How to tame a budgerigar to your hands?

Among the variety of birds suitable for keeping at home, budgerigars are the most popular. Everyone is familiar with these birds of bright colors, which get along well with people and are able to give a lot of joy to all household members. However, at first, a new family friend can be careful in communication, and sometimes even show aggression towards others. Because of this, many ask the question: what can be done for your new pet so that it quickly adapts to new conditions and begins to contact a person? What to do to quickly find a common language with the bird?

The domestication of a parrot depends on a number of conditions. This is gender, age, and health status of the animal. Nobody canceled the personal characteristics of a particular wavy - after all, they, like people, have different characters. With the right approach to the feathered friend, he will rather quickly begin not only to sit on your hand, but will also climb on your shoulder, and will be able to dance according to your mood. In this article, we will cover all aspects of taming a parrot.

Before accustoming the parrot to the hands, it is necessary that he gets used to the new habitat. He must recover after the move, get to know his cage, study everything around him, understand what he needs. In this case, you need to act gradually, step by step, since haste will lead to the opposite result. So, if you try to grab a parrot against his will in order to get him out of the cage, he can get so scared that he can no longer trust people. Here are some basic rules to help him get used to you.

• When you bring your parrot home, leave it alone in the cage for a few hours so that it gets used to its "house" and feels safe. Do not turn on the TV, music, vacuum cleaner - it is afraid of harsh sounds.
• Then start periodically approaching the bird's line of sight and talking to it in a calm voice.
• When adding food or removing the cage, you should do it carefully so as not to frighten the budgie. At the same time, communicate with him and call him by name.

Now let's consider what are the nuances of taming parrots, depending on their characteristics.

Wavy lines from shops get used to living in cramped cages from birth without much care on the part of a person. This means that getting used to your personal home and owner will not be so easy. But with proper care and patience, everything is fixable. Over time, such birds get used to the owner no less than birds raised at home.

The younger the individual, the easier it is for it to adapt to new conditions. This rule is relevant for all living beings and is beyond doubt. This is confirmed by the opinion of scientists who observed the wavy. The optimal age for training is called 5 months. Younger chicks, of course, will also adapt well to new housing, but their domestication may take a little longer.... An older bird will take even more time to consolidate human communication skills.

Often people take to themselves already adult birds, which, due to circumstances, have lost their owners. Usually such an individual is not difficult to tame. Worse, if the bird has managed to survive difficulties, for example, she was forced to live alone for some time. This is a surmountable problem - it is enough to talk to her every day, setting aside at least an hour for this. It is much worse if she was mistreated in the old family - then the chances of gaining the bird's trust are significantly reduced, and only care and attention can change its attitude towards people.

Girls are a little worse tamed than boys, and, in general, they are more difficult to train. Usually, they need at least three weeks to get used to a person. There is an opinion that parrots also learn speech more slowly, although in the end their vocabulary is larger than that of males, and their pronunciation is clearer. Parrots are usually taught to speak in parallel with taming. By the way, when taming a couple of parrots, you will have to do this separately.

Stress and separation from relatives are inevitable companions of moving. The parrot for the first day or two is usually sad, sits ruffled, poorly bites food. In the budgie cage, everything must be thought out for life. Then his adaptation will be faster, which means he will be ready for taming earlier. Equip the cage in advance:

• feeder;
• drinker;
• perches for sitting.

Over time, the "furniture" of the parrot can be replenished with various swings, bells, toys, and a mirror. By the way, it is recommended to carry a bird from the store not in a cage, but in a carrier. However, a securely closed box with air holes will do. Think over the design: you will need to place it near the cage so that the parrot goes straight from it into the cage. As for your apartment or house, be sure to install reliable mosquito nets so that the parrot will probably not fly out the window.

So that the baby makes better contact during classes, and becomes tame as quickly as possible, follow these simple rules:

• spend them in the morning, and only if the parrot is in a good mood;
• take out the feeder from the cage at night - then a hungry pet will more willingly begin to accept food from your hands;
• when starting training, it is better not to wash your hands with soap and water or refrain from using creams, as smells scare birds away;
• do not smoke before class.

Even following the recommendations, it can be very difficult to achieve the task at hand.If this is your case, then we suggest that you study the step-by-step instructions for taming a bird in different ways.

• You need to carefully observe him for some time. Try to study the character of your fearful parrot - what he likes to do when he thinks that no one sees him: some prefer swings, others beat bells, others try to move small objects. In order to establish what kind of entertainment the wavy person has, try to put everything in his cage: balls, candy wrappers, rags, etc.
• When the parrot has finally "nibbled" on one of them, you can start taming it with your favorite toy. Gradually move it to your hand so that he jumps on it.

This painstaking task can last for several days, but sooner or later it will surely be crowned with success. When your pet loves to sit in your arms, you can teach him to fly out of the cage in order to perch on your shoulder and talk to you.

• Identify the parrot's favorite treat. To do this, put different grains or pieces of fruit in the trough and determine what he likes best. Then take this ingredient and only give it for teaching.
• Pass some treats on his finger through the cage wire rack. If he doesn't start eating right away, wait a few minutes. Failure shouldn't upset you - just try again after a while. When the parrot finally bites from your hand, be sure to praise him.
• Show your hand with food through the open cage door. No need to stick it deeply - just wait for it to come up on its own.
• Next, offer treats to the feathered outside the walls of the birdhouse. Move farther and farther from the cage so that he has to reach you, but never run after him with food yourself. At first, he will fly away to himself in order to safely eat the prey, but then he will certainly be imbued with confidence in you.

So that the process does not stall or backfire, which also often happens, avoid some actions when communicating with a parrot:

• is prohibited in the first hours of being in a new house stick your hand in a bird's dwelling and offer to peck food from the palm;
• try to stroke a feather, when he was not yet "ripe" for this;
• forcefully try to take the bird in hand - so she will not only be very frightened, but can also injure herself;
• trim the wings;
• scold a pet for the fact that he pecked you or even bit you;
• waving your arms over the budgerigar's head - like any representative of birds, at the level of genetic memory, he perceives such actions as a danger.

Trying to tame the budgerigar to their hands, many owners face a number of difficulties that prevent them from doing this. Here are the main ones.

The fear of hands is quite justified, because in the wild they are not friends with humans. To get rid of this problem, they use the method of positive reinforcement, that is, as soon as the pet has done the right thing (sat on his hand), he receives praise, food or a toy.

Usually this problem is solved over time, because parrots by nature are very sociable creatures and they do not like loneliness. If you show more patience and surround your pet with care, and most importantly, you will not make mistakes during training, then success will surely come. To help your pet feel more interested in you, try the following:

• if the bird is alone in a cage, offer it an “animated” toy that she can take care of;
• parrots also love to play with ballpoint pens and caps;
• put a feathered mirror in the house - he will be delighted with such a new thing and will be happy to look at himself in the mirror and talk to himself, which will help him not to be isolated.

This often happens if the parrot flies off your hand during taming training. He can circle around the room or fly from object to object. This can be dangerous for the bird, for example, if the window is not curtained, and it will hit the glass in a big way, and even cause inconvenience to the owners. To remedy the situation, there is the following way: wait until dusk, while it is important to remember where the bird is sitting, and in the dark, carefully transfer it to the cage.

When he is in the house, then you can not worry about the future fate of the pernatic. When the light is on, it will calmly react to the fact of movement. In addition, now he will be in your hands, and this will once again show him that the person is not dangerous.

When feeding birds, some owners are bitten. It is clear that this was not done out of malice - the parrot simply did not calculate the movements. It also happens when kissing a pet, which is not as affectionate to the process as the owner. Often such incidents occur with very young birds - this is how they, like children, learn the world. And when the owner brings his hand into the cage, the parrot can take this as a call to play, and simply peck at the finger, like a branch, to hold on.

All of the above "bites" happen by accident rather than intentionally. But there are times when the parrot bites for protective reasons. This can happen with frightened birds or during the mating season. First of all, do not shout back - try to restrain emotions, especially negative ones.... You can lightly click on the kid's beak, saying "no", but you can reeducate an adult by leaving the room with an offended look.

The budgerigar can be a great friend for all family members. Tame it step by step, step by step, taking care of your bird.

Learn more about the secrets of taming budgies in the video below.