Holding my Young Parakeet

User Question
i found you website to be very helpful. I just got a budgie and he is still young, only 3 weeks out of the nest. But he doesnt seem to want to be held or touched for that matter, and i am not sure what to do to make it better. the first day we got him he was fine with us holding him but now he tries his best to get away from us all. Do you have any ideas on what i should do to make him feel safer with us holding him? he was handfed and he already knows the up command, so i am not sure why he feels this way. please let me know what you think. thanks and great website.

Lisa's Answer
If your parakeet knows the up command, it means he will get up on your finger. So I'm not sure what you mean by saying he won't be "held". You don't really hold a parakeet, like you would a hamster. A parakeet sits on your finger or shoulder ... but they aren't "held". If you held a parakeet you would be restricting their wing movement which prevents them from getting to safety in trouble. So parakeets (and all birds really) don't like to be held. They like to sit WITH you, on your finger, and keep you company like that.

It usually takes a while for a bird to be comfortable enough with you for you to touch him, scratching him gently on the neck. So it's no surprise that your bird isn't at that level yet after only 3 weeks.

If what you're saying is that the trainers taught him the up command but that he isn't doing it with you yet, that's not a surprise either! Parakeets are extremely intelligent and just because they trust one person, it doesn't mean they trust all human beings. They learn to trust people on an individual basis. A parakeet that easily gets on my finger will fly away from a stranger because the stranger is unknown. It's the same with any person. If you saw your mom come down the street in a car, you'd get in the car with her. But if you saw a strange guy come down the street in a car, you probably wouldn't just hop into his car in the same trusting manner.

Building a relationship with a parakeet takes time and effort. You need to work at it daily, letting the parakeet learn to trust you.

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