Angry budgie

Question
I've had my female budgie for about seven months now and she seems to be getting more and more aggressive towards me. I try to spend lots of time with her but all she wants is to stay in her cage. She bites hard now and never used to bite at all...Also she will have this budgie "growl" and lunges at our fingers when we try to take her out. Also, when she is out of the cage how could I teach her not to fly away and hit walls??

Answer
Dear Jessica,
thank you for your question.
Let her come out of the cage by herself. The inside of the cage is a budgies home and they should never be handled inside their cage (it's like someone reaching into your bedroom window and taking you out of bed). Try interacting with her outside the cage, offer her treats on your hand and if she takes them from your palm, offer the treats a short distance form the cage so that she has to fly a bit to get to your hand. Clicker training is a great bird taming/traning method and can be used to stop the biting. Reward her when she lets you near her or even touch her without biting her with a specific sound (a click make with a clicker or pen) and a small treat. If she bites or even attempts to bite, she gets no reward, just ignore her for a short time. Here's more info on clicker training:
http://www.clickertraining.com/
http://www.clickertraining.com/allanimals

A healthy budgie with unclipped wings should be able to avid hitting walls without problems, if she keeps crashing into walls, she might have a health problem. But if it's only panic, just open the cage and let her come out by herself and make sure that nothing scares her into flight. She should be able to navigate just fine. Once she has learned that interacting with you is fun and gets her treats, she will stay with you and won't fly away immediately.

I recommend getting her a partner, though. Budgies are extremely social and are used to being in the company of their partner or other members of the flock 24 hours a day. A single bird will get bored and lonely when you are not around even for a short time, but two birds always have each other for company. They will also be more active and much more interesting to watch than a single bird. It might also help with her aggression issues. A male would be best for hr, since females often bicker. They won't breed unless you offer a nesting box, which I don't recommend.

I hope I was of some help to you
Jennifer