[usamma]

Hi! I am a newish budgie owner. I had some as a kid but that was ages ago and I don't remember much. I bought a male and female budgie at a store that specializes in birds and has a good reputation. The owner had some parrots in the back that he was rehabing because they had been neglected and were pulling feathers. He also pointed out one bird that belonged to a celeb that was being boarded. He seemed like a real bird expert. All the birds except the rehabs were looking great-- lots of different kinds of parrots and such.

Both budgies came to me young but not tame. The owner (can't remember his name) showed me how he wrote a chapter in a bird book that tells how to touch tame budgies. I did not buy the book, but I took his advice. Basically catch them as gently as possible, hold them (one at a time) in a cradle hold against your torso until they calm down. Then slowly cradle them in two hands until they calm down and relax. I tried it with both of the birds and within a week they were not fearful of me, were riding on my finger and my shoulder. One of them learned to step up in just a week. The other one took three weeks. Both are very people friendly now. I've only had them about 3 months. If we put them on the floor to run around they will come to a finger to get back up on it when we offer it, even coming towards it. They step up on a finger to be brought out of the cage. The female loves to snuggle.

Now I am reading here and other places to train slowly, put hand in cage, withdraw, build trust over a longer period of time. I found a stray budgie on Sunday and she was terrified of me. I could not get near the cage without her fluttering all over the place and doing those scared/angry sounds, especially when I opened ito fill her food dish. She is also a good biter. If hse happened to bump into my hand in her fluttering around, she would bite me hard and hang on and grind her beak into my flesh (ouch!). I decided yesterday to try to get her to calm down. I tried the technique again that I described above. It's been about 24 hours and I've had about six sessions with her, just cuddling her close. Now she is not afraid of my hand in the cage as long as I'm slow about it. Out of the cage she kept me company on my desk while I studied this evening. When it was time to put her back I slowly moved towards her and she let me scoop her up and then snuggled into my two hands and was looking very comfortable. She has not bitten me at all this evening or made those angry/scared sounds.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this method of taming, and see if anyone else has tried it. Pros and cons? Obviously would not work with bigger birds.