Hello.

I have been "lurking" here for a while, and this seems like a nice community, so I decided to join. I am also a member of talkcockatiels.

I got my first two budgies (Piper and Snowy) last fall. In December I bought a cockatiel (Emma) at a pet store. She had been hand fed, but was kept alone in a small cage for at least a month before I got her. She has been very hard to tame!

After hearing about other cockatiels that were much more friendly, I visited a specialty bid store in February and got an eight week old, hand tame bird (Silver). He has been a delight!

I keep all my birds together in a flight cage. This is their choice. They are very happy birdies (if I do say so myself). Only Silver is hand tame.

Every morning the four get out of cage time for about 1-1/2 to 2 hours. At that time, I give out sunflower seeds. Each bird gets one if they fly to my arm. I only give them a couple, because I know they are not good for them to have a lot of.

In the late afternoon/evening, they get another period of out of cage time, until close to bed time.

None of my birds are afraid of me. They fly to where I am sitting, perch on my laptop or my shoulder, and boss each other around. Sometimes, when they come over, they get treats.

I am enjoying them. But, I feel I need to train them. At times it is hard to get them back into their cage. They are much too quick for me! and, if I had to take Piper, Silver or Emma to a vet, I don't know how I would catch them. I would like to get Emma clipped, to help in training. But, it's Catch 22: to clip her or get her clipped, I have to catch her, and I can't. I also can't really get one of them alone to another area for training (except for Silver).

Here is a picture of my buddies:

Welcome to the group! I hope you'll enjoy it here.

You can use those sunflower-seed rewards (or some other tasty treat) to help teach them go back into the cage. You might have to experiment a little to see what works best with each bird - some birds do better if you give them the treat just before you put them in the cage and others do better if you give it to them just after you put them in the cage. And here's the part that REALLY helps: sometimes when you put them in the cage, leave the door open so they can come right back out again if they want to. If going into the cage ALWAYS means they're going to be locked up, they know what's going to happen next and might resist. Going into the cage won't seem as negative to them if they know that they might not have to stay there. And in any case they get a nice snack for going in so it isn't entirely bad.

Welcome to the forum! You have some very beautiful birds!

Hi Dianne. It's me, CaliTiels, in case you didn't recognize the name difference. This forum is very enjoyable and I think you will enjoy it. You also get to talk about your budgies instead of just cockatiels.

Thank you, Tielfan, I think that's good advice!

In the evening my birds go into the cage fairly easily, as I turn down the lighting. When Emma went in, I gave her one of the striped sunflower seeds. I'll try doing this in the morning. I also agree that getting her in sometimes without closing the door would be good.

Welcome to the forum!

Thank you Baruch.
You are another reason I decided to come over. Have you names the 3 babies yet?

Thank you!

I am thinking of naming the 3rd baby Rio...but I am not sure how long that will last haha

Welcome to the forum....
I have 2 tiels
1 budgie
3p'lets

Just wondering....is Jan the only owner of p'lets here?