem is that the bird is still scared of my hand. I'm able to get it out of the cage without force, but it always flies away when my hand gets near it. I know it's specifically my hand, because it doesn't run away from me when I get near with my hands down, or if I use a stick to push against its chest. Also, the bird seems to be very uncomfortable with my presence. I mentioned that it will eat from my hand, but only if I stay perfectly still, and any little noise will make it panic and look around for threats. My question is: what should I do now that I've screwed up the first step of letting it adjust to it's new environment? I've seen many videos of tame budgies on YouTube, and I would like to have a realtionship like those with my budgie. What should I do?


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## FaeryBee

*Hi! :welcome: to Talk Budgies

Budgies are often submissive initially because they are terrified. The fact your budgie allowed you to pet it, etc. was not because it had any trust or confidence in you - it simply felt it had no choice. 
Taming and Bonding with any bird is all about TRUST. You must help your budgie learn to trust you so that it makes the choice of wanting to interact with you.

At this time, you need to take several steps backward and go back to the very beginning for your budgie's health and well-being.
Continuing to try to force the issues and move forward without developing the basic trust necessary is only going to cause more problems in the long run.

You can cover the top and three sides of the cage to help the budgie feel more secure. Playing music for him when you aren't around will be helpful as well. Budgies perceive no noise as meaning there may be danger.

Taming and Bonding is all about helping your budgie learn to trust you and it takes a great deal of time and patience on your part. 
You should never grab your budgie or force him to be touched. 
To bond with your budgie, you need to build his trust in you.
He will have to learn over time that you will not hurt him, grab him and try to force him to allow you to hold him.

To build your budgie's trust, sit by his cage and read, talk or sing quietly to him for a period of at least 10-15 minutes, 3 or 4 times day. After the 2nd or 3rd day, rest your hand on the outside of the cage when you talk to him so he'll learn that your hand is safe and will not hurt him .

After a week, rest your hand inside the cage when you talk. 
Don't make sudden moves, don't try to touch him . 
Let him get used to the idea that the hand is now in his safe place and not harming him .

After 2 weeks, begin moving your hand slowly toward your budgie. If he becomes agitated, stop moving your hand and just hold very still until he calms down. When he's comfortable with your hand near him , you can offer him a bit of millet or a few seeds. In a few more days, you can begin your taming and bonding sessions.

Always work at your budgie's pace. 
Move slowly and talk reassuringly and calmly whenever you interact with him .

Most budgies once they pass the "baby" stage, do not like to be petted or touched. 
If your budgie does like to be petted, you should only ever pet his head, neck or chest area.
Stroking a budgie's back and/or tail stimulates its breeding instinct. Bonding means allowing them to choose to be with you.

Please take the time to read through the Site Guidelines, all of the How To Guides, the FAQs, the Budgie Articles and the stickies located at the top of each section of the forum.

Truly, the very BEST advice anyone can offer you is to take the time to read ALL of the stickies throughout the various Talk Budgie forums as well as the Budgie Articles we have posted.

These are great resources for Talk Budgie members and have a wealth of reliable information which will assist you to learn the best practices in caring for your budgies for their optimal health and well-being.

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How-To Guides
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50 Common Budgie Dangers to Watch Out For

A Heartfelt Plea to All Members
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If you have any questions after reading through everything, please be sure to ask!

Glad you decided to join us and looking forward to seeing you around the forums.

:wave:*


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## BudgieElla

You have been given great advice by FaeryBee here. Like she said, try to work backwards. Be patient, and try not to make any sudden moves. I think it would have been best if you had researched the taming process (and everything else of course) before bringing home a new bird. Be sure to read all of the stickies on the site, they are very helpful! Good luck!


Ella


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## StarlingWings

Hi there and :welcome: to the forums!

You've been given great advice above. It's not too late to build a strong bond with your budgie but you're going to have to reverse everything you have been doing so far and follow the steps listed above 

It's important to recognize that there's not a set timeline for bonding or for trust building, even if you do all the right things like taking it slow and at his pace, and not pushing him. By continuing to interact with him at his pace he will continue to trust even more in you. 

When you do interact with him, do it without conditions, i.e don't make him associate coming on your hand with being forced to come out of the cage if he doesn't like that. 

Meanwhile, you've come to a great place to learn even more about budgies! We're so glad you've decided to continue your budgie research and journey with us here  We look forward to seeing you around the forums!

Be sure to read through all of the forum's many articles and stickies that we have here! If you have any questions after reading through everything, be sure to ask as we'd love to help. 

Best wishes! :wave:


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## philw

You've been given the best information on taming a budgie. You can't force a budgie to do what you want and have it want to be with you. Go back several steps as Deborah has said and over time, you'll have a very enjoyable bird. Good luck.


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## JRS

I agree with all the above, just restart as though you’ve brought him home today.

Don’t worry; you haven’t ruined all chance of forming a good bond - remember that other members will at times have had to catch their birds to administer medication etc - They are skittish birds, very easily startled, but build trust slowly and he WILL forgive you.


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## INeedHelpLol

Hi everyone, thanks for the great advice. Here's some more questions: How am I supposed to clean the cage for the first 1-2 months if I can't take the bird out of the cage yet? Also I heard that you should give your budgie a bath every other day. Do I just avoid doing this for the first 1-2 months?


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## Cody

You do not have to take the bird out of the cage to clean the cage, just go very slowly. Do you have a cage that has a tray at the bottom that slides out? If so slide it out very slowly and change the papers at the bottom and slowly slide it back in. Remove and replace the food and water containers slowly as well. You do not need to give your bird a bath, some enjoy a bath, some don't. Let the bird get comfortable with you and the surroundings and then you can offer it a shallow dish with water and if it wants to bathe it will or get something like this https://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=16514 to put in the cage.


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## StarlingWings

You don't have to bathe your budgie; birds don't need to bathe so you should not force him to. As mentioned above by Cody, you can offer him a shallow dish of water (no more than 1 inch of water) after a few weeks of him settling in, or put in a birdie bathtub such as the one linked above.


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## FaeryBee

*Some budgies enjoy bathing and others don't.
There are various things you can try. You may also find your budgie willignore the bath for a long time and then suddenly will decide to try it and like it! :laugh:

I'd suggest you either put a shallow bowl with water in or on top the cage or get a Lix-it Bath to attach to the cage and provide your budgie the option of bathing every few days.










You can also try placing a few fresh basil leaves or some lettuce leaves in the water. That may interest himin the bath.

Some budgies love to rub against or roll on wet leaves.
You can hang wet romaine lettuce or kale leaves in the cage or place them in a shallow dish in or on the cage to see if your budgie likes them.

Some budgies enjoy being very lightly misted with room temperature water. 
Do NOT squirt the water directly on the budgie. 
Aim it up into the air and let the water mist settle down over the budgie gently. 
You should be able to easily tell if he likes it or doesn't want any part of it.
Some budgies do enjoy playing under a light trickle of water in the sink.
Other budgies simply don't enjoy bathing which is fine as all budgies are cleaning and oiling their feathers when they preen.

If your budgie is shaking his head, tail and feet after he's been in the water, that's quite normal. It's like a dog shaking after it gets wet.*


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## sdodo

Dont worry about baths just yet. Let your little one settle in and when they are ready you could try to get yours to take baths. Personally I give spritz baths, but that is really one when one of mine is in the middle of a heavy molt or its summer. If you do try spritz baths try using something that produces a fine mist to start out with before eventually moving onto a spritz bottle. 

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk


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## Goldenwing

Hello and :welcome:

You have been given excellent advice. I just wanted to add that I made a number of mistakes early on (and still do, I am learning all the time). You are taking some great steps to educate yourself and asking good questions. This is an excellent place to learn more about budgies and best practices for their care. You can still build a strong bond with your bird as you take things slowly and build trust. 

By the way, what is your bird's name? When you get a chance, we would love to see some photos! Good luck with your new companion!

Goldenwing (and Lemon Drop) :lutino linnie:


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## INeedHelpLol

Hey guys, thanks again for the replies, they've been really helpful. So I've had my budgie for 3 weeks now and I've been kind of stressed out about it. My budgie doesn't run around the cage when I put my hand in the cage, but sometimes, it kind of scoots along the perch away from my hand. It doesn't run away when I rub on it's belly or neck, and it will eat from my hand. I'm guessing that it trusts me at least a little, but not fully. The thing that bothers me however, is that it's always just sitting on it's perch and doing nothing else(except maybe preening). It won't move or play with it's toys, even when I'm not around. The only time it'll move is to get food, of course. I've taken it out of the cage a few times, but I can tell it doesn't like that, because it always goes back to it's cage when it can. Lately, I've been trying to encourage it to come out of the cage on it's own to get some exercise. I've tried placing it's food outside the cage with the cage door open, but that doesn't seem to work. Today, I left it out for 4+ hours, and when I came back to check, it hadn't moved. I'm pretty sure if I left it out any longer, the bird would have died of starvation by choice. I've also tried millet, because I know it loves millet, but it still won't come out. I really want to know what I'm doing wrong right now, because I really want my bird to be active and playful. You guys gave some great advice for taming it, but those methods only seem like they'll make the bird trust me. Trust is great, but I want a relationship where the bird is happy to see me and will voluntarily come out of the cage and interact with me like I'm a fellow bird. How can I make it happy, I'm so desperate and frustrated right now 
 I also don't have much patience, unfortunately, and that doesn't seem to be something I can control. BTW I'm almost certain that my bird isn't sick.


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## FaeryBee

*Three weeks is a very short amount of time to have a budgie.

You indicate you are "desperate and frustrated". 
You are causing those feelings within yourself simply because the expectations you have are not realistic.

The purpose of this forum is to promote the best practices in the care of budgies for their optimal health and well-being.

Compassionate and responsible owners recognize that a budgie is not like a dog or cat and helping this tiny creature learn to trust you is going to take time and patience.
This was explained in my initial post in this thread.
I strongly suggest you re-read my first post in this thread and take that advice to heart.

Bonding is when a bird chooses to be with you. 
Bonding does not happen overnight, within a few days or even weeks. 
Often it can take months for a budgie to trust you enough to bond with you.
Please choose to become a patient and calm individual who puts your budgie's needs first.

Budgies are going to do things in their own time and at their pace and you cannot force the issue. 
Trying to rush a budgie or force it to behave in a manner you think it should will only undermine whatever progress you have made and you will likely have to start over from the beginning to regain the budgie's trust.

Keep in mind that when you are stressed, desperate, frustrated, etc. your budgie is going to pick up on those emotions and will be less likely to want to interact with you.
It is important that you remain calm, stress-free, move slowly, speak to your budgie reassuringly and work at your bird's pace.

Best wishes*


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## Blingy

This whole process is something that cannot be rushed or forced and each bird moves at its own pace. When you say that you have 'taken it out of its cage', do you literally mean that you've brought it out of the cage, or have you let him come out of his own accord? Forcing him to come out will stress him out more, and if you're physically bringing him out, it'll hurt your bonding process because you're grabbing him (against his will). This will scare him. I suggest you place a perch on the door on the inside of the cage (and keep it there), then when you're supervising, leave the cage door open (now making the perch outside the cage). Hopefully he will get used to that perch and will start to sit on it while the cage door is open. You can add extra perches to the outside of the cage and hopefully he will start to explore those perches, then further into the room. Best of luck. &#55357;&#56842;


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## iHeartPieds

You've been given great advice. I just wanted to add that you should never take away a birds main food source in order to get it to eat from your hand, or come out of it's cage. It is also very important that you are always supervising your budgie whenever you have it's cage open for it to have out of cage time. Budgies can easily become lost or stuck outside their cage when their owners aren't watching.

Remember that a budgie needs to trust you first before it can begin to bond with you


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## INeedHelpLol

Ahh, I see. So 3 weeks is very short. I will make sure to be patient with my bird. You guys were absolutely right when you said that I should have done my research before buying the bird. Hiwever, right now, it's too late to be regretting my actions. My biggest goal right now is to give my bird a long life that it deserves and hope that it will die happy. I'm sure you guys are willing to go through this journey with me.  To make things clear, I have not started the bird, and I have not grabbed it to make it come out. When I took it out, it was perched on my hand. I have simply noticed that the bird would rather be in it's cage and I was wondering how I could change that and make it view that outside world as a better place to spend it's time. Also, I was wondering, my bird is in an isolated room, because I wanted it to be away from kitchen odors. Would it be ok to put it's cage in the living room during the day so that its more used to seeing people, or is it too stressful for it to be moving locations?


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## philw

You'll have to plan on plenty of time to bond with your bird (they're all individuals).
If you asking him to be part of his flock, he has to see you calmly as much as possible.
To avoid the kitchen, your idea of bringing him into the living room during the day sounds good to me, provided it is a routine most everyday and moving him in the cage is done slowly and calmly. Budgies usually like noise, so if there's a tV in the room, interact with him there. Doesn't mean the TV is on all the time. Other people in your home also have to understand their own behavior around him to make him feel secure. Offer just a bit of millet before and even during his stay there. Again give it some time to see if he becomes
more interesting in being with you.


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## FaeryBee

*Housing your budgie in the living room is just fine.

Before letting the budgie out of its cage at any time, you need to ensure all doors and window are closed and it is in a bird-safe room.

As Blingy suggested, putting perches on the outside of the cage, setting up a little playground outside the cage with a favorite toy and treat will encourage your budgie to begin to explore -- but again, this will be when he is ready to do so.

As Phil said, playing the TV or music for your budgie when you are not around is important so he does not feel alone. Budgies perceive complete silence during the daytime to mean as a sign of danger.

Take the time to read all of the Budgie Articles and Stickies. They are chock-full of a wealth of information that will be very helpful to you in learning to follow the best practices in budgie care.

Best wishes!*


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## INeedHelpLol

So I've been taking my time with my budgie and I'm happy to say that I'm seeing progress. My budgie won't move away from my hand, but it's still frightened when my hand is over it's head. So my question is: how do I know when my budgie is ready to come out of the cage? Also, what can I do for a lone budgie? I want to do everything I can so that it doesn't feel lonely and won't just sit there doing nothing. I have school from 6 am - 3 pm. My parents sometimes try to play with my budgie, but they have absolutely no idea how to handle it. They're always scaring it and I'm afraid to lose it's trust. I can't say anything to my parents, because they'll get mad. I can't get another budgie at the moment, but I might be able to in a few months. I also want to know how my budgie will react to a new budgie after not seeing a budgie for 3-6 months. Also, by that time, I assume my bird will be well tamed. Will I lose progress if I introduce a new bird? My bird is actually fairly easy to tame, as its still extremely young. I just wished that it didn't come from a PetSmart. My guess is 2-3 months, but I can post a picture if anyone wants to take a shot at it's age.


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## FaeryBee

*Have you taken the time to read all of the Budgie Articles and Stickies at the top of each forum as you were advised?

Most of your questions are basic and have already been answered in those areas of the forum.

It is important forum members take responsibility for reading the available information before posting questions.

AFTER you read through all of the articles and stickies, if you still don't know the answers to the questions you just asked, then we'll point you to the correct threads. *


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## Blingy

I just wanted to say that it's not wise to put your hand over your birds head anyway. No matter how tame a bird is, seeing a big hand coming at it from above will be very frightening and will most likely make you go backwards with gaining your birds trust. It'll start to become afraid of hands and that'll be very difficult and time consuming to reverse. Best of luck. I look forward to seeing you around and reading progress reports.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## INeedHelpLol

*New budgie?*

So I really want to get another budgie, because mine seems so lonely. Question is, how do I introduce it if I don't own a second cage? Im not sure if this question has already been answered, because I was unable to find it. My other question is why does my budgie get so wierd? What I mean is, usually, it's really nice and it's not really afraid of me. Other times it be really aggressive and try to bite me out of nowhere. It's also fine with my hand most of the time, but every once in a week, it'll suddenly try to run all over the place, even when I'm moving slowly and not chasing it with my hand. Does anyone know what exactly my bird is thinking?


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## SmolBirb

Firstly, you shouldn't get another budgie until having yours for at least six months. This leaves time for your current budgie to get used to it's surroundings and you. It makes taming and bonding easier, as well.

Secondly, without a second cage, you cannot get another budgie. Before introducing a second budgie, they must go through a quarantine of at least 30-45 days. This ensures no diseases get transferred to your current budgie.

And the behaviour you are describing is fairly normal in budgies, especially young ones. It could be hormones, moulting, or simply that your budgie is having a bad day. Make sure you respect this and give your budgie space when he needs it.


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## INeedHelpLol

Thank you so much. That would make sense as my bird is still under 4 months old. Problem is, my budgie really seems to be so lonely. I have school, so my budgie is literally spending 8 hours alone sitting on it's perch doing nothing. It doesn't react to anything , but when it hears budgies from my phone, it'll look so desperately to try to find the budgies and I feel so bad. 😞
Also, what exactly did you mean by space? Should I just leave it alone for the rest of the day? 
Another thing, it's worth mentioning that I have owned budgies before when I was like 11 or something. Back then I was a terrible owner, and there's not a single day that I don't regret going back and punching my old self for not doing the proper research before getting them. Point is, I had 1 budgie for maybe like 3 months, then got another. I put them in the same cage, and there didn't seem to be any problems. Of course I wouldn't do that now, because I know you're not supposed to, but is there any way at all to get another?


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## FaeryBee

*I've merged your two threads.

You are new to owning budgies and need to take the time to read and learn about budgies and how to give them the best possible care.

At this point in time, you should be concentrating on the budgie you have now.
You will need to work with him for a minimum of 6 months before you know his temperament and personality. 
Many budgies are quite happy as solo birds.

Not only do you need a cage for quarantine, you also need a cage for use as a hospital/travel cage.
Every budgie owner should always have a "spare" cage on hand.

Your budgie is probably biting when it wants its own space. You must learn to respect your budgie's boundaries.

There are many things to take into consideration before getting a second budgie.

http://www.talkbudgies.com/other-pets/50806-do-you-really-want-another-pet.html

If you decide to get another budgie in the future, please be sure to observe quarantine for the new budgie.

Quarantine means housing the new bird in a different cage in a different room than the current bird (as far away from the room the current bird is in as possible) for a period of 35-45 days.

Budgies mask symptoms when they are ill. Symptoms may not show up for over two weeks. 
Often you will not even realize your bird is not well. Many budgie illnesses are airborne which is why you need to quarantine your new bird in a completely different room.

It is also a good idea to always take a new budgie in to see an Avian Vet for a "well-birdie" check-up. This allows you to develop a good relationship with the vet and the vet can establish a baseline for your bird in case of any future illnesses or injuries.

Distinction between an Avian Vet and a Vet that "Will See Birds"

2. Introducing the new bird to the current bird

Introducing two birds

3. Flock Dynamics

Flock Dynamics

Your Harmonious Flock

4. Where do you plan to get the new bird?

Why buy from an reputable breeder rather than a big box pet store

5. Vet Expense and Housing

Do you have the time, finances, etc to devote to another bird?

Are you ready, willing and able to house the new budgie separately on a permanent basis if it does not get along with your current bird after quarantine?

Be Prepared for Veterinary Care Expense*


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## INeedHelpLol

Huh, that's rather interesting that budgies can be happy alone. I thought budgies craved interaction with other budgies. 😕


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## FaeryBee

*


INeedHelpLol said:



Huh, that's rather interesting that budgies can be happy alone. I thought budgies craved interaction with other budgies. &#128533;

Click to expand...

Your emoticons are showing up as gibberish:
&#x1f615

Budgies can be quite happy alone if the owner interacts with the bird on a regular and consistent basis each day.

Yet again, I'm going to ask that you please read all of the Budgie Articles and the Stickies at the top of each section of the forum.*


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## Blingy

Hi there! You mentioned you're at school all day. Do you leave the radio or the TV on for your bird so he's not sitting in complete silence? If he's sitting in silence, he may very well fear he's in danger and that could be one reason why he's frozen on the spot. The radio or TV is also good company when you're not around. Still, it's always best if you can spend as much time as possible with your new friend. Don't rush the taming process but do spend as much time as possible talking to your bird and letting him get to know you.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## iHeartPieds

Your budgie should be fine while you are at school. Like blingy said, leave a radio or tv on so there is some noise for him to chirp to and he won't feel as though he is in danger. Birds interpret silence as danger. Ensure he has a large cage with plenty of toys, and interact with him daily and he will most likely do fine as a solo bird.


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## INeedHelpLol

As FaeryBee has suggested, I have spent time reading through the budgie articles and stickies; However, there is a question that I have not been able to find the answer to. As you all probably know by now, I have had a single budgie for about a month now. It's definitely trusts me and isn't afraid of me, but at the same time, I don't think it quite likes me either. Of course, as you all suggested, I'm being patient, and I'll give it time to decide that it wants to bond with me. Anyways, I was told how to introduce a new budgie, but not more than one. If I want to get two more budgies 5-6 months from now, how would I go about introducing these birds to my current bird? Do I quarantine them in the same cage, or would I need 2 extra cages? 
Thanks! 🙂


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## Goldenwing

It is good to be thinking about this well ahead of time, as you are doing.  The process is similar to introducing one bird. If you get the new birds from the same place at the same time, you can quarantine them together. However, it is not suggested that you keep three birds together in one cage, especially if they are mixed genders. There is a greater risk for one bird being left out and getting bullied. Here is an article that might help: http://www.talkbudgies.com/articles-general-budgie-info/392442-your-harmonious-flock.html

While you are thinking about getting another bird, here is a good article to check out to help you think it through: http://www.talkbudgies.com/other-pets/50806-do-you-really-want-another-pet.html.

Good luck!


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## FaeryBee

*I agree with Goldenwing.
It is best not to have an odd number of budgies as one usually is bullied or left out.

Keep that in mind as you plan for the future.

Best wishes*


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## INeedHelpLol

Hey everyone, 
I've finally decided to ask this after hours of searching and frustration. I want to get a second budgie a few months from now (Yes, I'll be able to provide a second cage for it any everything), but I'm unable to find a local breeder. Everywhere I look, people are suggesting to buy a budgie from a specialized breeder rather than a pet store. Problem is, I'm unable to find one. I can't buy a budgie online, because the shipping is so expensive. I just wanted to be sure that there aren't any breeders around my area before I buy from a PetCo, or PetSmart. If I do end up buying from a pet store, would it be better to get a budgie with a leg band, or one without? Also if I decide to choose a male budgie so that there won't be any territorial issues, is there any way to tell the gender of a budgie when it is still under 4-6 months old? My zipcode is 25414.


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## FaeryBee

*Have you checked with the organizations recommended in this thread?

http://www.talkbudgies.com/articles-budgie-breeding/386633-finding-good-budgie-breeders-u-s.html

Have you considered rescuing a budgie that needs a safe and loving home?
You can contact local animal shelters, bird rescue organizations and look on-line at ads where people are trying to re-home their budgies.

https://www.birdsnow.com/parakeetwestvirginia.htm

The following would be a better option than purchasing from a big-box pet store:

American Bird Company - Baby Birds | Falls Church, VA

Yes, it is possible to tell the gender of male budgies younger than 4 months old.
Depending on the mutation, the bird will have either a blue cere or a smooth translucent pinkish/purple cere.

If you get a budgie that has a leg band, it can be removed when you take the bird to your Avian Vet for a well-birdie check up.*


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## INeedHelpLol

My bird, for some reason, has come to associate my hand with food. Just a week ago, it was perfectly fine. I could pet it and get it to step up, etc. However, now, it seems to only come to my hand for food. If I have millet in my palm, it will gladly come to my hand for food. If it sees that there's no food on my hand, it'll run back and forth on it's perch and bite me aggressively. At this point, what should my next step be?


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## SmolBirb

Give your bird some space. Patience is the key to success in taming and bonding with budgies. For many people it feels as if it's two steps forward one step back.

Many factors could be contributing to this sudden change, it could be that your bird was spooked by something recently, is hormonal, or moulting. It could be something else entirely, or all three of these things combined.

If your budgie is still comfortable with eating off of your hand then continue doing that. Eventually, your budgie should get comfortable with you again.


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## INeedHelpLol

As you all probably know, there is seems to be a debate in the pet community about whether or not a pet should be trained with food or not. I wanted to know your opinions on this subject. Personally, working with treats seems to be much easier; However, I'm concerned that my budgie will begin to ignore my requests after a while, when it realizes that I don't have food in my hand.


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## FaeryBee

*When a budgie is motivated by food it is perfectly fine to use that as a training tool.

Please read the Budgie Articles listed below:

http://www.talkbudgies.com/articles...g/315073-positive-reinforcement-training.html

http://www.talkbudgies.com/articles-budgie-training-bonding/315065-basics-clicker-training.html

It takes time and patience to train any animal.
Think about training dogs. Food is used as a motivation to get the dog to learn to do the behavior being asked of it. It takes weeks and sometimes longer before the animal will willingly perform that behavior without the food motivation.

The very same applies to budgies. 
Budgies have no desire to please their owner the way a dog does so it can take much longer than you expect.

This was explained very well by JRS (Julia) in another thread:

It's fine to offer food in your hand as an encouragement for a bird to step onto your hand, with the aim of demonstrating that your hand isn't a dangerous place.

It's not ok for example, with a bird who is not willing to leave its cage, to trick the bird into stepping on your hand for food inside the cage, and then whilst it's distracted eating, to move your hand (plus bird) outside the cage. This will only lesson trust.
It IS ok with such a bird, to hold or place food around or just outside an open cage door, to encourage it to venture outside.

Basically, we can use food to tempt or encourage the bird, but should not use it to mislead them.​*


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## INeedHelpLol

Thank you so much, FaeryBee! I was totally unaware that I couldn't use food as a distraction to trick my budgie. I will be sure to fix this habit to prevent issues with my bird. Also, I was not aware that this question had already been answered in other articles, so I apologize for asking another already answered question.


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## INeedHelpLol

It's been a while since I've posted, and I've been making good progress with my budgie, thanks to this website. My budgie is at the point where it will voluntarily come out of it's cage when I open it. It usually will sit on a perch attached to the outside of the cage or it will run around on top of the cage. While it's outside, it's also fairly relaxed, and it preens and chatters. I also give it a treat whenever it comes out to encourage it to keep coming out. Sometimes, I'll manage to bring it somewhere away from the cage, like where I do my homework, and it'll just play with whatever is around me. It has been like this for two weeks, so a few days ago, I tried to move on to what I thought would be an appropriate next step. Here's the thing: my budgie is perfectly fine with my presence and I'd even go as far as to say that it's becoming quite fond of me; However, it's not comfortable with my hand. It will step up when I move my finger near it, but it will never stay on my hand. I don't move fast, and when it's on my hand, I stay completely still, but it still jumps off. I've tried distracting it with toys or treats, but when it's done with the toy or treat, it'll jump off my hand. What I've done is I have removed the perch attached to the outside of the cage, but when it comes out, it'll just jump on top of it's cage. I also tried to cover the top, but then it just clings to side of the cage. Even when I remove distractions, my budgie is very tense on my hand and it's constantly looking for a place to jump to. When it can't find a place to jump to, it'll stay very stiff. I can tell it's nervous, because it clicks it's beak and has a look in it's eyes. Ever since I started trying to get it to be comfortable with my hand three days ago, it has been less and less willing to come out of it's cage. Before, it would come out the moment I open the cage, and now not even a treat will lure it out. The only thing that does get it out now is if I play budgie noises, but I don't want to do that, because I don't want to give my budgie false hope. I also don't want to make a wrong move and lose it's trust. How can I get it to become comfortable with not just me, but also my hands?


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## FaeryBee

*Why is it so important to you that your budgie perch on your hand? 
Why don't you simply allow it to perch on your shoulder? 
Many budgies are uncomfortable being held and your hand with all its fingers seems like a predator to your bird. 
Allow him the space he needs to be comfortable and work within his parameters. 
I'm sure you can come to a workable compromise. *


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## INeedHelpLol

I understand that I shouldn't do anything to make my budgie uncomfortable, and I try not to rush things. I'm not freaking out that my budgie won't perch on my finger, except, correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that was a part hand taming? Also if it happens that a budgie never becomes comfortable with your hands, how do basic things such as bringing him out of the cage on your finger, teaching him to step up onto your hand, or teaching him to fly to your hand?


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## FaeryBee

*You can more easily teach your budgie to step up on the back of your hand or your forearm which will allow you to easily move him from Point A to Point B if necessary.

I'd work on that first before moving on to using your finger for stepping up. 
Once he more fully trusts you, then the finger step-up will come more naturally.
At this time it sounds as though he just isn't ready for that level yet. 

Best wishes!*


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