Budgie handling

Question
I have two male budgies approx 9 weeks old.have had them fof 3 weeks. Neither bird will come onto my finger (i try twice every day). they are flapping madly and ifeel they need free flight, but how will i get them back into the cage? they have not got a favourite treat as i have tried allsorts to tempt them..

Answer
Hi, Sarah,

These birds are still very young.  Evidently, they were not socialized to humans by handfeeding or human contact enough so far in their lifetimes.  As a result, they are not tame.  They are scared of you.  The flapping is because they are scared of your fingers!  They don't need free flight necessarily just because they are flapping in their cage....they need to be socialized to humans gradually first.  You will have much difficulty getting them back into their cage.  This is why you need to spend much time getting them used to you first so they won't fly away from you when you try to retrieve them.  

Even if/when they are tame and you let them out to free fly, they will not want to go back into their cage (birds love to fly).  Keeping their flight feathers clipped when they grow up some will help in that they won't be able to gain altitude and get away from you.  However, you need to allow them to learn how to fly/maneuver well before you allow them free flight.  There are many dangers to birds in our homes and if your birds don't know how to maneuver safely, they are certain to be injured.  Even birds that have flown for years get into trouble in our homes.  One way to accomplish this is to turn them loose in a room without much furniture, etc., to get injured on and so you can retrieve them easy.  For example, they will land/roost/sit on the highest "perch"/available spot in the room when they know you want to put them away, so you need to have an area where they can't get up high enough to prevent you from being able to reach them.

When you do get into a situation where you can't retrieve them, turn out the lights.  Birds can't see in the dark, so they will stay where they are when the lights go out.  Then you can easily put them away.

Chrys