Am I just lucky or doing something incredibly wrong?

Hi,
I recently bought a budgie and it is her 6th day in her new enviotment. I have done my research before buying one and ive noticed that it takes months to train budgies just for them to perch on your finger. This budgie however sits on my finger when i push on her belly a bit from day 1. She doesnt seem to be afraid or try to get away however if i push her to step up too much she will fly away as expected and i get her back and put her in the cage. Ive been spending most of the 6 days so far in the room with her but my concern and the reason im posting this is because i dont know if im just lucky and she is setteling in fast or im doing this all wrong and she wont end up bonding with me later. I want to tame her the right way.

Hi, I don't think you're likely to seriously damage your growing bond, but by putting her in her cage you're punishing her for flying away. She's flying away because she isn't happy, which is what she's meant to do! You don't want her to start doing what you say/ask because if she doesn't she gets punished. You want her to want to work with you!

I would stop pushing your finger into her belly and hold your finger close to her so she can reach out and step up. You could put a treat on your arm or hold it in your other hand so she has to step up to reach it.

She sounds lovely and it sounds like you'll have a lovely bond.

Hello, and welcome to the Parrot Forums family!

It doesn't always take months to get a budgie to step up. She was likely already hand tamed by her breeder or by the place where you got her.

Sounds like she's transitioning well to her new environment, but I do agree with Jottlebot in that the key to her training is to make her want what you want rather than doing as you ask in order to avoid a negative outcome. By offering her a treat to step up, you'll begin building the association in her mind between doing as you ask and tasty things happening. Eventually, doing as you ask will become a positive thing in and of itself, not unlike Pavlov's bell and his dogs.

Also, from the sounds of it you may be pushing too far, too fast. The other thing you want to keep in mind is the limit of their attention spans. If she's stepping up initially, but eventually tires of doing so, chances are she's losing interest in what you are doing with her. So once you see signs in her body language that her interest is beginning to wane, give it a break for a bit. The point here is to leave her wanting more rather than pushing until she is ready to quit. As with any good leader, avoid giving orders you know might not be followed.

Looking forward to some pics of the new addition to your household!

That's a good point about the cage...you really don't want a bird to associate going into the cage with punishment. It should be a good, safe place for them. Otherwise they will hate going in and give you an argument. I always give Gus a small treat when he goes in the cage, right before we go out..one to eat right away and a couple pistachio nuts go in h is bowl, so he is thinking about them and not thinking about being abandoned. It seems to help. If you can find or borrow a copy of The Companion Parrot handbook, there is some good information about how birds think and how to teach them to be good members of the household. Good luck!

When I was 14 my Mom bought me my first bird,Wally the budgie. It took him all of three days to be finger tamed. I also did what you did,gently push my finger against where his little legs went into his body,and he would step up. It didn't take long for him to hop on my finger when asked to "step up" and I didn't need to push my finger at him.

I agree,sounds like your little one is used to fingers/hands. Wally was just a youngster when I got him. This was 46 years ago lol..I miss that little guy to this day





Jim

Kentuckienne said:

That's a good point about the cage...you really don't want a bird to associate going into the cage with punishment. It should be a good, safe place for them. Otherwise they will hate going in and give you an argument. I always give Gus a small treat when he goes in the cage, right before we go out..one to eat right away and a couple pistachio nuts go in h is bowl, so he is thinking about them and not thinking about being abandoned. It seems to help. If you can find or borrow a copy of The Companion Parrot handbook, there is some good information about how birds think and how to teach them to be good members of the household. Good luck!

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agreed, making going in the cage a rewarding activity helps a lot! With Rio I would put a couple of his healthy treats on the perch nearest the door when I put him in and he never gave me an issue (unless I forgot, although that was more upset about the lack of treats than going in the cage)

Another thing to do is to every now and then when out put them inside the cage with the door open and even play a little with them in the cage. It lets them know that going in the cage lets fun time carry on.

Only thing I would say is to alter the stepping up as others have said to make it more something they want to do than have to do and you'll be fine!