Budgies, or as they are commonly known by the term ‘parakeet’ in the United States, are a species of small-sized birds with an average lifespan of up to 10 years.As of today, budgies are the most popular birds in the world and can be found in every other home which has a pet bird. Budgies or parakeets are known to have originated in Australia and then been brought to Europe by Charles Coxen and the renowned naturalist, John Gould in the year 1838.After the bird was displayed in Belgium in 1850 at the Antwerp Zoo, its popularity rose and it could be found in the home of every other wealthy pet lover. But soon in 1894, Australia stopped the exportation of budgies and Europeans then had to breed the birds to keep them available. It was after this, in the late ’20s and the early ’30s that the bird reached America and come the ’50s it was the most popular bird in the country. Ever since then pet lovers in America in particular and the entire world, in general, have been in awe of this bird.Now when you get a pet budgie don’t be worried or overly concerned about its training and becoming familiar with it, the training process will take some time and you will perhaps be able to tame a budgie fast if you keep on repeating certain steps and instructions and keep talking to it. To begin with, it is always better to get a baby budgie as you can then train the young bird right from its childhood. You can get baby parakeets when they are less than 16 weeks old. Up until this point they are considered as a baby and their taming process is relatively easier. The very first steps in the taming process would be finger training and teaching your parakeet to talk. One thing you must keep in mind is when you bring the budgie home from the pet shop make sure to get its wings clipped so that it doesn’t hurt itself when you are getting to know each other as it might be scared. Additionally, during the initial days keep its cage door closed as it has oftentimes been seen that the bird flies off out of its cage in about a week if it feels scared or isn’t comfortable. Let us now take a closer look at what should the taming session of your budgie be like and how to undertake the hand taming process.How To Tame A Scared ParakeetAs people usually bring a budgie home as their pet when the budgie is in its child stage, it is normal for the bird to be nervous and scared at such a sudden change in its surroundings so let your budgie take some time. Consistency and patience are essentially the keys to the successful taming sessions of a parakeet. Give the budgie around two weeks time to settle down in its new cage and acclimatize with the new environment. In this period, your parakeet will become familiar with you and also the location of its food and water in its cage. When the bird is comparatively more relaxed and gentle you can begin with short taming sessions. It is better if you keep the cage of your parakeet in a busy room rather than a quiet room so that it can adjust better.Now before you begin to finger train your parakeet, undertake activities which will make your budgie understand that you aren’t a threat to it. Begin by placing your parakeet’s cage near yourself when you are relaxing such as reading a book or watching TV, being in close proximity with you will help the budgie. This will make sure that the parakeet is comfortable in your presence, do not touch it or undertake any sudden movements, be gentle. The next step is to begin interacting with the parakeet but do not make eye contact with the parakeet, this will make it think that you are a potential threat. The next step then is for you to begin putting your hand on its cage and then conversing with your budgie in a calm and soothing voice. These simple training tips will help convey the message to your budgie that your hand is non threatening and you can then begin with the hand taming sessions eventually. These steps may seem time consuming at times as often times many parakeets do not respond positively but it is important that the budgie becomes comfortable with your presence and you have to keep in mind that your pet has just shifted to a new family. Now you can begin with the first step to hand train your budgie - slowly put your hand inside the cage of your budgie. Make sure not to touch the budgie, you many unintentionally startle it. Keep in mind that you are entering its physical space and the goal is that your budgie be comfortable with this. It may take a few days for this bird to get comfortable with your hand, you can perhaps place your hand in the cage with some of its favorite treat such as some millet sprays. Repeat this procedure for several days or several weeks as per the need in short sessions and eventually, the bird will get comfortable with it.Now that you have your budgie’s trust, you can get to direct hand taming sessions but once again be slow and steady as you move your hand into the cage of the bird. Now take your index finger close to the budgie indicating to it to use the index finger as a perch for your budgie to step up onto. Repeat this procedure for several days. Stick out one finger for it to use as a perch until the bird gets comfortable to step onto it. Remain calm and give your budgie some time as it is at a young age and it is normal for some budgies to take some more time than the other ones. When the budgie is comfortable with your finger’s presence, take it closer to the budgie’s chest and gently push it, indicating that the bird can step onto the finger. It depends upon the individual bird how much time they take to become comfortable. You can use some small treats such as some millet spray as a last resort option if the budgie just doesn’t climb on your finger. Once it steps onto your finger, you can move to the next level in order to hand tame your budgie and slowly take it out of its cage. Budgies are often reluctant to leave their cage as it is their safe place but with practice it gets better and offering some spray millet always helps. Once the budgie is comfortable with you taking it out of the cage, you can then hand tame it to move from one finger to the other. This way, you can some day carry two birds on two fingers at the same time. Apply light pressure around the chest of your budgie indicating it to use your finger as a perch and step onto it. All this process will take time for both you as well as your budgie but regular training sessions will help the cause.How To Tame A Parakeet In ‘Minecraft’The popular game ‘Minecraft’ is played by millions of players all around the world and in it you can tame any bird or animal ranging from a llama to a parrot. Just like you tame a budgie in real life by following a certain step sequence, a similar series of steps need to be adhered to for taming a budgie in ‘Minecraft.’ Before you can reach the stage to tame a budgie, your first job is to find the budgie you need to tame.If you have found one, then it is all well and good but if you can’t find a budgie, you have the option to use a spawn egg and summon a parrot. Now we move on to taming this bird. Give them melon seeds, beetroot seeds, or pumpkin seeds to tame them. Place the seeds in the Hotbar after selecting them from the Hotbar. In order to feed the seeds, place the seed in the Hotbar and then ensure that it is the selected item in your Hotbar. The next step is to feed the seeds to the parrot by right-clicking on the parrot, this is applicable if you use a Windows 10 edition. In case you use a PlayStation, you would need to press the L2 button on your PlayStation controller. On feeding the seeds, you will see gray smoke emerging from the birds’ body but the parrot isn’t tamed yet. Continue feeding until you see red hearts all around the parrot, this shows that the parrot is being tamed and once these red hearts disappear it will mean that the parrot is tamed and it will readily sit on your shoulder.How To Train A Parakeet To TalkUnlike in the process of hand taming where you needed to touch your parakeet and perhaps put your finger at the risk of being bitten if the budgie was in a bad mood, this process is much safer and perhaps easier to go by. In order to train your parakeet to talk, all you need is a quiet room for short durations and a lot of patience. The more you repeat the word or phrase, the greater are the chances of the budgie learning it.The first step of the process is to move the cage of your bird in a quiet room where it can clearly hear you say the word that you want it to learn. In a crowded noisy room, the budgie might not be able to correctly pick up on the pronunciation of the word that you intend to teach, such as ‘hello,’ and might mess it up and say something else. Once you are in a quiet environment, repeat the word several times so that the budgie can hear it, you will understand that it is concentrating if it bends his head towards you and its pupils get dilated. Now after some time put the cage back at its usual spot. Then every time you feed your spray millet or something else to your budgie repeat the word that you taught it. This increases the chances of the bird speaking the word in less time. Studies have shown that a budgie or in general any other bird usually takes more time in speaking their first word, but once they successfully speak their first word, it usually takes them less time to learn and speak the next word that you teach them.How To Tame A Female ParakeetAlthough the process of taming a female budgie is no different than taming any other budgie, studies have shown that females tend to be a bit more difficult to tame at times. The main underlying issue is the hormonal surges during the mating season leading to untamed behavior and relatively more aggressive behavior than the males in general.A female budgie tends to bite harder than a male one when being tamed, so even though the process is the same there have been more incidents of a female biting than a male. The situation becomes more difficult during the budgie’s mating season. During this period the female bird behaves like an untamed one and becomes quite dangerous to handle. Although this is just a phase and like any other passes in some time, it is wise to use a millet-loaded stick rather than your own hand during the female budgie’s mating season. One other reason behind this behavior can be excess protein in the diet. Excess protein can lead to mating urges in female budgies resulting in such untamed behavior. In general, depending upon the individual budgie it can take around three to four weeks to tame a male or female one.
Budgies, or as they are commonly known by the term ‘parakeet’ in the United States, are a species of small-sized birds with an average lifespan of up to 10 years.
