Finger Training new Parakeet.

[asokatonu]

Hey!



I just recently got a Parakeet. I have wanted one for a long time and I finally did it about a week and a half ago. After a bunch of research, I sadly was unable to find any breeders or rescues to get one from. So I finally gave in and got one from a larger pet store. She is beautiful! On Wednesday I will have had her for 2 weeks. She seems very comfortable. I video her singing and she loves to sing and dance along with that. She also loves it when let her out so she can fly around the room. She is very comfortable with me and she is ok with my hands being in the cage. She will even step onto my finger and hang out there with the offer of a treat, but She is still not super comfortable with my hand. She only steps onto it if I have a treat and even then she is often hesitant and I have to wait patiently. I understand that training and taming take time, patience, and persistence. I was just wondering if anyone has any tips or tricks to help show Her that my hands are not evil. Also, any training/taming tips would be appreciated. Last, of all, I am trying to wean her off her seed/pellet diet onto straight pellets, but she appears to be even more stubborn than my old rooster! Any help or suggestions would be AWESOME!

Thanks in advance!

 

[Zoohtasim]

Hey!



I just recently got a Parakeet. I have wanted one for a long time and I finally did it about a week and a half ago. After a bunch of research, I sadly was unable to find any breeders or rescues to get one from. So I finally gave in and got one from a larger pet store. She is beautiful! On Wednesday I will have had her for 2 weeks. She seems very comfortable. I video her singing and she loves to sing and dance along with that. She also loves it when let her out so she can fly around the room. She is very comfortable with me and she is ok with my hands being in the cage. She will even step onto my finger and hang out there with the offer of a treat, but She is still not super comfortable with my hand. She only steps onto it if I have a treat and even then she is often hesitant and I have to wait patiently. I understand that training and taming take time, patience, and persistence. I was just wondering if anyone has any tips or tricks to help show Her that my hands are not evil. Also, any training/taming tips would be appreciated. Last, of all, I am trying to wean her off her seed/pellet diet onto straight pellets, but she appears to be even more stubborn than my old rooster! Any help or suggestions would be AWESOME!

Thanks in advance!

Seems like you are doing a great job! I don't think you need any other tricks as what you are doing right now is kinda perfect? Just do what you are doing now regularly and frequently and she will be tamed fast I hope! Good luck!

 

[ButtonHoarder]

It sounds like you're doing great! Just time and patience. A lot of budgies take a while to warm up to you, especially pet store budgies. Maybe trying a smaller pellet size would help? My budgie was disgusted with pellets until I got a smaller size.

 

[asokatonu]

It sounds like you're doing great! Just time and patience. A lot of budgies take a while to warm up to you, especially pet store budgies. Maybe trying a smaller pellet size would help? My budgie was disgusted with pellets until I got a smaller size.

I have a finch/canary size pellet that I am using right now because I read that they seem to prefer the smaller size, but I haven't really had very much luck. She picks at them and then just throws them out of her dish. I got a pic of her hanging out on my finger. As long as there is millet she couldn't care less what she is standing on! Her name is Cielo by the way.

 

[Serin]

You've made good progress.

Weaning budgies to pellets is difficult, more than other birds. I know someone with a budgie that starved to death instead of even trying to eat pellets, so be cautious.

Also... It appears that 'she' is a young male, about 5 months. Female budgies won't have pink or purple ceres. Young males do - and adult males of certain mutations.

"Her" mutation is dominant pied opaline sky blue, so the cere will turn a dark royal blue within the next couple of months.

 

[asokatonu]

You've made good progress.

Weaning budgies to pellets is difficult, more than other birds. I know someone with a budgie that starved to death instead of even trying to eat pellets, so be cautious.

Also... It appears that 'she' is a young male, about 5 months. Female budgies won't have pink or purple ceres. Young males do - and adult males of certain mutations.

"Her" mutation is dominant pied opaline sky blue, so the cere will turn a dark royal blue within the next couple of months.

No way! That is awesome! I actually really wanted a boy because it sounded like they are more likely to speak if properly trained, but when I asked the employees they said they only had girls! I thought He was pretty young guessing by his eyes but I wasn’t sure how old he was. I am no expert when it comes to these pretty little guys. Thank you for all the Information!

With the weaning to pellets. I am currently mixing a seed mix with pellets so that He has food if he refuses the pellets. The plan was to slowly add less seeds and see if he still continues to eat the same basic amount of food in ounces a day to make sure he was getting what he needed. Does that sound reasonable or do you think there might be a better way?

Again thank you for all that great information! Anything else is very much welcome!

 

[ButtonHoarder]

No way! That is awesome! I actually really wanted a boy because it sounded like they are more likely to speak if properly trained, but when I asked the employees they said they only had girls! I thought He was pretty young guessing by his eyes but I wasn’t sure how old he was. I am no expert when it comes to these pretty little guys. Thank you for all the Information!

With the weaning to pellets. I am currently mixing a seed mix with pellets so that He has food if he refuses the pellets. The plan was to slowly add less seeds and see if he still continues to eat the same basic amount of food in ounces a day to make sure he was getting what he needed. Does that sound reasonable or do you think there might be a better way?

Again thank you for all that great information! Anything else is very much welcome!

You could maybe try giving just pellets first thing, then some seeds a few hours later, or sooner if he/she doesn't eat any.

 

[asokatonu]

You could maybe try giving just pellets first thing, then some seeds a few hours later, or sooner if he/she doesn't eat any.

That is a good idea. I could try giving him pellets first thing in the morning when he is most hungry then provide him with seeds a bit later. So then he won't starve to death from stubbornness, but maybe he will be more willing to try the pellets if he is a bit hungry. I'll give it a go!

Thank you!

 

[Poultrybonkers]

An all pellet diet isnt good at all as budgies are naturally seed eaters.

 

[asokatonu]

An all pellet diet isnt good at all as budgies are naturally seed eaters.

Thank you for your concern! See that is what I thought at first too, but while wild budgies are naturally seed eaters they also often fly around 200-300 miles in a couple of days. Seeds are very high in fat which in a wild budgies case would give them the energy to fly for hours on end, but for a budge that lives in a cage and only has a couple of rooms to fly around all that fat isn't necessary. in fact, pet budgies that live on seed often become overweight, which puts a lot of pressure on their organs and can cause liver and kidney problems. Also while wild budgies eat a lot of seeds they also eat fruits, veggies, leafy greens, and the occasional bug. So a pet budgie that is living off a seed diet would not be getting all of the nutrients that they need. This is why I am trying to wean mine off his seed diet and into a pellet diet. Pellets are made to have most if not all the nutrients that a budgie would need. Of course, I will also try to convince him to try some fruits and veggies to help supplement his diet I will also offer seeds occasionally during training and as a treat.