moult time

Both Kirby and Charlie have pin feathers at the moment. (pin feathers are new feathers coming through) so I'm hoping Kirby will be growing some new wing feathers.

Pin feathers are incredibly itchy for poor little budgies, so they will rub their heads on their toys and preen each other to help the new feather come out.

Baths also help & my two little babies have been having lots of those lately due to the warmer days as well.

anyway here's a picture of Kirby's pin feathers on her head!

Charlie is being much more confident now, unfortunately he is also biting me more maybe because he isn't afraid, he can see Kirby bitting me, but the only problem is that his bites hurt while Kirby's don't.

he is responding really well to target training, and I know he knows what i want him to do, but often he will choose not to if he thinks its too scary, like if I move the stick to somewhere he doesn't want to go.

apparantly to stop biting its a good idea to move your hand while they are perched on you, so your birds lose balance (which they don't like) and therefor wont bite you because they don't want to lose balance. I tried this, my birds just hand on tighter... i can tip my hand upside down & they will hang on hahaha.

oh well I will keep trying!

see those little pin feathers on the top of her head??
Poor little charlie has them everywhere, his head, his cheeks even his neck!

charlie progress

Yesterday had my friend come visit me, so we played with Kirby and Charlie. Working on getting charlie to feel safe with different people. Had him out and he happily ran around on the top of the cage giving kirby kisses through the bars. (still not letting Kirby out because when she flies she can't turn properly and flies into walls) so he was really good and being calm.
But my sister came barging into my room, and I was telling her to shut the door because charlie was out and he nearly got spooked but luckily shut the door in time and he stayed on the cage phew!
I'm going to have to make a sign to but on my bedroom door saying "budgies out!! DON'T OPEN THE DOOR" hahaha.


Anyway think I will rearrange the cages tomorrow! but Kirby's old mirror toy with perch in her cage yesterday and she has been sitting on it heaps.. think it will always be her favourite toy! 

bring a new budgie home & starting taming!

So I thought I would make a post about how I tamed my budgies and what steps I took when I brought them home to help them trust me and begin taming!


If you have read some of my other post you may know I have two budgies and they were bought at different times.
We will start with my first budgie Kirby.


Kirby was bought from a pet store, at the time I was doing work placement (volunteer work) there for my tafe course. I spotted Kirby and she seemed to be being picked on by the other budgies and I decided I wanted to take her home. She was a real character in the pet store... 
when I brought her home she was in a little budgie size white box, I placed it inside her cage and let her come out in her own time.


don't be worried if they sit still for hours and not eat or drink, this is completely normal they are just afraid of the new place they are in and now its your job to show them that they are safe and you are not going to hurt them.


For the first few days I wouldn't put your hand in the cage. other than to change water & food.
What you should do is sit by the cage, talk to your budgie, whistle to him or her and slowly he should get used to you. Also make sure the cage is in an area of your house that you are in a lot. For me Kirby's cage was in my bedroom because that is where I spend all my time.


In a few days your budgie should be feeling a bit more comfortable, its time to take the next step.


Slowly open the door of your budgies cage, and place your hand inside. Don't try and touch your budgie just leave your hand there, at first it may be afraid but if you keep your hand still it will soon realise your not coming too close and won't be too scared.
the trick is not to force your budgie to like you but to get him to be interested in you and want to like you.
For the next few days you should keep doing this but slowly start moving your hand closer but not touching your budgie.
Some budgies will decide to bite your hand or try out standing on it themselves, if they do this let them. A bird will bite your finger/hand before it wants to step onto you to see if its able to perch on you its not trying to hurt you, Pulling your hand away from your budgie when it bites is a mistake! (because he/she will believe you will go away if he/she bites)  I your budgie is biting you and you think he or she is afraid slowly move your hand away (don't jerk it away) and go back to just leaving your hand there. 


When you feel that your budgie is used to your hand being in the cage trying getting them to "step up".
There are two different ways to do this
The first one is place your finger above the feet, near the abdomen and push gently against your budgie and he may step onto your finger (usually only staying there for 2 seconds). Some budgies will just fly away from you, they are too afraid. you can keep slowly trying to do this method and when your budgie does step up say "good boy/girl" and if they want to get down let them and try again latter. don't force your budgie to get on your finger repeatedly they will get annoyed.
If you can't get your budgie to do this try using the second step:
Most budgies Love millet, try holding some in your hand, offer some to your budgie and get him to eat some while its in your hand. When he is used to eating millet from your hand rearrange the millet so he can't reach it unless he steps on your finger. This is  the method I used with Charlie as he was very scared of me but very food orientated.




Once you are able to get them on your finger, each time you do it they should stay longer and be more comortable. Once Kirby knew how to get on my finger and once she realised it was fun, as soon as my hand went in the cage she would jump on me, I didn't even have to try... even if I was trying to put a new toy on she would be standing on my arm while I was attaching the new toy haha.


Because Kirby was by herself she became tame very quickly as she only had me as a friend.
If you are trying to tame two budgies I would have them in seperate cages while taming.
Charlie was harder to tame than Kirby, I started the taming process when he was in quarantine. And got as far as getting him to step up for a short period usually using millet.
Once he moved into my bedroom where Kirby was, but still a seperate cage, he became much more comfortable, having another budgie around really made him happy and he starting chirping and soon started playing with his toys that he hadn't touched at all before.
I kept using millet to get charlie to step up then slowly stopped using it.
Charlie isn't like Kirby and doesn't want to communicate with humans as much.
But he is slowly learning now, he will step up and let me carry him out of the cage. I am also starting to train him using positive reinforcement. And with time I'm hoping he will be more trusting and less afraid of things.
If you have a very timid budgie like Charlie, or a budgie who is afraid of new things including toys. Just keep trying slowly, eventually you will gain their trust, use millet and positive reinforcement to make them see the things they are afraid of are actually a good thing.

bath time

Charlie has become lots more confident, after a training sesion yesterday he seemed pretty hot so in went the baths for Charlie and Kirby. Usually Charlie doesn't go anywhere near it, or will only stick his beak in unlike Kirby who jumps right in, but this time in he went!! he splashed around and had a great time :)

toys toys toys

Toys are a really important part of having pet birds. Birds are really smart and need toys for their mental and physical health! 
So when you own a bird its up to you to find toys that you can afford and your birds like. These are the one I think my birds love and are a necessary for your cage!


Perches: these may not exactly be a toy but in some ways they can be. when it comes to perches you should have lots of different kinds to exercise your birds feet and so they don't become sore because of having one size/type of perch. 
The different kind of perches I have in my cages are:
Wooden perch: just the normal kind that usually comes in cages! these aren't the best kind of perch but much better than plastic and having one or two along with your other perches won't harm your budgies feet.
mineral/calcium perch: These perches aren't only good for your birds feet but also for their beak and nails! so having one of these in your cage is great for your birds and also they love to chew and rub their beak on them.
rope perch: A rope perch is nice and soft on your birds feet and also exercises them from the different shapes they can be! Most birds will love having a rest on a rope perch! they are also great to be able to bend around the cage.
Natural perch: this you can get from your garden (as long as it hasn't been treated with anything and is safe for your birds) or you can buy one from the pet store. Natural perches are rougher and good for you birds to exercise their feet on. They also like chewing these and many budgies enjoy chewing on branches!
Ladders: ladders can be a perch and a toy! many come with beads attached for you bird to play with, ladder are great for your birds to climb on and are also handy if you have a bird with clipped wings that needs help getting to higher places!


Moving on to toys!


the simple stuff:
Plastic toys: The first toys my budgies ever played with were plastic, and not even bird toys :p
you can buy cheap cat toys easily that your bird will love to play with, like little balls with bells inside! my budgies will never get tired of throwing these around the cage :)
you can get cheap plastic swings with beads attached to the top or bells.
Bells are loved by most birds and anything with a bell on it your bird will probably want to play with! just make sure the bell is safe before giving it to your bird to play with.






wooden blocks: great for chewing on, helping keep that beak healthy! 
Shredable toys: those toys your birds can pull apart and wreck are great for mental stimulation!
preening toys: if your bird doesn't have a friend or even if it does, birds will love a stringy toy they can preen!


play gym: play gyms are great if you let your birds out of the cage, you can hang toys of them and its somewhere they can perch and relax when they are out of the cage here's what mine currently looks like: 

I joined the old little play gym I had together with my new bigger play gym by using this natural perch I got from the pet store, all I did was screw another hook on the end from an old ladder and hook each end to the rope perch.

DANGERS WITH TOYS!


I've never had my birds harm themselves on toys but here's some things I look for to make sure a toy is safe before giving it to my bird.


rope toys, perches or preening toys which have loose string- if this is too long a budgie or small bird can get it wrapped around their neck or feet and panic and harm themselves. If you buy a toy and think the string is too long just cut it shorter, I have done this with many toys!


Bells: many bird toys come with bells that aren't really safe, either the bell has small parts that can come of and the bird can swallow, or its made out of something toxic to your bird.
I've bought sever toys with bells on them that are cooper, including recently buying a bird gym. Cooper is known to be toxic to birds. so take of the bells and replace them with stainless steel.




always check toys to see if they are getting too worn, or have parts loose.
when it comes to anything with rope, it can start to get wrecked and bird can catch their toes in lose strings easily.

here are some toys and perches my budgies love:

fly time!

After finally finishing "budgie proofing" my room I let Kirby and Charlie check out their new play gym today. But they were so excited to be out together all the did was chase each other around, Kirby got on the play gym a few times but I know it will take Charlie a little longer because he doesn't like new things.

Anyway Charlie decided to take flight! and of course Kirby decided to follow, I was surprised how far Kirby got when she really only has one wing with flight feathers on it, but anyway she did end up on the floor.

Charlie bumped into the walls a few times before learning his lesson and managed to avoid them. He then decided to perch on top of my bookcase with my massive toy giraffe and some other teddies. He stayed up there for quite some time and flew around a few times always going back to the bookcase. I got him down using a ladder.

I'm going to keep letting Charlie out to fly by himself and get used to things while Kirby is growing her flight feathers back. Hopefully it doesn't take too long because I want her to enjoy flying too!

new play area!

As I want to teach the birdies to fly & be calm outside their cages, I bought a new play gym so they have somewhere to land/perch besides just standing on the top of their cages as this can't be comfortable!!!

I joined the new one with  my old little one which wasn't big enough for both of them to happily play on, I used a natural perch which was meant to hang by a hook in the cage, instead i put a hook on the other end too and hooked one end on one gyms rope perch and the other on the other gyms rope perch (you will see in the picture). I also got a rope perch to be on the cage too.

I'm hoping to let them out tomorrow my only real concern is the bookcase in the room, if they got behind it, and got stuck. I'm hoping I can push it up against the wall more so they can't get behind there.

expect photos!!!
:)

I also got some treats today, gave Kirby a honey/berrie seed treat which she loves chewing away on, and gave charlie some millet! they had been looking a bit skinny so want them to add a bit of weight i think :)

Charle LOVES millet, kirby not so much (which is why she got the honey treat)

I left the millet in charlies cage while I went grocery shopping, when I came back it was nearly ALL eaten! hahah

Lately I have been working on getting my room bird proof for Kirby & charlie to learn to fly and get exercise out of the cage.
Neither of my birds have ever been out of the cage and able to fly. they were both pet store birds who have been in cages their entire life. 
When I bought Charlie in June to be a friend for Kirby who I've had since late march, Charlie spent a month getting used to me before meeting Kirby, I wanted them to bond outside of the cage but Charlie still wasn't too tame so after a lot of thought I clipped their wings to make the process easier.
Now charlies flight feathers are all grown back, I'm just waiting on Kirby's to start the training process of them being out side their cages.
Both of them are use to coming out and sitting on top of their cages but neither of them have had much practice flying!
I did a big clean out of my bedroom where there cages are to make it more bird safe, I'm also looking into making an out of cage play area, and places they can perch easy when flying.
I expect when they are first learning to fly they may get a little startled but once they get used to their surroundings things should be good.
Charlie has made so much progress with me, I can now get him to hop up onto my finger just by placing it near him and talking to him encouraging him to hop up, then he is free to stay for as long or as little as he likes. He loves being talked to and I'm hoping training out of the cage will only make our bond stronger.
I'm also hoping Kirby and Charlie will come to like each other more & possibly share a cage latter.

Its been a little while since I've updated :/ whoops!
Well things have been a little hectic, My computer has been playing up horribly!!  I just got a new job & have decided once I feel I can afford it I will be buying a new laptop because this one is just not good!!
Kirby & Charlie are doing good. Charlie is pretty tame with me, his personality is different to Kirby's though and everyone that visits and pays attention to my birds always goes to put their hand in Kirby's cage because she will happily go to them. Charlie needs to be convinced that he should play with you before he decides to! He loves chewing on my ring though.

The weather is warming up & both Kirby and charlie grew their flight feathers back, but yesterday I found Kirby had lost at least two from her left wing so she looks a tad funny at the moment!
With spring starting I'm trying to teach Charlie to take a bath, he is really afraid of anything new in his cage, I've only ever caught him once bathing in his water bowl. but don't really want them doing that and then running out of water. So sat the little shallow bath I have for them in his cage yesterday & left it there, guess I will do it again today!


They still are not in the same cage, Kirby seems to go in and out of breeding so much. It seems their routine now that when it gets to late afternoon, they both go and sit at the bottom of their cages and run up and down chasing each other. i really want them to get a long, so will be starting to try and get them used to sharing a cage by having small amounts of time together, you would think they would be used to each other since they sit right next to each other all day long.


maybe I should just let them fight until they get over it :/ I would hate for them to hurt each other though.


Anyway I will post a few pics!