# How can I tame my two older budgies ?



## Nouna (8 mo ago)

So first I wanna say we've never owned a budgie before, we've had these 2 budgies for almost a year however a lot of mistakes have been made in the process of taming them i'm not sure what to do anymore.
My sister got the first budgie (male, 3 m.o.) around a year ago but they gave it to her in a box and when she got home and tried to move it to its cage he escaped the box and flew to the curtain rod, and because he wouldn't come down i had to catch him using a light scarf (that's what i read on the internet). Now here's where the problem starts ... My sister read somewhere on the internet that she should let the budgies out everyday so they can move their wings, and that's exactly what she used to do while the bird was not tamed yet. She kept doing so and he would leave the cage the moment she opened the door and he wouldn't come inside until the end of the day to eat so we would close the cage. She continued with this behavior and after about 2 months she felt that he was lonely so she decided to get him a second budgie (female, 3 m.o.), and the moment she got home with the budgie she did the exact same thing, she let the new budgie out in the house and now they both fly and stay on the curtain rod all day. After that she decided to try and tame them ( too late i know ) so she would try to put her hand in the cage and feed them and so on. They would eat from our hand and stand on it but that's it, we've been stuck at this stage for almost 7 months they won't let us touch them they would freak out if we try and if we don't let them out of the cage for a day they would spend the whole day screaming until we let them out. They are a bit more comfortable with us now since they know we never tried to hurt them but still they won't let us touch them if i try to put my finger on their belly they either run away or they put their leg on my finger to stop me. 
I don't know what to do anymore i tried searching the internet but i couldn't find a case similar to ours 😅 so i would really appreciate your help.


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*Hi, Welcome to Talk Budgies!

The purpose of this forum is to promote the BEST PRACTICES in the care of budgies for their optimal Health and Well-Being*
*Locating an Avian Veterinarian*

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

To build your birds’ trust, sit by their cage and read, talk or sing quietly to them for a period of at least 10-15 minutes, 3 or 4 times day. After about a week, rest your hand on the outside of the cage when you talk to them so they will learn that your hand is safe and will not hurt them. 

After a week of resting your hand on the outside of the cage, rest your hand inside the cage when you talk.

Don’t make sudden moves, don’t try to touch them.
Let their get used to the idea that the hand is now in their safe place and not harming them.

After 2 weeks, begin moving your hand slowly toward your bird. If they become agitated, stop moving your hand and just hold very still until they calm down. When they are comfortable with your hand near them, you can offer them a bit of millet or a few seeds.

Always work at your birds’ pace.
Move slowly and talk reassuringly and calmly to their whenever you interact with them.

Bonding means allowing your budgie to choose to be with you.*

*A Healthy Diet for your Budgie*
*Quality Seed Mix*
*CuttleBones, Mineral Blocks and Manu Clay Roses*
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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.
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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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## ChickWas (May 6, 2021)

You and your sis have a big heart. Although it wasn't the right thing to do, I can understand why she let them out from day one. If you don't mind them being out all day, that's cool, but you can eventually train them to only want a few hours of outside cage time. If their cage is big enough, just gradually reduce the amount of hours you let them out. It will take a few weeks but eventually they'll start expecting however many hours you choose due to the routine. I let my two out when I'm back from work, but to be honest, they only really fly around for 20 minutes and then go back inside their cage. Just reduce the time they're outside their cage by 10 minutes every few days and eventually they'll fall into the routine of it and not scream all the time to be let out.

As for them not being tame enough to pet, budgies aren't the cuddliest of birds. Do they step up onto your finger? Do they sit on your shoulder comfortably? Or do they prefer being away from you? Because if they step up and sit on your finger, and perch on your shoulder, or fall asleep on you, I think that's about as tame as they'll get. You see videos on the internet of really cuddly budgies, but I think it's personality dependent and the fact they were handraised from chicks.


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## Nouna (8 mo ago)

ChickWas said:


> You and your sis have a big heart. Although it wasn't the right thing to do, I can understand why she let them out from day one. If you don't mind them being out all day, that's cool, but you can eventually train them to only want a few hours of outside cage time. If their cage is big enough, just gradually reduce the amount of hours you let them out. It will take a few weeks but eventually they'll start expecting however many hours you choose due to the routine. I let my two out when I'm back from work, but to be honest, they only really fly around for 20 minutes and then go back inside their cage. Just reduce the time they're outside their cage by 10 minutes every few days and eventually they'll fall into the routine of it and not scream all the time to be let out.
> 
> As for them not being tame enough to pet, budgies aren't the cuddliest of birds. Do they step up onto your finger? Do they sit on your shoulder comfortably? Or do they prefer being away from you? Because if they step up and sit on your finger, and perch on your shoulder, or fall asleep on you, I think that's about as tame as they'll get. You see videos on the internet of really cuddly budgies, but I think it's personality dependent and the fact they were handraised from chicks.


The thing is they don't do any of that, they don't step on our finger nor our shoulder nor do they come near us. When we let them out, they just stand on the curtain rod all day and we cannot let them in the cage ourselves, we have to wait for them to get hungry or something and get in the cage themselves so we can close the cage. The only time we come in direct contact with them is when we feed them millet in the cage, they eat from our hand but that's about it. Basically we have no relationship with them other than feeding them and cleaning after them 😅. This has been going for a while and after i started searching on the internet i realized that the mistake was made from the start but i don't know how to solve it.


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*You have to start over from the beginning which is what I was trying to indicate in my previous post.

Once the birds are IN the cage, you do not let them out. You start working with them in the cage as explained previously.
How large is the cage? For two budgies, the very minimum size for the cage would be 30" Long x 18" Wide x 18" High (76 cm Long x 46 cm Wide x 46 cm High)
BIGGER is better. You must ensure the spacing between the bars is no more than 1/2" (1.27 cm)*

*Essentials to a Great Cage*


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