Do your budgies fly around the house?

[sarafigal]

My three little budgies stay in their flight cage. They are fully flighted, young, and as dear as can be. Not tame, but two of them will eat millet from my hand. My conure has clipped wings (but can fly across a room) and is tame. He lives with the budgies. My amazon has clipped wings and is tame as long as no one tries to touch her. Thus the conure and the amazon come out of their cages for a good bit of the evening.

One of my budgies, Little Blue, has escaped the cage twice to fly around the house. I'd love to let her out, but I'm afraid of where she could end up... And I'd love to tame her, though I'm not really sure how. Any suggestions? Should I clip her wings?

 

[ct92404]

No, I've had two parakeets now and I personally didn't want them to be fully flighted because I was too afraid that they would get hurt or lost.

My last parakeet, Buddy, was very tame and friendly. I had his wings clipped when I first bought him. He was really easy to tame. I took him out of his cage all the time to hold him and pet him, and I would take him to the bathroom to play and get exercise. He would take short hopping flights, and he loved to chase a plastic toy ball.

My newest parakeet, Chipper is also really tame and gentle, and likes to be held, even though I've only had him for about 2 weeks. I had his wings clipped too.

To me, I would think that it's much easier to tame and bond with a bird if you have its wings clipped. Otherwise, it's just going to take off and fly away from you as soon as it gets the chance, and it'll never learn to trust you. Buddy got VERY close to me, because he learned to trust me and then liked being with me.

Personally, I say you should have Little Blue's wings clipped IF you want to tame her. It might be harder to tame her because she's living with other parakeets and so she's already close with them and might not want to bond with you. But it might be downright impossible to tame her if she's fully flighted, because as soon as you try to pick her up or anything, she's just going to take off and fly away.

Both Buddy and Chipper were very easy to tame, and from what I've been told, most parakeets are. But my situation is different because I only ever had one. I read that it's easier to get a bird to bond with you if it's kept alone and you give it a lot of attention.

I can't have Chipper fully flighted, or any other bird I get because my house is cluttered and there are just too many places where he could get lost or get hurt.

A wing clip is completely painless for the bird (it's like getting a haircut), and to me it just seems a lot safer for them. Just be sure you go to a place where the people know what they're doing, like a vet or a REPUTABLE pet shop with experience with birds. I got my birds from a bird farm, and they take great care of their birds. If a wing clip is done right, the bird should still be able to fly a little bit, so that it can safely glide to the floor in case it falls. And they can fly across a room, but they just can't get that high and can't fly that far.

 

[Featheredsamurai]

Before I was born my siblings had untame budgies they let fly, apparently they always ran into windows

 

[DannyA93]

These posted make budgies sound dumb! LOL!! i have two budgie's and i definatley let them fly around the house! i think they actually look forward to me letting them out we have very high ceilings and they love it!! they're both tame, though taming and bonding are completely different things! my oldest budgie that i've had for a year and a half now is fully flighted and tame and i just bought a new budgie that i've had for about 6 weeks and he's clipped but i also tamed him so i let them fly around the house and andie's never flown into a window..ever! my mom even forgets to turn the fan off sometimes when i'm gone i yell at her everytime tho...and she flys around it and never gets too close. so the taming i agree makes it alot easier to tame them but not neccessarily to bond with them but it's defenately possible to tame them all but they won't bond to you unless you separate them and keep them that way. my budgies are both tame and i can ask either one to step up and they usually will. sometimes they don't wanna and run or fly but thats to be expected for birds not bonded with you but its still very possible to tame them all

 

[MonicaMc]

When I had budgies, I did eventually allow them to be cage-free. However, they were cage-free in a good sized room with other birds. And none tamed, per say


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUx81WHTUwk]1 Bird in hand Leads to Many - YouTube[/ame]


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlSm4uFZzVU]More Budgies!!!! - YouTube[/ame]

I no longer have budgies, nor cage-free birds.

 

[momto3]

My daughter has an English Budgie and he was easily tamed with clipped wings. I think that if you didn't clip wings, the bird would just immediately fly away and you would be chasing it around, scaring it. A good clip will allow them to glide to the floor, so they can still function, just not fly away up high. We just clipped his wings last night, in fact, because he was able to completely fly away. I find that her budgie is much calmer with clipped wings and is content to snuggle and eat treats with her as opposed to flying around the room potentially getting injured. It is a personal choice, but I think chasing a flying bird around trying to tame it is counterproductive to building a good relationship. Good luck to you!!

 

[Mayden]

Everyone is pro clipping, but my tamest budgie was an unclipped, fiesty little lady.

Not well enough to post more right now, but don't jump straight in to clipping without some more research

 

[ruffledfeathers]

My Percy LOVED it. He stayed free in the house when i was home and went to his cage at bed time or when i went to work. He only had a 'smallish' cage, but it worked out ok because he wasn't in it much. He was so well trained and would come to me when i called him back.
I was given 3 other budgies years later. I knew very little about them, how old, etc and they were not hand tamed. Since they were all friends i just let them stay in the cage together with their toys. After 2 died the one who outlived them (Gretchen) used to come out and fly sometimes but she wasn't as skilled as Percy was, being basically fully flighted most of his life.

 

[ct92404]

It is a personal choice, and I can understand and respect both opinions. But I agree with Momto3. If you want to tame a bird and bond with it, I think you should clip its wings. Birds are very intelligent, but they are also still wild animals and have very strong instincts. Unless the bird has a reason to think otherwise, it won't trust you and will just fly away from you. It will just keep flying around the room to get away from you, and that's just going to stress both of you out. By clipping the bird's wings, that gives you a chance to earn its trust. It's better for both of you...you have a friendly, tame bird to give you companionship, and the bird knows that the human being it's living with is there to be loving and caring.

After the bird is tame and wants to be with you, then you could let it have full flight again. As long as you feel you can make the area safe for it.

At least, that's my belief. If I had a good size spare room where Chipper could fly around safely, I probably would let him be fully flighted. He's tamed and friendly enough now that I think he would want to be with me. But my house just isn't bird-friendly. As it is though, he's happy. I always be sure to give him plenty of attention and take him out of his cage all the time. In fact, right now he's watching Animal Planet with me.

 

[MonicaMc]

ct92404, did you watch my videos I posted?

Those are 5 adult budgies, ages ranging from 2-8 years in age... (in the video at the time) none of them tame and all of them flighted. I didn't even make much effort to work with them, but I had them flying out of their cage to me with hardly any effort at all!

I've done the same with untamed cockatiels, one so skittish that he'd fly away from me the moment I came near him... He got to the point that he'd fly to my hand to enjoy some food! He's still a skittish tiel, but not nearly as bad as he used to be! In fact, he chastises me now when I refresh the food dish and I don't get the dish set inside the cage as quickly as he desires! This cockatiel is at least 16 years old now, probably older! Heck, he might even be in his 20's! He's been with me 7 years now and I've never clipped him.



My point is, if you take the time, it's not all that difficult to tame a flighted parrot! Heck, it might even be easier because the bird has the choice to be with you!

 

[Kiran]

Yep! I have cockatiels and budgies I let free in my room for 2 hours 3-4 times a week for their exercise and flying. My windows are fully netted to protect them from predatory birds when open, and i close windows and on the airconditioning during my birds flight times. Cockatiels specially have large wings and I feel miserable to keep them cooped up too long. Also, I would never clip any birds wings as I wouldn't want to rob them of the thrill of flying around the house.

I've actually invested in an upcoming property at a very reasonably priced location and due to that I've been able to buy a large 12 bedroom home. It's just beginning construction and I should have it's possession in about 2 years. In that one, I have a large 20'x20' room kept solely for my birds! I plan to keep 6 large cages - 2 for each species (Cockatiels / Cockatoos and Macaws) and let one species out of their cage once every 3 days for 24 hrs. That way all the birdies get 2 days of flying / exercise time a week. Naturally, I'll make sure to have a double layer of cage protection to protect the smaller cockatiels from being hurt by the larger cockatoos / macaws.

 

[sarafigal]

MonicaMc: What a gorgeous free area you have for those birds! I'd love to see more pictures of that set-up.

 

[MonicaMc]

Sarafigal, it wasn't fancy or anything, just a bedroom with tiled flooring and a community area to eat at! Every now and then I'd bring in fresh elm or apple branches for them to chew and destroy!

Had a hoopball in the corner that they loved to perch on!

And had some hanging branches for them.

I no longer have budgies, nor all birds pictured (have found new homes for some), and have since moved, so unfortunately, no longer have this setup! I miss it! And if the new place I moved to wasn't so small, I'd do it again!