STEP ONE - TRUSTING THE HAND
How To Tame a Budgie

The most important thing for any parakeet to do is to TRUST you, that you will not hurt her. Nothing else can happen if the parakeet does not trust you, if she flies around like a maniac when you get near her cage.

So start your training simply with your hand. Your hand goes into the cage every single day to change the food and water. Do this very slowly and calmly, talking to your parakeet in a soft voice. Put on soothing music when it is time for you to put your hand in the cage.

Parakeets fluff up when they are content

You need to train your parakeet to think of your hand as a nice thing that brings fresh food, not a scary thing. Sometimes, put millet into the cage with this "Friendly Hand". Parakeets love millet!

Yes, your parakeet will fly away the first few days! But if you keep this up with gentle words and quiet movements, after a week or so the parakeet should be stationary while you change the food, even if stationary means hiding at the far corner of the cage. Your aim here is for your parakeet to be watching your hand, not to be flapping around like an insane creature.

STEP TWO - PERCH TRAINING
How To Tame a Budgie

Your parakeet MUST be used to your hand being in the cage before you start step two. If your parakeet still flies around when you put your hand in the cage, go Back to Step One - Building the Trust

OK, so your parakeet watches your hand when you change the food and water now. On the day you choose to start this step, play some soft music in the background, and have the room the parakeet is in quiet and restful. Change her food and water as you normally would, with her watching you. Now, after you do the food/water, pause for a moment. Quietly use your hand to take a short perch from their cage, preferably one on the opposite site of the cage as the bird is. Now your hand is in the cage and you are holding the perch loose. The perch you choose should be small enough that you can move it around the cage without hitting things (especially the parakeet!!)

Your budgie already knows that perches are for sitting on. She is not afraid of a perch! So hold the perch at ... "perch level" - that is, at the same level as the perch your keet is currently sitting on. That is non-threatening to the bird.

Now move the perch SLOWLY towards your parakeet, talking quietly to her. She'll be nervous to see a perch moving, but so far she should trust you, your hand, and the perch. There is no "new" or "scary" thing in her world.

Pinto enjoys the tops of curtains

When the perch nears her feet, raise it up a little bit so it is at the level of her legs. If she flies away at this point, stay still for a little while, and then start quietly moving the perch again, talking quietly to her. If she flies away four times in a row, tell her she's a good girl for trying and come back to it tomorrow. It should only take a day or two before she's used to the 'moving perch' and does not mind that it gets close to her.

When she is at this point, press the perch gently against her legs / lower chest. Say "UP" in a firm voice (not loud, just encouraging and firm) as you gently press. She will start to lose her balance backwards and naturally put her foot forwards, onto the new perch, for balance.

Note again that this probably won't happen on the first time! Your parakeet may sit there afraid, not willing to step on the perch. Your keet may just put one foot onto it but not be willing to "commit" both feet. Again, this is a training process. Keep trying each day until your bird learns this is not scary and is willing to put both feet onto the perch.

When your keet does step fully onto the new perch you are holding, hold it very steady! Your parakeet is trusting you with her life, you literally have her in your hands. Praise the bird enthusiastically and tell her what a good bird she is. After a short while, move the perch towards another perch in the cage so she gets off the one you're holding.

After she gets used to the perch, you'll find she hops onto the perch pretty easily when she sees it coming towards her. Then it's time to move to the next step.

STEP THREE - FINGER-PERCH TRAINING
How To Tame a Budgie

Before you can finger-perch train your parakeet, your parakeet MUST be comfortable getting "up" onto a moving perch that you push against her. Be sure to Finish Perch Training your Parakeet before you move on to this step.

So now your parakeet knows that a perch in your hand is a trustworthy thing to sit on. She readily gets onto a perch that you move against her. She is learning to trust you as a "thing to sit on".

When you are ready to begin this step, prepare the room as usual - have it quiet, soft music playing. Change the food and water as usual. Remove one of the smaller perches from the cage. This time, however, put your finger on top of the perch. That is, hold the perch in your hand and stretch your second finger out (the one you point with) so it lays on top of the perch. Now the "perch" is a thick perch made up of the wood/plastic below and your finger above.

Once again, move this perch slowly towards your parakeet. Your parakeet is by now used to this and doesn't really think much of the fact that the perch has an extra bit of thickness to it. When you say UP to your keet, she should step onto the "perch", which is now your finger and the wood/plastic. Maybe the keet is on the perch part, maybe she's on the finger part, maybe she's half and half. Either way is OK.

Nazo trusts Bob to hold the bathtub while she splashes

Stay very still and praise her! She has gotten onto the offered perch without a problem. If she balks, go back to just the perch until she is comfortable with that, and then try again.

Do this exercise a few times a day for a few days until she learns that the finger-perch is a quite reasonable place to sit. If she keeps sitting on the perch part and not your finger part, try finding a shorter perch so that the perch length IS your finger length and she doesn't really have a choice.

STEP FOUR - FINGER TRAINING
How To Tame a Budgie

At this point your parakeet should be quite comfortable sitting on a perch made up of the base perch (wood/plastic) and your finger. If your parakeet is not at that stage yet, go Finger-Perch Train your Parakeet.

You can probably guess what the next step is here. Go through your normal morning routine - soft music, quiet room. Change the food and water. This time do NOT take the perch from the side of the cage. Just move your hand over TO that perch and slowly stick your finger out over the perch.

Slowly move your hand with the stuck-out finger towards your parakeet. Your keet should be very comfortable with a moving hand and a sticking-out perch like thing at this point and not think anything of it. Press your finger softly against the leg / lower chest area of your parakeet, saying "UP" quietly but firmly. Your parakeet should step up onto your finger!

Note that parakeets LIKE sitting on fingers, from a sensory point of view. They have soft little feet! Wood and plastic is hard on them, and it's not like they can wear socks or lie down. The have to be sitting on their feet ALL DAY and ALL NIGHT. Your nice, soft finger is like a heavenly bed to them! It's warm, gentle on the tender feet, soft, just what every parakeet would dream about sitting on.

Nazo and Pinto relax on Bob's hands

Praise your parakeet for sitting on your finger. Don't move your hand around! Let your keet get used to sitting on the finger, just relaxing there. Some parakeets will even fall asleep on the finger because it's so comfortable. When you are done, move your finger slowly to another perch so she can hop off.

This is a CRITICAL step in finger training, so spend a lot of time on it. Your parakeet needs to learn that your finger is a safe spot, a DESIRED spot to sit on. Any time your parakeet gets out of the cage, you need to be able to get her back IN her cage in case of emergency. So she needs to promptly get onto your finger if you ask her to, so you can move her to safety.

STEP FIVE - OUT-OF-CAGE FINGER TRAINING
How To Tame a Budgie

You MUST have your parakeet hand trained before you can bring her out of the cage. There are SO many emergency situations that can arise that require you getting your keet into its cage quickly for safety. A fire could break out, someone could put a teflon pan on the stove, someone could open the doors so there is a clear path to the outside world. You need to get your parakeet on your hand and into the cage. Be sure to Finger Train Your Parakeet before attempting this next step.

Once your parakeet is fully finger / hand trained, it is time to consider letting her out of her cage. Parakeets are EXTREMELY intelligent creatures and if you leave her locked in her cage for her entire life, she will go stir crazy! She wants to explore at least the room she's in, climb around, fly if she can, look down at the room from the curtain rods. She'll enjoy a playgym, or just hanging out on your shoulders.

Pinto and Nazo hang out on Bob's shoulders

So go through your morning routine. Quiet music, quiet talking. Seal ALL doors to this room though and put signs on them so people know not to come in.

When you're ready, move your hand towards your parakeet. Say "UP" and get your parakeet on your hand. Now SLOWLY bring the hand towards the opening in the cage. Your parakeet may be nervous! Up until now, your parakeet has thought of her cage as the location of safety and comfort. You're trying to bring her out of this safe area! It can really help to hold a stick of millet in your other hand, just by the cage door. Bring the parakeet just to the cage door area, not "out into the scary world". Let her sit there and eat millet. When she's done, put her back onto a perch.

The next day, bring her a bit further out, so she's at the entry-way to her cage. My parakeets love to sit on their "front porch" and just survey their world, even sleeping there. If you have a drawbridge-style entrance this is IDEAL, it can sit open and they can sit there or land there. If you don't have a drawbridge, it might be wise to make one by putting a rope perch or something else at the entry area (on the outside of the cage) so your keets have somewhere to sit.

If your keet starts flying or hopping around, don't panic. Let them settle down and explore. When they are quiet, you can always get them back onto your hand with "UP" and bring them back to the cage. If they can fly, they will fly back to their cage on their own when they are ready to take a nap. Their cage is their home.

Find ways to encourage your parakeet to enjoy the room. Most parakeets love curtain-rod sitting. I'd advise putting some paper towels beneath the rods if you do this, their poops are easier to clean up that way. I put the parakeets' bathtubs on top of their cage - that way when they come out they can take their baths, and their bathtubs are always fresh and clean. I also have a parakeet play gym at the cage's side, so they can go back and forth from the playgym to the cage as they wish.

Nazo Hangs Out at her Cage Entrance

Do NOT let your parakeets just roam around without you being there. Keets are very curious and can easily get themselves into trouble. They can wedge themselves behind bookcases or under couches. You need to be there and aware, so you can rescue them. You don't have to watch them every second - I work on my computer while they fly and hop around me. But I do check every 10 minutes or so to make sure there are still 3 of them in sight :)