budgie not happy out of cage

casio4

I have a new budgie and I know it takes time for them to settle into a new environment but he is hand reared and the breeder told me to have him out of the cage for at least an hour a day the problem is, I don't think he is too happy out of the cage he doesn't move around the room much he just wants to sit on my hand or he will jump from my hand to the sofa and sit in the same position on the sofa for an hour. I have looked up a few websites to try and get him motivated and some suggested utube clips of birds chirping but this just drives him mad and he thinks there is another bird in the room other than that he is a happy budgie but only when he is in his cage or sitting on me so any advice on this most welcome:)

Sigma Force

The breeder is right but you need to take it a bit more slowly with the bird, best thing to do is leave the cage door open and let the bird come out in his own time, he might do it straight away or take a few days.
Have lots of safe places in the room for the bird to perch, he will respond to the sound of other birds chirping which is pretty normal and he will want to answer them pretty loudly. Budgies are flock birds so a lone budgie needs loads of time with their human buddy every day or another budgie for company.
If there's no other bird you are their 'mate' so you can't be gone for long periods of time so unless you want a strong bond with the bird then it might be a good idea to get a second budgie .

Budgies take a long time to get used to new surroundings even changing something in their cage can make them wary but it's also good to change toys around for interest but one at a time and give the bird a few weeks before changing again.

Over time the bird will come out of his cage more often he just needs some more time let him do it at his own pace. Before allowing the bird out though get a saftey check going lock windows and even lock doors if you have to, get a wee sign for the door of the room the bird is in when he's out etc.
Can never be too careful when they are out and about, be careful when opening presses or doors as well as they like to perch on top of them.

Eventually he'll like to follow you around once he gets comfortable with his new surroundings.

trio

I'm not sure where the "hour a day out of the cage" rule comes from. Obviously it's preferable to give the budgie the option, but it's up to them really.

We just keep the cage door open when we're home. But even then it took a while for his confidence to come up. We used to stick a bit of carrot in the open doorway of the cage, and that'd force the bird to have to hop into the cage doorway to eat it. So after that it started getting confident sitting in the open door.

Then I started leaving stuff on top of the cage, and eventually the curiosity overrode his nervousness and he'd climb out of the cage, up the sides and onto it's roof. And he'd stalk around there for ages.

Then we progressed to bringing the cage down onto the floor whilst we were watching TV. And he'd eventually climb out of the cage onto the carpet and we'd just leave him alone. And his exploring got more and more with time.

It got to the stage where he'd hop out onto the floor, climb up the fabric couch like a mountineer, then climb all over me until it got to the top of my head, where it'd chirp softly in my ear and nibble my specs. Very sweet.

But it didn't really do much whilst out - they just look around the place. You could give them a bit of veg to eat whilst out, or a toy. Anything with a bell is good. They like to make a racket. Some cat toys are wee balls with bells inside. Might be fun for the budgie to peck at down on the carpet.

Also, the bells around the neck of the Easter Lindt bunnies are great for hanging in a cage!

Knine

casio4 wrote: »

I have a new budgie and I know it takes time for them to settle into a new environment but he is hand reared and the breeder told me to have him out of the cage for at least an hour a day the problem is, I don't think he is too happy out of the cage he doesn't move around the room much he just wants to sit on my hand or he will jump from my hand to the sofa and sit in the same position on the sofa for an hour. I have looked up a few websites to try and get him motivated and some suggested utube clips of birds chirping but this just drives him mad and he thinks there is another bird in the room other than that he is a happy budgie but only when he is in his cage or sitting on me so any advice on this most welcome:)

This might seem stupid but have you seen your budgie fly? The reason I ask is that some of the breeders clip the babies wings to make it easier to tame them. If that is the case it would explain why he does not move around the room. I was recently in a petshop and they had handreared budgies there with their wings clipped for sale.

casio4

yes his wings are clipped so I know he can't fly, but i thought he would move around the floor or the room more than he does, he often glides from my hand to the floor but then he sits there for an hour or so, same thing if i perch him on something he wont move off it

Sigma Force

That's a good point, we had a tiel who's wings had been clipped before we got him and it took him months before he could fly really well. He could fly after a while but wasn't very graceful must of been about 6 months before he really came good he was in the aviary by then and was flying perfectly.