# Untameable?



## Jenalibre (Aug 6, 2016)

Hi Everyone,
So I have 4 budgies, 1 white, 1 blue and 2 green.
The blue one (Which is Whisper) I got from my sister, she had him for about 2 months and never showed him any attention. I have since got him and I talk to him daily and very often but I can not for the life of me tame him or even get my hand anywhere near him. He is a very active bird, he plays with toys, talks very loudly, he sings and loves the other birds. He will talk to me if im talking to him but if my hand goes near him he freaks out and starts flying 
everywhere. I do leave their cage open 95 % of the time so he does get in and out of the cage. Is he untameable? Anyone have any advice on how I get this little guy to like me and trust me? I have had him for 2 months now.


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## Birdigirl (Jul 19, 2016)

your budgies are Gorgeous, so you think Whisper might be wild and is not going to tame? I think he is already taming...yes he is talking back to you which means he is relating to you and in two months for a budgie who was placed in a cage and ignored before you got him thats a major step forward. im guessing that he also views hands as something that grabs him and not as a friendly perch. when hes in his cage place your hand where he can see it at a distance and a level either inside the cage or outside the cage that he is comfortable with and hold it as still as you can for as long as you can for no more than 10mins at a time but it can be less than 10 mins just dont move quickly and while doing this just chat to him softly. Birds learn by observation and it is by observing your hand that is moving slowly to the spot where it rests for up to 10 mins and then slowly moves away without threatening him that Whisper will accept it as normal and safe and then slowly begin to accept it nearer and nearer until at last your hand is inside the cage almost like a perch... take things just as slowly from that point and let him come to you ...at first it might only be a fleeting touch as he flys over your hand barely touching it...this is testing you to see if you are safe so let him take his time at this stage and only move to the next stage ever so slowly at his pace...all this may takes some time and a lot of patience and dometimes you will think you are making no progress but you are even though you dont know it. I think you have made a Great start with Whisper and you are already making progress with him . Well Done. keep it nice and slow and by making your hand a normal slow moving and stationary perch he is slowly learning too that your hand is safe.


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## Jenalibre (Aug 6, 2016)

Thank you for the advice, I am going to try it out. It breaks my heart to see him so scared.


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## mexicoandice (Sep 15, 2015)

Hi, I couldn't help but notice that the cage you have them in is extremely tiny. Is this the cage they are always in? If so, you need to move them to a bigger cage immediately. The minimum cage size for four parakeets is 34x18x25, I believe.

Sicerely,

mexicoandice


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## lbeckman (Jun 26, 2016)

I am finding that spray millet is the way to many a budgie's heart. Once one budgie will eat spray millet from my hand, the others see that it is safe to do so. I have gotten very adept at holding multiple small clumps of millet in my hand at once so that I can feed several at the same time. :blink: It can get a little chaotic. One of my Wild Ones has progressed to being willing to stand on the back of hand while eating millet. :biggrin1:


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## Jenalibre (Aug 6, 2016)

that is not the only cage i have a much bigger one but i leave the doors open and sometimes they prefer to be in the smaller one. during the day i let them decide then at night i put them in the bigger cage, the door is shut in the pic but it was only so i could get a good pic of Whisper


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*Whisper is a beautiful little fellow! 

I agree with Birdigirl that he is already making progress. :thumbsup:

You might want to take a look at these threads -- the processes described have worked for several of our members.

http://talkbudgies.com/taming-bonding/339058-how-tame-budgie-who-afraid-people.html

http://talkbudgies.com/taming-bonding/237105-using-positive-reinforcement-training.html*


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## StarlingWings (Mar 15, 2013)

They are beautiful  

I do agree completely that Whisper certainly has already shown some improvement. By treating him like a completely new bird in the way of hand taming, and going at his pace always, I believe that he will become more used to you and more trusting over time  

Best of luck! :fingerx:


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## Zeppurah (Sep 16, 2015)

Hi -- I have a female budgie who we thought was untameable. My wife gave up on Rikki after 3 months of frustration. I started working with her four times a day in a walk-in closet. I had to take her cage apart to get her to come out. I would get on the floor in a corner and work with a perch trying to get her to step up. After a week she started getting onto the perch. After another week she would get from the perch to my finger. Then I would get her directly onto my finger. I then got her to ride out of the cage on the perch, then onto my finger. This took a month of four-a-day sessions. It took at least another month to get her to come out of the cage on my finger. Now she is quite tame and a great companion. I have since gotten another bird, this time a male, who only took a week to finger tame. The point is that patience and persistence will eventually pay off even with the most stubborn budgie.


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