How to encourage more independence?

[DonnaBudgie]

i Would say that what the other's said above is right. Taming birds takes a lot of patience and time, he/she won't just get convinced that he/she must trust you. You must do lots of research before owning a bird, or any pet. Taming may be frustrating, but in the end, the result is usually amazing and worth the struggles. My Pet parakeets Took atleast 2 months to completely trust me that they both can fly towards me as they please. But they don't trust me completely. Being skittish and scared is a budgerigar's nature. they fly speedily for a reason. I would highly recommend either returning it to petco or be patient and tame it. And if you're keeping it, please do research.

I have a very different problem with my budgie, Rocky, who I hand raised from an egg last year. She likes us TOO MUCH and I can't get her to leave us alone! I like to have her out of her cage when we're home to supervise her, but she makes relaxing at home very difficult. When I open her cage door she climbs out and flies to us almost immediately wanting to play. She wants to be involved in everything I do- meal prep, cooking (I'm very careful), eating, dishes, cleaning (her messes, mostly), folding laundry, using our smart phones- I mean everything. It's so nice that she likes us so much, but she can be very annoying. Picture a housefly that you swat (I don't swat her), and then just lands on a different body part over and over and over. I love Rocky to bits, but I wish she would sit on her playground, play with her toys (she loves toys) and chill out. She gets so over the top excited to play that she often attacks the exposed skin on our hands, arms, neck, and faces. She doesn't break the skin, but it hurts, and I can't get her to understand that. We wear long sleeves hoodies when she's out to avoid bites. She has a budgie buddy, Beau (very tame male) who lives in the adjacent cage. I won't house them together because I don't want eggs or baby birds. I let them out together to play, and it helps to distract her, but then have TWO budgies that won't leave us alone! Getting her to get back in her cage is difficult- she rarely goes back in on her own. Once she's in her cage (32x16x22h) she seems content and plays with her toys.
So, I'm soliciting advice on what I can do to try to modify Rocky's behavior without upsetting her. She isn't afraid of anything but has very strong opinions. I want my baby to be happy, but I want to enjoy my time at home without one or two budgies crawling all over me. I know this is an unusual problem to have with a budgie and maybe I created a monster. HELP me before she drives me and my husband crazy. Thanks everyone for any input.

 

[Featherii_Fids]

I have a very different problem with my budgie, Rocky, who I hand raised from an egg last year. She likes us TOO MUCH and I can't get her to leave us alone! I like to have her out of her cage when we're home to supervise her, but she makes relaxing at home very difficult. When I open her cage door she climbs out and flies to us almost immediately wanting to play. She wants to be involved in everything I do- meal prep, cooking (I'm very careful), eating, dishes, cleaning (her messes, mostly), folding laundry, using our smart phones- I mean everything. It's so nice that she likes us so much, but she can be very annoying. Picture a housefly that you swat (I don't swat her), and then just lands on a different body part over and over and over. I love Rocky to bits, but I wish she would sit on her playground, play with her toys (she loves toys) and chill out. She gets so over the top excited to play that she often attacks the exposed skin on our hands, arms, neck, and faces. She doesn't break the skin, but it hurts, and I can't get her to understand that. We wear long sleeves hoodies when she's out to avoid bites. She has a budgie buddy, Beau (very tame male) who lives in the adjacent cage. I won't house them together because I don't want eggs or baby birds. I let them out together to play, and it helps to distract her, but then have TWO budgies that won't leave us alone! Getting her to get back in her cage is difficult- she rarely goes back in on her own. Once she's in her cage (32x16x22h) she seems content and plays with her toys.
So, I'm soliciting advice on what I can do to try to modify Rocky's behavior without upsetting her. She isn't afraid of anything but has very strong opinions. I want my baby to be happy, but I want to enjoy my time at home without one or two budgies crawling all over me. I know this is an unusual problem to have with a budgie and maybe I created a monster. HELP me before she drives me and my husband crazy. Thanks everyone for any input.

this is super relatable for me and my hand-raised Lovebird, snowii. She bites quite hard, always somehow wants to get to me, does not let me type at all.. She's usually out for the whole day, either with her toys or with me. She is now a lil independent as an adult birb who just layed an egg. but she's very tame, and approaches me whenever she's ready to have scritches or cuddles or simply just to ride around on my shoulder. She is in love with my male yellow-faced budgie, Yuko, and simply tries to get his attention by asking him for scritches, but all she gets is an angry pecc from him- I think that her egg's infertile, too. And the reason why Yuko and Luna are slightly skittish is because I got them from a store where they were in a crowded cage. Their wings were clipped, so they went through trauma from being grabbed. And surprisingly, I've gotten the two to get comfy with me around and they simply get back into the cage themselves when it becomes evening. I love em cuz they're so simple and adorable!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

this is super relatable for me and my hand-raised Lovebird, snowii. She bites quite hard, always somehow wants to get to me, does not let me type at all.. She's usually out for the whole day, either with her toys or with me. She is now a lil independent as an adult birb who just layed an egg. but she's very tame, and approaches me whenever she's ready to have scritches or cuddles or simply just to ride around on my shoulder. She is in love with my male yellow-faced budgie, Yuko, and simply tries to get his attention by asking him for scritches, but all she gets is an angry pecc from him- I think that her egg's infertile, too. And the reason why Yuko and Luna are slightly skittish is because I got them from a store where they were in a crowded cage. Their wings were clipped, so they went through trauma from being grabbed. And surprisingly, I've gotten the two to get comfy with me around and they simply get back into the cage themselves when it becomes evening. I love em cuz they're so simple and adorable!

Post pictures!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Velcro Rocky! I suggest making a new thread about this to help people find your post and to keep this original thread on topic.

I'd love to but I am technically bad and don't want to re type it all. I wouldn't know what to call it either. Help?

 

[onamom]

I'd love to but I am technically bad and don't want to re type it all. I wouldn't know what to call it either. Help?

I can move it for you!

Edit: @DonnaBudgie here is your new thread

 

[Featherii_Fids]

Post pictures!

alright! you can see Yuko on my pfp, and Luna on my Profile page. And as for snowii, I'll have to add her pics onto this device. One sec!

 

[Featherii_Fids]

I have a very different problem with my budgie, Rocky, who I hand raised from an egg last year. She likes us TOO MUCH and I can't get her to leave us alone! I like to have her out of her cage when we're home to supervise her, but she makes relaxing at home very difficult. When I open her cage door she climbs out and flies to us almost immediately wanting to play. She wants to be involved in everything I do- meal prep, cooking (I'm very careful), eating, dishes, cleaning (her messes, mostly), folding laundry, using our smart phones- I mean everything. It's so nice that she likes us so much, but she can be very annoying. Picture a housefly that you swat (I don't swat her), and then just lands on a different body part over and over and over. I love Rocky to bits, but I wish she would sit on her playground, play with her toys (she loves toys) and chill out. She gets so over the top excited to play that she often attacks the exposed skin on our hands, arms, neck, and faces. She doesn't break the skin, but it hurts, and I can't get her to understand that. We wear long sleeves hoodies when she's out to avoid bites. She has a budgie buddy, Beau (very tame male) who lives in the adjacent cage. I won't house them together because I don't want eggs or baby birds. I let them out together to play, and it helps to distract her, but then have TWO budgies that won't leave us alone! Getting her to get back in her cage is difficult- she rarely goes back in on her own. Once she's in her cage (32x16x22h) she seems content and plays with her toys.
So, I'm soliciting advice on what I can do to try to modify Rocky's behavior without upsetting her. She isn't afraid of anything but has very strong opinions. I want my baby to be happy, but I want to enjoy my time at home without one or two budgies crawling all over me. I know this is an unusual problem to have with a budgie and maybe I created a monster. HELP me before she drives me and my husband crazy. Thanks everyone for any input.

This is exactly how snowii acted before she got a little independent. She would make my ears bleed by chirping into them as she rode on my shoulder! she'd bite my earings, yeet off my glasses, Bite my ears and necklace.. Trust me, Having a bird that has been hand raised by you is no easy task. And as to gain independence, I usually leave snowii Along with her flock mates in the cage. Ofcourse, she gets no attention from the budgies and she still is a bit clingy and wont let me leave the bird room. but I recommend letting them stay in-cage when you come over to them to let them get independent. This is no easy task for us Paronts, We always want to spoil our little fids. But you have to resist her pleading! she may plead so much to get out, that you can't resist but let them out. I am not that sure on how to get them fully independent, but i hope this helps atleast slightly.

 

[Greenhouseparrots]

Sierra, my gcc, is a velcro bird! When I first got her she wouldn't leave me alone and she'd get really annoying and start trying to bite me all the time or just generally had to be involved in every single thing I did. As she's bonded more with my other conure she's calmed down a lot, though she still likes to be with me a lot. I like her being around though and I hope she doesn't change as she gets older. I think the more time you let her out to play with Beau the better she'll get as she'll have more to do than just annoy you all day.

I would also set up some foraging activities for Sierra when I really needed the peace and that would entertain her for a bit. I also find the more time out of cage she has the less clingy she is as she finds more interesting things to do, whereas if she's only out for a little while she wants to spend a lot of that time with me. I'm not a limited resource that way so she entertains herself a bit more but also gets to spend time with me. She gets angry if I only let her out for a short time on busy days and then does stuff that she knows isn't good (like trying to eat my mouse) and then she sulks when I tell her off.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Sierra, my gcc, is a velcro bird! When I first got her she wouldn't leave me alone and she'd get really annoying and start trying to bite me all the time or just generally had to be involved in every single thing I did. As she's bonded more with my other conure she's calmed down a lot, though she still likes to be with me a lot. I like her being around though and I hope she doesn't change as she gets older. I think the more time you let her out to play with Beau the better she'll get as she'll have more to do than just annoy you all day.

I would also set up some foraging activities for Sierra when I really needed the peace and that would entertain her for a bit. I also find the more time out of cage she has the less clingy she is as she finds more interesting things to do, whereas if she's only out for a little while she wants to spend a lot of that time with me. I'm not a limited resource that way so she entertains herself a bit more but also gets to spend time with me. She gets angry if I only let her out for a short time on busy days and then does stuff that she knows isn't good (like trying to eat my mouse) and then she sulks when I tell her off.

Thanks for the advice. Sierra sounds a lot like Rocky! It's great that she and Beau are friends, especially since Beau's lifelong pal and cagemates Hunter died suddenly several weeks ago leaving him alone in his cage. 😟 Their cages are right next to each other and Beau's is much nicer, so ideally I would put Rocky in with Beau. I'm not afraid of Rocky losing inter
est in me because both of them are people raised and bonded and i

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Thanks for the advice. Sierra sounds a lot like Rocky! It's great that she and Beau are friends, especially since Beau's lifelong pal and cagemates Hunter died suddenly several weeks ago leaving him alone in his cage. 😟 Their cages are right next to each other and Beau's is much nicer, so ideally I would put Rocky in with Beau. I'm not afraid of Rocky losing inter
est in me because both of them are people raised and bonded and i

Oops!
. . . And I don't think they would fight. My big concern is BREEDING! Rocky, at nine months old now, is in prime breeding condition. Her diet is excellent, she's physically fit, and her cere is a deep chocolate brown. I have seven budgies already and don't want more!
I wish I could put them together. Rocky and Beau would be so happy and it would make things so much easier for me.
I would never give them a nest box or any toy Rocky could lay eggs in. I would follow all the recommendations for discouraging breeding/egg laying but I would still worry.

 

[Greenhouseparrots]

Oops!
. . . And I don't think they would fight. My big concern is BREEDING! Rocky, at nine months old now, is in prime breeding condition. Her diet is excellent, she's physically fit, and her cere is a deep chocolate brown. I have seven budgies already and don't want more!
I wish I could put them together. Rocky and Beau would be so happy and it would make things so much easier for me.
I would never give them a nest box or any toy Rocky could lay eggs in. I would follow all the recommendations for discouraging breeding/egg laying but I would still worry.

If it's any help, I have four budgies in one cage and don't have issues with breeding. I have one male and three females, one which is his mate and the two others are his daughters. The two youngest are a year and a half now but they show no interest in breeding, and the older female shows no interest either. They have nothing that could be used as a nest and their diet is just pellets and chop, though they were having seeds before but seeds are making all of my birds hormonal so I've taken them all off of them.