New Quaker flying off his cage

[sherylb]

My new quaker has been home with me now for about 24 hours. Today, he keeps trying to fly off the cage but then wants back on the cage. He likes to sit on top of it when it is opened. When we tried to bring him over to the counter with us to let him walk around he tried flying back to his cage. Last night he kept walking to his cage as well when we would let him walk around to explore. I did read the cage is a safe place for them right now when getting used to a new home, but what about him flying off the cage and then wanting back on?? LOL

 

[wrench13]

Quakers can be very cage territorial. I had one that got that way. You may want to consider out of cage time be away from his cage. Another room maybe but away. That way any territorial instict is nulled out. Quakers like to rule the roost if they are allowed to.

 

[GaleriaGila]

What Mr. Wrench said!

He can't/won't fly up onto the cage when he's flown off?
You can buy birdie ladders...
I see no problem with leaving him caged quite a bit until he settles and learns all the new sights and sounds.
I'm glad you're here, and reaching out. There's so much to learn about diet, cages, toys, bonding...

Welcome!

 

[sherylb]

He can't fly up to his cage once off. His wings are clipped. when I take him out of the cage he wants to fly back to it or tries to fly back. He also will just fly off the cage but then walk back to it??

 

[MonicaMc]

If you want to avoid cage aggression, then you need to work on training *AT* the cage.


Maybe he wants to go flying around, which flight in itself is a *great* way to get rid of pent up energy! But since he's unable to fly, he just flops to the ground... which is when he wants back on the cage.

 

[sherylb]

where can I find good training tips at the cage?

 

[wrench13]

Search our forums for "Clicker Training" and "Target training" both are things that can be done right in the cage or on top of it.

 

[EllenD]

I agree with Monica, my guess is that he's flying off the top of his cage because he wants to fly around, but then he can't, he gets to the floor, and he's like "okay, can't do that, going back home"...I recommend setting it up in a way that he can get back to his cage on his own, so that he can learn to entertain himself instead of you having to put him back on his cage every time he flies off of it. As Gail said, they make really long, wooden ladders, I just saw one somewhere that was like 5 tall! Either that or put the cage on a stand that he can climb up on his own. Then he'll be able to entertain himself the way that he wants to, and he'll figure out what he's doing pretty quickly...

24 hours is no time at all, he's still figuring things out in your house, in his new house, etc. I don't know if he's a young baby or an adult, but if he's a young baby that you just got from a breeder or store, I'm hoping that he was properly fledged before they clipped him. Quakers are extremely territorial in-general, most birds are at least a bit cage-territorial...So right now he knows that his cage is like his "home base" or safe-place in this new house, but at the same time he's naturally still wanting to fly around, explore, see what's what, etc. So when he flies off of the cage, realizes that he can't fly, and then is on the floor with nothing to do down there and in a new spot he's not comfortable in, he wants to go back to his home-base. But if you set it up so that he can climb up to his cage on his own, he'll have his whole system/routine figured out in no time...

Once he settles in to his new house and gets comfortable with his new people, then he'll probably be much more interested in "exploring" all over the place. Quakers are usually pretty fearless, and as Wrench said, they do tend to take-over the house pretty quickly. So he'll stop feeling the need to get right back to his cage soon, trust me! And once his wings grow back in and he can fly again, hopefully in a month or so, that too will give him a great amount of confidence back, as they do tend to lose even more confidence and comfort when they can't fly. So he's got a double-whammy right now, new home, new people, and he can't fly...It just takes time...

 

[sherylb]

He is 9 weeeks old. Unfortunately I didn't know the questions to ask the breeder. I went in wanting an Indian ring neck but fell in love with this one....I can see him getting more comfortable.... he ate a lot today and started to find his squaking voice when he wanted to come out of the cage and sit...he just doesn't want to cuddle yet. I appreciate all this advice, it is helping soooo much. I got a ladder today but it's an inch too short!!! Gotta find another.

 

[sherylb]

Search our forums for "Clicker Training" and "Target training" both are things that can be done right in the cage or on top of it.

Can Clicker training be started right away or should I wait quite awhile for all the adjustments to set in?? Kiwi is getting pretty comfortable. He's kissing me and yesterday he got on my shoulder for about a minute and then wanted back on his cage. He was playing with me and also wanting to check out my phone when I would take a pic of him and he would get right up to me to check it out so I think he's trusting me. Today he seems a bit grouchy and wont come near me!! I am getting the Bipolar thing about parrots now! He is getting worse at not stepping up though when he's on his cage. He was stepping up when I first got him now but he wont do it now unless he flies off the cage and wants back up to his cage. I just wondered if it would be time for that clicker training?? If treats are used for it I can't get him to eat anything except his pellets. He will eat some dry oats but he does't like wet fruit or veggies. He sorta like a strawberry this morning but not enough to use as a reward.

 

[EllenD]

You can try to start clicker training or target training any time, but you do need to find a treat that he loves in order for it to really make an impression...And whatever treat you use for any type of training should be his all-time favorite treat, and then you should only give him that treat as a training reward and no other time. That way he knows that in order to get his favorite treat he has to listen to you and progress with the training.

Have you tried giving him different types of unsalted nuts? My Quaker absolutely loves pistachio nuts, those are her extra-special treat that she only gets for training and as special rewards. The other nuts that they always seem to love are pine nuts, Brazil nuts, Walnuts, Almonds, and even raw, unsalted sunflower seeds out of the shell work great for training...Of course any nuts you give him must be unsalted, and for a Quaker they need to be out of the shell, as they can't really crack shells very well. As far as the sunflower seeds, my birds don't get them any other time but as an occasional treat (their seed-mix does not contain them), and I simply buy a container of the raw, unsalted, out of shell sunflower seeds as training treats for both my Quaker and my Green Cheek, they love them. i don't like giving fresh fruit as a "treat", it would work, but fruit needs to be a very small part of their diet, at least fresh fruit does...If your Quaker doesn't respond to any nuts (which I doubt, the pistachio's and the pine nuts usually work on all parrots, lol) you could also try some dried/dehydrated fruit, I was surprised not long ago to find that my local Walmart has a massive selection of all-natural, organic dried fruit snacks with no added sugar or preservatives. They have a big rack that is nothing but organic and all-natural nuts and dried fruit snacks of all kinds located right next to or right in the fruit/veggie produce section. They have all kinds of organic, dried apples slices, peaches, apricots, coconut (this is a good one too that they usually love), strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, bananas (another one that they love, my Senegal goes nuts for dried banana chips as a treat), mango, guava, passion fruit, star fruit, papaya, etc. And they're much cheaper than Wegmans, which is where I used to buy this kind of stuff because I didn't know Walmart even sold any.

So it's all about just trying different training treats and seeing what he likes...you definitely do not want to use his regular pellets as a treat, that would only be confusing to him and really not a big deal to him either, as he eats them every day anyway. I'd start with trying-out different unsalted, unshelled nuts, as they are quicker and easier for them to eat on-the-spot for training, and you can keep them in your pocket to reward him on-the-spot, or to take them with you when you take him out and about in the future, say at a Vet appointment or on a long car ride.

One more little tip about using nuts as a treat, for smaller parrots like Quakers, Green Cheeks, Cockatiels, etc., don't give them an entire nut as a single treat, only do that at the very end of your training session to tell them "Good Job!" and then give him a whole nut to eat. Otherwise, if you give a Quaker an entire pistachio nut or an entire raw, unshelled Brazil nut or Filbert nut, it's going to take him 5-10 minutes to eat it, lol. You can do this with larger parrots obviously, even my Senegal can crack and devour an entire, in-shell Brazil nut, Walnut, Almond, etc. in a couple of seconds. But with the smaller parrots, simply break off little, tiny pieces of the nut and after each time he does what you ask of him and you hit your clicker, then just give him a little piece of a pistachio, pine nut, etc., You can however give a Quaker an entire raw, unshelled, unsalted sunflower seed, those they can eat in a few seconds. The nuts for whatever reason they tend to hold in their foot and chew on for quite a while. So just give him a tiny, little piece of nut, that way he'll be able to eat it quickly and you can continue training. This will also help to keep him focused, so he doesn't lose interest and want to just sit there and chow-down on nuts, lol.

 

[sherylb]

Thank you for this. I will have to find the clicker now. There are a couple of bird stores around here. I will try some nuts and other things to see if I can find a favorite for him. He likes dry oats but not sure it's enough for training. He will try anything I give him so that's good. He likes cheerios too. I will for sure try the dried fruit too. I think he's just being moody at times when he won't step up to me because he will when he wants to so I don't think it's a trust issue