Taming four budgies

[Naturino]

Hi AA,

I have 4 budgies, two of them are somewhat timid but will eat out of my hand if the two others do. Rio and Coconut are willing to come flying to my hand if I have food or millets, but that's as far as I've gotten.
I'd like to be able to have them completely tame, all four. To me it seems that my last option is to split them all up, and individually tame them.

Would that be the best course of action? Or would there be an easier way?

I'd like to have them trust me to the point where I can give them scritches and what not.

 

[JayBudgiz]

I'm currently also trying to tame my budgies
If you were to separate them here are some tips!
1. When putting them in another cage, make sure they go in willingly and there is no grabbing involved. Holding them in certain ways can break their trust and scare them. Just face the cage doors together with no gaps and temp them with treats.
2. I find it easier to tame them if there is already another there. Perhaps put Rio with a timid one, and Coconut with the other.
3. Keep doing the treat exercises. Keep your hand outstretched holding the treat in your palm so the only way they get it is by sitting on you hand. When they feel comfortable you can slowly move the treat up your arm (best treat for this is spray millit. Also best to wear a sweater so they don't slip off your arm). Keep doing this for a few days or until both will fly to you.

I haven't gone much further than that so that's all the advice from me. I hope the others leave tips here so I can know too. XD
Good luck !!

 

[Naturino]

I'm currently also trying to tame my budgies
If you were to separate them here are some tips!
1. When putting them in another cage, make sure they go in willingly and there is no grabbing involved. Holding them in certain ways can break their trust and scare them. Just face the cage doors together with no gaps and temp them with treats.
2. I find it easier to tame them if there is already another there. Perhaps put Rio with a timid one, and Coconut with the other.
3. Keep doing the treat exercises. Keep your hand outstretched holding the treat in your palm so the only way they get it is by sitting on you hand. When they feel comfortable you can slowly move the treat up your arm (best treat for this is spray millit. Also best to wear a sweater so they don't slip off your arm). Keep doing this for a few days or until both will fly to you.

I haven't gone much further than that so that's all the advice from me. I hope the others leave tips here so I can know too. XD
Good luck !!

Thanks for the reply! All four get to come out of the cage and fly everyday. My plan was to borrow my mom's spare which is Dakota's previous cage where he lived with his former mate (rip).
I think it'd be a good idea to keep them in pairs, though I'm struggling to figure out how to split them up then. Rio gets along with everyone, but Coconut only cares about Rio (his brother), so I'd have to put him with the bird he gets along with the best, that isn't his brother, I guess.

 

[JayBudgiz]

Thanks for the reply! All four get to come out of the cage and fly everyday. My plan was to borrow my mom's spare which is Dakota's previous cage where he lived with his former mate (rip).
I think it'd be a good idea to keep them in pairs, though I'm struggling to figure out how to split them up then. Rio gets along with everyone, but Coconut only cares about Rio (his brother), so I'd have to put him with the bird he gets along with the best, that isn't his brother, I guess.

Sorry to hear about Dakodas mate.

What are the budgies other genders? Best to put Coconut with another boy since males are more chill than the females.
How old are they all?

 

[Zara]

Welcome to the Avenue

 

[Naturino]

Sorry to hear about Dakodas mate.

What are the budgies other genders? Best to put Coconut with another boy since males are more chill than the females.
How old are they all?

Rio and Coconut are both a year, Dakota is 2 and Bambus is 8 months. I was planning on putting Dakota with Rio since they both heavily food motivated, and Rio kinda took Dakota under his wing when he was added to the flock. Dakota is very shy and not very confident, but it seems that Rio has helped a lot with that.

Coconut is the most tame one and Bambus is a very curious little girl. Once someone takes an interest in something, she will be first one to go all out. I could see them benefitting from each other's traits, and I'm not worried about Coconut catching a crush on her.

 

[JayBudgiz]

Sounds like that's a great choice. Both pairs sound like they will benefit from one another.

Edit: I'll tag some others I know have budgies and could be able to help with tips. @Ripshod @Kiwismom

 

[Sparkles99]

I'm using bribery in the form of millet. Slowly but surely, it's working.

 

[Naturino]

I'm using bribery in the form of millet. Slowly but surely, it's working.

I can get all four on my hand with both seeds a millets, but my goal is to be able to scritch them and carry them on my shoulder. And it seems like the way to do that, is to spilt them up.

 

[Ripshod]

I don't know how much advice I can give. I decided a while ago to not actively tame or train my flock. Instead I just hang around with them and I've been accepted as a member of their flock. They come to me now, without encouragement. I do feed a little millet and get a preen now and then. The only active training I have done is getting them into travel cages. They've also come to understand bedtime as the time I start to dim the lights.
That's it. They are happy and that's all I want.

 

[Naturino]

I don't know how much advice I can give. I decided a while ago to not actively tame or train my flock. Instead I just hang around with them and I've been accepted as a member of their flock. They come to me now, without encouragement. I do feed a little millet and get a preen now and then. The only active training I have done is getting them into travel cages. They've also come to understand bedtime as the time I start to dim the lights.
That's it. They are happy and that's all I want.

Mine get to be out all day and go to bed when their lamp dims. I hang around them a lot and they'll obviously talk to me and come running if I call for them. They've started exploring my fingers when I offer millet, but I'd like them to trust me more than they do. I'd want them tame before even considering getting a cockatiel. And also for when they get stuck in situations, I'd like them to trust me enough to just come to me when I call for them.

 

[Ripshod]

Mine get to be out all day and go to bed when their lamp dims. I hang around them a lot and they'll obviously talk to me and come running if I call for them. They've started exploring my fingers when I offer millet, but I'd like them to trust me more than they do. I'd want them tame before even considering getting a cockatiel. And also for when they get stuck in situations, I'd like them to trust me enough to just come to me when I call for them.

Sounds like you're in a very similar position to me then. Trust comes with familiarity so keep doing what you're doing now, but to go further I think you should study a little about clicker training. I think that may fit nicely around your current relationship.

An Introduction to Clicker Training

I haven't seen anything here on clicker training yet, so I thought I would add something. Clicker training is a method of animal training based on operant conditioning. Operant conditioning is when animals learn because of consequences that happen after a behavior is performed. If an animal...

forums.avianavenue.com

 

[BirdWorld]

I am still in the process of taming my budgies. One will eat from my hand but the other only comes close enough for spray millet, and will step up to a perch if I hold it.
@Kiwi's Mom has a budgie and cockatiels

@Kiwismom

Wrong kiwi’s mom

 

[Pat H]

@Naturino -- WELCOME to the Avenue!!!

 

[Kiwi & Co.]

I think you should just keep trying at it, my bird Kiwi came to me used to people, but it still took me a few months to get him to fly over when called, and he still doesn’t always do that.

Whats their diet like? If you free-feed millet or they have a fully seed diet then the millet won’t be as exciting. (Not to mention that a full seed diet isn’t healthy for a pet bird)

I personally feed about 1/4 of Kiwi’s daily food in seed, and then with the added millet treats (mostly from recall training) about 1/3 of his diet is seed, and he gets chop at least once a week.

 

[Naturino]

I think you should just keep trying at it, my bird Kiwi came to me used to people, but it still took me a few months to get him to fly over when called, and he still doesn’t always do that.

Whats their diet like? If you free-feed millet or they have a fully seed diet then the millet won’t be as exciting. (Not to mention that a full seed diet isn’t healthy for a pet bird)

I personally feed about 1/4 of Kiwi’s daily food in seed, and then with the added millet treats (mostly from recall training) about 1/3 of his diet is seed, and he gets chop at least once a week.

Their diet consists of seeds, cucumber and fresh herbs. I'm trying to get them to eat other than cucumber, and so far they don't HATE broccoli. Fruits and veggies are obviously in small amounts.
They only get to eat millet spray directly from my hand, and will often fly over my head when I'm at the computer for it.
I've been looking into putting them on a pellet/seed diet instead of just seed.

They'll fly to me if I have seeds or millet, and come running when I call for them.

 

[Naturino]

Sounds like you're in a very similar position to me then. Trust comes with familiarity so keep doing what you're doing now, but to go further I think you should study a little about clicker training. I think that may fit nicely around your current relationship.

An Introduction to Clicker Training

I haven't seen anything here on clicker training yet, so I thought I would add something. Clicker training is a method of animal training based on operant conditioning. Operant conditioning is when animals learn because of consequences that happen after a behavior is performed. If an animal...

forums.avianavenue.com

Thanls for the tip, I'll go ahead and do that. I have experience in clicker training dogs and my own cat, so I won't be too hard. I think I'll still spilt them up into pairs; so a timid one with a more tame one.