Beauty

[kcladyz]

I am a proud mother of two baby parakeets. Any ideas on how to tame them to sit on my hand? Also how do you tell the sexes?

[gazelle77]

Were they parent raised , or hand fed? If they were parent raised they will be more fearful,I would suggest putting the cage in a quiet room and you sit there by the cage and have them step onto a pencil....eventually your finger. As they get use to you they will not fear you. It takes time. If they were hand fed and fed by humans, it will take less time to train them. You may want to have their wings clipped while training them. That is up to you. It just keeps them from flying away. I always preferred to have my birds free flying for the exercise. You have to be more careful of open windows and doors. When young it is hard to tell the s$ex As they mature, the nose cure( right above the beak) will remain brown on the females and will be a blue or violet on the males. The color change can take several months. Get yourself a good book on raising budgies. They need fresh vegetables as well as seed. Also please invest in a water cleaning system( like PUR....that hooks up to the faucet) as the chlorine and contaminants in the tap water is poison to birds.

[conlt]

I have had Pet Birds since 1989. My Parakeet just died last August She was not hand fed but she was used to me and allowed me to pick her up without too much fuss. I suggest, since yours are babies, that you start to hold them and maybe feed them pieces of Cheerios while you are holding them. Hold them one at a time and you might do it in a dimmer light than a bright light. Let them get used to your touch, your voice. Talk to them softly. If they are together in 1 cage, they are going to lean towards bonding with each other rather than you. If they have been hand fed, you can keep them tame by holding them everyday. To tell the difference between Male and Female it is in the color of the skin near their nares. If the color is a purplish type of color it is a male. Females have a more neutral color. This color is not always prominent when they are babies but you should be able to tell at about a year. My 4 birds are all hand fed and my oldest 2 are over 20 years and my youngest is 12 years. They get attention and are held daily. I clean their cages daily and that is time for us to bond too. Mine have large cages on wheels but they are medium to large birds.

[conlt]

Oh, and make sure you wash your hands before you handle them. You can kiss them on the head but I would not on the beak as you don't want to transmit bacteria. Make sure you keep their cage clean and wash the water bowl daily and/or if soiled.

[Annabellethecat66]

Someone here also said she couldn't use non-stick pans because they put out an odor that was bad for her birds.

Did I remember that right? I could be wrong. I have never owned birds but I thought I just saw that a week or two ago.

[MargieRJ]

Congratulations! Parakeets are so much fun. I used to have 16 of them. Most were born at home to two pairs.

Patience is the key to training. You can begin by quietly sitting near the cage. I used to let mine pick at my nose through the cage bars. You can also place your hand in the cage, near a perch and let them approach. It may take a few days for them to come over. If they do, try to gently pet their chests with one finger. Some birds will let you do that and may grab onto your finger. Others may want to bite. Just give it time, a little each day.

Training them to hop onto a pencil is a good idea. I had trained mine to get onto a long stick. Occasionally we would let ours out in a room to fly around. Getting them back into their cages was much easier when they would get onto a stick to be carried back.

[gazelle77]

On 2/16/2014 annabellethecat said:

Someone here also said she couldn't use non-stick pans because they put out an odor that was bad for her birds.

Did I remember that right? I could be wrong. I have never owned birds but I thought I just saw that a week or two ago.

Yes Teflon puts out a toxic gas when it gets hot

[MargieRJ]

On 2/16/2014 annabellethecat said:

Someone here also said she couldn't use non-stick pans because they put out an odor that was bad for her birds.

Did I remember that right? I could be wrong. I have never owned birds but I thought I just saw that a week or two ago.

Yes, be careful about this. Also, do not use aerosol sprays, carpet cleaners and other chemicals near the birds. It can be deadly. When cleaning their dishes be careful about using soap. I never did. I only used hot water and a brush (just for the birds).

Drafts and cold can be deadly to birds also. Parakeets are tropical birds so are sensitive to temperatures.

[kcladyz]

I hope they are the same s*x. I will not know what to do it they lay eggs lol

[conlt]

-Yes, it was me who commented a few times on these boards about non-stick cookware. If the pans overheat to a certain degree the fumes kill the birds almost instantly. I only cook with stainless, aluminum and glass. I don't have anything non-stick. I don't know about the new ceramic non-stick but I would not take a chance. Also do not spray anything around the birds. My brother's bird died right before his eyes when he sprayed a cleaner. Frebreeze anything is a no,no. I wash my cages with dishwashing soap and water. I clean the floor with only water in my bird room and I dust with a microfiber duster in with the birds. They have a very fragile respiratory system. Birds can eat regular food too, if fact it is good for them in reason. No processed food but fresh fruit and veggies will do. No Chocolate, no Avocado, and no Caffeine. A good snack is Cheerios.