Has your bird potty-trained itself?

[ScottinSoCal]

Scooter has a night cage, small, no perch, floor of the cage covered with old towels for padding and warmth. She gets carried upstairs at night and sleeps in it all night. She's never pooped in that cage - she treats it like a nest. In the mornings I go get her and take her outside for the first (big) poop of the day. I carry a small hand towel under her, to catch any early eruptions.

I've never set out to potty train her - I didn't think it was even possible to potty train a parrot. A few times, right after she came to live here, she cut loose before I got her downstairs. Sometimes the small hand towel didn't catch everything, which meant scrubbing walls and spot-cleaning the carpet. I don't know if she picked up that I preferred she didn't do that, or if it was the time away/noise from the carpet cleaner, but she hasn't done that for 3+ years. She holds it till I get her outside, and cuts loose when I'm over the lawn. In the last couple of years she's expanded that to not pooping when she's out, running around the house. She'll go back over to her cage, or let me know she wants outside, and poop out there.
I've been around parrots most of my adult life, and I've never heard of a house-trained parrot. I've always heard it's not even a possibility. Did I somehow wind up with the world's only house-trained parrot?

 

[LaManuka]

Scooter has a night cage, small, no perch, floor of the cage covered with old towels for padding and warmth. She gets carried upstairs at night and sleeps in it all night. She's never pooped in that cage - she treats it like a nest. In the mornings I go get her and take her outside for the first (big) poop of the day. I carry a small hand towel under her, to catch any early eruptions.

I've never set out to potty train her - I didn't think it was even possible to potty train a parrot. A few times, right after she came to live here, she cut loose before I got her downstairs. Sometimes the small hand towel didn't catch everything, which meant scrubbing walls and spot-cleaning the carpet. I don't know if she picked up that I preferred she didn't do that, or if it was the time away/noise from the carpet cleaner, but she hasn't done that for 3+ years. She holds it till I get her outside, and cuts loose when I'm over the lawn. In the last couple of years she's expanded that to not pooping when she's out, running around the house. She'll go back over to her cage, or let me know she wants outside, and poop out there.
I've been around parrots most of my adult life, and I've never heard of a house-trained parrot. I've always heard it's not even a possibility. Did I somehow wind up with the world's only house-trained parrot?

Both of the lorikeets I've had recently, a purple-crown and a varied lorikeet, have been overnight-holder-innerers. The most recent, Lovejoy the varied lorikeet, will go in his cage during the day but I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times that he's let loose overnight. Frankly I wish he WOULD go during the night cos he's so tiny and as a lorikeet he has LOTS of liquid poop but he prefers to wait until I get up in the morning and let him out. And consequently I get up VERY early every morning to do just that!! I've never taught him when or where to poop, he just does it of his own accord, and a green cheek conure I had some years ago was a very selective pooper as well and I never potty trained him either. He hardly ever pooped on me but pooped on my hubby quite regularly - when he wasn't actively trying to kill hubby, that is!!

 

[texsize]

Bella our CAG tends to hold her poop when in her cage.

It was the easiest thing in the world to teach her what “poopy” means by holding her over a trash can first thing in the morning.

Bella is no longer the first bird out in the morning so she just has to go in her cage. Given a chance she will exit her cage to go poop.

She also doesn’t poop when setting with my wife (her chosen person).
Or perhaps I should say she doesn’t poop ON my wife, she walks to the edge of the chair and let’s go there.
Other family members don’t get that courtesy, I’ve been poop on many times by her.
Hurts my feelings cuz I know she knows better maners.