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Posted by xannys_bender on Sat, 01/20/2007 - 13:33 :: Budgerigars
Hello,

I have two budgies that are about 4 months old. I new when I got two of them that I would have a more difficult time training them, but I didn't want to get one since I am gone most of the time. Anyway, both of the birds do not mind my presence. The fly to my hand when I have millet. I'm having trouble teaching them to step up though. I've thought about clicker training them, but I'm not sure how to go about that with two birds (I use clicker training with my dog, so i am familiar with it). Should I use two different noises for the clicker or is it possible to use the same clicker?

Also, I live in a small town in Wyoming. The only place to buy bird food is at Wal-Mart. I refuse to buy Wal-Mart's dog food since I know how bad it is, but I don't know very much about bird seed. Where/what would you all recommend buying? I've also been reading about feeding fruits and veggies so I'm going to start that
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Posted by karen on Sat, 01/20/2007 - 21:51.
Try this site - BirdClick
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/Bird-Click/

They might be able to help you. Budgies are hard to clicker train, due to the difficulty of offering a single tiny seed quickly enough. I know a few people who've clicker trained theirs, but they were all single budgies so they were working as much for attention as for the treat. I've done a little training with my Pippin, offering him a few seconds of 'mirror time' as a reward... again that only works well with single budgies.

For seed, maybe you could try ordering some online? There are some different nice ones. I try to avoid mixes with ethoxyquin in them... actually, lately I've been making my own seed mix for Pippin.
Offering lots of fruits and veggies is good, but budgies are notoriously picky so it may take awhile to convince them they are good. Try offering veggies minced finely and mixed with seed, or hung up in large chunks for them to chew up like a toy. Most budgies like fresh, wet leafy greens, though they may be more interested in licking the water off and playing in the leaves than actually eating them.

Karen
Chico (conure) and Pippin (budgie)
WI
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