Hello,

I have Dave's DVDs on parakeets. In it he states that you should ideally work with one for training or atleast keep them in separate cages. How much more difficult is it two train two birds that are housed in the same cage (i would assume at least twice ).
My other question is about how much work can one bird do. How many shows a day can the bird work? I don’t want to stress the bird to much but some days I am performing three or four times.
Also is there truly a difference between a parakeet and a budgie? Is what the pet stores call a budgie a bird that is capable of being used in a show?
Thanks for the info I will be getting my first bird in the near future and any help you can give me is extremely appreciated.

I;'m hardly a training expert, but I do know a few thinsg about raising hookbills that might be helpful.



Parakeets closely pair-bond. if they do not have another parakeet to pair bond with they are a lot more likely to pair-bond to their owner. I would imagine that this woudl make them much more amenable to training.

Keep in mind that a pair bond is an emotional commitment on your end. If you are going to have your parakeet bond to you, you owe it enough attention time to keep it happy.



No. Budgie is short for Budgerigar which is the official scientific name for a parakeet. There is something however called an "English budgie" that is basically a slightly larger breed of parakeet that was bred first in England.

Yes its really hard two train to parakeets that are in the same cage. I had two of them an try it an it was just really hard, I end up separating them. I put them in different rooms, that way they couldn't see each other, after that it only took me seven days to have my parakeets train just like Dave stated in his dvd.

Jose

Thanks so much guys.

I will be picking up one bird next week and hopefully have him in the show by the spring.
Back to part of my first question, how often would you have your bird work? I don’t want to put to much stress on any animal

Jose,
How many minutes a day do you train yr bird before he starts to do like Dave's parakeet?

About 20 minutes a day you have to get them use to the diet first.

Jose

Hey Ryan,
I did work with budgies in my act for a good 8 years when I was younger. I even had custom props made...and did some bare-hand manipulation. Call me sometime if you want to chat about it.
See ya buddy,
Scott

Sorry it took me a while to find this, I don't spend a whole lot of time on here. However, I try to help whenever I can.

As for the Parakeets, and rehearsals/shows. I've had one of my parakeets do over 700 shows now without messing up or missing a show. I started working with her from a baby, and she's great.

A lot of the "stress" can come from just throwing a bird in too quickly. If the bird is raised in a way where it always gets the handling that it would get in a show, then it is no stress to it. This is something we refer to as conditioning. It sounds like a lot of work, but really isn't.

If you're working with older parakeets, you just want to ease them into it through various training methods such as Touch Training, or Target Training.

Hope this helps.

Dave

PS - I am putting together a flight training for show course for parrots, including parakeets, that covers MUCH of the information I talk about here. It will be in the Dec issue of MAGIC.