How to train a budgie

All over the world the budgie is an extremely popular house pet. The reason for their popularity is that they are cheerful, cheeky and good companions to human beings because they enjoy relating to people.

It is an inexpensive pet and easy to maintain and are sought after by owners of all ages. Another discovered attribute of the budgie is that it is a highly trainable bird. 

Here are some tips on how to train your budgie:

1. As with any living creature training should start at a very young age. Therefore get hold of a budgie that is about 6 weeks old – just weaned from his mother.

2. The best option is that the budgie should preferable be trained by only one person of the household. It is a known fact that budgies learns best if it can bond with one person – combined with the relative young age at which you must start, the budgie will learn to accept that person as another member of his flock.

3. The secret of success is that from the start, it must receive a lot of attention, continuously. This will assist in also making it tame. 

4. There must be constant contact with the budgie. It must be in a cage but the best then is to put your hand in the cage for long periods. As time goes on you can start stretching out your index finger – this resembles his perch and with time and encouragement it may well hop onto your finger. 

5. The next step is then to get the budgie to accept to be held in your hand. This can be established by first to stroke the bird gently along its back. As soon as it is accustomed to this human touch, go over to gently lay a hand on its back. 

6. As soon as it has accepted this step, you can then gently grasp the bird safely in the palm of your hand. 

7. Then it is time to control the bird in your hand. Use your first and second fingers to control its head. With your other fingers and thumb you can control the wings to avoid them flapping excessively.

This is the basics. It will take some time but once tamed and used to your hand and cuddling it you can proceed with more difficult training, for instance they can be taught to perform tricks like climbing a ladder, ring a bell, etc.

As part of the parrot family a budgie can also be taught to mimic human sounds.