# How to transfer an untamed budgie from cage to cage?



## faeline (Jun 16, 2021)

So this is a problem I'm facing now, Pepe is still not tame, but I will need to medicate her everyday using the transport cage, hence I will need to transfer her manually. I don't really want to grab her, coaxing and luring her with millet doesn't work well because she's afraid of the transport cage.


----------



## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*It would be easier if you move her into the smaller cage and keep her there until her week of antibiotics is completed.
How large is the transport cage?*


----------



## ChickWas (May 6, 2021)

Sorry to hear Pepe is sick, it's the worst feeling. You're like me and didn't have the chance to get your bird used to the transport cage, and things happen so fast and you end up feeling terrible for stressing your birdie out.

As someone who has recently gone through this tough decision, at the end of the day, you just gotta grab them and tell yourself it's ultimately for their own good when the coaxing doesn't work. My budgie was very tame, but she became incredibly sick and I was forced to give her medicine. No matter what I tried, she wouldn't accept the medicine willingly, so I had to resort to grabbing her. Unfortunately, it's going to affect your bond negatively, but seeing them flourish and become healthy again makes it worth it, at least to me.

Put millet or treats out for her after you medicate her, I noticed it takes away the stress because they're focused on happily eating treats instead of thinking about being grabbed two seconds ago, and if she's eating it from your hands she eventually learns that you're not trying to hurt her.

The easiest way I found for catching her was to just grab her whilst she was in the cage. Watch youtube videos on techniques for holding budgies, so you don't suffocate her. People have luck using hand towels, but towels only scare my birds even more so I had to use my hands. Keep telling yourself the quicker you get it over and done with, the better it is for the bird. Just make sure not to do any sudden or fast movements, and when you grab her, be slow and gentle and use a reassuring voice when moving her to the transport cage. Keeping her in the transport cage for the week is probably for the best, as it means less grabbing. But if it was my birds, I know the transport cage would freak them out and they _hate hate hate _being in it. So I would just grab them every day, because 5 minutes of stress is better than a whole day of stress from being in the cage. Plus, the day might come where you need to syringe medicine into their mouths, so it's better to have experience catching them, than to be worried and panicky trying to do it for the first time when they're very sick. I've been grabbing my little nugget for weeks now, we're both much better at it, and she seems to understand that the quicker she lets me give her the medicine, the faster she gets her treats.


----------



## faeline (Jun 16, 2021)

FaeryBee said:


> *It would be easier if you move her into the smaller cage and keep her there until her week of antibiotics is completed.
> How large is the transport cage?*


The transport cage is made of cloth and is only 10x34x30. I should correct myself and say that it's a carrier. The vet said that Pepe has a slight case of bronchitis, so she's given a week's antibiotics. We bought a heating lamp for now to keep her warm - Singapore's been having thunderstorms every night and temperatures drop till 75F at night.

ChickWas, I think your situation is the same as mine, the bird is just terrified in the carrier so I will do the grab and treat instead. 

Thank you.


----------



## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*I didn't realize from your original post that the transport "cage" was a cloth carrier or I would not have suggested keeping her in it for the duration of the treatment.*


----------



## faeline (Jun 16, 2021)

FaeryBee said:


> *I didn't realize from your original post that the transport "cage" was a cloth carrier or I would not have suggested keeping her in it for the duration of the treatment.*


I wasn't clear myself. Anyway, day 1 passed without problem, she isn't injured and she kinda gets that I want her in the carrier. She still eats from my hand and plays with my fingers after that, so thank you so much, ChickWas, for the advice to give her the treats after.


----------



## faeline (Jun 16, 2021)

I'd like to thank ChickWas for your advice!! Today is the 4th day of medication, and I've been using wool gloves when catching her, and giving her treats after. She started playing with my hand again today! So while the bond in the past 4 days was affected, I think she's starting to understand a little and she was even demanding her treat after we release her back to her cage.


----------



## ChickWas (May 6, 2021)

Exactly, the bond you've lost is something you'll get back. You just have to put up with a week or two of Pepe showing stern disapproval of you, but budgies are loving creatures and they always end up forgiving us. I've put Wasabi through some traumatic experiences, and it completely ruined our closeness. But a few weeks on, today she initiated a nose rub, and let me give her scratches all along her head. Slowly but surely we're gaining back the bond we had before all this started happening.


----------

