• Welcome to Avian Avenue! To view our forum with less advertisments please register with us.
    Memberships are free and it will just take a moment. Click here

Is there a safe, low-stress way to catch and towel a budgie in a large cage or aviary?

Kassiani

Biking along the boulevard
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
9/12/20
Messages
6,832
Location
Southeastern U.S.
I'm working on recall training with my budgies, but if they don't want to come to me, they don't. I will start syringe training them soon, but I doubt they will ever just perch someplace and let me file their claws. So, I will ultimately need to towel them for that. (FYI, I do have pumice safety perches for them, but those only go so far).

They will come to me for millet, but if I make a move with the other hand they will fly away. I have had to chase them around the flight cage in the past to towel them and transfer them to a carrier or give them medication. I'd like to keep this to a dull roar if at all possible. Is there some way to work with budgies so that this process will be much less stressful? What has worked for you and your budgies?
 

Kassiani

Biking along the boulevard
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
9/12/20
Messages
6,832
Location
Southeastern U.S.
Any chance you can lure them into a small cage with the millet and close the door? Then into a darkened room for toweling from the small cage.
I did that to get them into the travel cage for the trip. I haven’t tried since then to see if they would go into it again. They’re pretty smart and know when something’s up!
 

Karen

Biking along the boulevard
Avenue Veteran
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
10/22/09
Messages
5,041
I did that to get them into the travel cage for the trip. I haven’t tried since then to see if they would go into it again. They’re pretty smart and know when something’s up!
Did they view their outing as a bad thing? This might be something you may want to do often, with jackpot rewards and varying outcomes.
 

Clueless

Joyriding the Neighborhood
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Avenue Concierge
Joined
11/3/12
Messages
24,021
Did they view their outing as a bad thing? This might be something you may want to do often, with jackpot rewards and varying outcomes.
I agree. I would take the amazons on trips to the yard for sunshine. They liked looking around and I stayed with them in their travel cages out there.

Give high value treats when they're in the travel cage. Treat to get them in there and then transport them somewhere different (even if it's just in the house). Try to make it fun for them to be in that travel cage. Treat them in the cage once you get to the new spot/room.
 

BirdWorld

Rollerblading along the road
Joined
5/22/20
Messages
2,953
Location
The Bird World
Any chance you can lure them into a small cage with the millet and close the door? Then into a darkened room for toweling from the small cage.
Hmm, is there a chance this could teach them that travel cage = toweled? Even if you teach them to love it before trying to towel, what if they develop a fear of the cage?
 

Karen

Biking along the boulevard
Avenue Veteran
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
10/22/09
Messages
5,041
Hmm, is there a chance this could teach them that travel cage = toweled? Even if you teach them to love it before trying to towel, what if they develop a fear of the cage?
What’s your suggestion?
 

Kassiani

Biking along the boulevard
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
9/12/20
Messages
6,832
Location
Southeastern U.S.
Is that better or worse than the flight cage becoming associated with toweling? At least there would be less stress from chasing them around in a smaller space because it would not take as long. @BirdWorld if you have any better ideas, I’m all ears!

This particular travel cage has never been used to transport them to the vet, and if most of their experiences are good, then at least it’s positive on balance. They received lots of treats and attention on the trip (Nutraberry and millet extravaganza) so I think it was positive overall.
 
Last edited:

Guava123

Walking the driveway
Joined
11/1/20
Messages
165
You could ask them to step up onto your hand and into the perch in the dog crate to transport them from one place to the next.
 

Kassiani

Biking along the boulevard
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
9/12/20
Messages
6,832
Location
Southeastern U.S.
You could ask them to step up onto your hand and into the perch in the dog crate to transport them from one place to the next.
I can get them to step up on my hand, but they get scared and fly off when I approach a carrier. I can ask them to perch on their play gym, but they are reluctant to stand on flat surfaces like the countertop of a table. We are a work in progress.
 

Kassiani

Biking along the boulevard
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
9/12/20
Messages
6,832
Location
Southeastern U.S.
As it turns out, I have to take them to the vet this week to be tested for psittacosis. This is a requirement of the rescue before bringing any bird home. We have an appointment on Thursday morning. So, I don't have enough time to work on getting them more comfortable with the larger carrier. Unfortunately, I am going to have to go through the rodeo of catching them and placing them in the carrier. I may use their hospital carrier/crate so that they don't associate the larger carrier with the vet. I want to use it to let them get some air and sunshine.

I know....I just have to put my big girl pants on and do it. It just makes me sad because we have made such progress with them coming to me when I call. I'm pretty sure that this will set us back quite a bit. But they will be rewarded with Nutri-berries when we get home on Thursday!
 

Kassiani

Biking along the boulevard
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
9/12/20
Messages
6,832
Location
Southeastern U.S.
Can you reward when they're in the crate instead?
I will, but just a bit of millet. This particular appointment is at 8:30 am and the test involves a crop swab as well as a cloacal swab, poor men! I don’t want their little crops to be full for the test. If having a full crop interferes with the test, I don’t want them to have to sit at the vet office waiting for the crops to empty.
 

Nikki&jooj

Meeting neighbors
Joined
10/4/20
Messages
25
Real Name
Nikki
What about target training? Maybe you can target them to go inside that way?
 

Kassiani

Biking along the boulevard
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
9/12/20
Messages
6,832
Location
Southeastern U.S.
A lesson in just how cautious and clever budgies can be:

I set up the travel cage last night, and left it in the kitchen so it would be ready for the vet trip this morning for their tests. Unfortunately, I had to call and reschedule because a city crew has been installing new water lines on my street and chose this morning to fix the end of my driveway that they broke. So....I'm stuck at the house today.

My morning routine with them now is to roll them into the kitchen, weigh them, and feed them breakfast on their play stand (encouraging the to come out of their cage). Well, they came out of their cage to be weighed but were very skittish! And, they wouldn't eat their breakfast on the gym. I had to put it in their cage.

So, they don't associate anything smaller than their flight cage positively. :shakehead:

I'm really not sure how I'm going to overcome this with them. I just don't know that there is enough millet in the world for this!
 

Clueless

Joyriding the Neighborhood
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Avenue Concierge
Joined
11/3/12
Messages
24,021
Mom and Dad wound up with a beagle/bassett hound mix. Not by choice. Billy moved in with them rather deviously.

Dad decided he'd get his shots when the vet traveled through and told me that in advance.

The day the vet traveled through, Billy sat on the hill above the farm and didn't come home until the vet was gone. Their farm was in the middle of nowhere and that vet was going to be at a location a few miles away from them.

We fail to realize that animals HAVE to be cautious and clever to live.

Dad got Billy in the car that day and drove him further away..... but he got his shots. I dearly loved that dog.
 

Kassiani

Biking along the boulevard
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
9/12/20
Messages
6,832
Location
Southeastern U.S.
Well, that was the usual rodeo. I’m sitting in my car at the vets while the boys have their psittacosis test. I can’t catch them using my hands when they are in the flight cage. They are too fast, and there is too much room. So, I have to net them when they are holding on to the side of the cage. I hate doing it. Hate, hate, hate it!!! But, it gets the job done. And they were given plenty of treats once in their travel cage.

We have a lot of work to do, and trust to be regained so that they will voluntarily go where I ask them.
 
Top