Taming Your Budgie

Taming your parakeet is not difficult and it can take up lots of your time.  If you wish to tame your parakeet you must know you are in for a commitment during and after the process of taming.  A tamed parakeet will seek your attention and you will be required to spend time with it daily.  Many owners do not realize how demanding such a small parrot can be.  If you plan on working late hours, or traveling, it is recommended you keep two or more budgies and avoid taming.  A tamed parakeet can easily develop psychological problems if you fail to meet its emotional demands.  Most parakeets are monogamous, which means they mate for life.  Because of this, they will wish to interact with you as must as possible.

 The goal of taming is to teach your parakeet how to enjoy human interaction.  A properly tamed parakeet will enjoy spending time with you.   Before you tame your parakeet, it is important you have a young bird, have the wings clipped, and have plenty of treats to offer to the parakeet.  If you are working with an older parakeet you need to know that taming is not impossible but will take longer.  Baby parakeets are very impressionable in the first year and will easily imprint to humans.  They will easily learn to enjoy human interaction if worked with.

To start the process, you need to let your parakeet settle into its new home.  A nervous parakeet needs time to adjust and needs time to understand its surroundings.  He also needs to locate its food and water dishes, reduce his anxiety, and feel secure and confident about his environment. This usually takes around two weeks.  A good sign the budgie is feeling comfortable in its environment is how it acts.  A nervous and unsure Budgerigar will sit frozen on its perch.  Before the taming process can begin it is important you are able to see the parakeet feels secure about its environment.   This means the parakeet will not flutter or show signs of intimidation while you are in its room (It will go about its business while you are present).

Placing the budgie in a busy room is ideal to start the taming process.  Many times budgies are placed into quiet rooms upon their arrival, but if you look at the bigger picture this technique seems to be counterproductive.  A budgie that has been separated will have to readjust to humans and this causes excessive stress.  A busy room will help speed the taming process and will help the parakeet understand that humans are not predators.  In a sense, you are conditioning him for human interaction.

Once the parakeet has learned to accept your presence and it is active around you, you can start to gently open the cage door and place your hand inside the cage.  This needs to be done consistently and regularly throughout the day until the parakeet can handle your hand inside the cage.  During this processes of taming, avoid eye contact and sudden movements.  The parakeet may flutter around the cage but do not react.  This exercise needs to be done until the parakeet shows no fear of your hand.  It can take weeks or days.  Just be consistent and practice doing this.

Once the parakeet can confidently deal the presence of your hand inside its cage, gently take your finger and try to make the parakeet step up on your finger.  Most parakeets will jump and cling to the cage bars.  Try to position your finger below the breast line and gently push up.  It is important you not jerk your hand back during this stage.  If you have a fear of getting bitten, then use a dowel. The parakeet needs to step up on your finger and needs to remain there for a while.  Again, this needs to be practiced until the parakeet can do this without hesitation. 

If your bird is stepping up on your finger inside its cage, then slowly try to coax him outside the cage while he is on your finger.  Do not be surprised if the parakeet decides to quickly head for a perch or the cage bars.  Just continue trying to coax him outside the cage.  Once out, you can take the parakeet into a room that is not familiar, such as a small bathroom, a bedroom, or a study room.  While in this unfamiliar room, try giving your parakeet a treat.  You might try step ups or just gently holding him on your finger while you recite nursery rhymes.  During this process keep your voice soothing and mellow. 

This needs to be done several times a day and within weeks your parakeet will start to come around.  Some take longer and some tame sooner.  Never create an environment that will scare the bird because birds remember all intimidating situations.  An example might be during a taming session where your parakeet tries to escape and flutters a few feet away.  Your natural instinct would be to chase the parakeet and place him back onto your finger.  This is the wrong approach.  Gently and slowly approach the parakeet and pick him up with a towel.  If you chase him, you might cause the parakeet to become uptight.  The bird could perceive the situation as a predator and prey chase.  This can greatly reduce any hard work you have done trying to tame the parakeet. 

It is important to be patient.  In the parakeet’s eyes, it only sees you as danger.  You have two eyes located in the font which clearly means you’re a predator.  Parakeets have their eyes on the side so they can scope their surroundings.  A parakeet is always alert and looking for danger, and for the time being, you are considered danger until the parakeet is fully tamed.  Taming takes work but its well worth the effort.  Once the parakeet understands your intentions his attitude towards you will change.  Always move slowly when progressing towards each step.  If you feel you have moved quickly, take a step back and reassure the parakeet though your actions that everything is going to be okay.