5 Things You Should Do If Your Budgie Is Afraid Of You

Budgies can be very fearful birds, that a budgie is afraid of a person who tries to take care of it is a very common situation, especially when they are newly acquired.

This situation can become complicated when over time the budgie still shows fear of his caregiver and the situation could become desperate or hopeless, because gaining the trust of a budgie is a process that involves patience and perseverance.

If you have this problem with your budgies, fortunately, I conducted research among people with a lot of experience on the subject about the best tips to stop your budgie from being afraid of you.

Before starting with the tips, the first thing to keep in mind is that if your budgie is afraid of you, gaining his trust will be a process that will take time and you must go slowly, do not think that in a few minutes you will be able to win his confidence.

5 Things you can do if your budgie is afraid of you:

1-Slowly approach his cage

The first thing you should do is to approach slowly to the cage of your parakeet, do it slowly, do not make sudden movements, even moving an arm very fast could scare him.

Remember that the reason for the budgie’s fear is his sense of survival, he perceives you as a potential predator and in nature predators make quick and sudden movements to hunt.

Before approaching its cage, place yourself at a distance in its field of vision, ideally facing it.

It is also very important that the cage is placed at the same height as you, do not approach its cage if it is in a much lower position, such as on the floor or on a very low table.

If the budgie sees you approaching above them, they will be much more scared, because this is how birds of prey hunt (flying from above to catch their prey).

2-Speak softly to them

Once the first step is done and you have positioned yourself very close to their cage, do not try to touch the cage, just start talking softly to them.

You can say anything, but to maintain the calm energy the ideal is a greeting, flattery, repeating your name, or repeating the budgie’s name.

What this is about is that the budgie feels identified with your voice, in spite of having a very small brain, it is incredible the capacity of budgies to memorize and associate sounds.

Once the budgie gets used to the sound of your voice, he will not be startled when you approach his cage.

Repeat steps 1 and 2 several times during several days, without trying to go further, remember that it is a process that takes time.

3-Touch his cage on one side

Once you have made progress with the first two steps, and you notice that the budgie remains calm when you approach and talk to it, it is time to take the next step.

Place one of your hands very gently on its cage, but don’t touch the cage on the top or the front, touch it on one of the sides.

When touching the cage, always use slow movements, as if you were moving in slow motion, while touching the cage, talk to the budgie so that he remembers your voice and that you are not trying to hurt him.

When you notice that the budgie does not look frightened by your hand placed on the outside of the cage, move your hand slowly as if caressing the bars with your hand outstretched, slowly and circling the cage.

4-Put your hand in to touch him

Remember to follow the above steps with patience, after noticing progress the next step is to try to touch the budgie.

You must introduce your hand to the cage and try to touch it, introduce your hand very slowly with your fingers stretched, the objective is to touch (caress) its chest, do not try to touch it with the tip of your fingers, but with the side.

If you notice that the budgie lowers its head with the intention of pecking your hand, do not make sudden movements do not withdraw your hand abruptly if the budgie pecks you.

If you bring your hand closer and the budgie bites you, endure it and do not withdraw your hand abruptly, if you do this the budgie will be startled and will learn that a peck will get rid of you.

5-Try to get the budgie to climb on your finger

Once you have the confidence to touch and pet the budgie, with one finger put it on the bottom of his chest and pull up, they will automatically put a paw on top to climb on your finger.

When they have both paws and they get on your finger every time you give them that little touch, stay still, so they learn to stay still on your hand.

The next step will be to put a little food in the palm of your hand, so that they climb on your finger and eat, and also move your hand a little with the budgie on your finger, moving a little inside the cage (for example, take him from one stick to another at the other end of the cage).

Do budgie pecks hurt?

The beaks of the birds are like our hands, with them they “touch us”, it can be rubbing us with curiosity, squeezing a little to see how our skin is, calling our attention or giving us “warnings”, or squeezing a lot if they are angry.

If putting your hand in the cage he looks at you when you approach to touch him, first they leave their beak open warning: “you are not going to hurt me, are you?” if you are patient and bring your finger very slowly, he will see that this finger is not something that will hurt him, but that you will only caress him.

It is possible that he will peck you, but if he does it will be a mix between curiosity (what is a finger, is it hard or soft?) and nervousness, for facing that situation for the first time “what do I do, do I peck him, do I run away flying or do I stay paralyzed?”.

Those pecks are not very painful, it’s like being pinched. There is nothing worse than being afraid of the pain of a peck, you have to be calm, they are small birds, They can’t bite your finger off.

Concluding remarks

You must be patient and follow the steps discussed in this topic, one by one, even if it takes a week or a month to move on to the next one.

Some budgies are very nervous and skittish and you have to go very slowly, because the most important thing is to be able to gain the bird’s confidence, and that is achieved by going slowly and dedicating every day, for a few minutes (practicing 3 or 4 times a day).

Without overwhelming the budgie, if you see that they start to flutter, let them relax, let them calm down again, and try again later.