Amount of time it took for your bird to come out of it's cage

[gemkitty24]

Hello all,
I apologize for asking so many questions but I assure you that I have really taken all of your suggestions to heart. Sadly, I still have another training question. Over the years I've had cockatiels but they never took very long to come out of the cage. I admit I never adopted until now but I just wanted to know what was the longest amount of time it took your bird to trust you so that it would come out of it's cage. I'm a little worried that my birds my have become cage bound. Any suggestions would greatly help. Thank you everyone for all of your generous time.

 

[DannyA93]

My birds usually take about 2-3 weeks max but thats me pushing for them to come out, just not too much. just barely past there comfort point and the next time thats usually there point where they don't wanna go past but then i push a little more and they get more and more comfortable with it but the key is to take it at there pace even though i push them some its still up to them whether they actually wanna come out and if they really don't want to then back up and then move forward later when there more comfortable with you. i have a budgie right now that doesn't want to come out and i've been pushing him to come out a little and he's barely starting to come out and today he came out and explored a little bit so you just have to work with them and patience which im sure you already know haha

O and you can never ask too many questions!! that just means you care about the well being of your birds what else could they ask for

 

[ct92404]

I think a lot of birds won't come out of their cage voluntarily. My recently departed parakeet, Buddy, was always very stubborn about coming out of his cage. He would never come out on his own. I would have to chase him around a little bit and then gently scoop him up. He wasn't scared, and he wouldn't fly around the cage. He would just jump from perch to perch and walk away, avoiding my hand. He would easily climb up on my hand and perch on my finger, but if I tried to take him out like then, he would jump off my hand as soon as he realized what I was doing. So I would scoop him up gently by putting one hand under him, and another hand over him and take him out of the cage that way. Once he was out of the cage, he was perfectly fine. He was an amazing, very friendly bird. He was just stubborn about coming out of his cage.

My new parakeet, Chipper, is the same way. He's very gentle and likes to be held and petted, but he's stubborn about coming out of his cage.

I've read that birds just feel instinctively safer in their cage, and some might never come out voluntarily. You might have to coax them out or scoop them up. I don't know if that's practical with a bigger bird like a cockatiel, but that's what I had to do. Once their out of the cage, they're fine.

 

[MeganMango]

We have had Mango a month, and although he usually will step up, he is sometimes really moody. He knows "step up" really well, but he was biting us pretty hard when he was in his cage until recently. Hes a red bellied parrot, so maybe it differs species to species. We started with a stick and he would transfer really well from stick to hand. If he really didnt want to come out he would grab the opening to the cage with his beak, grab the door with his foot, and shut it behind him. Now we can barely keep him in! If were home he wants to be out. That said, when he takes naps he wants the door open but he wants to be inside.

 

[gemkitty24]

thank you for all of the suggestions. Most of you mentioned a coaxing technique. I have tried treats with step up but they don't care for treats. Would you mind expanding how you preform your coaxing techniques? Thank you all once again.

 

[sunnyvmx]

I use the Target Touch training with Pepe and Miko. Each time they grab the stick they are rewarded with millet and lots of praise. I move the stick to a new location until they are out the door and onto the table next to the cage. This method can also be used to teach "step up" by putting the stick between your fingers with your step up finger in front of it. Eventually they have to step on the finger to reach the stick. Only give millet for reward when training. Now that I have built a large gym for the table, I put their food beneath it and when they come out to eat, I remove the cage for cleaning and put it back in the bedroom. My birds tell me they want to go to bed at 5 by climbing to the top of the gym and loudly chirping at me. This gives me the perfect opportunity to teach them to step up and allow me to carry them to their cage in the bedroom. At first I had to chase them around the gym slowly and with patience. Now they stay put and step onto my finger. I still can't pet them, but maybe someday they will allow that too.

 

[DannyA93]

yes the touch training is a very effective technique i would recommend it. but my lastest budgie im just step up training him and let him sit on my finger in the cage til he's comfortable then slowly start moving out of the cage like when your getting them used to your hand in the cage? kinda? but with moving basically in small incraments and i've been able to reach in a tiny cage my budgie step up and take her out through a 2 1/2 by 2 1/2 in. door way with them just ducking there head under the door it takes a little bit longer but they trust you alot more and its alot easier on you instead of having to catch a bird that keeps walking away, honestly that annoys me so i try to train them not to do that and if they don't want to then they simply don't and i back off

fyi that tiny cage was only for when i was at college(no pets allowed) but she was out all day but they have a bigger cage now!

 

[Birdlover11]

It took me 2 months for a new parakeet to get on my finger comfortbly and come out.

 

[gemkitty24]

So just an update. We finally nudged them out of their cage and onto their playtop. Once on their, Quinn will step up onto my finger(reluctantly) but still does it. I can even pet her! Harley will step up on a stick and then we can transfer him to a finger, otherwise he'll bite. Any suggestions on how to get them out of the cage without heavy coaxing? We leave them out all day and they never move. they seem content just sitting on the perch. Maybe it's because they are still sick?

 

[DannyA93]

Just keep coaxing them and eventually they'll get over staying in the cage and it'll get easier and easier to take them out

 

[MeganMango]

If you're gentle and kind they will associate coming out with safe and fun socialization. Once they bond with you they will be much happier to come out. We always say "step up" when we want Mango even though he usually already has one foot in the air ready to go when he sees our finger. We also NEVER give in and stop asking until he does it. It was hard at first, but even when he bit us we were really consistent and made sure that if we asked him we persisted until he did it. If he was being aggressive we used a stick and then transferred to our finger. We then gave him a treat and if he wanted to go back in his cage we put him back. Now, even if he is running the other direction, if we say "step up" he stops and puts a foot in the air (its kind of funny).