BirdTricks

Oh Flock - Berry going on her back! (ep 1)

Added 2022-12-09 16:00:07 +0000 UTC

I've been wanting to train Blueberry, my budgie, to go on her back like I've trained my medium and large birds... but I've not really known where to start with her because of her size.

Of all places, on our recent road trip she was the most receptive! She was really attached to me and constantly inquiring about interacting with me and so I thought it was a good time to just try it and see where my starting point was. Because I've trained A LOT of handling things (going through a tube, going through my hand, being able to put my hand OVER her which is so important to do before attempting this IMO, etc) it allowed me to get away with this on my first try... so unexpected!!!

I don't know if it was obvious to you guys but her hesitant step up at the end and flying a bit was telling me she likely was not enjoying this training and that it likely is way outside her comfort zone so it will be something I have to be careful about over-training and ensure I only work on it minimally with high value rewards. In this case I was using her blueberry seed mix as a reward but in the future when I have access to better treats, I'd likely want to switch to spray millet and/or her original seed mix which was incredibly high value.