taming my budgies?

ok here goes my first question to u other bird owners.
im not sure how to go taming and handling my 2 young budgies.
i doint think it will be that hard,they r fairly easy going as it is.
ive been told to trim their wings so they cant fly around when training them...my partner and i really feel weird about having to resort to this.we trained our cockatiel to be tame and be handled without clipping her wings andwe have no trouble with her at all.

unfortunately,the budgies r harder to catch when they escape out of ur hands,they r too small to catch easily like the cockatiel.

so what do u suggest...do we have to resort to clipping their wings??hope not!
any advice welcomed

 

Hi i own cockatiels, budgies and finch's.

For hand taming budgies the best result is through clipping the wings you only need to cut a couple of primary flight feathers the reason breeders and other bird lovers do this is because then the bird needs to depend on you this helps reinforce the bond you share with your birds.

Or the alternative is every couple of hours if possible place your hand inside the cage and hold it there eventually slowly moving towards the birds chest once this is established you can use the Up command and gently press your finger against there chest they learn UP means to step on the finger.
Once you have got this done allow the birds just to sit there and eventually slowly move your hand out of the cage eventually you will be able to take the birds out without them jumping off also if they have a favourite piece of fruit or veg or even millet spray this helps them trust your hand.

Then there is the DOWN command when you wish them to go back to there perch or anywhere else say down and gently press them against the perch or chair or shoulder and they will learn down is to come off the finger and perch...

The rest is plain sailing.

Hope this has helped a little...

Mike

 

I definately agree with Mike's advice. When I first got Kiwi it was much easier to hand tame him with his wings clipped and it was easier to teach him the UP and DOWN commands. Now I keep his wings clipped for safety reasons, don't want him flying into a wall, wndow or mirror.