Expert: Christopher Emory - 5/24/2011

Question
I currrently have three budgies in a cage and I read that budgies that live with other budgies are nt interested in interacting with humans. Does this mean that I can't train them, or shouldn't. Can I still create a bond with my birds? My siblings each have a bird, so do I take one budgie out and leave the other two in there of do I train them all at the same time?

Answer
Pan,

Budgies are like every other animal, they prefer to stick with their own kind. Ever heard the phrase "birds of a feather, flock together". Basically what I am getting at, if your bird(s) has the option of bonding with you or bird(s) just like him/her, you will always lose out. You can generally take a young bird that has bonded with a human and mix him with other birds, but you almost can never take a bird that has already bonded to other birds and make them bond to you. I say "almost never" because I suppose if you are a bird whisperer or have some knack for training birds to do remarkable things, then its possible you can overcome it. To me human bonding starts when the bird is just a few days old. If the bird is not handled, is not handfed, is not relying on human(s) for its social needs, then most likely the bird(s) will never look for humans to provide its needs. It is entirely up to you how you keep your bird(s), but I would suggest that you consider seperating them if they have not already bonded.