A scared budgie's small beak can still break skin if it bites down from fear. Courtesy Miriam Nierman, New York |
I get dozens of E-mails a week from people having problems with their birds. Surprisingly, an overwhelming majority of the “problem” birds are budgies. People get a budgie (parakeet) thinking that the bird is going to be docile. Well, I have breaking news — the budgie has the same fight or flight instinct as any other animal and, when a scared budgie is cornered, it’s going to fight ... or in this case, bite. Though its beak may be small, a budgie’s bite packs a wallop that can break the skin.
Biting is indeed an issue, but budgie owners are also concerned with the bird being afraid of them. This is more confusing for most people than biting. A scared budgie is often insulting and makes people feel sad — the human knows that he or she means well and only wants to love the bird, so why doesn’t the budgie know that? Instead, the bird flaps around the cage when the human approaches, terrified for its life and unable to do much more than bang into cage bars.
Biting and fear in an otherwise healthy budgie can only mean one thing: the bird is not tame. Most budgies seem docile the first few days at home. The bird is in an unfamiliar place, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. When someone approaches, it’s likely to freeze in place, as if it’s posing. What a sweet, docile creature!
Not really. The bird is just using its instincts. Most predators can’t see their prey very well when the prey isn’t moving, so staying perfectly still makes sense to the budgie. Maybe you won’t see it if it plays statue. But once the budgie gets a little more comfortable in its new surroundings, it will probably fly wildly against the cage bars in an attempt to flee when you approach. The bird is relatively certain you’re not going to eat it — you haven’t as of yet — but it still doesn’t want anything to do with you.
Budgies “gentle” down pretty easily, even older budgies, especially when you take the time to instill a sense of trust and love into your taming sessions. Using a quicker method, “breaking” the bird, isn’t pleasant, and doesn’t work as well as the method I’ve described here. A relationship is about trust, and that’s the proper philosophy when it comes to taming any animal. So, budgie pals, fear your budgie no more! In a couple of weeks you’ll have a fine feathered friend on your shoulder — who can ask for more than that?