Out of cage area

[Fantur]

Hi all.

I am a "soon to be parrot owner". I have set up a huge cage for my Senegal chick that will be arriving this weekend. The cage is set up in our computer room, which is quiet and seclusive. Our house is empty from 08:30am to 05:30pm when we get home from work and school.

Of course we plan on giving the bird alot of "out of cage time" in our common family area during the time we are home and about where he can observe us and interact with us. He will be fully clipped.

What I am wondering about is what type of setup is ideal for his "out of cage time" in our family area? A parrot stand with one horizontal perch, a small playground on a table, a hanging playgym, a small cage? How do you keep your birds in the common area? I do have limited space for this so a huge java tree is not possible, although ideal.

Of course the bird will not stay there the whole time as we will interact and play with it but you get the picture.

Fantur

 

[Oedipussrex]

we went with the play stand with a horizontal perch, bowls and places to hang toys because it could be wheeled around the house to different rooms and would stop poop getting on the floor. However, pickle refuses to stay on it and we eventually just dismantled it to store it away. Its too big to have hanging around not used. I guess you cant tell what type of play area your new fid would like the most, but pickle just always makes sure he is on a person if he is out nowadays. XD

 

[lene1949]

Table gym, hanging gym and horizontal perches, such as perches which attach to windows are all good...

A bird just weaned should not be clipped... They need a few months to perfect their flying/landing skills...

 

[Grenage]

I built a large play construct out of branches, rope and coconuts; it looks like a satanic effigy from Blair Witch. After the initial curiosity, it's not rarely used for more than an emergency landing spot, if he gets spooked.

As I'm normally on the sofa in that room, that's where he stays - running around the cushions, or over me. No way in hell will Aizen ever venture away from where I might be. Shame!

A few perches around the place (I installed one on the living-room door) are cheap and easy, especially once you know the parrot 'hotspots'. Either way, don't expect a bird to stay on a perch or frame for very long; all birds are different. I assume that the smaller birds like my GCC are more prone to energetic behaviour.

 

[BeakersBro]

My bird's cage stays open 24/7. He has free roam of my room. He likes his cage and spends a lot of time in and on it, but he is not stuck in it. I have mounted curtain rods high on the walls and across the windows, and he can fly back and forth. I would not suggest doing this with a new bird until you know his behavior and whether he can be left alone unattended without him getting into trouble.

I would like to echo what Grenage said too. Your bird will not want to be secluded in a room of his own, no matter how excellent the toys are. He will want to be with you. When I mean with you, I mostly mean directly on you.

 

[MeganMango]

We built a play gym on top of Mango's cage, and we also built a play stand. There are pics somewhere here with all that stuff included. Mango is super playful, so he will go from us to his various play spots as he wishes. I have different toys outside and inside his cage, and food/water is always available. If he starts playing rough with our fingers we put him on his cage/stand and play with one of his toys with him. Sometimes if we are doing stuff and he cant settle, he will go over to his play stand to take a nap. Ours is made of thin pine and is super easy to take with us. I think you will find that your whole house will end up being bird proofed (and pooped) as they like to be involved with everything. Mango is in his cage while we are at work 8-5 and he is just fine. We rotate his toys and he is super happy. The only time he isnt allowed on us it when we are cooking or cleaning.

 

[Shade]

Pictures of my "birdroom" - aka where the cages are and one of the place where they are left out under supervision.

I posted more about it on my blog - Just Poifect!: The *new* birdroom - Phase 2

As well, I tend to let them out in our computer room, which has a number of other gyms (java table stands, atom..) and they play around the place as well as hang out on my boyfriend and I.

 

[Shade]

Oh and I have a java tree on our main floor as well as a few stands in the basement, should we bring the birds down. But generally we hang out with them in the two rooms I mentioned above.

 

[azdesertrhino]

A picture of Mac's current play area. We change it around from time to time.

 

[LoryLover]

I have the daytime cage for our Lory set up in our computer room - this is good because in the evenings and weekends, I'm in there a lot. Birds are highly social, and you and the others will be its flock. The more interaction and hands-on time with your new parrot, the better it will bond to you. It's great you are getting it this young, because you are starting with a clean slate and can train it from the beginning. Birds can even be potty trained, ours is. Get a simple table stand. When out and about, your parrot will most likely prefer to be with you, than sitting on a stand. One thing parrots love is to play - you can teach it to toss a hacky sack to you. Ours LOVES her hacky sacks - she will toss one to me, and say "go get it!", I'll toss it back to her and the game goes on and on. She will run around the floor tossing her hacky sacks around, chasing after them, pouncing on them... has great fun with them.

 

[ConureCrazy]

AHH Shade I am SO jealous of you!!!! That's my dream bird room! :11::32::52:

 

[khaiqha]

I prefer practical playstands. I have a java stand, and it gets that nice wow factor when guests come over, but it's so annoying to clean. Also, I recomend against playstands with ladders and food bowls on lower levels, because they're just going to get pooped on. I also would recommend stands with little arches with hooks for toy hanging, as a crossbar with hooks just encourages the bird to sit on that and poop on his toys. Yes, a lot of owning a bird is thinking about poop.

I dunno if you have a spot for this, but the most fun area my birds enjoy are wire shelves that I hang ropes/toys/swings under. My birds go crazy for it. It's nice because you can constantly rearrange things and add/subtract to it. I just put a mat under the shelf to catch the poop.

In the end, as most people have said the bird will generally want to be on you. I also recommend thinking about keeping your bird flighted. Stands make a great home base for birds that can fly, and there are many benefits of flight.

 

[Peeko]

I have a Petco playstand for Peeko, but I've found that he prefers perching on me. He's very much a velcro bird! If I put him on the playstand, right beside my chair, he'll still opt to climb onto me instead. I'm glad the playstand we bought was cheap - it would've been a blow to spend a lot of money on something he'd end up not using.

 

[Grenage]

Yup, you don't need to spend much - or anything at all. This is Aizen's livingroom stand; one that's rarely used unless I'm standing next to it.

 

[BeakersBro]

I don't know much about breeding, but I imagine Shade's mega bird compound would be suited better to mated pairs -- birds that want to spend time with each other; rather than spending time with a human.

Even if my bird had a playroom as awesome as Shade's pictures, he would not use it unless I was in that room as well.

 

[Shade]

I don't know much about breeding, but I imagine Shade's mega bird compound would be suited better to mated pairs -- birds that want to spend time with each other; rather than spending time with a human.

Even if my bird had a playroom as awesome as Shade's pictures, he would not use it unless I was in that room as well.

Believe or not, my birds also like to spend time with us.
It's surprising what birds might do when given the opportunity. While all of my guys enjoy one on one time, they also enjoy the opportunity to move around and have enrichment provided in the form of different spots to hang about and play. Even my Lovebird, who could spend his day glued to my shoulder if I let him, will from time to time enjoy the play structures that are up.

I don't have any "pairs" - while some might get along, they don't have a preference to hang with the birds over hanging with the humans. They just like to shake things up.

 

[BeakersBro]

I must admit I am very jealous of your room, Shade. It is by far the best I've seen. I wish I had an awesome room like that