As some of you may know, I used to have three birds, but unfortunately two have passed away in the past few years, Grayson from a tumor and Jayka for no apparent reason. My current bird, Emmit, has never been fully trained. There was a time when he and the other two were trained enough to sit on my hand or shoulder for a few minutes at a time, but he's since gotten much less tame while I've been in college. He's always been fairly skittish. This summer I've been trying to get him more used to my hand by feeding him with millet while he's in the cage, and he takes it without much hesitation. He's very used to me changing the water, food, etc. But whenever I try to get him to step up onto a perch, he scoots away, no matter how slowly I approach him. Sometimes he'll let me press the branch against his belly and he'll step up briefly, but then immediately jump off. So...does anyone have any advice for training a 6+ year old budgie who refuses to step up properly onto a branch? Should I just keep letting him get used to my hand being in the cage?

By the way, the reason I say "6+ years old" is because I got him about 6 years ago from a friend who found him on a main road, but since he's a recessive pied budgie, with no bars on his head and no iris rings around his eyes, I have no idea how old he was when I got him, and have no idea how old he is now. He could be 15 for all I know.

Any help appreciated!

hi..are you still in college where a regular routine of training cant be done...or is your schedule such that a routine cant be maintained????

Training an older budgie is much more difficult than training a younger budgie. You have to be persistent and have a lot of free time to be with your budgie or he will loose all his training within a short period of time. Let him get used to your hand before you try anything because it can actually do the opposite and make him cautious and frightened of your hand. So let him get used to you and be persistent and you should gain his trust enough to begin actual training. GOOD LUCK!