After a year of wanting a parakeet I finally got one. The lady I got him from didnt hold him much which is obvious. I am curious on how I can tame the budgie? I've been told to just continuously hold him and eventually he'll calm down and let me hold him and bond with me. He gets nervous and bitey so this will be hard especially because I'm afraid of him flying around the room and hurting himself. I ordered the parakeet handbook but it won't be here for a while. So do any of you guys have experience with taming parakeets? I want him to bond with me.
Taming a parakeet?
- Thread starter J.huff23
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Yentlequible
Arachnoknight
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If you don't want him flying so much, trim the wings. Taming them is going to take some time if it was never held, but if it isn't with any other parakeets in the cage, then it should be a little easier. I haven't had any parakeets for a couple years now, but we always had multiple. Some hand raised from eggs, and others weren't. The ones purchased from stores were always more scared, and could be really jumpy, and letting them always have other birds to play with seemed to slow down the taming process considerably. I don't have experience with bitey ones however, I guess I just got lucky with mine. My friend had a couple that would try to bite your hand off. It hurt a lot, but I held them anyway to try and calm them down. They would calm down after a little bit, and stop biting, but it definitely will take a lot of time to fully tame them.
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Use the old tried and true technique; a whip and chair. Seriously, it is going to depend on the age of the bird. They get very set in their ways even to wasting away rather than try something new. Calm, gentle, no fast movements, tidbit treats for good behavior and be very aware of their surroundings. If they perceive any sort of a threat their learning part of their brain virtually switches off.
Yentlequible
Arachnoknight
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That's all I ever did. It helped over time. But if they are already too old, they might not tame down a whole lot. If you get a chance, either get a baby parakeet, or breed a few and raise them from eggs. The hand-raised ones are always extremely calm and love to play.
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I would advise against holding it. Human hands are often perceived as a deadly threat. Offer tidbits from your fingertips then if ignored, put them in a prominent place. The bird will eventually come to expect that little ritual. The cage is it's safety zone. Constantly invading it leaves the bird neurotic at best. Give it an inviolable area where it can feel safe.
If it is over a year old, don't expect much. A friend over their in it's own home you care for and say hello to, but never to be very friendly.
I checked with an exotic bird breeder friend yesterday. He was pretty succinct: Paraphrased: "If it's over 6 months old it is unlikely to change it's habits. Over a year, forget it. Give it a companion is the best bet then leave them be. A young companion can be trained and might set an example for the older one. Don't forget, they are extremely social birds and dote on company."
If it is over a year old, don't expect much. A friend over their in it's own home you care for and say hello to, but never to be very friendly.
I checked with an exotic bird breeder friend yesterday. He was pretty succinct: Paraphrased: "If it's over 6 months old it is unlikely to change it's habits. Over a year, forget it. Give it a companion is the best bet then leave them be. A young companion can be trained and might set an example for the older one. Don't forget, they are extremely social birds and dote on company."
dementedlullaby
Arachnobaron
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If you don't know how to clip bird wings just don't do it. You're likely to clip them wrong and the poor bird will drop like a stone. If you clip birds wings read up a lot and only start with a small trim and only the first four primary flight feathers.
As for taming take the bird out of the room and away from the cage. I'd suggest buying a little bird play gym that the bird can chill out on. You may want to get him used to this in the room with the cage. Birds freak out at anything new introduced. Try and keep the same schedule of out of the cage time, they are creatures of habit. Keep millet spray handy as a treat. All my parrots go nuts over millet seed. You'll have to have a lot of patience though and probably expect some good nips along the way.
It'll be difficult to tame an older Budgerigar as they are quite fast and skittish by nature. The majority of tame budgies you see in videos have been hand reared and handled a lot since they were little fuzzballs. I rather tame an aggressive bird personally, it's easier for me to distract a mad bird than it is to get a skittish bird to stay still. I've tamed a parrotlet that was cage bound before. She was probably my favorite bird. I have a budgie that isn't overly tame but tolerates the odd handle. He was likely raised by his parents and not really handled much, if at all when young. He's still flighty though but better than when I got him. He's buddies with my Green Cheek Conure, they like to talk to each other through the cages and get supervised out time with each other. I also have a cockatiel I'm working on but he has issues and severe separation anxiety with my other already tame cockatiel.
Out of the birds I own (my profile lists them) four were handraised and handled frequently when young. My absolute nicest bird is my tame handraised cockatiel, Boko. Boko has never even tried to bite me. When I make him angry (it's funny, what can I say) he hisses and knocks my finger with his little beak. I find hand raised cockatiels are by far the nicest pet birds available and they are very cheap. On the flip side my handraised Quaker Parakeet was fairly expensive and while I love him he can be an incredible butt head when he wants to be.
Edit : Forgot to mention the first thing you want to try to teach him is to step up on your finger. Put your finger in front of him and use the same phrase like "up up" or something. If he does it calmly say good bird and offer him the millet.
As for taming take the bird out of the room and away from the cage. I'd suggest buying a little bird play gym that the bird can chill out on. You may want to get him used to this in the room with the cage. Birds freak out at anything new introduced. Try and keep the same schedule of out of the cage time, they are creatures of habit. Keep millet spray handy as a treat. All my parrots go nuts over millet seed. You'll have to have a lot of patience though and probably expect some good nips along the way.
It'll be difficult to tame an older Budgerigar as they are quite fast and skittish by nature. The majority of tame budgies you see in videos have been hand reared and handled a lot since they were little fuzzballs. I rather tame an aggressive bird personally, it's easier for me to distract a mad bird than it is to get a skittish bird to stay still. I've tamed a parrotlet that was cage bound before. She was probably my favorite bird. I have a budgie that isn't overly tame but tolerates the odd handle. He was likely raised by his parents and not really handled much, if at all when young. He's still flighty though but better than when I got him. He's buddies with my Green Cheek Conure, they like to talk to each other through the cages and get supervised out time with each other. I also have a cockatiel I'm working on but he has issues and severe separation anxiety with my other already tame cockatiel.
Out of the birds I own (my profile lists them) four were handraised and handled frequently when young. My absolute nicest bird is my tame handraised cockatiel, Boko. Boko has never even tried to bite me. When I make him angry (it's funny, what can I say) he hisses and knocks my finger with his little beak. I find hand raised cockatiels are by far the nicest pet birds available and they are very cheap. On the flip side my handraised Quaker Parakeet was fairly expensive and while I love him he can be an incredible butt head when he wants to be.
Edit : Forgot to mention the first thing you want to try to teach him is to step up on your finger. Put your finger in front of him and use the same phrase like "up up" or something. If he does it calmly say good bird and offer him the millet.
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