My budgies have gone backward…

[LuauMyBaby]

Hello! I am the owner of two budgies ( one male and one female ) I have been trying to earn their trust for close to three years now. I have tried a lot of different things that have been recommended to me and things I’ve seen online.

Most of those things worked and i had a pretty good relationship with my budgies. specificly my male. My female is a little more nervous. However, a little while ago there was a tornado. we weren’t hit or anything but I was panicking about the birds being upstairs. I wanted to bring them where we were to keep them safe. My birds know that I never take them out at night and when I tried to get them to step up they wouldn’t. The storm got worse and I had to grab them from their cage and move them to a small cage.
the tornado passed and my birds and I are fine, but they are right back to the beginning. They don’t trust me at all.

i do a lot of training with my budgies and they know to recall and Luau( male ) knows how to spin. Ive done recall all over my room and plenty of spinning. Now neither of them will step up or recal. I recently got a new cage and they have been way more active and full of energy. They are more willing to come out but still wont get close to my hand when I change the food and water. Both of my budgies came from a pet store and I have made plenty of mistakes being a first time budgie owner. But I’ve been able to gain their trust through it all anyway.

i don’t know if anyone can help but if you have anything that you think will help me please share. My budgies and bonded to each other and if I can get even one of them to do something the other one always follows. my budgies were abused at the pet store so I’ve gotten through this before. I don’t know if any of that matters but please help.

 

[hiriki]

I would start from the beginning with target training to get them used to training with you again without the pressure of stepping up or interacting with your hands. You haven't lost all of your progress but it'll take them a while to get back to where they were... just don't lose hope!

And, although what's done is done, I'd recommend always keeping a towel by their cage so you can towel them in emergencies. If you have to grab them quick and go it's better for them to associate that stress with a towel than with your hand.