Parakeet taming... what to do from here?

GlitchTown · Jan 20, 2018

Hello, I got my parakeets Skye (male) and Cloud (female) many months ago, and I've been trying to work with them to hand tame. I'm kind of at a fork in the road, though.

As of now, they're very confident eating their food from their bowl in my hand. However, when I place the food in the palm of my hand, they get extremely off standish. The farthest they've gone from actually taking from my palm is just picking at the seeds, not eating, and picking at my hand slowly. But it always ends in them backing away, despite how slow I may be. They feast easily from their bowl, however. So today I'm going to leave the dish out and feed them three times a day, to at least get the idea that my hand means food. Is this the right step? They're on a seed diet, which I'm trying my best to fix... any ideas on how to go about that, too?

Thanks!

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GlitchTown · Jan 21, 2018

It's also good to note that they don't quite come to me when I put the bowl in my hand in there, I often have to go to them.

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reeb · Jan 21, 2018

What a gorgeous pair of budgies! I think you are making really good progress and you’re on the right track. Keep trying to hand feed - persistence is the key to success! It will take time, but they seem really comfortable with your presence already. Just keep going - it took me about a month or so to earn my cockatiel’s trust and now she is the most clingy of all my birds.

Good luck and let us know about your progress!

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wrench13 · Jan 21, 2018

Best way to tame is to offer fromyour hand the most very favorite treat. Thats the only place toget it. Usually with budgies,that is millet,but experiment. ANdyeah, get them off a all seed diet, besides making it harder to tame them,it is very poor diet. Slowly introduce fruit and fresh veggies in the feeding bowl, abit at a time, trying different kinds, andreducing the amount ofseeds in their cup. SOmefolks feed only fruit and veggies all day, and only put seed out for a limited and shrinking amount of time.

But, keep in mind, taming a pair is harder and more lengthy thing, and they may never take to you over their cage mate.

GlitchTown · Jan 21, 2018

Thanks for the responses! I just did their night feed, and they came right over and hopped on the dish. They even let me hold the bowl with them on it outside of the cage! They even beaked my thumb a bit, but not for too long. But they're still extremely off put by my hand, even with seed in the middle. They go into freeze mode, and don't move a muscle. Cloud let me get my hand up to her with seed in it, but she simply opened her beak a little as if to eat, and changed her mind. But I'm happy how far I've made it so far! They've loved millet in the past, and took it from my hand when I used to feed it to them through the cage bars. Anyways, should i keep on this until they're comfortable with eating from my hand? What will tell me when they're ready to eat from my hand? Just trial and error? They're a joy, and I'd love for them to get out a little and interact! Luckily they especially like me because their cage is right next to my bed in my room, and I'm in my room always.

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GlitchTown · Jan 22, 2018

Ok! So today was a busy day. I did their morning feed with the dish, easily enough. Then for the afternoon i let my sister try, to see if it's working well. They both easily went to the bowl after low hesitation. But... something spooked Cloud and make Skye fly out into my room! He flew panicking around the room, and finally landed on the (closed) windowsill. I managed to actually have him step up onto the dish, and slowly brought him back into the cage. Phew! But this is a milestone to me, he stepped up onto the bowl AND let me take him back. So, I decided to try my hand (pun intended) at hand feeding. First attempt, I saw no real results. But just 10 minutes ago, they gave my hand a try. Score! Ate right from my hand! I can even feed them individually with a seed between my fingers. Upon trying to make them step up by having the seed out of reach and my finger between, they simply nibbled on my finger a little and walked away. Should I continue hand feeding and just keep trying to do this step up training?

Also, I'm very interested in how I can switch them to a pelleted diet. Whenever I mixed it in, they would completely ignore the pellets and go for the seeds. Any advice here, too?

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MooshieBird · Jan 22, 2018

Keep up the hand feeding. Try offering treats to they have to hop on your hand to get it. It may also help to try with one bird at a time so they aren't distracted. Reward with the treat and praise. As far as switching to pellets, that may take effort. Try different types of pellet mixed with their seed just as you are. Mia it with their treats, maybe try birdy bread with veggies and pellets in there. Takes time, experimentation, and effort but it will happen.

Carl_Power · Jan 23, 2018

Try adding water to the pellets so they are just soggy. My Quaker likes them that way. Try adding some fruit juice is another method. If there is a fruit they really like then try mashing it into the pellets, this way worked for me. Try just leaving the pellets in with no seeds for a day and the cold turkey approach. Just some ideas.

They may never eat from the palm of your hand but keep feeding treats with your fingers and the trust will grow. This worked for me but took about 6 weeks so be patient x

GlitchTown · Jan 24, 2018

Cloud, my female budgie, hopped onto my finger today! She did it several times now! Every time, she's rewarded with verbal praise and her favorite seeds. Skye, my male, is still quite sketched out by the whole thing. But it's progress!

I didn't get a pic because I didn't want to scare her, but I'll try later!

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GlitchTown · Jan 24, 2018

Here we are!

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GlitchTown · Jan 26, 2018

Ok, so... since my last reply about them stepping up, it's been extremely on and off. Sometimes, they're extremely scared of my finger, sometimes they will step up fairly easily. Generally, my approach is slow and steady, with a finger full of seed just past my outstretched finger. But even with a slow approach, they get nervous, looking around for a place to escape. But this changes by the hour... usually, mornings are when they most easily step up. Cloud this morning jumped right onto my finger at the door without any seed provoking her! I gave her A BUNCH of seed to reward this, and set her back on the perch. She did this a few times, but eventually just sat away and didn't move. Late today, they reverted back to running away from my finger, as if the morning session was completely forgotten... Skye, is still fairly stubborn and it's kind if rare that he steps up. But this morning he actually WANTED to stay on my finger, nibbling lightly on my skin and such. They both take seed from my finger easily at any time, it's just the stepping up that changes.

So what can I do to help them connect stepping up -> more seed? I feel i give them a lot more seed for them stepping up, it just seems like they aren't quite connecting the two yet. Should I keep doing what I'm doing? Or should I cut out feeding with my finger completely and make it so they HAVE to step up to get seed? Or should I continue to finger feed and weave in the stepping up in order to get seed and rewarding heavily when they do it?

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GlitchTown · Jan 26, 2018

GlitchTown said:
Ok, so... since my last reply about them stepping up, it's been extremely on and off. Sometimes, they're extremely scared of my finger, sometimes they will step up fairly easily. Generally, my approach is slow and steady, with a finger full of seed just past my outstretched finger. But even with a slow approach, they get nervous, looking around for a place to escape. But this changes by the hour... usually, mornings are when they most easily step up. Cloud this morning jumped right onto my finger at the door without any seed provoking her! I gave her A BUNCH of seed to reward this, and set her back on the perch. She did this a few times, but eventually just sat away and didn't move. Late today, they reverted back to running away from my finger, as if the morning session was completely forgotten... Skye, is still fairly stubborn and it's kind if rare that he steps up. But this morning he actually WANTED to stay on my finger, nibbling lightly on my skin and such. They both take seed from my finger easily at any time, it's just the stepping up that changes.

So what can I do to help them connect stepping up -> more seed? I feel i give them a lot more seed for them stepping up, it just seems like they aren't quite connecting the two yet. Should I keep doing what I'm doing? Or should I cut out feeding with my finger completely and make it so they HAVE to step up to get seed? Or should I continue to finger feed and weave in the stepping up in order to get seed and rewarding heavily when they do it?

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It's also good to note that I've also since put their food dish back in the cage. It just didn't feel right forcing them to eat from me... though I'm not sure that has changed much, because they still take seed from my finger gladly, like I said. I think it's just more convenient for them to get seed from me, because their cage is fairly tall and their food is at the bottom. Unfortunately I don't have any other treats besides millet. I've tried giving them apples, but no luck there. They just don't seem to register anything other than seed/millet as food. Maybe I should try getting some millet instead of using their normal seed mix.

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Parakeet taming... what to do from here?

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