Best Way To Tame A Budgie?

[Songbirds]

Hello everyone!
So i have a budgie, a young budgie at that and i wondered how to tame her.
I have had her for about two weeks, and i'm trying to think of whats the best way to do it because i tamed my other bird, Nemo but he was hand raised so i used different methods and it was easier than with this new budgie. Anyone able to give me advice about it? I tried keeping my hand in the cage with millet, but she didnt want to dare to eat from my hand. Please help! She has the potential to be a wonderful, tamed bird that i can bond with.

 

[Lady Jane]

Best way is slowly. Be present in the birds company often, read to your new baby from a picture book it can see with you. Repetition and consistency important. How is this budgie acting when it sees your hands? Always have a treat in your hands like millet. Perch training is good in the beginning instead of your finger. Good luck. Can we see your new bird?

 

[Songbirds]

Best way is slowly. Be present in the birds company often, read to your new baby from a picture book it can see with you. Repetition and consistency important. How is this budgie acting when it sees your hands? Always have a treat in your hands like millet. Perch training is good in the beginning instead of your finger. Good luck. Can we see your new bird?

Thank you so much for your reply, I'll try it out! And here's the bird

 

[Lady Jane]

She is golden faced lady. Very cute.

 

[GreenThing]

Anything I say is just sharing, not advice, because I am only on week three with my baby boy, but it is remarkable how sensitive he is to the tone and pitch of my voice. Lots of cheerful talking and sharing, including when I'm introducing something new or potentially scary. When he gets scared, he freezes and goes silent, so it makes sense for me to especially do the OPPOSITE when he seems scared, to show him there is nothing dangerous to avoid. It really does seem to help!

I try to move in suuuper sloooow mooootion the closer I get to him, too. The same gesture made slowly vs. quickly gets a very different response.

 

[Songbirds]

Anything I say is just sharing, not advice, because I am only on week three with my baby boy, but it is remarkable how sensitive he is to the tone and pitch of my voice. Lots of cheerful talking and sharing, including when I'm introducing something new or potentially scary. When he gets scared, he freezes and goes silent, so it makes sense for me to especially do the OPPOSITE when he seems scared, to show him there is nothing dangerous to avoid. It really does seem to help!

I try to move in suuuper sloooow mooootion the closer I get to him, too. The same gesture made slowly vs. quickly gets a very different response.

Wow! That's wonderful, i'll definitely do that! Thank you so much

 

[kayosa]

Have patience, it’s best to let the birds make the next move. Don’t get excited when they do, you may scare them lol.
I used a spray of millet to tame my skittish bird. Start with holding it at the base and as they become comfortable with eating slowly make it shorter until your bird is eating comfortably near your hand. Then you can use it as a lure for them to step up onto your hand. May take months, I’ve had my Yuki for six months and she's still skittish.

 

[Lady Jane]

Watch some of the YouTube Disco videos of when and how his owner taught him to talk. She got right up in his face and use tons of expression.

 

[GreenThing]

Watch some of the YouTube Disco videos of when and how his owner taught him to talk. She got right up in his face and use tons of expression.

Yes! And it's really fun to experiment with this! Trying different notes and sounds and watching their body language to see what they react to! It's really different than dogs and cats, I'm amazed every day. When people say budgies are "skittish" it really does seem to be motion-specific (being a tiny prey animal that goes to ground to forage they need to be especially vigilant to when they need to take upward flight). Volume or excitement of tone only seem to upset my guy if they are coming suddenly out of silence-- he deals better with new sounds layered into familiar sounds. I might work to determine a comfortable distance (the closest you can get before the bird tries to make some motion to step away from you or tense for flight), then pause there and sing and chatter away. Anything that reinforces presence =/= threat. And know that some motions (like passing anything over their heads) can be instinctively taken as a threat no matter how much progress you've made or how comfortable they are with your hands.

My guy was hand-tame (but parent fed), like your other bird, but he'd had zero human interaction for a week or so before he went home with me. On his first night (after a four hour drive and no evening meal) he flew up in a panic to perch on my closet door. I moved like molasses-- the way I'd move trying to observe a wild animal, but kept chattering away, and was able to move the object he was sitting on over to his cage. Before I even tried to move it, though, I just sat underneath him and talked and talked in a chipper voice, until I saw a significant change in his body languge. I'm learning from each day and from the experienced folks here that even when it seems like nothing is happening, a lot is going on in a bird's mind. You mentioned yours wouldn't take millet with your hand in the cage, but every second that passes without her moving away from your hand is a second she is learning that you aren't a threat. The stakes are so high for her! If she is wrong about you, that means instant, inescapable death. The longer you can stretch out a peaceful moment, the more you are reinforcing her cautious trust in you.

What do you remember about taming your first bird? I'm really curious about the differences because my guy is hand-tame, and I have considered adding another a year or so down the road.

 

[Songbirds]

UPDATE: My budgie is more comfortable when she sits on my hand, however will fly away eventually.
GOOD PROGRESS! I used a lot of advice given to me, like tone of voice, perch training, millet,etc and thank you so much!

 

[Lady Jane]

What do you remember about taming your first bird?

I am so impressed by your motivation and excitement in providing all kinds of enrichment for your budgie. My first English Budgie was a very good talker. When I think back I did not do repetitive words, just the daily words I used often like "step up" and "here you go" when getting him on my hand. He quickly learned to say just ordinary words in a few days time. He love to talk to the bird in the mirror too even though he always had a cage mate which is so important in a budgie's life. Re-watching the old videos I can still ear words I did not know he was saying. Some budgies do not talk and some do. I do not know why this happens. Are they born talkers?

All the many budgies I have had were from a breeder except for 1 or 2. I still see no difference between hand raised or parent raised. I don't think it matters. They are quick learners if you are patient, consistent and gentle.

 

[Lady Jane]

Sadly Chipper died about 2 years of age due to Avian Gastric Yeast or AGY. If I have any advice for you it is not to feed your bird corn, especially fresh. Without a long involved store I think it was the cause of the yeast.

 

[alshgs]

Thank you so much for your reply, I'll try it out! And here's the bird
View attachment 386103

very cute! I love the coloring on budgies

 

[GreenThing]

I am so impressed by your motivation and excitement in providing all kinds of enrichment for your budgie. My first English Budgie was a very good talker. When I think back I did not do repetitive words, just the daily words I used often like "step up" and "here you go" when getting him on my hand. He quickly learned to say just ordinary words in a few days time. He love to talk to the bird in the mirror too even though he always had a cage mate which is so important in a budgie's life. Re-watching the old videos I can still ear words I did not know he was saying. Some budgies do not talk and some do. I do not know why this happens. Are they born talkers?

All the many budgies I have had were from a breeder except for 1 or 2. I still see no difference between hand raised or parent raised. I don't think it matters. They are quick learners if you are patient, consistent and gentle.

He's so darling! He really does look like a little lemon-colored beluga! I wonder if there has been any genetic research on "human imitator" budgies... if it is ability-based or if it depends how the budgie categorizes the human (non-threat vs. flock member). They work so hard to communicate with us... I don't want to move too quickly, but I am maybe 80% sure that I will begetting a second male in the future. Some social species still have instances of "loner" individuals in the wild, but not budgies.

 

[Sparkles99]

Glad to hear that millet is working! I picked up two large bags of the Sunseed Special millet today for just that purpose.