How to Make Your Parakeet like You

Walk softly and carry a big stick . . . of millet, that is. If you want to befriend your new feathered friend, offering him a sprig of millet as a treat is one bribe that he will find hard to resist. Parakeets and many other cage birds love this crumbly twist of seeds, and you can sense the delight in their body language when they see this avian delicacy. When your new bird learns that a visit from you often means a handout, it won't be long before you'll start winning his trust. Really, it sometimes helps to think like a birdbrain, if you want to be friends with one.

Having lived with some thirty birds, over the past several years, I've realized a few things about them and about their human counterparts. Like humans, one of the surest ways to their hearts is through their stomachs. Like humans, they are also nervous and often frightened when exposed to new surroundings. Slow movements and quiet conversation during the parakeet's initial acquaintance to you and his new home will go a long way toward fostering a sense of security and trust in this new human in his life. Unlike puppies or kittens, strange birds don't respond well to a person's attempts to pat or otherwise handle them; they are instinctively afraid of capture.

For this reason, the best course of action during the first day or so after your new parakeet comes home is probably no action, at all. You will most likely bring your new friend home in a cardboard box or a small kennel. Understandably, the bird will be traumatized and cowering in a far corner or scrambling to free itself. Carefully free the bird into its new surroundings and allow it to re-acclimate itself to the cage, before trying to make any attempts to tame it.