taming

Question
hi Jennifer,

i have had my budgie for a week now and he will happily sit in my hand and eat his food and is also quite happy to perch on my finger. however, when he is out the cage he is not so willing to comply and will always fly away from me.

also, if he is in his cage and sitting on my finger and i move my hand he will jump off. but if he is eating seed from the palm of my hand i can slowly bring my hand out the cage and he will stay put until he is finished then he will jump back in.

just wondered if you had any advice on how to get him to trust me out side of the cage. i have been advised to clip his wings but not too keen on the idea.

thanks, Adam

Answer
Dear Adam,
thank you for your question.
I would recommend clicker training, it's a great 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 from your hand in the beginning, put a small bowl in or on the cage where it can easily be reached by both of you, put 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

One the bird is tame, I also recommend getting a second bird. Budgies are very social and need the company of another bird, humans just cannot replace that. A single bird will get lonely and bored when left alone even for an hour or so. Two birds are much more active and can play with each other when you are not around. The new bird will learn the tame behaviour from the first one. With a male you can get another male or a female, both can live together without problems. Only females may fight with each other.
I hope I was of some help to you
Jennifer