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.

 

[Mango the Sun Conure]

my conure does the same thing. He has a smaller night cage it has a few perches. He tends to hold his poop for most of the night. He usually gets 9-10 hours of sleep each day. I’m amazed on how he never poops in there. Ever morning I take I’m out he goes to his outside perch and goes poop. I usually say “ go potty” and he always goes! When he is out with me around the house he flys to that perch and poops. When he is in his big cage he poops wherever but knows where to go when we are out. Something my conure picked up on his own. Parrot are incredibly smart!

 

[GaleriaGila]

This is the sad story of how the Rickeybird was toilet-trained for about an hour, back around 1990. I think he was maybe 6. I was reading Bird Talk, by then, and decided that I would try out some of the techniques. So I began taking the Rbird over a paper every 10 minutes or so and holding him there until he pooped, at which time I said "Boo-boo!" in a happy voice. Soon, I could take him to the paper and say Boo-boo and he'd poop. As hoped for. as the day wore on, HE began to say Boo-boo and then poop when I held him over the target. He and I were both delighted, and we practiced and practiced. Sadly, it wasn't even an hour before he began saying Boo-boo every 30 seconds and then flying away when I headed for the paper. I accepted defeat graciously. To this day, he will sometimes yell Boo-boo ten or fifteen times within a minute or so, usually pooping wherever he happens to be. *sigh*

 

[PeentPeent]

My Caique knows the
Go poopie command
He does it when he needs to if he doesn't need to he squaks and I take him to the play area

Saves me from deep cleaning my couch or carpet as often haha