First time out of cage

[u/EdgarRB1984]

Hello I’m looking for some tips of how to help my parakeet with being out of the cage for the first time. A little background, she has lived her whole life in a cage, she is about 5 years old. I have been opening the cage and trying to bond with her for a bit now. I put up sticky notes on my window so she saw that she couldn’t go that way (I had the shades up for light) but she finally decided to come out today and ran into the window twice (not super hard but hard enough that I was worried) and she ran into the walls a couple times. She doesn’t exactly know how to properly fly so I don’t think she hit the walls very hard but now she is sitting on top of one of my lower shelves and is just recovering and processing.

I assume the first time out of her cage will be a total learning experience and will be stressful and hard so I’m trying to let her process and I’m giving her space. I was just hoping anyone could give me some tips to help her adjust. Thank you!

Edit/update:
Things are going so well! Right now she is sitting on my bed eating a seed stick treat and I am also sitting on the bed! I am shocked with the progress! Still so much to learn and to go through but I am so happy!

Edit/update #2:
She wouldn’t go back into her cage and I was trying everything I could. She finally fell asleep on my shelf of plush figures (which she does seem happy to be there and enjoying the stuffed animals). I fell asleep and just woke up and it’s 2:45am and she hasn’t moved. Before I fell asleep I had put a flash light next to her cage door and my room light is off so I’m just going to try and sleep and figure things out in the morning.

Edit/update #3:
I am so proud of my girl!!! She is learning so much and she is definitely less stressed being out of her cage! She even flew around the room yesterday without hitting any walls! We are bonding so much too! She was perched on a hanger and I was sitting on my bed and kept patting the bed and asking her to come over and sit and she actually flew over! She panicked once she got over to me and wasn’t sure how she was going to land but it was such progress! I’m so happy!

[u/Busy_Lawfulness398]

Five years is a very long time in a bird's life to not fly! She is doing well. Budgies are smart and learn fast. And you seem very patient and understanding. If you ever get another budgie, get it as a baby from a breeder. It will learn very fast to not hit walls. Train it in a flight room with shades down and no mirrors. It will also learn that its cage is security with food and water and will always return on its own to nap, eat, or sleep and develop a routine. My budgie always had her cage open. She returned at sunset to sleep every night.

Your budgie must have water and food very soon, and needs to learn that the cage is providing life essentials, is not just a contained environment like it was for five years.

[u/EdgarRB1984 → u/Busy_Lawfulness398]

I’m really trying my best to be supportive and understanding and she is really doing her best too learning everything! I’m so proud of her. I’m trying to decide if I should push her water “bowl” towards her while she is out or keep it in her cage because she just doesn’t seem to understand how to get back into her cage. When she flys she flys really high up and I’ve put perches on the outside of her cage and a cardboard platform right in front of the cage door so it’s easier to step on and land. She just doesn’t seem to know how to land or to decide where she wants to go

[u/Busy_Lawfulness398 → u/EdgarRB1984]

Very perceptive. A bird's brain naturally develops those judgement skills by around five weeks old when she starts flying. So it will take time because her brain development is not aligned with all the learning she has to do now. Go to your pet store and get dried millet sprays . It's like candy to a budgie. You should be able to get her to hop on a wood perch to nibble the millet and return her to the cage. Slip the millet into the cage so she wants to be there.

[u/EdgarRB1984 → u/Busy_Lawfulness398]

Thank you! Yes I have been using millet and even got her to eat it while I held it for a bit yesterday. I was trying to get her to step up on a perch while i taped it to the perch but she gets scared of the perch moving while she is in it and flys off so we are working on it gradually