miya
Strolling the yard
Hi everyone! It's been a while. The good news is, since I last posted, my budgies came off of their meds for AGY and they appear to be doing much better. They're eating more, and are wayyy noisier, making tons of chatter and singing! Not that I'm complaining 
My current dilemma is that I'm still having issues getting my budgies to come out of the cage. They step up just fine inside the cage, but if I try to take them out, they immediately hop/fly away and into the back corner. I was trying to clean some of their perches tonight, and both of them got nervous (I was using a new scrubbing pad they've never seen before) and flew out of the cage. They're okay, all doors, windows, and blinds were closed, and they wound up perching on top of the cage. Problem was, it was a nightmare trying to get them back in because they were completely terrified! Thankfully, one of my budgies is a little piggy and loves snacks so after the initial fear wore off, he caved and climbed onto my hand to get some millet and I got him back into the cage before he could take off again.
But my other little guy.. Oh man. I so much as reached for him and he took off. Twice more, he finally stayed in one spot, but every time I extended my finger, he'd back away. He'd back away from me, all toys and perches, even millet. I feel horrible because I wound up having to grab him (gently!) and move him back into the cage because he was panicking and starting to breathe pretty heavy. It was freaking me out too and I wasn't sure of what else to do at that moment.
I bought a clicker so I'm hoping starting clicker training will help with this, but does anyone else have any suggestions for what I can do to help this process? I want them to get out of their cage more and to be comfortable/enjoying it when they're out, but I'm not even sure of where to start with these two. They're also my first birds, so any advice is much appreciated.
On the bright side of this, my little guys seem to finally be having their very first molt! My carpet is covered in little white feathers right now.
My current dilemma is that I'm still having issues getting my budgies to come out of the cage. They step up just fine inside the cage, but if I try to take them out, they immediately hop/fly away and into the back corner. I was trying to clean some of their perches tonight, and both of them got nervous (I was using a new scrubbing pad they've never seen before) and flew out of the cage. They're okay, all doors, windows, and blinds were closed, and they wound up perching on top of the cage. Problem was, it was a nightmare trying to get them back in because they were completely terrified! Thankfully, one of my budgies is a little piggy and loves snacks so after the initial fear wore off, he caved and climbed onto my hand to get some millet and I got him back into the cage before he could take off again.
But my other little guy.. Oh man. I so much as reached for him and he took off. Twice more, he finally stayed in one spot, but every time I extended my finger, he'd back away. He'd back away from me, all toys and perches, even millet. I feel horrible because I wound up having to grab him (gently!) and move him back into the cage because he was panicking and starting to breathe pretty heavy. It was freaking me out too and I wasn't sure of what else to do at that moment.
I bought a clicker so I'm hoping starting clicker training will help with this, but does anyone else have any suggestions for what I can do to help this process? I want them to get out of their cage more and to be comfortable/enjoying it when they're out, but I'm not even sure of where to start with these two. They're also my first birds, so any advice is much appreciated.
On the bright side of this, my little guys seem to finally be having their very first molt! My carpet is covered in little white feathers right now.

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