Hello!

We recently bought a young budgie and we would love to be able to handle her outside of the cage. Does anyone have any tips or experience in getting a bird used to being handled taught to sit on fingers or shoulders?
She had her wings clipped when we bought her.


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  • Take them out of the cage daily and let them sit on your finger for a few minutes then place them back in the cage. Keep doing this and they will get used to this routine.


  • You just need to handle her regularly, get her used to it. We didn’t clip our budgies wings. Used to let them out to fly around. We left the cage door open and they just let themselves back in. They need exercise outside of the cage, flying is a good exercise


  • I had a budgie that was already trained when l bought him and spoke english!


  • I had a budgie from a baby ,he lived in the lounge room in the corner on a tree no cage,taught him to talk.you just put your finger under neath there feet and edge him onto your finger.He would fly around the lounge room & land on you.


  • Do it daily. Handle and talk to them daily. Repetition is needed for training a budgie


  • Either cover The cage or put the cage under the table


  • Don’t get a mirror, she will be preoccupied and if you ever want her to talk she will only look at herself in the mirror and talk to the other bird. Dr Harry usually has some great training tips for birds maybe try google.


  • Hold a seed (sunflower or safflower, or what ever is her favourite) so that she has to hop onto your finger to get the seed, and say step up or something similar. repeat repeat repeat. Holding the seed at head height also stops her from biting as she will be focused on the seed. I think keeping wings clipped is a great idea to encourage a bird to snuggle and helps with training.


  • i would look at your tube for some training tips! good luck


  • You also need to be able to hold your budgie, not just have it sit on your finger. You should be able to hold it bently in one hand and gently stroke it with one finger on your other hand.
    If they get used to that, if they get upset for some reason it calms them down. Some actually really enjoy it and will let you scratch the top of their head or their back if they sit right against the side of the cage. You need to be able to this in case they start scratching or chewing at themselves more than normal. Even if they stay inside, tiny insects can fly in when your doors are open. They can also come in on your washing. That’s one reason we always sahke our washing when we take it off the line. Sometimes you can see tiny insects flying in “groups” about and they sit on your washing. If you have sensitive skin you might find you get little bites from the insects yourself.


  • Budgies are easy to train if you get them young enough. Give her a week or two to get used to her new environment first and then gradually allow her out to explore. She should get used to the perch in her cage relatively quickly, so use that initially – holding it in your hand – for her to sit on, after that it should be a simple progression from the perch to your finger/hand. The more time you spend with her, the quicker she will get used to being handled. Don’t expect too much in regards to talking though, it’s the males that are adept at that! But she will be give plenty of enjoyment and love, so persevere!


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