# Anxious!



## Percy Jackson (11 mo ago)

Hi all 🙂
My son and I have an almost five month old male budgie who was quite timid when we first bought him home. 
He has slowly warmed to us and we’ve finger trained him in the cage and he now loves interacting with us and adores talking to us!
The trouble is we’re very anxious about letting him out of the cage 😕
We tried once and he flew up and hit his head in the roof! This made us both very anxious and we haven’t tried again.

what can we do to help him (and us) feel safe as he learns about being out of the cage?

Thank you!


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## wmcburke (Sep 30, 2021)

I like to start mine off in a small room--i,e, a bathroom--with mirrors covered with towels and blinds drawn on the window. I keep an old tattered comforter around just for this purpose and lay it out on the floor for soft landings. Once they adjust to that space, we move up to a larger room. It is not uncommon for the first flight or two to involve bumping into something. But they learn quickly.


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## Percy Jackson (11 mo ago)

wmcburke said:


> I like to start mine off in a small room--i,e, a bathroom--with mirrors covered with towels and blinds drawn on the window. I keep an old tattered comforter around just for this purpose and lay it out on the floor for soft landings. Once they adjust to that space, we move up to a larger room. It is not uncommon for the first flight or two to involve bumping into something. But they learn quickly.


Thank you for the reassurance! We’ll try again soon 🙂


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## Nausicaa (Jul 22, 2021)

As it was mentioned, it's common for the first few flights to be wonky and have a crash or two. They haven't seen the place before, they've barely ever flown at all, especially if they're as young as your little guy is and they lack proper muscles. Imagine having spent your life inside your house and suddenly you have to hike up a mountain. For me, getting them out of the cage is a two-fold. One, they need to have a safe space to go to when out. They don't know what curtains, bookcases and vases are, all they know is that being up high is safer. Put a playgym in a safe place high up. I have gyms on top of a wardrobe that contains all their things, on top of the top shelves of a floating bookcase, and on the oppsoite wall that also has a bookcase. They also have a gym attached to the cage if they don't fancy going completely out, which also encourages new budgies to leave their cage and explore without having to fly, plus the top of the cage is flat, so they play up there as well. When they understood what glass is, I put perches before the window so they can watch the sun rise and get some UV. All these are on their terms, tailored to their needs, which keeps both them and my stuff safe (sort of ). I dont want them to munch on the wooden doors, because idk what pain has been used on them. I don;t want the to go to drawers or boxes that contain things they shouldnt eat. I don't want them up on the AC unit or the curtainrods because they're not that clean. By giving them multiple gyms they are rarely tempted to go any place that could be an issue and it keeps them calm. All that of course after months in the cage, with training, recall efforts and a strict daily schedule; nowadays I don;t have to tell them to go to bed, they retire by themselves when they know it's time, so no chasing around the room either. Just give him time to adjust to the room. 

The other important part is actually having the strength to fly. If your budgie is young, clipped or rescued from a place it couldn;t fly far, it's going to get exhausted and therefore panic very quickly out of the cage. Offer some quality eggfood or egg so it can build those muscles. Don't be surprised if you find your budgie standing on a perch, firmly gripping the wood and flapping his wings like crazy, going nowhere. He's basically running on a treadmill for parrots. All my rescue budgies went through this phase. As soon as they realised they have a whole room to themselves but dont have the strength to fly as much as they'd like, they wouldn't come out, staying in the cage, stuffing their face with food and flapping their wings. A week later they went out again and were three times as strong and resilent. With a few flights they figured how walls work, tuned their fine motor skills and now they can do impressive manourvers! Good luck!


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## ChickWas (May 6, 2021)

Even once they're seasoned fliers, I've noticed they will bump into walls and hit their head in a new space. My two had the same exact experience, they kept bumping into walls and sliding down (I'd be there to catch them). They quickly became used to the room boundaries and no longer did it.

Fast forward a year, we moved out to a new place. Once they were comfortable enough to leave the cage on their own, they both bumped into the ceiling and walls. Took a few times for them to learn the new shape of the room and now they're professional acrobats.


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## Percy Jackson (11 mo ago)

Update!
We tried again today and it went so well!
Little Percy was so much less frightened. He didn’t do any big fly arounds but flew easily between my son and I!
He had a lovely time climbing all over us and nibbling our clothes and hair, and was very comfortable sitting on my son’s shoulder and looking around the room.
mum happy we’ve done lots of finger training with treats because he seems to associate being on us with good experiences and feeling safe 🙂
Thank you so much for all your advice!


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## StarlingWings (Mar 15, 2013)

Very cute photos, looks like everyone involved had a great time! I’m so glad it went well. 👏🏻


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*The purpose of this forum is to promote the BEST PRACTICES in the care of budgies for their optimal Health and Well-Being*
*Locating an Avian Veterinarian*

*You've made great progress with Percy's taming - congratulations.

If you would like to start an ongoing picture thread for him in the Budgie Pictures section of the forum, please feel free to do so.*

*A Healthy Diet for your Budgie*
*Quality Seed Mix*
*CuttleBones, Mineral Blocks and Manu Clay Roses*
*Safe Foods for Budgies*
*The Truth about GRIT*

*Please take the time to read through the Site Guidelines, the FAQs, the Budgie Articles and all of the Stickies located at the top of each section of the forum.
Truly, the very BEST advice anyone can offer you is to take the time to read ALL of the stickies throughout the various Talk Budgie forums as well as the Budgie Articles we have posted.
(Stickies are threads “stuck” at the top of each forum sub-section)*

*These are great resources for Talk Budgie members and have a wealth of reliable information which will assist you to learn the best practices in caring for your budgies for their optimal health and well-being.*

*SITE GUIDELINES*
*Posting on the Forums*
*Let's Talk Budgies!*
*FAQ*
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*A Heartfelt Plea to All Members*
*Tips For Discouraging Breeding*
*Before You Ever Consider Breeding Your Budgies*
*Guidance for Breeding Advice Threads*
*Cage sizes.*
*Essentials to a Great Cage*
*Dangers to Pet Birds*
*Resource Directory*


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## obxdiva (Aug 11, 2020)

Beautiful bird and a happy kid. Wonderful!!


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## StarlingWings (Mar 15, 2013)

Edit to add my welcome to the forums  

FaeryBee has given great advice above and you've come to a great place to learn even more about the best of budgie care practices.

If you have questions as you read through the forums, be sure to ask as we'd love to help. 

Hope to see you and Percy around


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