# Progress so far... and a question?



## Lost (Dec 8, 2015)

Okay.. It's been a while!
I've had my budgie for almost 6 months now and I've made some progress with bonding with my little friend.

I've been feeding her millet by hand, and she takes them eagerly whenever I feed it to her. She doesn't mind having my hand in the cage, moving things around and cleaning as long as I'm not too close to her. If I do get within around 3 inches from her, she will bite (unless of course I have a millet in my hand), but that I don't mind too much.. her bites don't really hurt.

But at this point I don't seem to be making much progress anymore, and I'm getting a little worried. She is my first bird and I'm not sure how long it usually takes a bird to bond, but is 6 months with this much progress unusual? Or is it completely normal for birds to take a very long time to bond? I still haven't gotten to the point of her sitting on my finger or letting me touch her, and I'm worried I'm doing something wrong.


And also, I'm having trouble feeding her pellets. I've been mixing pellets into her seed food, as I've read that is healthier for birds... but she seems to just pick out the seeds all the time instead of trying her pellets. Is there a better way to go about this?


Thank you very much, as always!


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## Therm (Aug 2, 2015)

Hey Lost. 

I can't offer you any real advice on bonding with your birds as I have no tame budgies. It takes a lot of patience and hard work and it does take a lot of time, but you are making great progress. Try reading some of the stickies about bonding and see if you can get some tips to help you along the way. None of my birds are tame. I can put my hands in the cages to clean etc. but we don't do step up. I am working on getting them a little better but I also like the birds to want to come to me as well. So we're working at things at our own pace.  

As for seed and pellets, you could try crushing them and sprinkling some onto the seed mix so they get the taste for them. 
Make sure you only feed you bird one to one and a half teaspoon of seed. If you offer too much in the morning, then she won't be so keen to try something else.


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## Jayfeather10121 (Nov 24, 2012)

I'm worried about the same thing! Of course I haven't had my budge for long, and she's warming up to me pretty fast, but I'm scared I won't know when to move onto the next step or I'll miss my opportunity. 
I think if I were you I'd look into solving the problem of biting, even if it doesn't hurt right now, it must be pretty annoying. Six months seems like a pretty long time! I'd try to follow a guide on bonding.


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## StarlingWings (Mar 15, 2013)

Hi there, 

I definitely think you've made progress if she unhesitatingly eats millet from your hand  

As for the biting, right about now (starting from about 6-10 months of age) is when she's approaching her "teenage stage" where she's going to be more moody and withdrawn as her body adjusts to the hormonal changes 

Also, she may soon be starting her first moult, which can also contribute to moodiness and biting. Either way, it's important to look at her body language closely when interacting with her to ensure she's comfortable with what's going on, in addition you should ensure she has her space and try not to put your hands in the cage unless she agrees 

The "teenage phase" may make it seem like you've gone backwards in taming, but you really haven't. Take a few steps back to simply sitting with her and reading, etc. as well as not trying to move on to something new for a bit. Soon, she'll grow out of this stage and will be more open to interacting with you once more :thumbsup:

As for pellets, there are many effective ways to get budgies used to eating them. Crushing them and mixing with eggfood or chopped veggies (or seed, as Therm mentioned) can help them to accept the flavour of them as food, and offering them pellets all day but rationing their seed (budgies should not have more than 2 tsp. of seed per day with a varied diet) can help them to take to pellets, too. Staying consistent as well as not giving up is the key to transitioning her to eating pellets as well as seed. Which brand of pellets are you currently using?


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*Star has offered you excellent advice and I agree that you are making good progress! :thumbsup:

Please take a look at these threads:

http://talkbudgies.com/articles-bud...-biting-learned-often-avoidable-behavior.html

http://talkbudgies.com/articles-budgie-training-bonding/315073-positive-reinforcement-training.html

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

With regard to introducing pellets, my Avian Vet recommended using Harrison's High Potency Mash and sprinkling it on the budgie's seed mix every day. This way, when the budgie hulls the seed it tastes the pellet mash and ingests bits of it as well. This helps the budgie identify the taste as a food source.

Many members seem to find the easiest pellets to use for introducing pellets to their budgies to be the CANARY sized Zupreem fruity pellets. Most budgies like the taste and the "Canary" sized pellets are tiny enough for them to easily eat them. Once they've become accustomed to the Fruity Pellets, introducing the smallest "natural" pellets is then an easy step.

Other than when I was using the Harrison's mash, I've never mixed my birds' pellets and seed together. My birds have three separate dishes each with a different brand/flavor of pellets available to them 24/7. Their seed is rationed to approximately 2 teaspoons of seed per budgie each day. I give them seed first thing in the morning right after putting clean newspapers on the bottom grate of the cages. I sprinkle their morning ration on the paper so they can forage for the seeds. I then do the same thing in the evenings (after replacing the soiled newspaper with clean) and again allow them to forage for their seed.

All of my birds have the option to eat the available pellets whenever they like throughout the day and they all enjoy them!

http://talkbudgies.com/articles-diet-nutrition/315033-healthy-diet-your-budgie.html

http://talkbudgies.com/articles-diet-nutrition/309849-quality-seed-mix.html*


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