# How do people make birds look tame?



## Cassie and luna (Jul 30, 2021)

Hello,

I was looking up the store where I bought my ladies and I was amazed that when I see the advertising photos the birds look super tame.

Yet when I go there the budgies are always fleeing for their lives when anyone approaches?

How do they do this? Are the budgies actually tame with them and not with me? Or is there a trick?


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## ChickWas (May 6, 2021)

"Tame". Their wings are clipped, so of course they'll sit like that, they've got no other choice. I hate when I see sellers like this, they aggressively clip the wings and claim the birds are tame, but they're terrified.


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## Cassie and luna (Jul 30, 2021)

Oh ok. So what you are saying is I could make my ladies sit on me like that too?

My budgies wings are what I consider to be brutally clipped tbh. I think it impacts not just on their ability to fly but how effectively they can balance. Sometimes I see them drop to the bottom of the cage for seemingly no reason at all.

I can't wait til their flight feathers grow in, I want to see those beautiful wings spread overhead. I am also hoping it makes them more confident to be birds and hang with me.

I was so naive when I bought them, if I had known more at the time I would have made a different choice. 

Really the only defense a bird that small has against me is their ability to fly away, a little budgie beak isn't going to bother me any. My hope is when they have their natural defenses back that they will feel safer.

Will this be the case or am I being naive again?


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## Cassie and luna (Jul 30, 2021)

Oh gosh I was just looking at my budgie today and it looks like her flight feathers have grown in.

Is she fully flighted now?


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## StarlingWings (Mar 15, 2013)

Almost!! She’s definitely got 2/3-3/4 of the way there.

It’s true; and the birds are also desensitized to breeders who raised them. It’s a shame that there’s so much misinformation because the bird being tame is not a permanent condition, i.e if they were human children, you still wouldn’t expect them to instantly trust strangers even if they were “tame” (for lack of a better word lol). It’s a natural condition of prey animals to express fear in unexpected or new situations or with new people. Without it, they wouldn’t survive in the wild. So you can’t even say a bird is “tame” as if it’s acquired a permanent condition because even assuming they are, they’d still most likely act differently around strangers/new environments. Dogs and cats, as historically predatory animals, while still capable of manifesting these traits depending on the animal’s personalities, are not necessarily as prone to them as budgies. 

Add to this the above that the wee ones have no choice then anything looks good in the pictures.🙈


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## Cassie and luna (Jul 30, 2021)

I think I dislike the word tame. My interactions with my birds aren't me trying to convince them to do anything in particular. I interact with them in the hopes I can build a friendship with them. That they will one day realise I am providing a safe happy place for them. 

I want them to fly around the place and land on my head!


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## StarlingWings (Mar 15, 2013)

I agree. It makes it seem like it’s like a personality trait, or some acquired skill or whatever which doesn’t reflect the trust, love, and honest friendship behind it. It’s about building a family-like feeling of closeness and belonging with each other and forming a flock with them.


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## Cassie and luna (Jul 30, 2021)

Yup I wasn't a people person even before the pandemic! I am busy building my strange little family 🐦🐦

My little lady looks so pretty while in flight btw. She is quiet for a budgie but she let out a couple of what I consider to be proud squawks.


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*When a budgie's wings are clipped, it has no choice about being handled and is generally submissive.
Taming is about helping a budgie learn to TRUST you.
Bonding is when your budgie CHOOSES to be with you. 💜💜*


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