# Recommended steps forward?



## Benny8a (Apr 11, 2021)

I know the basics of taming a budige. It's about getting them to trust you, every budgie is different, start slow, talk to them for a bit a few times a day, but I'm going to need some type of a bridge between getting them used to me and my hands and actually hand-taming. these birds just seem extra-cautious.

Both are getting somewhat comfortable with my head and my voice, but not the rest of me. I can stand by the cage and talk to them with relatively no issue, but if I stick my hand in for anything, they start getting scared, and the blue one will even fly out of cage, right past me, to avoid my hand, even if it's something as minor as changing the food. The blue one, Alfred, is already starting to be curious about me, but their buddy Apple isn't that sure of me.

I've recently redone the cage, so I'm starting slow again. I'm talking to them from outside the cage and trying to show from afar my hands dont mean harm. Once they trust me enough to ignore me, how do I go from that to hand taming? Do I show millet from afar?

Also, they somewhat trust me with getting back up the the cage. If one flies out, I have to grab a perch lying around, get them on it, and lift them up. It only took a day to train them to do that, and a day more to realize I was the one being trained.

Unrelated question, but I wanted to edit this in before I forget: How do I get them out of the cage to clean it? My room, the only room they can be in, isn't full of anything to explore just yet, so they dont come out, and I'm having trouble cleaning the cage because of this. Obviously, taming them will get them out, but that isn't exactly a do right now solution. Can I entice them out somehow?


----------



## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*You can wipe down the bars with a cloth dampened with white vinegar while the birds are in the cage. It isn't difficult to work around the birds to ensure the cage is cleaned.
They should not be forced to come out of their cage. When they get comfortable enough, they will be willing to come out on their own.

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 on the palm of your hand.

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


----------

