Budgie/Parakeet Strays from finger. Need solution.

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Budgie/Parakeet Strays from finger. Need solution.

The Situation here:

He eats in between my fingers

He eats from the palm of my hand

He eats on top of my finger (I coat the back of my index finger in water, get some seeds attached to the wet finger, and lay that finger on the perch. He will put one foot on top of my finger and eat the seeds).

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Problem:

However, he strays away from my finger when there is no food. I try getting him on my finger and he moves to the other side of the perch. I just put my finger on the perch for an hour, and he doesn't even come close. He starts chirping and making weird noises. He still strays away.

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QUESTION- How do I make it so that he gets close to my finger without food?

PS: This bird is 7 years old, making him an adult.

If you have any methods or solutions please reply. I looked up that I have to put my finger in cage for awhile, and as you have read, he stays on the opposite end of the perch for an hour and it doesn't seem to be working anytime soon.

Comments for
Budgie/Parakeet Strays from finger. Need solution.

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Aug 23, 2010

question
by: the asker of the question

Is talking to him and offering food (once in awhile when I talk to him) good enough? He's scared of hand so he moves away. I occasionally say good boy, but I'm not sure if he really understands that I'm praising him.

So how do you reward him without food or contact? I'm not sure if he understands that "good boy" is praising him...thats the only issue here.

Aug 20, 2010

Budgie/Parakeet Strays from finger. Need solution.
by: Linda

You have just described why "food training" does not work. People who train their birds with food will find later on that unless they have the food, bird does not do what they have supposedly "trained" it to do.This is also true with dogs and cats. Animals and birds have to learn to do things because they WANT to, not because we are tricking them into doing them.

You have to train birds with affection and not food. This means taking a look at some of the training materials on this site and possibly other places on the internet and starting over. Never offer food as a reward for doing something right. Always offer affection in the form of saying "Good Boy" or "Good Job" and possibly a little pet or scratch on the head once bird stops biting.Offer encouragement for even the smallest things bird does right. Once bird gets used to being praised for doing something right, then he will be motivated to do more things right so he can feel good about himself. Be enthusiastic with your praise and ALWAYS let him know you love him and are committed to his higher good, and you'll have a loyal, trustworthy bird and a very healthy relationship with him.

See more parrot training information on the Parrot Training page.

Your bird needs to be eating a high quality, organic pelleted diet because the all seed diets are lacking in basic nutrition which will take years' off a bird's life. To keep them in optimum condition, where they want to learn, one has to feed them the correct diet. No people food, just a high quality pelleted diet and the fruit and veggies recommended to go with it. Fruit and veggies cannot be more than 10-15% of total diet, which means very small amounts a few times a week.

Here is a link to an article written by an Avian Vet about changing over from seeds to pellets:

Switching Birds to Pellets article

Tracie carries several kinds of the organic pellets here, and also has links about training birds. Please take your bird to an Avian Vet for a checkup BEFORE starting any training or dietary changes. Once he has a clean bill of health or meds to clear up any infections, then you can start of changing diet and training bird.

Linda

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