When Clarabelle first arrived at our house, she had not been hand-trained. My grandma clipped her wings and we put her in Lucybelle's old cage. Clarabelle was very scared that first day, so I didn't even try to hand train her; I just put a blanket over her cage so she could calm herself.
The next day, I started hand-training with Clarabelle simply by placing my hands near her cage and talking softly to her. This way, she could get used to my voice and realize that people's hands won't hurt her. I did this for a few days until I felt that she was ready for the next step.
The next thing I did with Clarabelle was some perch-training. Using a thick dowel, I helped Clarabelle learn to step up on a moving perch. At first, she would run around in the bottom of her cage and try to squeeze under the perch, but after a couple days, she was used to stepping up on the perch.
Next, I tried finger-perch training with Clarabelle. I had her step up on the wooden perch with my finger laid across it. Clarabelle seemed to be getting used to me fast. When I wasn't around, however, Clarabelle seemed very restless. She was constantly climbing all over her cage and violently shaking her toys as if trying to get out.
The next day, when I was finger-perch training with Clarabelle, she decided it was time to come out of her cage. She climbed up on my hand and started crawling up my arm until she was halfway up. I encouraged her to climb on my shoulder by feeding her dry cereal. It had only been five days and my little parakeet was completely hand-trained! It was very surprising to me because parakeets usually take about two weeks to a month to become fully hand-trained. Clarabelle trained faster probably because she was a very young bird when I got her, and I worked with her every day. Now, Clarabelle and I get along great!
The next day, I started hand-training with Clarabelle simply by placing my hands near her cage and talking softly to her. This way, she could get used to my voice and realize that people's hands won't hurt her. I did this for a few days until I felt that she was ready for the next step.
The next thing I did with Clarabelle was some perch-training. Using a thick dowel, I helped Clarabelle learn to step up on a moving perch. At first, she would run around in the bottom of her cage and try to squeeze under the perch, but after a couple days, she was used to stepping up on the perch.
Next, I tried finger-perch training with Clarabelle. I had her step up on the wooden perch with my finger laid across it. Clarabelle seemed to be getting used to me fast. When I wasn't around, however, Clarabelle seemed very restless. She was constantly climbing all over her cage and violently shaking her toys as if trying to get out.
The next day, when I was finger-perch training with Clarabelle, she decided it was time to come out of her cage. She climbed up on my hand and started crawling up my arm until she was halfway up. I encouraged her to climb on my shoulder by feeding her dry cereal. It had only been five days and my little parakeet was completely hand-trained! It was very surprising to me because parakeets usually take about two weeks to a month to become fully hand-trained. Clarabelle trained faster probably because she was a very young bird when I got her, and I worked with her every day. Now, Clarabelle and I get along great!
Click here to learn how to hand-train a parakeet.