Get out of my cage!

[FlyBirdiesFly]

So, Kermit’s been doing something I’m not happy about. He often goes into the other birds’ cages and eats their food. I just had to retrieve him from Bluebell’s cage while Bluebell was in there. I’m fine with them landing on top of each other’s cages, but going inside and stealing food, especially with another bird in there, is not something I approve of. I know that birds can be territorial of their cages, so I’m worried about their safety. They haven’t gotten into trouble yet, but who knows. One of the birds could someday have their toe bitten! How do I stop Kermit from going into other birds’ cages?

 

[T00tsyd]

Shut the door? :0

 

[FlyBirdiesFly]

I leave the doors open so they can go inside if they’re hungry or thirsty. Often the birds go to their cages for a quick drink, snack, or just to relax than come flying back out again. But I need to teach Kermit that he should only go in HIS cage!

 

[FlyBirdiesFly]

Update: uggh just had to pull Kermit from Bluebell’s cage AGAIN! I need to stop this behavior. Bluebell’s inside her cage right now so it would be unfair to lock her in to keep Kermit out.

 

[T00tsyd]

Good luck with that I wouldn't know how to even start!

 

[wrench13]

Answer: You can't. You cant reward him, as in taking him back to his cage and treating him, and scolding doesn't work with parrots. Are they eating the same stuff? Is Kermit's food bowl empty when this happens?

 

[FlyBirdiesFly]

Yes, they eat the same stuff. For some reason, Kermit is attracted to the other birds’ food dishes. His dish is always full. I don’t know what to do.

 

[MonicaMc]

The grass is greener on the other side. Always.

I had the opposite problem though back when I had budgies... they would fly into my conure's cage and eat his food. This was back before they liked pellets, too! And my conure was being fed pellets. So... they'd fly into his cage and eat his seeds and pellets.

At one time, it was only one budgie getting into the cage (even with the doors closed!) and this one budgie and the conure pretty much ignored each other. I imagine that the budgie (an only male) just wanted a break from the girls!


My second conure though *hated* other birds in his cage! Had another budgie that, when out, would love to squeeze between his cage bars, eat his food, drink his water, play with his toys... he'd get pissed and chase her around! Nimble, tiny budgie in a cage not large enough for a large conure to move around in? Quite comical! (and dangerous!) Needless to say, she went to a budgie only home...




Best way to prevent is either complete separation or a lot of training and teaching him to stay put somewhere else!

 

[FlyBirdiesFly]

So how would I go about that training?

 

[MonicaMc]

You'd want to start with target training and station training.

Teach him to target, then teach him "go to playstand" or "go home". If you train it well, he'll know to fly back to a designated spot.

Station training is basically teaching him to stay put. You'll want to pair this with doing something entertaining like playing with toys or foraging to keep him busy!

 

[FlyBirdiesFly]

He’s already target trained and knows to fly to me on command.
There are many places in the room for him to land, so teaching him to fly somewhere else shouldn’t be too difficult.

 

[LordTriggs]

food tastes so much better when it's "stolen"

If you have the space maybe get a couple play gyms around for them if you haven't and put them around, then you could keep the cage doors shut and have food and water on the different platforms