My bird shows me no love

[kailana]

Hi
So ive had 3 birds for 5 years now and they seem to be able to do the standard stuff when they are comfortable with humans. They let me pet them, go on my finger, or talk to me when i sit in front of there cage. BUT..i see other owners whos birds play with them. Sit on their finger or shoulder and dont fly away when it gets to far from the cage, cuddle, even preen them. I dont know how to get my budgies to play with me or break the ice...is it because they have each other as company and thats why its hard to train them? Any advice would be great .

 

[YUMgrinder]

They are all budgies? A lot has to do with their personality. If their comfort level is near their cage and with each other I would try and get a playstand and bring them out more often and they will get more comfortable socializing. generally though, budgies will bond with each other more than their humans. a lot of people will have just one parrot so they bond with them instead of another bird.

If you start training that will encourage bonding but you should do training with each of them separately not in view or earshot of the others so they are focused on you. At first you will need patience but with the right treats you should be able to bond more closely with them. Start with short training exercises, 5-10 min each. Try the simple stuff, turn around, try youtube, there's a lot of training stuff on there.

You could also separate them to encourage bonding with you but I'd be worried they would get depressed and maybe the ethical side effects of taking them away from each other

 

[Scott]

Sorry, I am not sufficiently familiar with parakeets to give constructive advice! Hopefully other members will give you tips to achieve the closer relationship you desire. Generally, it is possible the three are closely bonded and do not seek closer status with you or other humans.

This thread may be of help?
http://www.parrotforums.com/general-parrot-information/49144-tips-bonding-building-trust.html

 

[wrench13]

Scott , YUM - I think you have it. OP - if you had your choice of hanging out with the guys or hanging out with a armadillo - what would you choose. Always one of the risks when bringing second , third or more birds. They bond to each other, because well - birds.
My Salty does what he does because we work together every night, doing those very things - playing, and tricks and rough housing. I mean you could try separating them, but after 5 yrs that would be cruel.

 

[ParrotLover2001]

I've had parakeets for the past 5 years as well. My first one loved sitting on shoulders but didn't do anything else with me. My second one loved me despite having a cage mate, she preened me, sat on my shoulder, and played. My third one, she didn't care for me, she preferred her cage mate.
I could go on and on, I've had 6 of them. My current one doesn't like me, she prefers my lovebird.

It all depends on the bird as an individual. They've been together for 5 years, they prefer each other, so what?

Love them for what they are!



Sent from my Galaxy s8

 

[itchyfeet]

Love them for what they are!

Yes! The key to success, I think!

 

[BrunoBets]

My Derbyan was totally independent until about 1.5 years ago. He had been living with my Black-Headed Caique for about 5 years without any interest in her when suddenly she became his "big love". Now I cannot take her out of his sight for more than a few minutes without him losing his mind. Birds, like humans, tend to be very quirky and there really is no explanation for the things they do. We just cannot take it personally. My wife's Brown-Head parrot (African) lives only to see me bleed.

 

[Mindy]

Hi
So ive had 3 birds for 5 years now and they seem to be able to do the standard stuff when they are comfortable with humans. They let me pet them, go on my finger, or talk to me when i sit in front of there cage. BUT..i see other owners whos birds play with them. Sit on their finger or shoulder and dont fly away when it gets to far from the cage, cuddle, even preen them. I dont know how to get my budgies to play with me or break the ice...is it because they have each other as company and thats why its hard to train them? Any advice would be great .

You and me are in the same boat. I get so jealous when I see African Greys all lovely and cuddly. Mine is not and as depressing as it is, I have just given in to the fact that he's never going to like to get pet :17:

 

[MonicaMc]

Have you tried feeding your budgies food and treats by hand?

 

[reeb]

Hi!

I currently own 22 budgies, and over the years I've seen so many different personalities. I think many others are right in that sense - some birds are just more shy than others. My two tame babies are very bonded to each other and to me - my female is more clingy, and is constantly on or near me, whereas my male will check in on me throughout the day to preen and groom my hair. I brought them home at 6 weeks and finished the hand-rearing process, so they probably also bonded quite easily to me since I was feeding the directly - however, they are also just inherently affectionate birds, not only to each other but also to me.

About a year ago, I had 5 hand-reared budgies living together. The would sit on my finger and shoulders, but they always chose their flockmates over me despite being super tame. Since there were a few of them, I think they naturally gravitated to their cage-mates over their humans, because it was just in their instincts to do so - however, I also just didn't have the time to spend more than an 1-4 hours with them out of the cage during the day. Now they all live in my aviary with the others, and while they occasionally fly onto my head or shoulders when I go to visit them, they've mostly grown a greater bond with their birdie flock.

As well as this, it is important to keep in mind that if there are one or two wild budgies in a cage of tame budgies, their "wildness" will begin to rub off on their birdie friends. I've also seen this myself - that's why tame budgies should be kept separate if you want them to stay tame.

I can try offer some advice based on these experiences and others that I've had.

1) Spend time with all of your birds as much as you can every day. If you want to be apart of their flock, then you have to truly BE a part of their flock. The more time they spend out of the cage with you, the better. Unless I am going out to university, to run errands or to see friends, my birds are out of their cages.

2) Invest in a bird gym or play stand. This will create a new, stimulating and exciting place for your birds to enjoy when they are not in their cage. This should help to solve their attachment to their cage, because they will have other interesting things to explore in the room.

2) Make sure to spend time near them, but don't pick them up when they don't want to be picked up. My cockatiel was a very shy girl when I brought her home, she didn't like to be interacted with too much despite being hand-reared - but over time of only having her on my finger to take her out of her cage or to help her reach places, she eventually started to coming to me as she trusted me. Now she'll groom me and likes to play a lot.

I hope this helps in some way - it is of course easier to bond with an individual bird than multiple birds, but it can certainly be done if they are all tame and you can spend a good amount of time with them all. If some of your budgies aren't so tame, there are many forums you can find here that cover this. Just recently I answered this question that might help!

Good luck!