Some people think parakeets are just little "starter birds". A pet you get because there's not a lot of monetary investment, and well, if I don't like it, it's easy to get rid of mentality, kind of the gold fish of birds so to say.
Truth is, even though parakeets are small, they are very intelligent, and have extremely good memories.
Before I got cockatiels, I got parakeets. Yes, I had a bit of the gold fish mentality. But not quite the same. I wanted a cockatiel, but could only afford a parakeet. I wanted a solid white parakeet. I got Wynter, my first, the beginning of November. I loved her the minute I saw her. I talked to her, and sat with her, I bought her toys, and the best seed I could afford.
Wynter sat very still on her perch every day, barely moving, barely eating, and when I cleaned her cage, changed her food and water, she seemed traumatized. (Sigh)
I was resigned to just having a pretty bird to talk to. I wanted her to sit on my finger, play with me, enjoy my company, but it wasn't looking good.
Fast forward to having 8 parakeets. I was in love with these birds for their beauty, sweet sounds, and would sit for hours watching them play in their cage. I scoured the internet looking for ways to train my birds while out of the cage, work with them, interact with them.
I found target training. I started working with the flock and made progress. All of my birds would step up even if it was on a perch, not my finger. Some would take treats from my hand, some would not.
Then I got cockatiels.....I was hand raising Kata, and Tyrion was still adjusting to his new home too, so the target training got less frequent with the parakeets.
If you look, I wrote a post on "sneaky trust" that sparked more and more progress with the parakeets, but target training became a cockatiel only activity....even though i enteracted with them, parakeets just had free time.
Please remember here, I have 2 tiels, and 8 parakeets, but work with another tiel, 2 African grays, 2 sun conures, an amazon, and a Quaker parrot. Between cage cleaning, feeding, enrichment and training. There just aren't enough hours in a day. I do my best for all the birds.
So to my point of my rambling....yesterday, while target training with my cockatiels, Wylla, my second parakeet, flew to the perch, and grabbed the target stick with her beak. I clicked the clicker as soon as I realized this tiny Angel REMEMBERED target training, and I gave her a treat. I realized she wanted to play, and understood how to join in.
These little darlings are highly intelligent, remember things we as humans wouldn't think they possibly could, and dont give them the credit they deserve. And I admit I couldn't believe this little one would remember target training just by watching me work with the tiels. I was astonished, and amazed, but as a bird owner, it seems every day I'm astonished and amazed by these precious little angels.
Truth is, even though parakeets are small, they are very intelligent, and have extremely good memories.
Before I got cockatiels, I got parakeets. Yes, I had a bit of the gold fish mentality. But not quite the same. I wanted a cockatiel, but could only afford a parakeet. I wanted a solid white parakeet. I got Wynter, my first, the beginning of November. I loved her the minute I saw her. I talked to her, and sat with her, I bought her toys, and the best seed I could afford.
Wynter sat very still on her perch every day, barely moving, barely eating, and when I cleaned her cage, changed her food and water, she seemed traumatized. (Sigh)
I was resigned to just having a pretty bird to talk to. I wanted her to sit on my finger, play with me, enjoy my company, but it wasn't looking good.
Fast forward to having 8 parakeets. I was in love with these birds for their beauty, sweet sounds, and would sit for hours watching them play in their cage. I scoured the internet looking for ways to train my birds while out of the cage, work with them, interact with them.
I found target training. I started working with the flock and made progress. All of my birds would step up even if it was on a perch, not my finger. Some would take treats from my hand, some would not.
Then I got cockatiels.....I was hand raising Kata, and Tyrion was still adjusting to his new home too, so the target training got less frequent with the parakeets.
If you look, I wrote a post on "sneaky trust" that sparked more and more progress with the parakeets, but target training became a cockatiel only activity....even though i enteracted with them, parakeets just had free time.
Please remember here, I have 2 tiels, and 8 parakeets, but work with another tiel, 2 African grays, 2 sun conures, an amazon, and a Quaker parrot. Between cage cleaning, feeding, enrichment and training. There just aren't enough hours in a day. I do my best for all the birds.
So to my point of my rambling....yesterday, while target training with my cockatiels, Wylla, my second parakeet, flew to the perch, and grabbed the target stick with her beak. I clicked the clicker as soon as I realized this tiny Angel REMEMBERED target training, and I gave her a treat. I realized she wanted to play, and understood how to join in.
These little darlings are highly intelligent, remember things we as humans wouldn't think they possibly could, and dont give them the credit they deserve. And I admit I couldn't believe this little one would remember target training just by watching me work with the tiels. I was astonished, and amazed, but as a bird owner, it seems every day I'm astonished and amazed by these precious little angels.
