Angry Budgie

[michelleans]

Hi,

I recently got a new 2 month old budgie. From the first day we brought him home, he was never scared and did not run from me when I tried to touch him, instead he would allow me to do what i wanted but when he didn't want me to touch him he would pick me lightly.

I have had him for two months now and he comes out of his cage everyday and flies around, he comes back to me, sits on me hands, arms, head, shoulders anywhere. He is unafraid and will fly back to me when he wants company. The problem is he will not come when I want him to come. If I press his stomach to teach him to climb onto my finger he will pick me and get angry. I must offer him some food or wait till he wants to come before he will climb on.

I've had him for 2 weeks now and 2 days ago we decided to buy him a toy as he was bored when we go out and is alone at home. When I put the toy into the cage he became even more aggressive. He sits near it and picks angrily and even when we put our hands near the cage he will come towards them and try to pick us very angrily.

I'm thinking about removing the toy altgether and see what happens. However, I do not understand why he gets so angry. We have never handled him against his will. He always comes to us. He has treats, fresh seeds, fruit and water each day, his cage is kept clean and tidy and I spend hours everyday with him out of his cage talking to him. (he would be out all day except its 37C here and I think it'd be better for both me and him if i opened the windows sometimes:) )

I thought the heat may be effecting him? But I give him water for baths regularly and he likes it.

If anyone has had a similar problem or knows how I can go about training him not to pick I'd be greatful to hear from you...

Thanks alot,

Michelle and Bunny

[svolk]

Hmmm..Try rotating new toys in for him frequently, especially if there are times you know you will be out of the house for a few hours (if you work, for example). He might need more things to keep him occuppied, always having at least a few toys is recommended if you keep a single budgie and will be out of the house periodically. Also try leaving the radio or TV on for him to listen to. I'm not sure what is causing his cage aggression with the new toy.

Something that would straighten him out right away would be to have his wings clipped. This way he would learn that he must depend on you and you can develop a relationship of trust. I have a fully flighted budgie now, but he came to us clipped and I think that it helped strengthen our relationship because he depended on me so much - depended on me to get from point A to B, and especially to "rescue" him when he would try to fly and landed on the floor.

My budgie does not come on command either, but I don't have any problems in moving him from A to B if I need to. They are pretty fiesty and independent little creatures so maybe he is simply having an attitude problem of thinking he can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. A wing clip would knock him back down to reality quickly - cause he does need to learn that you are the boss, not him.

[michelleans]

Thanks for the reply and suggestions.

However, I cannot get his wings clipped. I feel very strongly against it. If I wouldn't do it to a human then I wouldn't do it to a bird

He already relies on me to retreieve him from picture frames and the like. When he looks at something and stretches towards it I always come to help him and put him where he wants to go. He likes that. But at the same time he has his own freedom to go explore. He loves being near me, and gets angry if I put him back into his cage when im going out. He seems happy all around..

I never handle him inisde his cage only outside. I was also wondering if this would make him territorial and thus aggressive?

That was the first toy I've bought him as I've been told that the more toys they have the less interested they are in their owners, but I didn't want him to be bored when i was out. He really gets angry and picks it so hard. I wondered was it territorial..? As i placed it there after he had settled into his cage...

He is very clever and curious and I would love to teach him to talk eventually. When I talk to him he looks at me and seems to know his name already The only problem is where the aggression is coming from and how to stop it... Are they any ways anyone knows of to re enforce positive behaviour and disipline negative behaviour. I've tried voice tone, and putting him back into his cage but he continues to bite..

Thanks alot,

[svolk]

I do think that not handling him in his cage might be causing the aggression. I was just reading in another thread where a member states that his reasoning for teaching an untamed bird to learn to step up from within the cage before they even come out (which is what I did with my budgie) is to teach the bird that it is ok for hands to come into "his" cage space and clean or do other things about the cage, with or without the bird in it.

I don't think that having many toys causes budgies to lose interest in humans. I think that if anyone keeps a single budgie, since they are flock animals, it is necessary to have toys to stimulate them and prevent boredom when they are alone. Having another budgie, however, may cause the two birds to bond to each other and not the humans in their life. Same with a mirror, the budgie may bond to its reflection and think it is another bird. Just stay away from mirrors on any toys and I think you will be fine.

I work full time so during the week my birds are alone at home. I leave the radio on for them and I also rotate in one or two new toys into their cages every week (and rearrange the ones I leave in). There are 3 or 4 toys in their cages at all times. My budgie especially loves toys, he is now a very active player, swinging around on them and chewing and tugging. When he is in his cage he is constantly playing, which makes me feel better knowing he is not bored. I now have a good idea of what each of my birds like to play with so when I get them new toys I keep that in mind. I usually see something and right away say "Jerry would just LOVE that!" Bells are his favorite, anything with a big bell that he can swing around (or swing ON ) he loves. He used to be afraid of any new toys, sometimes taking a few days before he would even touch it, but we started with small toys and worked our way up and now I know what he likes, so we're all happy

If he is interested in your mouth and when you talk, that is a good sign that he is interested in talking. Not all budgies will talk, but the more he bonds to you, the more likely he will be to want to learn your language. If he rides around the house on your shoulder or head while you do things, or even if he's sitting nearby, explain things to him - explain what you're doing, or what certain objects are. Jerry loves this and I believe it helps him associate things and it just lets him hear me talk to him more. Describe things to him, his cage, his toys, or even read to him.

[tielfan]

Budgies often have an aggressive style of play and fight with their toys because they enjoy it. Consider whether your bird is attacking the toy because he truly wants to get rid of this intruder, or if this is just how he likes to entertain himself.

I used to have a female budgie who had two of those little plastic budgies in the cage. One was her "love" bird and the other was her "fight" bird, and she wouldn't have been as happy if either one had been taken away! She also was very affectionate to the people in the family and got along well with our other bird, a cockatiel, who lived in a separate cage.

[michelleans]

Thanks for the replies,

svolk:

I tried leaving the television on but when I got home it had turned itself off... or maybe Bunny had flown over and turned it off himself I'll stick a few good films on a playlist on the computer and that might work better

Bunny also really likes the bell on the toy I got him, and I will buy more toys for him. I am just worried about how aggressive he became towards us when I placed the toy in the cage..

When I talk to him he comes in close and turns his head to one side like my dog does to listen better If I talk to him while he's inside the cage I come in real close and he climbs onto the side of the cage to get to me. I describe the things I'm doing and the things he's doing too. Is it right that I should speak in the third person always? As in Bunny is eating an apple. Mammy is typing on the compter. Mammy loves Bunny... etc... I don't want him to say "Mammy loves Bunny" I want him to say "I love you" but supposedly it's alot more logical for them if we use the third person? Can your Jerry talk? He's a very handsome bird by the way

tielfan:

Well if it's his way of entertaining himself I find it very unusual When
I feel angry I know I don't enjoy it.. but do you mean that it may be fake anger? If it was just anger towards the toy then it wouldn't be so bad. However, when he picks us hard for no reason (he was sitting on my arm yesterday and all I did was move my arm and he picked me extremely hard) then I see a problem.. I want to be best of friends with him. This behaviour should be stopped...

Up to now, when he picks I have just been holding still and pretending it didn't hurt me, hoping he would realise it's pointless to pick me and that it achieves nothing, but it is continuing..

I don't want to worry or scare him, but how can I disipline him gently so that he knows I don't like it when he picks me and that I don't want him to do it?

Thanks

[kevinp]

hi michelleans, what you could try with the biting is if he is on you and bites, say NO and drop the hand/finger or arm he is on, to make him off balance. if he then bites again, say no and again put him off balance. if he bites for a third time again no and off balance him. return him to his cage and shut the door. walk away and ignore him. 5-10 mins later go back to the cage and take him out, if biting starts again do the same thing again. when he is good and dos not bite he must be praised and given a treat.
birds are not stupid in time he will understand that biting puts him in his cage.
remember when he is good praise him alot, after a while you can forget about the treat and just use the praise.

[michelleans]

Thanks,

I'll give that a go. I have his cage door open now but he's trying to sleep at the moment instead of coming out to play

He's still not stepping up when I want him to, instead of climbing onto the finger he attacks the finger.. The off balance technique can't be used to teach him not to bite while stepping up, so should I try to force him or just remove my finger and wait until he is ready...

I love him and dont want to scare or hurt him but I don't want an uncontrollable bird either..

[svolk]

Michelle,

Yes, my Jerry talks. You'll find a few threads in the Budgie section where I talk about him and what he says (I like to brag ). He does the same kind of actions as Bunny does, he leans in really close when I talk to him and tilts his head to the side, I just know he's trying to understand everything. He's really only been talking in the past few months so we're just getting started and it's really amazing!

Sometimes I speak in third person with him, but mainly I just talk to him and say "what are you doing, Jerry?" and things like that. He has been repeating things for the most part, but he is just starting to speak in context a little.

Some examples of what he says:
He LOVES saying his name, he says "Jerry-bird, Jerry is a good birdie, Jerry-budgie, Mister Jerry-birdie" - all kinds of combinations of his name and what a good birdie he is
All kinds of greetings: "heyyyyy, hi there, hello, what's up?"
He speaks in sentences sometimes and says "Jerry is a good birdie" but he will also say to me "You are a good budgie."

Just caught a new phrase the other day, I think he's been working on this lately as it sounds like something I've been hearing him practice when he mutters to himself - "Just a minute."

He will say "thank you" sometimes when I do something that he likes (turn on his radio, give him a new toy that he likes. He says "bless you" when I sneeze.

I hung a new toy off of his favorite rope perch in the living room yesterday and he went up to it and said "What's this?"

[michelleans]

Sarah,

It's sooooo cute that he calls you a good budgie You two are part of the same flock I'll have a look through the threads some more, it's really nice to hear about such great budgies!! and so you should brag As soon as I can get my Bunny talking, I'll be bragging too

Bunny would like it if you could say hi to Jerry for him

Thanks alot,