Finger Training

Finger training it touted as an important part of budgie taming, and we agree.  However, like any kind of training, the less we handle the budgies, the less "into" the finger sitting they become.  Furthermore, the less we clip their feathers, the less patient they are with sitting on our fingers before flying off and back to the cage.  Mary ann is by far the most tame and docile, followed by Boo, and then Sutcliffe.  When Boo is not acting tame, we use our fingers as ladders and she likes to walk up them.  I think that sitting on a finger and finger-ladder walking are simply tapping into budgie instincts.

I have been trying to find the internet link to a talking budgie whose favorite word was "no".  I think that generally, budgies don't really like being handled, and "no" is what these budgies would say if they could. We definitely enjoy holding the budgies more than they seem to like being held.  They seem to simply tolerate it in a "oh brother, if you MUST" kind of way.