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This is a very satisfying interaction, and very useful for getting a budgie back in his cage quickly if needs be. It involves calling your budgie, so choose a distinct word or whistle that you don’t use elsewhere in your conversations with him. It could be something as simple as “come” or “fly”. Don’t include the budgie’s name in the command, or it will confuse things.
With the budgie perched on one finger, offer the index finger of your other hand, as you did in the ‘step up’ training mentioned above. This time, keep the second finger a short distance away from the bird so that he has to flutter and hop to the next perch. As you position the second finger, keep repeating your chosen command word or whistle. If he doesn’t seem sure what to do, press your finger against his belly and then move it away again, just a few centimetres. Eventually he will make the small leap. When he does, offer a treat such as a quick nibble of millet to reinforce the lesson. If millet is involved, he’ll be a keen pupil!
Budgie in flight
As you progress. increase the distance between the two fingers, so that the budgie has to fly rather than just flap-and-hop. Keep repeating the command as you do so. Once he’s cracked this, try calling him from a perch that isn’t your finger. Again, start off by placing the finger close to him, and increase the distance each time.
At this point you should be able to raise your finger-perch and speak the command word, and the budgie will fly to you. Eventually he will do this without the enticement of a treat, and will happily use your head and shoulders as well as your finger.
Comments
Margaret, 6 February 2024
One of our 2 budgies is too smart! They lift the seed bin to shake the seed down. Which was great until she decided it was so clever to toss the seed bin out on the floor of the cage! This happens over & over and frustrates the other bird who is left without seed until we fill and replace the seed bin again. They seem to have some rather strong words about this too, as does my husband who is strongly considering rehoming that bird. Can you please tell me if this is a common trait and how we solve the problem.
Rebecca, 29 May 2020
Hi! We’ve had our boy two weeks and he’s great, really tame, very loving... but he’s become quite aggressive when we try to put him back in. He’s very clever and worked out how not to get back in... and when we try to catch him properly he now bites! Please help
Richard, 17 July 2019
My baby budgie liked to hang upside down and go in the bottom of cage alot. I asked the breeder i got him from and he said that young budgies do strange things for a while but they grow out of them. I'm sure he will settle down.
Rita, 16 July 2019
I have recently bought a new baby budgie a cock bird and noticed he keeps throwing his head back not like a normal budgie behaviour do u know why this is please is there something wrong he eats drinks ok
Rune, 19 March 2019
Krystin, perhaps the male is just territorial to the female and is bothering the other males because he feels threatened that they would steal the female. Not sure bout this but maybe.