You do not need to be a bird expert to keep and train your parakeet in your house. Usually, parakeets are affectionate birds that are easy to maintain. However, there are various steps that you have to follow so that you can quickly bond with it and get it to trust you. Stay tuned by reading this article till the end!
If you want to train your parakeet to trust you, reflect on the following 11 steps:
1. Get an Appropriate Cage for Your Parakeet
This is the first step in making your parakeet comfortable. Put the cage in a room with a moderate temperature to avoid a too-cold or too-hot environment.
Besides, ensure your parakeet has easy access to food and water to prevent straining.
2. Trim Your Parakeet’s Wings
Clipping the wings of your bird requires guidance from your veterinarian. This will help your bird move freely around your home without flying away since it takes a few months before its wings grow back again.
3. Give Your Parakeet Time to Familiarize Itself with Its New Environment.
Your parakeet will get used to its surroundings by doing the following:
1. Have your parakeet’s cage where you spend most of your time so it can get used to you.
2. Talk gently to your parakeet to create a rapport between you and the bird.
3. Play some incredible music for your bird at a moderate volume to get used to your home.
4. Open the Cage’s Door
Once you start opening the cage’s door, the parakeet becomes free. You can also insert your hand full of bird seeds while gently talking to your parakeet.
Avoid grabbing it at this stage, as this may threaten the bird. Let it slowly come to you.
5. Train Your Parakeet to Hop Onto a Perch
Once the parakeet grows fond of you, you can train it to hop onto a stick. This is easily done by inserting a perch in a cage and letting your parakeet move on it after some time. Besides, being patient with your bird is essential as it learns to trust you.
6. Train Your Parakeet to Hop Onto Your Finger
Once it has learned to hop onto a perch, you should start training it to hop onto your finger. Talk your parakeet out of its cage so it can easily jump onto your finger.
Ensure this training takes a short time to avoid getting the bird tired.
7. Let Your Parakeet Spend At Least One Hour Outside Its Cage
Once your parakeet has learned to hop onto objects and your fingers, let it exercise for an hour out of its cage daily. As a result, your bird will feel free and trust you even more.
However, ensure the door and windows are closed to avoid flying into them.
8. Allow Your Parakeet to Sit on Your Shoulder
After letting your parakeet move freely around your house, gently set it on your shoulder. Once the bird feels more comfortable, it will learn to perch on your shoulder once it is out of its cage.
9. Buy Toys for Your Bird
You can use toys to bond with your bird. These toys will help you keep your bird healthy and happy. Some of these toys include:
1. Mirrors.
2. Bells.
3. Wooden chew toys.
4. Swings.
5. Ladder.
6. Non-poisonous house plants.
10. Continue Talking to Your Bird Gently
Always talk to your parakeet gently as you give it food and water to continue bonding with you. You can teach your parakeet to mimic words and other sounds.
These steps help your parakeet trust you without straining.
11. Tame Your Bird
Once your parakeet trusts you, you can start taming it by holding it for at least 30 minutes, usually five times a day. Make sure you hold your budgie correctly by placing your palm on its back.
How to Bond with a Scared Budgie
Budgies can be scared due to the new environment, noise, etc. These five steps will help you bond with a scared budgie:
1. Soft Speech
It is vital to keep your voice low and inviting when talking to your budgie. This will create a positive and relaxed environment for your budgie. Avoid loud noises, as they scare the bird.
2. Give It Its Favorite Treat
Budgies love treats, and primarily tasty treats such as food complement them. You can offer budgie-specific treats like Kaytee Superfood Treat Sticks. This treatment helps the bird see you as a friendly person.
3. Make Your Budgie Comfortable
If you want to make your budgie more comfortable, ensure you spend more time with it outside the cage. By doing so, your budgie will experience freedom, making it more relaxed.
4. Play With Your Budgie
Consider getting toys like a ladder and bells to keep your bird healthy, happy, and active. Talk to your bird while playing with it to form a bond.
Additionally, you can put on some incredible music and dance to its favorite beats to cheer it up. Playing with your bird makes it believe you are friendly enough to trust you.
5. Give It Time to Get Used to the New Environment
Patience is the key when dealing with a scared budgie. Give your budgie time to familiarize itself with you and the environment. Avoid scaring the bird by grabbing it and exposing it to loud noises.
How to Make Your Budgie Happy
Happiness creates a healthy environment for your budgie. Consider doing the following five things to make your budgie happy:
1. Provide a cage that is friendly to your budgie.
2. Feed your budgie its favorite diet to keep it healthy.
3. Offer quality time to sleep.
4. Play with it using toys or music.
5. Allow it out of the cage for exercises.
6. Gently talk to your budgie.
7. Regularly clean its cage and provide clean feed and water daily.
8. Show more love to your budgie by spending more time with it.
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