Cage agression?

[Breeze]

Hello all,
My alex, Woflie is 7 months old and ever since i have had him has had some form of aggression when near or in his cage. Example: he is currently changing on to pellets and 3 times a day i give him seed for 15 mins when putting the seed in he launches and will do this every time i go to put it in.

The way i have been countering this i wait until he is calm then put my hand near the food and near his head every time he does not launch i give him a treat and tell him he's a good boy, it usually takes 5-10 times of doing this before he is okay with the seed bowl but then the next day it feels like he has forgotten it. I need some suggestions on what to do Thanks.

 

[Flboy]

He is trying to protect the only thing he knows!

 

[chris-md]

So I’ve not tried it, I’ve not had to deal with cage aggression, but Ijust read this article and it makes absolute sense as far as the training steps you’d take to begin resolving cage. Aggression.

https://www.petcha.com/zupreem-learning-center-stop-pet-bird-cage-aggression/

 

[EllenD]

My male Senegal has a bit of cage aggression, I noticed this starting about 6 months ago, right around the time he hit puberty (he's almost 2 years old now). He's fine if he's ON his cage, like on top of it playing, or on the perch or the crock I have attached to the outside front of it above the door, no problems at all there...But when he's INSIDE his cage he does not want my hands in there with him! This is fairly normal behavior, it's their home, their safe-place that is just their's, and even when their "person" who they are closely bonded to reaches inside their home, they feel the need to protect it. Kane doesn't bite at all, he's never once actually "bitten" me, but when I stick my hands inside his cage, either to get him to step-up, or simply to feed him or give him water, he'll "beak" me pretty hard, most of the time he'll give me a little, tiny warning "growl" first, and if that doesn't get my hand out of there then he'll beak-me...

I've been simply telling him "No Bites!" firmly, and then immediately turning my back on him and totally ignoring him for 5-10 minutes, not making eye contact with him, etc. If he does it when I'm trying to get him to step-up and taking him out of his cage, then I'll tell him "No Bites!" and immediately put him down on the floor and turn my back to him and ignore him for 5 minutes. It's been working pretty well, recently he's actually caught himself and stopped himself from beaking my hand; just this morning I reached in to change his water while he was eating his breakfast inside his cage. He gave me his typical "warning growl", but it kind of fizzled-out, like it was a half-hearted growl, I ignored the growl and continued to grab his water bowl, and he leaned towards my hand to beak it, but I looked at him, made eye contact with him, and before I even got to say "No Bites!", he stopped himself and leaned back away from my hand...then he looked at me like "Oops, sorry 'bout that...", and went back to eating his breakfast.

The key to this and any training is to pick something that you're going to do/say each and every time, and then you absolutely must stick to it and do it/say it every single time without fail. If you give-in and aren't consistent then the bird isn't going to get it...And since they crave attention, when they are ignored it really does tend to get the point across very, very quickly. I always do the same thing when any of my guys bite/nip me, but I always say "No Bites!" first before setting them down and turning my back on them and walking away, as using the exact same verbal warning/message every time is what lets them know exactly what it is that did wrong. So if they bite I'll say "No Bites!" and then put them down and ignore them, but if they do something else, I'll give them whatever verbal warning/message goes along with that particular behavior that I don't want them to do, and then I'll do the same thing, immediately put them down and totally ignore them, not even make eye-contact with them for 5 minutes...So the punishment (immediately putting them down, turning my back on them, and ignoring them for 5 minutes) is always the same, regardless of what they do, but the Verbal Warning/Message I give them right before the punishment is different for each behavior they display that I don't want them to do. That way they know exactly what it is that they did wrong each time...

 

[MonicaMc]

I'd recommend training *AT* the cage, not away. A lot of cage aggression may be due to birds who are forced away from their cage so they simply learn to be aggressive while near their cage.

Working on target training, station training and step up while at the cage may better help teach birds that they do not need to be aggressive near their cages because they do not experience negative interactions with humans when at their cages.