My budgies not tamed?

Question

I have two budgies one is a girl and one is a boy. The girl bites whenever i put my hand in the cage and her bites hurt a lot so i' afraid of bringing my hand close to her. but i talk to her a lot and i try to hold her as much as possible. Same as my boy bord he doesn't bite but he's very afraid of my hand and i try to hold him but he flys away from me and i also talk to him a lot it doesn't work. I've also tried feeding them some millet spray with my hand but it still doesn't work. What should I do?

Answer 1

it might be because they have bonded to each other...

the only thing you can really do is seporate them, but that can also lead to problems, because they might get depressed because their "mate" was taken away.

if you got them at the same pet store, at the same time, from the same cage chances are that they're either brother and sister and were close from birth, or they bonded because they're the only 2 birds in a house of strangers.

what you should do is take one bird out at a time and take them in another room, away from the other one. you take the bird and hold it up against your hear lightly, stroking the back of their heads in an upwards fashon, not smoothing the feathers but roughing them up a bit. spend about 15 minutes a day with each of them, but seporately.

the best thing for you to do is to get 2 cages and put them side by side so they can see each other and "talk" but still be seporated enough for you to train them.

when they do somehting good either give them millet in their cage to re-enforce the good behavior or you can give them chillie seeds, or even a dried chillie.

another thing birds like is a bath, so when you're spending time with them, fill up a sink with about 1/4- 1/2 inch of just flean water, scoop the water in your hand and gently splash them, as you do this talk to them in a calm, cool voice. they'll *** ociate the time with you with good things. give them a treat after the experience.

Answer 2

Two birds will bond with each other instead of you. Separate them and put them together at night. Sit quietly by the cage and talk softly with a treat in your hand and use a keyword. Do this a lot. The bird may take the treat. Next open the cage door, have the treat in your hand and say the key word. Let the bird come to you. Do this frequently. After 4days to2 weeks, let the bird come out and offer a hand held perch always with the treat and same key word. Lastly, offer your finger as a perch.Birds like to be talked to like they are babies or small children.Give them a good pellet food with 10% seed and 10% fruits and veggies. All seed diets lead to malnutrition. Work with these keets separately to tame them or their concentration and willingness to learn may not be there. Have a tweet year.

Answer 3

Females tend to more agressive than males, so keep that in mind. From my own experience (and from what I've read in books and online), it is very hard to properly tame a pair since they are distracted by each other. You may have some success separating them as the other posters have suggested.

One of my relatives owned a pair and they were able to tame the male fairly well, but the female was much more territorial and tried to attack them if they put their hand too close. The female seemed to learn from the male and eventually picked up enough confidence to climb around the outside of the cage and sit on top.

Patience will be the key thing to getting them tamed. I'm not sure about a pair but in my experience of handling a bird on its own, I've had more success with getting the bird used to being handled inside the cage and then slowly bringing them out of the cage but always keeping the cage nearby. The reason for this is because they see the cage as a form of protection. So allowing them to return to the cage (even to sit on top of it) at first is ok so that they build up their confidence.

Just take it slowly and try not to use any sudden movements that could scare the birds. I definitely recommend gloves for handling them - you will need to take a bit more care though so that they aren't injured when handling them. When taming my pet cockateil I started off using gloves until it got used to me. I used a similar approach for a lorikeet: gloves at first until I got him used to sitting on my hand. I had to bribe him with his food to get him to sit on my though lol.

Some people argue over clipping the wings, but if its done properly (by an experienced breeder or vet) then I believe that it will help once you can get the bird(s) out of the cage.

Good luck ;)

Answer 4

What worked for me, although I had a single bird and that might have made it easier. Do nothing to stress your birds, even if you are anxious to play with them..initially they need to trust their surroundings and feel safe in their new home. For all practical purposes ignore them..they are busy getting used to the day to day noise of the house. One day when you are free..get a good book and be prepared to wait. Come as close as you can without causing a stir, then sit. Open the door of the cage and then sit. Place your hand in the cage, then sit. Each time waiting for them to take a relaxed posture and resume normal (preening....) activities. Look away and just wait, when they become relaxed move closer until your hand is resting beside them, they may become curious and nibble, if they become hostile just back up. This took me an entire day...but I had 9 years of an affectionate and trusting bird to enjoy.

Answer 5

try separating them. if you have more than one bird in a cage together they will bond with one another and they don't need you for attention. just like a dog, a bird can sense fear. when she bites you and you pull away, that shows her all she has to do is bite you and you will leave her alone. if she latches on, try your hardest not to show pain or aggression. that kind of behavior will not be tolerated. you have to gain her trust also and it could take months to years to do this. if a bird feels threatened by you they won't want anything to do with you. it takes time and patience. you know you are not going to do them any harm but they don't know that so they run. all you can do is keep talking to her and him, try separating them into different cages and you might have a little more luck with them. plus some birds just don't like to be handled at all. an example is finches, parakeets, canaries. you can handle them yes, bu tit might take you a while to get to that stage. just keep trying.

Answer 6

I've had the same experience. Try putting on something soft on your hand such as an oven mit. Then let her bite that. After a while she will learn to accept it and then not bite. A bird will always warn first before biting so be sure to be careful. Then they will start to accept you as one of the "flock". Hope this helps.

Answer 7

paris_my_... and Jennifer B have it pretty much.

Don't expect your birds to trust you right away. They need time to get used to everything. Be patient, take it one step at a time. Don't force them on your hand. When I got my budgie about 3 months ago, she was very afraid of my hand. About 2-3 weeks later she realized that all my hand did was give her food, she started going to me. That's when I started to hold her and encouraged her to go on my fingers. Now, everytime I open her cage (or I let her out) and extend my finger out, she jumps (or flies) on it.

I found this (http://www.lisashea.com/petinfo/articles/bird_hand.html ) website very helpful.

Answer 8

you ought to commence education at the same time as they're very few weeks previous .i do not imagine they're going to talk now yet when you're very affected man or woman and easy with them and boost their self assurance try to be ready to address them. save putting your hand contained in the cage and do not rigidity them talk quietly and then per chance contact their foot or less than the chin.you may ought to persevere it ought to take a lengthy time period regardless of the reality that usually some birds do purely not like being dealt with.