# Letting Billy out of his cage



## Annwlynn (Jan 12, 2022)

Hi I am trying to hand tame Billy so far I am doing ok He will jump on my hand when I have seed on it &I say “come on” Yesterday he decided to keep biting me but I ignored that & today he just had a little nibble &I got him to fly on my finger which he nibbled but again I ignored that. My question is when to let him out The problem is he is in the living room & I have a lot of photos on mantlepiece & ornaments on shelves. How can I make my room safe for him before I let him out I would hate for him to hurt himself & should I wait till he is tamer. Thank you in advance for any help you can give me


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*Can you move the cage into a different room for out of cage time? That would be your best option.

You need to cover mirrors etc. The first time he comes out, he may fly into the walls etc. You can hang sheets out a couple of inches from the walls until he becomes accustomed to the room's dimensions.

You do not want him in an area where he can end up injured or down behind furniture where you can't reach him.*


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## Annwlynn (Jan 12, 2022)

FaeryBee said:


> *Can you move the cage into a different room for out of cage time? That would be your best option.
> 
> You need to cover mirrors etc. The first time he comes out, he may fly into the walls etc. You can hang sheets out a couple of inches from the walls until he becomes accustomed to the room's dimensions.
> 
> You do not want him in an area where he can end up injured or down behind furniture where you can't reach him.*


Unfortunately we only have living room & kitchen living room is large I don’t know how I’ll be able to budgie proof room I really wanted him to come out but I would never forgive myself if I hurt or killed him Would it be really bad if I didn’t let him out his cage it is a big cage I did send you a picture of it if you remember please tell me what is best thing to do


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*Yes, I remember the cage and I rechecked it on your previous thread.
Could you put his cage in either your bedroom or the bathroom for out of cage time? 

If you use the bathroom for out-of-cage time, you would only have to ensure the toilet is closed, the mirror(s) covered and any window is covered.

I used to have to give some of my birds their out-of-cage time in the bathroom each day (before we moved to a bigger home where they now have their own room)*


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## Annwlynn (Jan 12, 2022)

FaeryBee said:


> *Yes, I remember the cage and I rechecked it on your previous thread.
> Could you put his cage in either your bedroom or the bathroom for out of cage time?
> 
> If you use the bathroom for out-of-cage time, you would only have to ensure the toilet is closed, the mirror(s) covered and any window is covered.
> ...


I live in a house & I am 75 yrs old so no way can I get Billy’s cage upstairs Oh dear I don’t know what to do


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*If that is the case, then you will have to leave Billy in his cage full time.
Thankfully, his cage is large enough that he can flutter from one end to the other (depending on how you have the items inside it arranged).

It does not sound as though you are going to be able to "bird-proof" the living room sufficiently for him to have out of cage time.
However, if you reach a point where Billy is willing to step-up onto your hand or onto a perch (working inside the cage) then you may be able to allow him out in the living room. Let's wait and approach that matter if/when the time comes that he is willing to step up.
In the meantime, are there high areas in the living room where he could perch that you would not be able to entice him down when he learns to step-up on command?*


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## Annwlynn (Jan 12, 2022)

FaeryBee said:


> *If that is the case, then you will have to leave Billy in his cage full time.
> Thankfully, his cage is large enough that he can flutter from one end to the other (depending on how you have the items inside it arranged).
> 
> It does not sound as though you are going to be able to "bird-proof" the living room sufficiently for him to have out of cage time.
> ...


Thank you for giving me your time and expertise He can fly from one side of cage to other .I have arranged his perches & platforms in corners and a log type one along the side He flies from one perch to the other &is an expert in flying from perch straight onto his swing.he will come on my hand &I am trying to get him to sit on my finger but at moment he thinks it is a perch to chew on The highest point in room is curtains so if I ever get things safe for him to come out I will be able to get him from there. I will try to take a pic of his cage to see what you think thank you again for your help & patience


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## Annwlynn (Jan 12, 2022)

Annwlynn said:


> Thank you for giving me your time and expertise He can fly from one side of cage to other .I have arranged his perches & platforms in corners and a log type one along the side He flies from one perch to the other &is an expert in flying from perch straight onto his swing.he will come on my hand &I am trying to get him to sit on my finger but at moment he thinks it is a perch to chew on The highest point in room is curtains so if I ever get things safe for him to come out I will be able to get him from there. I will try to take a pic of his cage to see what you think thank you again for your help & patience this is his cage taken from the back so you can see his perches there is just one long perch at the front in front of feeders he can fly from one end to other & from one to other so he does fly around in there the ladder on floor is there because when I got cage was worried if he would walk on grill floor but he does that now kept ladder there because he likes to walk on it &chew it


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*The cage looks great!! You've done well in the arrangements to allow for Billy to fly from perch to perch. 💙

Keep working slowly and patiently with him while he's in the cage on his ability to step up. When you feel comfortable that he will do so on command, AND you have the time to devote to supervising him for several hours (IF he doesn't want to go back into his cage) you can leave the cage door open and see if he wants to venture out on his own. Don't force him to come out if he is more comfortable in the cage. Sometimes it takes awhile for a budgie to work up the courage to explore.

If you want to post again when you've reached that point, please feel free to do so. I'll try my best to offer you whatever guidance I can.

💛💛💛*


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## Annwlynn (Jan 12, 2022)

FaeryBee said:


> *The cage looks great!! You've done well in the arrangements to allow for Billy to fly from perch to perch. 💙
> 
> Keep working slowly and patiently with him while he's in the cage on his ability to step up. When you feel comfortable that he will do so on command, AND you have the time to devote to supervising him for several hours (IF he doesn't want to go back into his cage) you can leave the cage door open and see if he wants to venture out on his own. Don't force him to come out if he is more comfortable in the cage. Sometimes it takes awhile for a budgie to work up the courage to explore.
> 
> ...


Thank you for all your help & patience I will keep working on him &hope in the future I can let him out. ❤❤❤


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## Siklo (Nov 21, 2021)

Hi, I have a similar living situation so I'd like to pipe in.
I live with my 89yo grandma so we also have lots of ornaments and picture frames in the living which is where Pico's cage is, no possibility of moving it anywhere else. 
Pico doesn't really pay attention to them but when he does it's no big deal as they're way too heavy for him to possibly topple or throw down. Budgies are tiny little things. Because he has 2 play gyms in the room, he usually will perch on those, the chairs (covered with elastic, washable covers that fit snuggly and can't be chewed on, they cost me 20€ on Amazon), his cage or forage around the floor.
Precautions I take before he gets out is ensuring the floor is clean and there is nothing he could eat that could be toxic, and that the sink is covered and there's no pots or pans or any container with dirty water he could drink or drown in. Trash can always covered. No chemical cleaner residuals on the counter, no food leftovers.
The couch, standalone kitchen cabinet and TV table are pretty tall so he goes under them sometimes but quickly comes out on his own. Our roomba keeps those corners clean for him and there's no cables he could chew on.
I always draw the curtains shut, and I did have to set up some paper barriers on the TV when he started perching and pooping on it (my fault for allowing it) but if you just don't let your baby get used to perch on electronics that'll save you headaches on the long run.

You can also keep an extra, longer perch to teach him to step up on it when he gets on tall furniture you don't want him to be on. Honoedtly Pico never goes up on the higher shelves since there's nothing fun in there, and when he does he comes out on his own rather quickly.

I think with those things in mind and if you're with your bird in the room, even 1h or 2h of outside time will be great for him and you'll have lots of fun watching him.


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## Annwlynn (Jan 12, 2022)

Siklo said:


> Hi, I have a similar living situation so I'd like to pipe in.
> I live with my 89yo grandma so we also have lots of ornaments and picture frames in the living which is where Pico's cage is, no possibility of moving it anywhere else.
> Pico doesn't really pay attention to them but when he does it's no big deal as they're way too heavy for him to possibly topple or throw down. Budgies are tiny little things. Because he has 2 play gyms in the room, he usually will perch on those, the chairs (covered with elastic, washable covers that fit snuggly and can't be chewed on, they cost me 20€ on Amazon), his cage or forage around the floor.
> Precautions I take before he gets out is ensuring the floor is clean and there is nothing he could eat that could be toxic, and that the sink is covered and there's no pots or pans or any container with dirty water he could drink or drown in. Trash can always covered. No chemical cleaner residuals on the counter, no food leftovers.
> ...


Thank you for your input At the moment I am getting him to jump on my hand with food on it.he does this when I tell him come on He does take his time so I am working on him everyday Today I actually got him to jump on my finger with no food I think he would like to come out because when I’m playing with him he comes to bars on cage & let’s me stroke his beak & his tummy when he is in the right mood lol he always comes toward me when I call him so I’m hoping with patience & a lot of attention he will eventually come out he even comes toward my husband when he gives him a little bit of millet through the bars I will bear in mind all you have said &I thank you for advice


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## Siklo (Nov 21, 2021)

Yw!
I wish Pico would let me touch him, he makes angry Muppet noises and bites my finger if I try, but he is finger trained and I recommend recall/flight training as well.

Good luck with Billy!


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## Annwlynn (Jan 12, 2022)

Siklo said:


> Yw!
> I wish Pico would let me touch him, he makes angry Muppet noises and bites my finger if I try, but he is finger trained and I recommend recall/flight training as well.
> 
> Good luck with Billy!


I started getting Billy to allow me to touch him by feeding a little millet through the bars of his cage. I would call him to bar he would sit on perch &eat out of my fingers I would just put my hand against bar yes he did bite but I didn’t move I let him bite &just said no Billy eventually he trusted me &I would just rest finger on cage &he came to it then I gently stroked his beak he did squark when I touched his tummy but soon he let me but you have to be gentle just hardly touch him till he gets used to it he does still bite if he’s not in the mood to be touched so I don’t push it I think it is all baby steps with taming him sometimes he is very good then sometimes he is naughty


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## Annwlynn (Jan 12, 2022)

Annwlynn said:


> I started getting Billy to allow me to touch him by feeding a little millet through the bars of his cage. I would call him to bar he would sit on perch &eat out of my fingers I would just put my hand against bar yes he did bite but I didn’t move I let him bite &just said no Billy eventually he trusted me &I would just rest finger on cage &he came to it then I gently stroked his beak he did squark when I touched his tummy but soon he let me but you have to be gentle just hardly touch him till he gets used to it he does still bite if he’s not in the mood to be touched so I don’t push it I think it is all baby steps with taming him sometimes he is very good then sometimes he is naughty


May I ask what you mean by recall/flight training please


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## StarlingWings (Mar 15, 2013)

Most budgies dislike petting, even many very “tame” budgies won’t stand for it, so this is normal!


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## Siklo (Nov 21, 2021)

Annwlynn said:


> May I ask what you mean by recall/flight training please


It's training your bird to fly to you when you call him and show him a perch or your hand to fly to.
Very useful if you need him to get back in the cage or away from somewhere he shouldn't be.
I think there's some info and links in the training section. I looked up some videos on YouTube.
Of course you can't do this until Billy knows his step up and can be safely left out of the cage, but it ads an extra layer of control over the situation when /if he is out.


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*As StarlingWings indicated, most budgies do not like being petted once they pass the baby stage.
If a bird does like it, one should only every pet the head, neck, shoulders or tummy. Never pet the back or tail as that stimulates hormonal behaviors.

If you get to the point of recall/flight training, my recommendation is that you begin with clicker training. 

Positive Reinforcement in Training.*
*Basics of Clicker Training*


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