Budgie taming question

[Talven]

Would it be helpful in taming my flock of budgies if I had an already tame bird or would it work the other way and my flock would untame the tame one? None of my birds are used to being handled at all and I could use all the help I can get.

 

[wrench13]

Hopefully others will chime in here. I do not have a budgie, but I have read that taming a flock of them is difficult, especially if they were parent raised and have had zero human interaction in the past. Are they all in one cage?

 

[OutlawedSpirit]

It would really be easiest to tame them separate from each other. As long as they are in a flock, they have no real reason to "want" to interact with you. Our birds bond with us because they are flock animals and we become part of their flock. We serve as their companions. When your budgies are already in a flock, they don't need you to be a substitute flock. Make sense? I'm not saying it can't be done, but it will be much, much harder.

Also, if you introduce your already tame budgie to the flock, he may stay tame, but he will likely bond with the other budgies and you'll lose at least some of your bond with him.

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[Talven]

I have been reading many conflicting things online about this. Some say it makes it easier because they are flock birds it shows the more timid birds that humans aren't to be feared. Others say it will make the tamed bird revert. As the latter seems to be the general consensus I will continue as is.

Yes all the birds will be housed together for the moment. I know it would be much much easier to tame individually but I don't have the space in the house for another cage.

There is a good chance I may never be able to tame a whole flock at once but if that's the case so be it. Regardless of being able to handle the budgies or not I'm happy to share my home with them.

Worst case scenario is I can't tame this flock of budgies and I am forced to build an aviary for them and allow them to just be wild aviary birds. Still lovely to look at and hear even if that's all I can get.

 

[bug_n_flock]

My adult breeder budgies are not "tame", but they know me and Mr. Bug and as long as we aren't poking around *in* their cages, they are not too afraid of us. They are very personable and fairly interactive even with being untame. Budgies are pretty great like that. They are quite curious and bold.



That said, I have mixed feelings about a tame "leader" budgie. Hima helps with socializing the baby budgies, but they are much younger than your birds, and Hima/Legs doesn't live in the same cage as any other bird, and she gets PLENTY of out of cage one on one time.



I do agree that taming them separately would probably be the best path forward. Since you don't have a lot of space for extra cages, would you have space for 1 or 2 more cages and you and your family can pick one or two to tame and leave the rest together and untame? Edit: I just reread what you wrote, "no space for *another* cage" so, that would be a no on my idea then lol

 

[Talven]

Well as I can't fit another cage in the house I have been allowed to build a smallish aviary in the garden (1.5m x 1.4m x 2m or 60in x 55in x 78in). At this point we are debating on housing all of the budgies in the aviary and allowing them to breed and taming the babies, taming one or two from the 10 we have and the rest go into the aviary or they just become aviary birds and live out their lives with hopefully no babies.

 

[bug_n_flock]

Breeding in a community setting in an aviary like that is a VERY bad idea. Only a matter of time until 1 or more pairs become aggressive and literally kill the other birds and babies. Besides, you don't know if these birds are related lr inbred themselves. I absolutely would not breed these birds if I were in your shoes.

 

[Aspie_Aviphile]

I used to interact with Biddy, whom I'd had longer, in the same room as Bo while he was in his cage. He watched us from the safety of his cage so she never saw him acting scared of me, but he got the benefit of seeing this much smaller bird unafraid and unharmed by the human. I think it helped in our scenario and had no way of backfiring but that might not be the case if they share a cage.

 

[Talven]

Sorry I didn't explain very well about the breeding. I wasn't planning on letting them breed in the aviary. If I was going to let them breed it would be in a separate breeding cage same as when I bred 'tiels. The likelihood of that is maybe 0.5% chance. So many people breed budgies as it is do I really need to add more babies to the market? Not to mention all the other dramas that go with breeding. I don't think I could manage hand rearing abandoned chicks again. The lack of sleep was a killer and I'm not as young as I used to be.

I know that three of the birds are from the same clutch from the 5 I got from the dodgy "breeders" and the other 5 are from a reputable trader who sources from several local breeders. So at least half are unrelated to the other half. As for being inbred I don't know. Many birds are inbred to develop desired mutations, so at some level, most of the birds in the hobby have had some form of inbreeding.

 

[OutlawedSpirit]

Sorry I didn't explain very well about the breeding. I wasn't planning on letting them breed in the aviary. If I was going to let them breed it would be in a separate breeding cage same as when I bred 'tiels. The likelihood of that is maybe 0.5% chance. So many people breed budgies as it is do I really need to add more babies to the market? Not to mention all the other dramas that go with breeding. I don't think I could manage hand rearing abandoned chicks again. The lack of sleep was a killer and I'm not as young as I used to be.



I know that three of the birds are from the same clutch from the 5 I got from the dodgy "breeders" and the other 5 are from a reputable trader who sources from several local breeders. So at least half are unrelated to the other half. As for being inbred I don't know. Many birds are inbred to develop desired mutations, so at some level, most of the birds in the hobby have had some form of inbreeding.

In my experience, it is relatively easy to keep a flock of budgies in an aviary with no breeding as long as you don't provide them with any nesting places or materials. I had a flock of close to 10 when I was a kid, and none of them were tame but I could sit and watch them for hours. I loved not only their chirping, but their whole social dynamic. Who was talking to who, their little squabbles, honestly it's like watching a high school drama. [emoji1787]

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[Talven]

In my experience, it is relatively easy to keep a flock of budgies in an aviary with no breeding as long as you don't provide them with any nesting places or materials. I had a flock of close to 10 when I was a kid, and none of them were tame but I could sit and watch them for hours. I loved not only their chirping, but their whole social dynamic. Who was talking to who, their little squabbles, honestly it's like watching a high school drama. [emoji1787]

That's what I'm hoping for. I'm not planning on giving them anywhere to breed or materials but it's never 100% certain.

 

[Smerft85]

My budgies are all together, absolutely no nesting available. I got all of them as weanlings, and while none of them are super cuddly, they have zero reason to fear me, at absolute bare minimum they are out for at least one - two hour recreation and interaction time with us, they aren't anti-human-social, but not overly social either. More or less a happy medium where when the birds are out, they come to me when they want that minute or two of scratches or chatting with me, then it's back to the main flock. I would absolutely call them all "tame" for community birds in the sense that they don't feel the need to bite or constantly avoid me, but still have their own sepeeate flock from the human one. Constant attention, and a LOT of daily work may tame them to a point, but weather it be a huge success or a little one, it all takes time and patients.