Parakeet Care: How to Hold It on a Finger

Parakeets, also known as budgies, belong to the parrot family, native to Australia. These social and active birds enjoy being close to their owners. Parakeets often do best when kept in pairs. Playing with your parakeet and training it is quite easy to do. Though training takes time and patience, parakeets are eager to interact and please their owner. Daily training of a parakeet will not only keep it happy, but will aid in the learning process.

Things You'll Need

  • Perch
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Instructions

    • 1

      Gain the parakeets trust. Gently talk to the bird when cleaning the cage. When changing food and water, provide a snack by hand. The parakeet will begin to trust your hand and voice. Eventually he may even lean towards your hand because he is no longer afraid and associates you with a snack.

    • 2

      Hold a perch underneath the parakeet's breast, right above his legs. Since your parakeet instinctively knows to sit on a perch, he may automatically hop onto it. When the perch is presented, make sure to give the parakeet a command, such as, "hop up," or "up." Using the command will teach the bird that when he hears this command, he is to hop onto the object offered. Continue this step, until the parakeet is comfortable with hopping on the perch when it is presented.

    • 3

      Offer your finger to the parakeet. Once he has been successfully trained to go to a perch and is no longer nervous, he should accept a finger as a perch. Gently approach the parakeet and offer a finger to the bird. Slowly hold out your index finger and touch under the parakeet's breast, right above the legs. Give him the command "hop up" or "up."