I'm fairly new to owning parakeets and have a few questions.
I got my two parakeets about five months ago, they came from a friend who's parakeets had babies. Unfortunatly when I got them they were almost a year old and not hand trained. I have trained with them everyday since about a week after I got them. Finally after five months they'll get on my hand but only if I have food in it. I was wondering how I get to the next step in their training? Also, I feed them fresh vegtables every morning but they will not eat fruit...of any kind. It took about a month to get them to eat vegtables but they still won't eat any fruit. Any suggestions?
Thanks

Welcome alilgone! It's great to have you.

On the food front, keets can take a long time to get used to different foods and as members here can attest sometimes certain keets just won't eat certain foods. They are just like humans! Keep at it, give them a variety, eat the food in front of them. The more you seem to enjoy it, the more likely they will be to want some too!

On the hand training, five months does seem like a long time for them still to not willingly get on your hand. It can definitely be harder to train birds that are older, and to train birds who have developed a "flock" with each other instead of you. Still, I've taken in older birds and been able to hand train them so it is certainly possible.

How much time are you able to spend with them each day?

There cage is near my computer so I talk/sing to them excessivly. Actually, Felix is starting to talk(yay). time with my hand in the cage varies on how long they will tolerate me. Sylvester(yes they have cat names) is less tolerant of me than Felix. Sylvester takes a few minutes to come to me whereas Felix takes just a few seconds. They both seem to get tired of my hand in the cage after about 10 minutes. They stop chirping at me around this time and move to the other side of the cage.
I'm trying so hard to be patient with them, I feel bad that I can't let them out to fly around and get some exercise. They will get on my hand but only with food, and once the food is gone so are they. I was out of town for a few days last week and they were more willing to get on my hand when I came back but still only with food. (It's nice to know they missed me)

I would work with them for more than 10 minutes a day. Can you do multiple sessions each day, to reinforce the training?

That is great that they missed you!

We'd love to see photos if you have any

I'm working on pictures now and yes I do multiple sessions some days. I always try to do it when they are active. Unfortunatly, they are most active early evening which is when I'm at school.

That is always challenging, when your schedule and your keet's schedule don't quite line up!

I'm extremely blessed with my keets, in that I work from home. So I am in my "office" (a room with my computer) all day long, and that is where the keets are. So I am always with them. It does mean if someone calls me for business that there is a lot of FWEEPing going on in the background

Many people find that a good time to train is first thing in the morning, while they are just waking up and their minds are just tuning in. You could give that a try!

I will, I'd try anything. I've never had birds before and I don't think I'll ever go without them again.

Aha! You're addicted now, that's wonderful to hear! Yes, little budgies are incredibly addictive and just so much fun. I'm sure you can tell that I am absolutely in love with parakeets and do my best to promote them every day

I most certainly can, and I really appreciate your site it's part of the reason I chose birds over something else. I just love listening to them all day. They wake me in the morning when they are ready for breakfast and chirp happily all day till I turn out the lights. They make my family complete!