Taming a Java

[Sheather]

I've long been interested in a tame pet Java, and decided to try to hand-train one myself when my pet store recently got in three youngsters. Though hand-raising is the surefire way to go about it, I have also heard successful anecdotes of socializing juvenile birds and decided to give it a try.

This is Buttons! At the store I noticed how calm she was around hands. Where her siblings jumped away, she looked on curiously, and she seemed best suited to socialize. It only took about a day to get her stepping up on command and she now jumps on my finger with no hesitation and eats from my palm though we are still at the stage where while she doesn't fear doing so, she'd just as soon be left alone, so I am working on making our interactions a positive experience with lots of treats.

[Fraza]

Well done he looks so happy

[wildbird]

Beautiful Java! How old is she?

[Sheather]

Wildbird I don't know exactly. She is mostly in adult plumage but a few brown feathers on her cheeks suggest she isn't fully molted yet. Under six months? Maybe four? Babs do you happen to known when do Javas get their adult colors?

[Sheather]

She is such a sweetheart, so calm and attentive to everything around her, but not flighty at all.

[Fraza]

Sheather I’m so jealous haha I would love to have a java like that

[isobea]

Sheather - Hi Dylan, well done. She sure is pretty! What do you use as treats while training her?
Wish we could have Javas here in CA...
Iso

[Babs _Owner]

Sheather

By 4 months I believe all my kids had molted. They can "stall" a molt like gouldians however, and reveal even more beauty on the 2nd adult molt.

You are so good with handtaming . You really should do some youtube videos.

My java kids (now adults) are a BLAST while I work. Thora (hen) is a beast that will let me flip her over, yet if I kiss her will bite my lip so hard she draws blood. I can gently fling her away and she comes right back like a pitbull (man, I adore her tenacity).

Nordic, well.......while Im busy doing data entry for work he takes the opportunity to quickly land on my thumb and have "happy time". and in a split second he is gone with me just laughing as the 3 of them pile atop my ball cap I wear while working and they chatter up a storm.

Nordic preens my lips if I snuggle with him.

Valor (the fawn) is reserved, will land on my head and hands after a few hours out of the cage. But doesnt want to be touched (which is fine) I've already set up a female for him in about a month. And he will be a father I hope soon.

SUCH a fantastic species to hand tame. Such characters. Thank you so much for giving me the courage to let them freeflight. I will forever have handtamed javas in my office. ;)

[Sheather]

Babs Isobea


@ Isobea Spray millet and hemp seed, though she's still not too food motivated.

@ Babs
Your Javas sound too cute, I'm so happy they're doing well for you and you can enjoy them out of the cage. How is your tame Gouldian?

~~~

I have now had Buttons two weeks and tonight is the first time she has started flying to my shoulder on her own. Then she hops on my hand, and if I put her by my face she preens my nose/lips. She enjoys being gently rubbed on the cheek with my nose but not my finger. However, she will jump right on my finger anytime I ask her. She is such a sweet, clever little bird. So much personality, and I'm loving how tame she is, and how fast she has become trusting.

I let her out with my societies and canaries throughout the day to socialize (she just started to take baths with them and try veggies) but take her (on my finger, she steps up like such a good girl!) to a quiet room a few times a day for a half hour to an hour and work with her alone, and it seems to be working really well.

[isobea]

Sheather - Thanks Dylan for your progress report. She seems so calm and smart, don't forget adorable, and you are so patient in taming her. Makes me want a Java even more. Maybe one of these days I will find one that flew across the border from AZ to CA by mistake and ended up at my backyard bird feeders. I can dream, can't I?
Iso

[Sheather]

I took some new photos of her today with some of the other birds.

[Fraza]

Sheather it’s so cool she’s amazing

[wildbird]

Gorgeous Java finch!! Wish I could find one like that.

[Sheather]

A little over three weeks with Buttons now.

I would say she is not more difficult to tame than a young budgie.

She now comes to me on her own when I come in the room. She steps up, or else she flies to me shoulder. She's started to really enjoy millet (until now she was not food-motivated) and she flies to me as soon as she sees it. She has a personality and demeanor which is very different from my society finches, and she comes across much more like a budgie. While the society finches will land on my hand to eat millet they're timid and take off if the parakeets jump alongside them. Buttons stays put and snaps at them, letting them know she is not going to be bullied! I have not seen this confidence in a finch before.

She cages with three societies and a canary now. She bathes when they do, and they've taught her to eat veggies, but she doesn't seem to relate to them much. She is more interested in me, and in the budgies, and likes to follow them. Seeing them interact with me has probably helped her tame down.

Unless Buttons is extraordinary, I am surprised Javas are not more popular tame pets. She literally tamed in a day from the pet shop with only a slight wing clip that slows her a little but doesn't keep her from getting up to the ceiling, though it has just been in the past ten days or so I feel we are starting to develop a bond. And she wasn't super young when I got her.

[Sheather]