Is it bad to let an untame budgie out of its cage?

[SimplyBirdLover]

Hello everyone.
I have two budgies and one of them still isn’t very tame. I always let them out first thing in the morning and they stay out until they go to ved at night (I’m home all day)
I had to put them back into their cage because I was leaving earlier and I took a pretty nasty bite from my untame budgie. I obviously know that they will only bite when they are scared so let me explain.
I knew I had to leave at 6:00 and I started to make an attempt to get them back into their cages around 5:30 just because I knew that it was going to take some time. I deciddd that it would be best to try to get him with a towel because it would be quicker and put less stress on them than me chasing them around the room. Well, me being me, I thought it would be a great idea to just grab him with my hand (terrible idea. I know. It’s bad.)
I ended up grabbing him (very gently) and his natural reaction was to big down on the skin between my pointer finger and it HURT.
I know that it isn’t good to grab your birds because that will prevent them from bonding with you but I honestly never do it. He goes into the cage on his own every night to eat. I knew immediately that I had messed up very bad and that I definitely shouldn’t have done it and I automatically started feeling terrible.
Now, I’m questioning wether or not I should let him out until he is tamed down some or not?
He absolutely LOVES to be out and fly around and play with my other budgie( his cagemate) so I sortve feel bad keeping him in a cage.
Please give me any tips possible on taming him and your opinion on the situation. Please don’t bash me for grabbing him. I know it was wrong but chasing him around the room trying to make him step up would have been worse.

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

Welll...I understand where you're coming from..honestly it doesn't take ALOT of effort to train a Budgie ( How old is he/how long have you had him?)
It makes it more difficult if he is living in the same house as his buddy.
I'd get another house for him,and put him in that,BUT keep his house close to his buddy ( he is probably bonded with him anyway) and read-up on how to tame him..there are TONS of threads on this forum on how to do so...just use the "search" engine.
Budgies are not really hard to tame or train...and a tame Budgie IS an awesome little birdie!



Jim

 

[SimplyBirdLover]

Welll...I understand where you're coming from..honestly it doesn't take ALOT of effort to train a Budgie ( How old is he/how long have you had him?)
It makes it more difficult if he is living in the same house as his buddy.
I'd get another house for him,and put him in that,BUT keep his house close to his buddy ( he is probably bonded with him anyway) and read-up on how to tame him..there are TONS of threads on this forum on how to do so...just use the "search" engine.
Budgies are not really hard to tame or train...and a tame Budgie IS an awesome little birdie!


Jim

When you say budgies aren’t hard to tame I don’t think you understand what my situation is. He was a petstore bird that I saved because he was very sick. Since he came from the petstore he had little to no interaction with people. He is very skittish. I think in a way that is just his personality but I don’t know. I’ve had him for nearly a year. I’ve tried separating them before (when they were only together for around a month or so.) and one of them had its head stuck in the bars and they were only 1/8 of an inch wide. I’ve studied parrots for a very long time and I know a ton about many different species. I’ve even presented talking about parrot care at many different events. Anyways, back on track, it’s impossible to separate them at this point because they have a very strong bond. They have a very large cage ( 4’x3’6’) but like I said, they both love being out. If you have any further questions I’m glad to answer them if you are able to help me in any way. I would really appreciate it!

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

My little Budgie Wally,was also a "pet shop" Budgie..we got him at a local K-Mart,and he was in a cage with a bunch of other little budgie guy's and gal's..but like I said,he was a baby..you will need to separate them,and when you work with him,put him (and his house) in an area where he CAN NOT see his pal.
It might seem cruel to you..he may yell and cry for his pal..You'll have to exhibit "tough love" with him. When you are done with his lessons,then bring his house back to where his buddy is,so he won't feel alone..it can and WILL work.




Jim

 

[gracebowen]

I let mine out too. They aren't bonded yet either. One tactic you can use next time.

Only feed and water in cage. When they go in to eat close the cage.

 

[Loz]

I agree with Jim's advice - a temporary solution. Maybe there is a particular treat that it is fond of? Reserve that for when you need it to return to it's cage. I imagine you would have already tried this method. I've trouble with Dora at bed time lol!

 

[Dogmom1958]

I was going to ask the same question. I have 2 adorable little budgies and I don’t leave them out of the cage because they aren’t clipped and they won’t step-up on my finger. They fly away every time I put my hand in their cage. I had them for about 6 months. They come up to me sometimes when I talk to them in their cage. And they seem happy with each other. Especially since I brought them out to the living room with my other bird. I initially had them in the living room but then I got 2 cockatiels. So I made up a bird room in the spare room. Well the cockatiels didn’t work out for me, so I had another birdlover buy them off me. ( I felt bad but it had to be done). Then the budgies were in the bird room alone and they liked being near the window to look out but they eventually
got bored. I brought them out to the LR with us and they were happy. They seem to enjoy watching everyone. Plus my Caique goes to their cage to visit everyday in the evening. They seem to like that. Lately I have been giving it a lot of thought to bringing them out. I checked with my local vet to see if they would clipped their wings and they said the charge is $80. I do want to let them out but I have to get their wings clipped. I don’t feel it’s safe if I don’t. We have a large bay window in our LR and French doors in the kitchen with no curtains.
I thought about clipping them myself, I googled it and it doesn’t look too hard. But I don’t know, I’m kind of scared with how they will react.
Any ideas on this one for me???
I hope I didn’t bore you with every detail?
I also forgot to mention, when I had them in the “bird room” I took them out once. It was fun for them they went in to the other birds cage to visit. I got one bird back pretty easy but the yellow male, Sunny would budge. That took some time.

 

[gracebowen]

It's not hard to clip if you choose too. Personally I'd clip them in 2 steps. Half of each wing one day. Let them out. Clip half the next day. To me it gets them used to limited flight ability.

Also it can keep you from clipping too much.

When I clipped mine I took half of 4 or 5 flight feathers. They could still fly but we're hesitant so it was easier to catch.

Catching them like that though makes it harder for them to trust you.

I say let them out and use a treat to lure them back or wait till they return to cage to eat or drink. Then close door.

Mine aren't bonded but they always return on their own at dark

 

[LordTriggs]

I would be extremely cautious of clipping them. Remember they don't trust humans right now, having to snatch them to get their wings clipped isn't going to do any favours in regards to their trust/taming. If possible take the budgies into a different room for the first time out and keep the door closed in there so there's less space for them to get up to mischief.

I won't say this works for everyone but my Conure wasn't tame at all when he got out the cage the first time, I had got him to the point where in the cage he wasn't running away from me, then when he was let out I just let him do as he pleased whilst I chilled out. It took time but eventually he chilled out enough that he would step onto a little stick I had with the coaxing of some raisins due to the open plan style of my apartment he spent his time upstairs it took almost an hour to keep him interested in his raisin enough to get downstairs and into the cage. Don't plan on having anywhere to go the first time the cage is open, there's nothing worse than needing them in the cage by a certain time but them just not having any of it