Frequency of out time?

Question
My bird came out for the first time yesterday and I was SOOOO happy because it has literally been months since he was out. I leave the cage open like 24/7 for him so if he wants to come out, he can. The things is...I've had this bird for almost 5 years. I don't know why he comes out so little. He has never been trained before but I would like to star. Is this still possible?

Answer
Dear Sean,
thank you for your question.
Taming a bird is possible at every age. It may take a bit longer than with a very young bird, but tameness is more a question of personality than of age.
Clicker training is a very good and easy bird taming method. Basically, you reward good behaviour with a specific sound and a small treat, so that the birds knows: "what I just did gets me a treat" and will repeat the behaviour. Since your budgie probably won't take treats form your hand in the beginning, put a small bowl in or on the cage where it can easily be reached by both of you, out a treat in it and then wait until the bird starts to eat the treat and click in the exact moment it picks up the treat. Repeat that a few times, then again on the next day. Most birds learn the combination click=treat very fast. Then you can start offering your hand to it, without a treat, just hold it as close as the bird is comfortable with. Leave it there for a few moments, then click and put the treat in the bowl. Repeat a few times and then on the next day you can put your hand a bit closer (or you just repeat the exercise at the same distance until you can come closer).
www.clickertraining.com has more info on this method, under Other Animals there's a bird section, including a very active mailing list

It's possible that he is lonely and bored and doesn't come out because of that. Budgies are extremely social and need the comany of at least one other budgie to be happy. A human cannot replace that, even if you spend a lot of time with him. It's better to get a bird that#s roughly the same age, but if you can't find one, a young bird is fine. Males get along both with males and females (they don't breed unless you offer a nesting box), only two females may bicker. Two birds can be tamed just as well as a single bird.

It may be that your bird will at first be confused by the other bird because he hasn't seen another bird for such a long time. But usually they make friends quickly, putting their cages next to each other for a day or two and then letting them out together is enough in most cases.
I hope I was of some help to you
Jennifer