touch taming budgies

[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.

[birdsnreps]

i use it on small birds, not not the med-large sized birds. it really works, quickly, much faster than it would if you were trying to bribe them with food and treats.

[birdlady49]

I think it is a wonderful method for working with small birds. You just have to be super sensitive to their stress levels and release them at the first sign of discomfort.

[4HAND]

I've seen this done before too.Will it work on an older bird that is shy?How long must each session last?Why only small birds?
Tena

[svolk]

Personally, I don't agree with this method of taming - I have read that it produces results, but it's my opinion that the cons outweigh the pros. The cons being the stress it puts on the bird (who may be absolutely terrified of humans/hands), the potential for the human to accidentally apply too much pressure and hurt or even kill the bird, and possible psychological effects that may occur. I feel that it puts them into a submissive mode where they basically just give up because they're being physically restrained by a human (who's eyes face forward and is, therefore, a predator). Birds' first response when it comes to fear is flight and I feel obligated to respect that. I believe in building confidence with them and not first destroying their confidence.

I'm simply a believer in building up trust slowly, without force, and letting the bird have his comfort zone. I've tamed both of my budgies (one who was young when I got him, the other who was an adult rehomed budgie) using the slower method, which does take weeks or even months, and today we have a beautiful relationship with each other.

There's a genuine trust that we share and with Winston, my English budgie, we even have an eye signal communication that really calms him down if he's nervous. I started taming him using the Blinking Game and now when I can see that he's nervous about something, I play the Blinking Game with him and it's our signal that "everything's ok, you'll be fine." He even initiates the game with me now when we're sharing some calm moments.

Sometimes I feel that people expect birds to be just like cats and dogs, who like to be petted all the time (I've also had to adjust my thinking when it comes to birds). In reality, especially for budgies, the flock members don't have much physical contact in regards to petting or hugging or kissing. Budgies sit next to each other and preen each others' heads, but that's pretty much where the contact ends (outside of breeding of course).

Both of my budgies do hang out on me and interact with me (and both are also flighted), but I don't expect them to be cuddly with me. Jerry IS very cuddly with me, and I think that's not very typical. I also realize that they have such high metabolisms and they are ALWAYS on the go so I've learned to not take it personally if they don't sit on me for long periods of time. They always have things to do

[4HAND]

Svolk I see your point.It might be hard for some people to do this with sensativity.I considered this method for Pollo[blue crown conure] not because I wanted to touch him,but because I imagined he would enjoy this type of interaction.Recently I read an article by Liz Wilson that made me feel my thinking was misguided.That in fact I should respect his desire to not be touched.Since then he has regrown his flight feathers and will try to leave me to return to his cage whenever I pick him up.He does seem to enjoy living here.He'll contact call when we come home and take treats from us but that's about how far he's willing to go.Once I did hold him for a short time to preen some pinfeathers near his beak that wouldn't open.He didn't try to bite,but he gave me the cold shoulder the rest of the day.I think this method will not work for my bird because he is old and has had bad experiences.
Tena

[flight_of_the_wing]

I've been trying to bribe my budgies with treats, but I don't think I should continue with that as I've been doing that a month now without sucess. I simply feel that I shouldn't tame my budgies with force as I can easily harm them accidentally and lose their trust for a few days. Budgies are birds, and like all birds, super sensitive. They aren't like dogs that you can just touch without fear of harming it. I suggest that you just take your time, and spend time with your budgies alone and occasionally slowly put your hand in the cage and stay still. That way your budgies might get the tip that your hand isn't going to hurt them in any way. By doing this every day, my budgies gradually warmed up to me. I hope this works for you. ;D