It can still be done. Just go at their pace. I really have never been strict on trying to tame the budgies, so I haven't really gotten good results. I've had Beck for 3, almost 4 years and all I can do is give him a kiss through the cage bars on his own free will. Same with Poppy, although he and I bonded a little when he was in quarantine. He wasn't too comfortable with it, but I taught him to step up on a stick on his second day here, and he would chirp to me if I whistled to him. When I put him with Speck, he wouldn't step up anymore. I don't know too much on training really small birds. I'm more tiels and up.

Ah, okay, haha. That's good to hear. I really can't wait to be able to play with them and have them walk around on my desk and stuff. I want them to be really happy and not afraid anymore, since they've had a pretty rough life up until I got them.

They won't LIKE being handled against their will, but they won't be traumatized by it if you're gentle and keep most of your interactions on a positive note. If most of your interactions consist of doing something the birds don't want, they aren't going to like you. But if you mostly do things that they like and occasionally do something they dislike, they'll forgive you.

Some people are more sensitive to sounds than others, and budgies are too loud for some people. You'll probably find their noise to be more tolerable after you've had more time to get used to it. But budgie chatter is very mild compared to even a cockatiel shriek, and the bigger birds are much worse. When we do bird grooming at the pet bird club and handle a cockatoo against its will, I'm surprised that people a block away don't call the police to report a murder in progress because they can hear the screaming. My vet says that when they clip a large macaw, the employees are legally required to wear earplugs because the screaming is so loud that it violates the OSHA workplace safety laws.

My two budgies chatter all day long.

The other night I was playing a Billy Joel concert on TV and my male cockatiel, Silver, seems to be quite a fan of BJ. He sang along most of the time. It was the most singing I had ever heard from him.

My budgies are about nine months old. I haven't been systematic about taming them. However, every morning and afternoon when I let them out of the cage I distribute sunflower seeds (shelled). To get a seed, they each have to come onto my hand. It has taken a few months, but lately they will sometimes stay for a bit after they have their seed and we "talk" to each other. I feel as though they are slowly starting to see me as something more than just a seed machine LOL.