Hand Taming Budgies
Hand Taming your budgerigar can be a very fun and rewarding process. Budgies are able to be hand trained fairly easily if you have the time and the patience. As with all Budgie training it is best to start your training with a young budgie; older budgies can also be hand tamed, but depending on their age and temperament it can be a lot harder. The key to hand training your budgie is to spend a lot of time with him/her, start off by gaining their trust and from there continue spending time with your budgie to form a bond and before you know it your Budgie will be nibbling your ear and eating seed out of your hand.
Be Patient and Calm
This is the first step to remember when you are trying to hand tame your Budgie. If you lose your cool and raise your voice or vent frustration, this will do nothing except scare your budgie and make him/her less likely to want to be with you. Whenever you are interacting with your budgerigar it is important to always talk in a soft, soothing, non-threatening manner, this is particularly important when you have just brought home your new Budgie.
Start off slow
Don’t just stick your hand in your new Budgie’s cage! Whilst some younger budgie’s will be quite ok with you having your hand near them, or even touching them, others will be quite nervous in their new home. Take some time to sit with your budgie whilst he/she is in their cage, all the while talking softly to them, remaining calm and complementary to your budgie. This will allow your budgie to relax and feel comfortable in your presence before you start your hands on training.
Once your budgie seems relaxed around you, gently place your hand in the cage, without invading your budgies space. Depending on your budgie’s temperament they may fly around a bit, or run from your hand. Once your budgie settles down you can slowly move your hand closer towards them, stopping at various distances to allow them to be comfortable with your hand being closer to them.
It may take several training sessions to get to the point where your budgie will be comfortable with your hand right next to them, just remember to be patient and calm, and to keep talking to your budgie in a gentle soothing way.
Teaching your budgie to jump on your finger
Now that your budgie is comfortable with your hand resting near them, it is time to teach them to jump onto your index finger. Place your index finger gently against the base of your budgies chest (just near their feet) and gently say the command you want the budgie to respond too (usually it is “Up” or “Step up”), depending on your budgie this may take some time or it may happen straight away. In my experience you can help this process along by attempting hand feeding with millet to entice your budgie to jump on your finger; this will also help greatly with the entire hand taming process.
Really hand taming your budgie
Now that your Budgie trusts you, you can start to really hand train your budgie. A good method for most budgies is to sit down with him/her and allow them to sit on your stomach, from here your budgie will most likely attempt to crawl up towards your face. As your Budgie is scaling you, gently place your hand(s) over their body so they are rubbing against your hand(s) as they walk over you.
Not all budgies will act in this way, but this can be a fantastic way to take your budgies training to the next level.
The best method to further your budgies hand taming is to just spend time with your budgie, dedicate at least 20 minutes a day where you will handle and bond with your budgie.
