Help Taming Budgie

Hello everyone, I am new and I actually just made myself an account today after about two months of scrolling through forums..
Anyways, I have two budgies that both came from pet stores (At the time I didn't know how horrible pet stores are). I have a white, blue and grey one named Molongo and a green, yellow, and black one named Minindi.
Ive had molongo for almost 5 months and minindi almost 4. Minindi has never bitten me and hes always been very sweet. Timid and a little skittish, but still always very sweet.
Molongo on the other hand will bit me any chance that he gets. If I open their cage door he lunges and my hands/ arms. He will take millet from my hand and he will eat on my hand as well but in the process he always feels the need to bite me. I obviously know that I havent had him all that long. Plus with him coming from a pet store he probably wasnt handled often if at all. I just don't understand why he always bites, I mean he clearly trusts me enough to step uup onto me and take food from my hand but he just constantly wants to bite. Another thing is that they both fly away from me. I dont care how many time I go back and get them from their perch they will continue to go back to it. So basically what I am asking is for some advice. Has anyone had this issue? Ive educated myself as much as possible and Ive tries many different methods of taming them. I would also love to know how to keep them from flying away? It would be very much appreciated!

First off bird stores buy from the same breeders that sell independently, the only difference might be the period of isolation from being with a breeder human a lot while the bird waits to be sold, but they are usually house with their own kind.

Secondly it's going to take patience, open the door and just sit and talk to them, offer millet or other treats...it's going to take a few weeks at least for them to figure out even though you big and strong and have sterio vision like any other predator....that you mean them no harm....

Start by just sitting by the cage talking and offering treats through the bars, next open the door and offer treats but NEVER ENTER THE CAGE towards them, to change a bowl or something is ok. Then later just rest your hand on the lip of the door with some food on it etc... you get the idea, baby steps.

Hi, welcome to the forum!

I am a fairly experienced budgie owner so I can try offer some advice for taming your birds.

Firstly, it is important to keep in mind that taming your budgies will take time an patience. unfortunately it is not a quick fix and it may take a while. Continually picking them up may not be the best way to bond with them, because they’ve gotten into this routine of flying away and biting. So, you might have to try something a bit different.

Step-by-step, I recommend:

1) Since your birdies are already somewhat used to your hands, I recommend familiarising your birds with the idea of your hand both inside AND outside the cage. You can skip this step if you feel it is unnecessary, depending on how much your birds are okay with your hands, just thought I would throw it in here just in case anyone else needs this advice. Touch and hold your hand on the left side of the cage for a few minutes every day for a week, and then repeat this process for the right, front, back and top of the cage (so right side for a week, top for a week, etc).. See why this will take a lot of patience and time.

3) Next, you should be able to familiarise your bird with your hand INSIDE the cage. Similar to the above, you can start by placing your hand on the left side of the inside of the cage for a few minutes every day for a week, and then repeat the process with the right, front, back and top of the cage. Your budgies may at first shy away from you or lunge and bite, but as they realise that your hand is non-threatening through this repetition, they will become less afraid of you.

4) Once your budgies appear fairly comfortable with your hand in and out of the cage, you can offer them seed, millet, spinach, apple or any other treat/food that they like using your hand. At first they may not eat from your hand at all or without biting, but from my own experience, with enough patience they will as they adjust to you. food=trust, and it is very important for you to let your budgies know that they can trust you in this way.

The hope is that your budgies will eventually feel comfortable enough to step onto your hand and eat seed and/or other food from your hand without biting.

I also strongly recommend that you start move your budgies out of the cage onto a bird gym/stand and begin training and playing outside of their cage. Having a play stand is VERY important. It creates a new “safe place” out of their cage, and since they keep flying back into their cage they may just not be comfortable with the outside and by proxy, uncomfortable with you.

This may be most effective when you are only taming one bird, however it is possible to do it with two birds, and if need be you can try to tame them separately depending on how things go.

It is a long process of repetition, routine hand feeding and spending a good amount of time with your birds every day for them to fully adjust to you and trust you fully.

I really hope this helps!

My two tame budgies are very bonded to me, and are lovely companions to have, and I really hope you can have the same experience. Good luck!


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forget what I said............do what reeb says!!!!!!!!

clark_conure said:

forget what I said............do what reeb says!!!!!!!!

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Haha! Your advice was great too! Talking is a great way to familiarise birds with the sound of your voice, very important in bonding over time.


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Not for nothing reeb what you just wrote should be a sticky thread in the budgie forum...I just looked and there is no sticky for taming in that forum....you might contact terry scott or allee or etc and ask them to read this and repost or maybe post in budgies again with this and a more elongated elaborate how to....if you bird is used to hands, or if your bird is not used to hands, your bird attacks or bird is timid... This sounds excellent for a sticky and we get a lot of budgie training questions.

clark_conure said:

Not for nothing reeb what you just wrote should be a sticky thread in the budgie forum...I just looked and there is no sticky for taming in that forum....you might contact terry scott or allee or etc and ask them to read this and repost or maybe post in budgies again with this and a more elongated elaborate how to....if you bird is used to hands, or if your bird is not used to hands, your bird attacks or bird is timid... This sounds excellent for a sticky and we get a lot of budgie training questions.

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Okay I could do that! I’ll chat to them - I’ll be sure to make a new forum post that covers everything a bit more in depth than here, and see if it can be made into a sticky!


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Thank you! I have three play stands. One smaller one for my desk ( when they are ready to hangout). One medium sized one on the left of the room and one larger one that is near their cage. They love playing with me on their play stand once they are out but its mainly just the issue of trying to get the comfortable with coming out. They are definitely a bit territorial. thats typically when they bite. In their cages.

SimplyBirdLover said:

Thank you! I have three play stands. One smaller one for my desk ( when they are ready to hangout). One medium sized one on the left of the room and one larger one that is near their cage. They love playing with me on their play stand once they are out but its mainly just the issue of trying to get the comfortable with coming out. They are definitely a bit territorial. thats typically when they bite. In their cages.

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Ah that’s great! Sounds like you have a great setup then. Yeah unfortunately Budgies can get pretty territorial (I see it in my aviary alllll the time) and I have often found that the trick with indoor budgies is to keep them out of their cage as much as possible (so whenever you’re at home) so that they are really only using the space to rest and sleep. You can also try rearranging perches and toys (even get them new toys!) to give it a new “look” so that it becomes kind of new, unfamiliar and interesting for them, almost like a new territory for them. I do think interacting a lot with their cage will also help, just because it is clear that the cage is the main issue here. They need to understand that you are a part of their flock too, and they needn’t defend their cage from you, ya know? Hope this is helping!


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I have been taking them out a ton and interacting with them. I really appreciate your help and I'll definitely be trying to get them familiar with my hands in and on their cage.

SimplyBirdLover said:

I have been taking them out a ton and interacting with them. I really appreciate your help and I'll definitely be trying to get them familiar with my hands in and on their cage.

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Keep us updated! I totally understand the situation - my female budgie is very feisty, and every now and then when I let them out in the morning she kind of gets a fright and starts protesting or nibbling at me. I think it’s just a matter of the bird’s understanding that their space is also your space, and it will take time. Good luck! You sound like a really responsible bird owner.


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Many birds are often aggressive around their cages because they've had bad experiences with hands near their cages. Think about it.... some giant several times bigger than they are forcibly removes them from the only safe place they know and takes them to other areas that are scary. It's no wonder they often bite while near or on or even in their cages!


Think about it as a training issue. Instead of forcing them away from the cage, encourage them away in *small* increments using food. If they want to go back, let them! By continually forcing them away from where they feel safe, you will only increase how anxious they are and thus reinforce the need to stay close to their cage or perch. If you make it enjoyable to be away and in a way they feel comfortable, then they will be more likely to enjoy leaving their safety.

dang Reeb, that's some awesome advice. I definitely think a more in depth post going from day 1 to tamed by yourself should be stickied. As many of us know Budgies are notorious for being harder to tame, most likely just due to their size and lack of high grade weaponry

BTW...


[ame="https://youtu.be/fUx81WHTUwk"]1 Bird in hand Leads to Many - YouTube[/ame]



[ame="https://youtu.be/AlSm4uFZzVU"]More Budgies!!!! - YouTube[/ame]



Earning trust through the use of food with 5 adult, untamed budgies. All flighted. No force required to get them out of their cage.

yes, that is one thing. You only need to win one, then the other should come. They get to literally see that the hand isn't going to get them.

There are of course sometimes when the second is just a bit too scared even when they see the first is fine, just nature really