A couple weeks ago, I brought this delightful little budgie home from the pet store. Vanya is young, under three months as he has not had his first molt. His head strips still go down to his cere. I am so grateful for all the tips and advice that I have received simply by reading this forum's threads, and going back pages and pages. I am new here and do not know how to tag people to give them credit, so forgive me for not doing so. I do prefer when possible to give credit where credit is due. So if someone can tell me how to tag someone, that would be appreciated.
Anyway, as I am new to discovering just how extremely intelligent and talented my little budgie is I am willing to "experiment" a bit, to see just how much he can learn from via "monkey see, monkey do" as John on here put it. The only way I have to do that is via You Tube videos. I think that they DO actually seem to help.
At first, the clicker's noise was scary. It took a bit for him to get desensitize him to the sound of it. So, our first few days with the clicker were just click and treat. And sometimes we back up to just click and treat and usually warm up with about 3 or 4 of them. He gets 1-3 bites now during the warm ups. I actually watched a video and counted bites that were given so I could know what to do.
For the past week, I have been working with clickers and started target training with a chopstick. Vanya is doing very very well. One of his big rewards is his cyber buddies - the talking budgies and playing buddies he gets to watch throughout the day. He loves his "friends." I figured that while he learns to trust me, and gets used to life here. He could have some carefully selected bird friends via the internet. I had heard/read that another bird especially one of his own species can teach him to speak much easier than I can, so while I am talking to him also, his friends talk to him all day long. He has already started to mumble a bit.
I had been able to give him millet from a spray of it, keeping it at a distance to him. And he also was only stretching or taking a step or two toward it at the very most. That was even this morning. I had tried to put my other hand in, to desensitize him to it, but it seemed to make him nervous. He had, on different occasions when I would try the other hand in there just resting between the stick and him, touched my hand with his mouth. And of course, for his bravery he would be clicked and rewarded, even though he checked out my hand rather than the stick.
There were also times it seemed that he didn't really understand what the point of these interactions were. And even when I got home he wasn't that interested in doing a full 5 minutes. We did a set of beak the stick and get a treat. Then the phone rang, most likely a sales call. but, he was not interested in continuing after we took a few minute break. We would only do maybe 10 reps at most and he would get a couple bites of millet each time. Then take a break. Then normally do another 5-8 reps.
So, I turned to the internet to see about clicker training and target training. And taming.
Late this afternoon, I found some clicker training videos - showing birds doing the target training with a chop stick. All of these activities are happening inside the cage for Vanya. But, the budgies in the video, like most of his talking and playing cyber buddies, got to be out of their cages and seemed excited about the clicker games they were playing. Vanya got to watch birds eating out of their owner's hand, being hand fed little seeds of millet, as well as flying to the shoulder of their owner, flying back to the cage, getting to eat more millet, identifying a colored milk jug cap from other colors, eating more millet, riding a little cart, eating more millet, being praised. He also got to hear the verbal cues.
After we watched about 15 minutes or so of that, I told him it was his turn. This time, he was interested and wanted to do it. I got brave and offered a much smaller piece of millet, like a very large cluster. He was more brave about taking that from my hand. Then, I made sure to include a taming video that showed a budgie eating from the owner's hand along with his cyber buddies (it takes about an hour to go through all the different friends of his). I put that on while I went to church.
Tonight after we watched a regular movie, when I was putting out all the lights, about 9 pm. He seemed to want a bit of interaction, so we did another 5 minute session. This time, I used a small cluster and he followed the stick a much farther distance - like a good 5" or so each time. Once, he even crossed the cage to beak the stick. And after the taming and training videos, I opened the big doors, rather than the smaller ones, so that Vanya and I could do our session. The bigger doors open differently. They don't "jar" the cage like the smaller ones do due to the hump that secures the door.
I think that when he saw and heard other birds doing what we were trying to accomplish, that he realized that the stick is the key to getting to do more interesting things. In fact, in one of the videos, the budgies, each on command, raise their wings to the back. I noticed that Vanya seeing them do that, raised his too. I had noticed that often he would get in the same position as the budgie in the video. Not all the time, but sometimes. I also noticed that at first he had been climbing on the sides of the cage more and doing somersaults when excited, but since none of the budgies in the videos do that, he runs up and down his spiral rope perch, ---- they run around on their feet or fly.
I am so happy with his progress. I think he is doing really really well. He is a smart little guy. He is just wonderful. I am not in a hurry. I know that when he is ready and feels more comfortable, he will step up and back down. And one day, he will get to fly, outside his cage. In fact, one phrase that one of his buddies says is "open my cage"
Again, I am so grateful for this forum. As Vanya progresses, I will make some videos. It will be fun to document his progress.
Anyway, as I am new to discovering just how extremely intelligent and talented my little budgie is I am willing to "experiment" a bit, to see just how much he can learn from via "monkey see, monkey do" as John on here put it. The only way I have to do that is via You Tube videos. I think that they DO actually seem to help.
At first, the clicker's noise was scary. It took a bit for him to get desensitize him to the sound of it. So, our first few days with the clicker were just click and treat. And sometimes we back up to just click and treat and usually warm up with about 3 or 4 of them. He gets 1-3 bites now during the warm ups. I actually watched a video and counted bites that were given so I could know what to do.
For the past week, I have been working with clickers and started target training with a chopstick. Vanya is doing very very well. One of his big rewards is his cyber buddies - the talking budgies and playing buddies he gets to watch throughout the day. He loves his "friends." I figured that while he learns to trust me, and gets used to life here. He could have some carefully selected bird friends via the internet. I had heard/read that another bird especially one of his own species can teach him to speak much easier than I can, so while I am talking to him also, his friends talk to him all day long. He has already started to mumble a bit.
I had been able to give him millet from a spray of it, keeping it at a distance to him. And he also was only stretching or taking a step or two toward it at the very most. That was even this morning. I had tried to put my other hand in, to desensitize him to it, but it seemed to make him nervous. He had, on different occasions when I would try the other hand in there just resting between the stick and him, touched my hand with his mouth. And of course, for his bravery he would be clicked and rewarded, even though he checked out my hand rather than the stick.
There were also times it seemed that he didn't really understand what the point of these interactions were. And even when I got home he wasn't that interested in doing a full 5 minutes. We did a set of beak the stick and get a treat. Then the phone rang, most likely a sales call. but, he was not interested in continuing after we took a few minute break. We would only do maybe 10 reps at most and he would get a couple bites of millet each time. Then take a break. Then normally do another 5-8 reps.
So, I turned to the internet to see about clicker training and target training. And taming.
Late this afternoon, I found some clicker training videos - showing birds doing the target training with a chop stick. All of these activities are happening inside the cage for Vanya. But, the budgies in the video, like most of his talking and playing cyber buddies, got to be out of their cages and seemed excited about the clicker games they were playing. Vanya got to watch birds eating out of their owner's hand, being hand fed little seeds of millet, as well as flying to the shoulder of their owner, flying back to the cage, getting to eat more millet, identifying a colored milk jug cap from other colors, eating more millet, riding a little cart, eating more millet, being praised. He also got to hear the verbal cues.
After we watched about 15 minutes or so of that, I told him it was his turn. This time, he was interested and wanted to do it. I got brave and offered a much smaller piece of millet, like a very large cluster. He was more brave about taking that from my hand. Then, I made sure to include a taming video that showed a budgie eating from the owner's hand along with his cyber buddies (it takes about an hour to go through all the different friends of his). I put that on while I went to church.
Tonight after we watched a regular movie, when I was putting out all the lights, about 9 pm. He seemed to want a bit of interaction, so we did another 5 minute session. This time, I used a small cluster and he followed the stick a much farther distance - like a good 5" or so each time. Once, he even crossed the cage to beak the stick. And after the taming and training videos, I opened the big doors, rather than the smaller ones, so that Vanya and I could do our session. The bigger doors open differently. They don't "jar" the cage like the smaller ones do due to the hump that secures the door.
I think that when he saw and heard other birds doing what we were trying to accomplish, that he realized that the stick is the key to getting to do more interesting things. In fact, in one of the videos, the budgies, each on command, raise their wings to the back. I noticed that Vanya seeing them do that, raised his too. I had noticed that often he would get in the same position as the budgie in the video. Not all the time, but sometimes. I also noticed that at first he had been climbing on the sides of the cage more and doing somersaults when excited, but since none of the budgies in the videos do that, he runs up and down his spiral rope perch, ---- they run around on their feet or fly.
I am so happy with his progress. I think he is doing really really well. He is a smart little guy. He is just wonderful. I am not in a hurry. I know that when he is ready and feels more comfortable, he will step up and back down. And one day, he will get to fly, outside his cage. In fact, one phrase that one of his buddies says is "open my cage"
Again, I am so grateful for this forum. As Vanya progresses, I will make some videos. It will be fun to document his progress.