I have a very angry, antisocial, (scared?) budgie. Any insight?

[alarmingparrots]

Sweet Pea is a one and a half-year-old blue budgie. She is beautiful, and fancies herself a princess. The problem is, she seems to hate me, as well as any other person she ever sees.
She screams and bites constantly, and tries to fly away, often putting herself in the path of danger. I care very deeply for her, and her cagemate, Kiwi, the green one. She also eats almost constantly. We took her to the Vet yesterday, and they say she's incredibly healthy. Is there any way I can make her trust me more?

Here is a picture of them. Sorry it's so small...

[KimM]

Patience, patience, patience! Does she have a favorite treat or toy? Perhaps you could have her cagemate, Kiwi, play with you as well and she eventually will figure out you're not going to hurt her. It just takes time.

[tielfan]

Trust has to be earned, and food bribery is an excellent way to change a bird's attitude toward you. Drop a small piece of her favorite treat in the cage every time you approach it, or hold a piece of spray millet in your hand for her to eat (assuming that she already recognizes it as a wonderful treat). Millet spray is a good treat to start with because it's long and the bird can nibble on it without getting too close to your hand. As her confidence grows you can shorten your grip so the fingers get closer. Once you've reached the point where she'll actually eat out of your hand, you can go to smaller treats if you like. Use the treat to slowly lure her up onto your hand.

If you really want to go all the way, you could get into clicker training or some other form of positive reinforcement training.

[svolk]

As the others have said - it's all about time and patience. Sometimes it's a slow-go earning a budgie's trust, and it can take weeks or months. Talk to her often in a calm and soothing voice and sit by her and talk, read to her, sing to her, eat something next to her. At first just speak to her and don't try to handle her. Any time you're near her talk to her and if you're doing something, explain what you're doing.

Remember that whatever energy you're projecting she will feed off of - so YOU have to be calm. If you're frustrated that it's not going as quickly as you'd like, she will also get frustrated. Being calm goes a long way. And not pushing her beyond her comfort zone goes a long way too. Allow her to come to you - in general budgies are curious and will be very nosy and wonder what you're doing or what you have. Make things fun around her, but in a calm manner.

[MiniMama]

I"m just wondering - is your vet an avian vet? If not, find one. I"m thinking that the bird could have a problem that is causing it to do that (maybe an injury??)

[alarmingparrots]

Yes, she's very reliable, and one of the best-trusted avian vets in Denver...

[tamfromtn]

my bird always runs to her food and starts eating when I get close to her cage. I thought maybe it's a security thing.

[Oscars Mom]

Alot of parakeets are like that .My birds are not afraid of me but EVERY time I go near the cage the female trys to bite me.Like when I feed them or just put my hand on the side of the cage. Its very disapointing I think im going to rehome them to someyone that doesnt want to handle or play with their birds.

[alarmingparrots]

She's not angry-- just antisocial, I think.