Sad Parakeets and Sad Owner

Question
My husband and I have recently gotten three parakeets....All three are males...the first two were dropped off at his work, and we took them in.  They have their adult feathers...but their age is unknown. We worked with them for a while, trying to get them comfortable with us.  We put them in the living room, and only put our hands in the cage to feed and water them.  When we were not in the room, we would leave the tv or a fan on in order to keep them from being afraid (I've read silence scares them). After several weeks, they still seemed to be afraid of us.  They fly to the top of the cage anytime we come near it.  About a week ago, I got a third Budgie.  His name is Keekers, and he is only about 6 months old.  I've also read that younger birds are more receptive to handling and that, in time, they will really enjoy human contact.  I thought that Keekers would take to us, and maybe it would encourage the other two to join in once they realized we weren't to be feared.  The woman I bought him from told me that it might work, but the only real way to get them used to me was to hold them and love them even if they resisted...and eventually they would learn to like it.

I brought Keekers home and put in the cage...the other two took to him alright, there was no fighting or anything.  That night, I caught both of the other two (Beau and Benny) and clipped their wings.  I'm not sure if that had ever been done before, but Beau was desperately trying to fly.  Anyway, that's the first time I handled either one of them and they hated it.  They bit the whole time.

Since then, I have let all three out to explore.  Beau and Benny usually huddle up on the floor and don't really move unless disturbed.  Keekers likes to run from one hiding place to the next....all three of them seem to totally hate me.  They run from me and try to fly when I try to catch them to put them away.  I understand they are afraid, but I don't know how to help that.  I've heard that they live for about 15 years, and I just can't live the next 15 years of my life with my little birds being afraid of me!

I've known other people with Budgies that really enjoyed people.  I would love to have and actual relationship with my birds!  I need help making it happen!

Answer
Dear emily,
thank you for your question.
I know that it's often recommended to hold your budgies to tame that, but I think that this just doesn't work, it makes them even more afraid because it betrays all the trust that they may have had. When I have to hold my budgies for nail clipping or something, I usually do it late in the evening when they are already sleepy and easier to catch and I even wear a shawl or something over my face so that they don't recognize me.

I would recommend clicker training for you and your birds. 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 budgies probably won't take treats form your hand in the beginning, out 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.

Work with one bird at the time, they seem to know very well for whom the click and the treat is meant. Often, the other birds will imitate the behaviour of the "clicked" bird, especially when they see that it gets them something to eat. Millet spray is the best treat for budgies, they all love it. Give it to them a few times before you start the training, some have never eaten it before and need to learn how great it tastes. You can also try to offer it to them on your hand, even many shy birds will eventually come and sit on your hand to get millet spray.


It's better to work with them outside their cage so that they have room to avoid you if they want to. That will make them feel  more secure. When you work with them inside the cage, you block the only exit and that makes them afraid right form the start.

To get them into the cage at night, you can put the cage in the floor or offer them a ladder, they learn that very quickly and can go in by themselves, so you don't have to handle them every evening. Try feeding them their normal food only in the evening so that they have a reason to go back into the cage then. Treats and fruits/vegetables can be given outside the cage. Later, you can teach them to step up on your finger or at first on a perch for this. I recommend letting their flight feathers grow again, though. Wing clipping doesn't do much to make the bird more tame and it takes away so much from them.

This website has excellent info on general budgie care, especially on nutrition, it's very useful:
http://www.birds-online.de/index_en.html

I hope I was of some help to you
Jennifer