# Untameable adult budgies



## Mipha

I've tried everything I've seen online about budgie taming but nothing works with my two birds.

I have two budgies that I've gotten from someone who kept them in their cage 24/7 and didn't tame them. I don't know their exact ages but I know the oldest is between 3-5 years old. 

I've been taming them on and off for a year and have been consistently taming them for around 3-4 months now. I can't get them tamed, though. It's frustrating. Everyone else seems to tame their birds so easily but mine are afraid of me even after knowing them for years.

I can feed them millet and greens, and they'll even eat seed out of my hand, but that's about all I've gotten to. The elder will allow my hand near him but I can't get him to stand up on my fingers no matter what. I've tried holding millet in front of him and luring him onto my fingers, tried holding my fingers in front of him to see if he'll be curious enough to jump on himself, tried pushing on him like others do... Nothing works. He just runs away. 

The female is even worse. I've gotten her onto my thumb several times while hand-feeding her seed, but she's still very skittish of me otherwise. She recently got out of her cage and I'm pretty sure the experience scared her so badly that it put me back a good chunk in terms of taming. 

Is there anything I can do or are they just too old to tame? I want to let them outside their cage but I can't do that unless they're tame with me.


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## Therm

For the short time you've had them, considering they're re-homed birds, what they're willing to do isn't to be dismissed. That's great progress! 
You just have to let them work at their own pace. It may seem frustratingly slow for you, but they just know how big you are and they're just so little! 

I would start from scratch and follow the advice of someone trying to tame a new budgie. Go back to talking to them while sitting at their cage and move onto the next steps when they seem comfortable with the last one.


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## FaeryBee

*Hi! :welcome: to Talk Budgies

I agree with Therm. Building trust is the first step in taming and bonding.
Additionally, you can let untamed birds have out of cage time if you have a small bird safe room.

I have untamed budgies that go back in their cage because I've used positive reinforcement training to teach them they will get a reward when they do so.

Initially, when I was ready for them to go back in the cage I would first dim the lights and pull down the shades in the room. If the radio or TV was on, I turned it off.

Then I would stand by their cage and ringing the bell on one of their toys while telling them, "It's time to go in your cage now!"

Once they went back into the cage, they were given a small bit of millet.

This method worked well and they now go in the cage when asked to do so without the lights being dimmed or the blinds lowered and the TV or radio can stay on.

Getting the millet reward is the best part of "going back home"

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## RavensGryf

Keep in mind too, that not all budgies will want to become super tame. That’s regardless of being hand raised or not. Once budgies have gained your trust (which can take even longer), depending on individual personality, they will let you know where their boundaries are. Many mature budgies will only want to be close to humans to a certain extent, but can make wonderful little pets regardless . Sounds like you’ve done a great job so far!


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## sweettreat

Every budgie has their own time table to taming.Some never do while some take to us humans quite easily. But all are worth the love.
I'm sure you will get there, just enjoy the journey. Only one of my budgies was tame, but they all have been fun and give so much joy.
I have learn to enjoy them where they are at within the taming process. I'm just along for the ride.


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## JRS

Lots of great advice above.
My pair are only semi-tame - If I don’t have food, then they couldn’t care less about me , but they are still very entertaining to watch.
I also allow them a lot of out of cage time - just make sure that you have a lot of free time when you first start leaving the cage door open and make the room as bird safe as possible.


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## Mipha

RavensGryf said:


> Keep in mind too, that not all budgies will want to become super tame. That's regardless of being hand raised or not. Once budgies have gained your trust (which can take even longer), depending on individual personality, they will let you know where their boundaries are. Many mature budgies will only want to be close to humans to a certain extent, but can make wonderful little pets regardless . Sounds like you've done a great job so far!


I realize that's an issue. Budgies aren't a domesticated animal so they'll never be like a dog or even a ferret. They're naturally skittish of people and so many aren't going to be a cuddly pet. I was still hoping they'd at least let me play with them, though.


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## StarlingWings

A late :welcome: to the forums!

I agree with all the posts above. Budgies aren't "cuddly" birds but many do enjoy interacting with their human flock. However, they are less prone to wanting to do so if they have been in a bird flock for several years. With dedication and time, they'll get used to you and even enjoy hanging out with you outside the cage, but they may never be as tame as you'd like. As mentioned, that's fine, as long as they're happy, you're happy  

That shouldn't discourage you from keeping with it! Interacting with them as much as you can and working to gain their trust daily should help over time 

If you have any questions after reading through the links provided, let us know! We'd be happy to help 

Cheers :wave:


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## PlumpyParakeet

I have one budgie who is very resistant to taming and yet I still want to offer him time outside the cage. At this point I feel it is more important for him to fly around than to be my friend and sit on my finger. I would suggest bringing the cage into a room than can be completely darkened or letting them out at night. He knows the drill now. I put my hand in one opening of the cage and he flies out the other right away. When it's time to go back in the cage (love the bell idea, btw) I make sure he is down low somewhere, turn off all the lights and then quickly drop a light wash cloth on top of him before he has had a chance to adjust to the darkness. Then I can scoop him up in the cloth without much stress and place him back in the cage. Not sure if other would agree with my method of getting him in/out of the cage as some might suggest this might make him more afraid of you if you are trying to hand tame. However I think it's cruel to keep him confined in the cage for months on end just because he isn't hand tame yet. Just my opinion for my own birds.

I have also had some luck with petting him a bit at night while he's in the cage as he is more calm. He will sometimes step onto my finger. I have had a lot of luck with my other two birds working with them at night in the cage and letting them out to fly. Again, I have found it's less stress to gather them up when I can make the room completely dark. My other two are both hand tame now and just hop onto my finger to get into and out of the cage. They also willingly hop from my finger onto the scale for weighting time. Again, not sure if others would agree, but has worked for me.


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## Mipha

PlumpyParakeet said:


> I have one budgie who is very resistant to taming and yet I still want to offer him time outside the cage. At this point I feel it is more important for him to fly around than to be my friend and sit on my finger. I would suggest bringing the cage into a room than can be completely darkened or letting them out at night.


I don't have any rooms that are completely budgie safe. I can only let them loose in my bedroom, and I don't feel comfortable doing that with untamed birds. My room isn't as safe as it needs to be so it's best if the birds could be handled easily.

I haven't made much success with my taming yet. I don't really care if they don't like being pet--I just need them to be manageable. I've decided no longer to try and pet them or coax them onto my hand. I don't think that's honestly going anywhere. I'd like to make them tame without food (I had to put one on a diet because the daily millet made him fat) but that doesn't seem to work either. I've seen a few people say to put your finger in front of them and eventually they'll jump on, but they don't seem to have any interest in my hand if it doesn't have food in it.

My female bird always runs away from me no matter how much progress I seem to make. I've noticed that she nips my hands a lot when she's eating. Should I permit this or is it bad behavior that needs fixing? I'll put some feeds in my palm and she'll jump onto my hand herself and eat, but then she'll start biting pretty hard all over my fingers and hands. It doesn't bruise or bleed but it's annoying. Ignoring it doesn't seem to help. I can't tell if she needs more chew toys, is being aggressive, is scared, or is playful.


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