Birds

How Long Does it Take for a Parakeet to Adjust to a New Home?

Bringing the first parakeet home can indeed be a refreshing experience in itself. Taming your parakeet need not be a difficult task as such if you do it properly. A tamed parakeet will definitely be seeking your attention, and you are expected to spend enough time with it. So, having just one parakeet can also be a great company.

How long does it take a Parakeet to adjust a new home? Under ideal conditions, it should take around two weeks for a parakeet to get adjusted and feel at home. A parakeet would be quite nervous when first brought home and may need time to understand and adjust to the surroundings. He (or she) will need to find the location of the food and water, and feel secure and safe about the things around it.

Each of the animals or birds have their own individual personality and preferences. That would mean it can be a little challenging to find an exact time for a parakeet to adjust to a new home.

Contents

1 What Do You Do When You First Bring A Parakeet Home?
2 How To Make A Parakeet Happy?
3 Is It Ok To Have Just One Parakeet?
4 How Often Should A Parakeet Take A Bath?
5 Is It Okay To Keep Your Parakeet Outside Of Its Cage For Too Long?
6 How Much Time Should I Spend With My Parakeet?
7 FAQs to Know More About Parakeets
8 Concluding Thoughts on Parakeets Adapting to A New Home

What Do You Do When You First Bring A Parakeet Home?

When you first bring a parakeet home, you would notice it sitting quietly at the bottom of a cage or perched on its base. The first thing you should do is to gain the trust of the new bird. Spending as much time as possible with the parakeet should be the right way to gain the trust of the new parakeet you have brought home.

In fact, a parakeet is an emotional bird. It would take a while for it to get adjusted to the new home, its surroundings, and human friends. However, once it gets tamed and develops a rapport with you, you need to take care to meet its emotional needs. Otherwise, the parakeet may develop psychological complications.

The best way to begin taming a parakeet would be to place it in a busy room. If you tend to keep the budgie in a quiet room, it may turn out to be much counter-productive. The parakeet is separated from its ilk when brought home and will need to get adjusted to the humans and can thus cause excessive stress. A busy room can help the parakeet adjust to their surroundings and understand that humans are not predators.

The first thing you need to do when you first bring a parakeet home would be to opt for the following to-do list –

Set up the cage

The cage of the bird is its castle, and this is where it would spend most of its time. A cage can also be helpful in protecting your bird. Set up the cage where the parakeet is close to the family activities. A wall would be a great option from where the bird can have a look at what is happening around it. Do not place it at a place where it does not get surprised.

Don’t place the cage where the sunlight may make it uncomfortable and overheat it.
Avoid the kitchen as the fumes may be dangerous for the parakeet.
Never use an overwhelming number of toys. One or two would be sufficient.

Do not disturb him

When the bird is new, make sure he is not disturbed. Put him in the cage and let him be. You may feel like showing him off, but until he gets used to the surroundings, it would be a good idea to let him adjust to the surroundings by himself first.

Offer food from the hand

You would want the new parakeet to get adjusted and treat you as one of its own ilk. The best way to achieve this task would be to offer it food from your hand. Offering a treat and letting it eat from your hand can be one of the best ways to make it trust you. While it would love the spray millet, you may also try some other treat if you want. Once it gets comfortable, it would sit on your hand and eat from it.

After taking these preliminary steps after getting the parakeet home, you need to understand how to please your budgie at home.

How To Make A Parakeet Happy?

Parakeets are emotional, and you need to give them a company if you want them to be happy. If you do not associate with it, it will tend to develop psychological issues. The following tips should be helpful in letting you know how to make a parakeet happy:

win trust of your parakeet

They want a company

In case you have a single parrot, it may be an excellent option to place a mirror in the cage. While the parakeet would love your company at its best, the mirror would be an excellent option to help it have a company when you are not around. Getting a second bird would be yet another great idea.

Provide toys

Parakeets love toys and offering them different toys can be one of the excellent options for making your parakeet happy. Rings, swings, bells, and beads can be a few good toys that can keep the bird busy and happy. Make sure that the toys you pick are shiny or make noise. Ensure that the toys do not have the parts that can cause choking.

Never grab it

The parakeet is a small bird, and grabbing it against its will can frighten it. Make it build trust with you and wait until it is comfortable in your presence. Frequent grabbing can make the little bird move away from you.

Sing with them

Parakeets love singing. While they keep singing on their own, they would love it better if you accompany them with your own voice or some music. If you are moving away, keeping a radio on at a moderate volume can do the trick.

Keep the cage clean

A clean cage will mean a healthy parakeet. Make sure you have kept the cage quite clean. Frequent scrubbing of the perches and removing all droppings would keep your bird hale and hearty. A clean cage can be one of the best means to keep the parakeet happy.

Parakeet is a great companion and can be easily kept happy just like any other member of the family. Now, the question is, is it ok to have just one parakeet?

Is It Ok To Have Just One Parakeet?

You can keep a single parakeet if you are sure of meeting some standard practices. The parakeet is a social bird and needs a company or someone or something to occupy its mind. If you are able to give it enough time, or you have someone who will keep talking to it throughout the day, it would be fine keeping a single parakeet. However, if you are not able to spend much time with your parakeet, it may be a good idea to get a second parakeet.

Also, you can include a good number of toys and puzzles in the cage to keep it occupied so that it does not feel lonely. Make sure you keep the budgie in a room where there will be people at all times. Keep playing with it, or at least, keep talking to it.

How Often Should A Parakeet Take A Bath?

Parakeets can be bathed once a week. If you have observed the parakeet closely, you will find that they love grooming themselves. Pruning the feathers and grooming themselves frequently is a clear sign of the fact that they love bathing.

In fact, parakeets enjoy the bath as part of their grooming session. Provide your parakeet with a dish of water once a week so that your little bird can treat itself to some sort of bath. However, there are times when your parakeet may be looking to bathe more often. In such a scenario, you can offer daily showers with a spray bottle.

Should you provide a bath or shower to your parakeet? That would be dependent on the bathing habits of your bird. In fact, parakeets love both. They would love taking a bath every time they have access to water. It would be a good idea to place a dish of water inside the cage to let her bathe whenever she wants to. Remember removing dish after an hour so that the bird does not drink the bathwater.

Is It Okay To Keep Your Parakeet Outside Of Its Cage For Too Long?

The best cage out time for a parakeet is not definite as you would expect it to. You need not keep the parakeet out of the cage at any definite time or any specific time period. As long as your parakeet is concerned, he will be happy as long as he is being taken out. How long or at what time is he taken out should not matter.

The key is to let the parakeet out of the cage at least once a day for as long as you and the parakeet would want to. Letting out will let the parakeet relax, exercise and get more comfortable. Make sure you let him out every day, just the way you would walk a dog. Begin with small timeframes every day and then increase the time that the bird is out of the cage. It may even be a great idea to let him out of the cage more than once in a day.

How Much Time Should I Spend With My Parakeet?

One of the best ways to make the parakeet adjust to a new home is to spend as much time as you can with the bird. Make sure you spend at least 15 minutes with your parakeet and repeat the process at least four times a day. Make use of this time to make it get friendly with you.

You can indulge in several activities during your playtime with the parakeet. The activities can include making it sit on your shoulder, or even on your head. You can make it play with your finger, perch on it or even talk with it. Singing with your bird can also be a great option to spend time with your parakeet.

FAQs to Know More About Parakeets

Having checked out the right options you always needed to learn about parakeets and how to make them adjust in a new home, it may be worthwhile to answer a few questions that may still be lingering in your mind.

Why doesn’t my Parakeet eat vegetables?

It is okay if your budgie does not eat vegetables. They may perhaps like something else such as millets. Of course, if the parakeet eats fruits and vegetables, it would be more healthy.

If the parakeet does not eat vegetables, put it on alternate food rich in nutrients. Opt for natural and high-quality organic food so that your parakeet has all its nutritional needs met.

My parakeet does not eat from my hand?

The new parakeet would need time to get used to your hand. Perhaps you can make it starve a little so that it gets hungry and can begin eating from your hand. Once the bird gets used to your company, it will not hesitate to eat from your hand.

Should I place the parakeet cage near the window?

Placing the parakeet cage near the window should not be a concern if there is no direct sunlight falling on the cage. It would be advisable to ensure that at least one side of the cage is placed against the wall. That would help them feel secure. Placing the cage against the window may not be a good idea because the outside environment may scare them. They are likely to get scared of dogs, cats or even storms.

Do you have to cover your parakeet at night?

If the cage placement has been such that the place is dark, quiet, and secluded, you would not need to keep the cage covered at night. If the parakeet finds it difficult to sleep, it would be a good idea to cover it. Check the bird’s reaction to decide on whether you need to cover the cage at night or not.

My parakeet stays in front of the mirror; what should I do?

Parakeets love shiny objects, and the mirror is one such object. For most of the parakeets, the mirror would appear to be a great choice of a sparkling object. Moreover, the image reflected inside the mirror acts as yet another interesting option. However, if the mirror has become an obsession, it would be advisable to take it away. If it is only for a limited period, it can have a positive effect on the well-being of the bird.

Concluding Thoughts on Parakeets Adapting to A New Home

Parakeets are social birds, and you should find it quite easy to get them used to the surroundings and new environment. If you can follow the tips and suggestions featured above, you would find that they can be quite easy to tame.

You need to be patient if you really want to tame the bird and make it get used to you as a friend. If you have any interesting tips on how does a parakeet adjusts to a new home, feel free to write to us in the comments section below.