Out of cage time- what do they do?

[Taprock]

We are trying to increase Buzzy's time out of the cage. We started with time on the cage. Then he learned to get down so we had floor time. Now he has taken to luring in the dogs to bite and nipping at feet so that has to end. Do you allow floor time, on a stand, a play area or just sitting with you?

When we first got him he would only come out of the cage on his own or if my son got him out. He will now come to the cage door and step up for me...while telling me he is a "good boy". I've been trying to take him throughout the house with me but after about 10 minutes he starts acting nervous - chewing his claws. Are they normally content to watch for a while or is that dependent on the individual bird?

 

[MikeyTN]

I either have them sit with me or playstand cause the macaws would terrorize the dogs by biting their paws when they get down from their cage. The smaller birds doesn't want to play on the stand as they prefer to perch on me instead.

I personally think it depends from bird to bird on your second question. Lola the macaw gets very nervous like yours and start biting her foot as well. But the other ones are fine.

 

[Peppo]

Paco is either on my lap or on his playstand. I also have a large basket with a thick handle filled with foot toys that we go around the house with. It's easy because you can put it down on the bed, table, chairs etc. this way, he has something other than me when we go in the kitchen to make tea or look through mail, fold laundry or go upstairs to get dressed, etc. when he sees me coming with the basket, he considers it his taxi and hops right on it. He usually sits on the rim or the top of the handle. I have a rather large house so it is so much easier than carting him around on my arm. It's portable, he can climb all over it and has toys in it. I also line the bottom with newspaper to keep it clean.

 

[plumsmum2005]

We are trying to increase Buzzy's time out of the cage. We started with time on the cage. Then he learned to get down so we had floor time. Now he has taken to luring in the dogs to bite and nipping at feet so that has to end. Do you allow floor time, on a stand, a play area or just sitting with you?

When we first got him he would only come out of the cage on his own or if my son got him out. He will now come to the cage door and step up for me...while telling me he is a "good boy". I've been trying to take him throughout the house with me but after about 10 minutes he starts acting nervous - chewing his claws. Are they normally content to watch for a while or is that dependent on the individual bird?

Mine has been the same in this situation & is very nervous if a room he knows changes. I take mine round the house regularly & he is getting bolder. I talk to him all the way round, "good boy" is useful and reassuring, we don't spend very long in each room. They get more confident each time. Takes a while to work out what they like. I loved the basket idea mentioned above - brill. Hide n seek treats may work in time.

 

[Anansi]

Maya and Jolly are usually either on me, on one of the training stands, or on their playstands.

I actually discourage time on the floor for them. I know this works out well for some. Tab and her macaw, Fargo, spring immediately to mind, as she has taught him to roll over and even somersault. (I love it!) But unfortunately, Maya's nesting drive kicks in the instant her feet touch the ground... and I'm the only one who would be able to extract her from under a couch with my digits intact. So to avoid those issues, they understand that the floor is off-limits.

As for what they do, I've attached toys to their playstands that they actively whittle down to nothing. And when they're on me, and not training, they are constantly just climbing all over me like their own personal Everest. Hahaha!

As for nervousness with changes and moving to different rooms, I actively worked on gradually acclimating them to shifts in their environment. I was so proud of their progress when I put up the Christmas tree 2 weeks ago. I could see how far they'd come when they only reacted with curiosity as the tree grew larger and larger... and eventually brighter and brighter. (Our tree is over 9 feet tall, so I wouldn't have blamed them if they'd freaked out.)

But this kind of acclimation definitely takes time. I'd just be patient and measure his progress in baby steps.

 

[Weezerj]

I consider myself very lucky. Loki has out of cage time 100% of the time. He hangs out on his ropes or boings and plays with his toys. No climbing down to the floor and no flying off his area.

I'd like to tell you I trained him to do this, but I can't. He was just this way since I got him. I don't know enough of his history (he was ~ 2 yrs old when I got him) to know if he was trained to stay put or he just is that way.

I know this, its nice. For the first few weeks I had a remote camera on him that I could view anytime to check and make sure no mischief.

None.....so no he gets to stay our of his cage while I am at work. No mischief. I think someone forgot to tell him he is a macaw!

(Sorry that this post doesn't help you in any way, I just jump at the chance to talk about my Loki any time I can)

 

[dhraiden]

Mochi's OOC time is largely preening, scritch-scritching time - affection/bonding with me and gf, for an hour or two before bed.

I have the luxury of having her nearby at work, but usually elect to leave her in largely. She comes out to have wet foods on top of her cage, and to sit on my shoulder for a spell throughout the day, but never for too long.

 

[Scott]

Some of my birds are always out of their cage and never confined, others are rotated in and out in groups due to behavioral issues with each other. Once out, they are free for hours at a time and/or at night.

All are flighted, so they spend most of their time on a playstand or on top of various cages, alternating from one to another depending on mood. Sometimes as many as 4 hang out on the same cage. They have very minimal cage-territoriality, so they hop from one to another to graze from the interior food dishes.

If it were not for one G2 being picked-on or attacking his siblings/mother, all 6 in the bedroom aviary would be out 24/7/365.

They spend little time on the floor, mostly to pick up a nut or piece of millet that fell.

 

[Birdman666]

Which bird?

Sally pretty much lives out on her play table. She only goes back to her cage to eat and poop.

Lila and Tusk play musical cages, musical playstands, and like to waddle around on the floor in the bird room. They're very active.

Kiwi is either on her playstand, or waddles over to the coffee table playstand, or wants to be held. She's all play...

Sweepea is the queen of the big playstand. 80% of the time she's in one of her spots on the big playstand.

These days, Maggie waddles down and seeks out a lap... or her chew towel, or both. Preferably both.

 

[Lullx]

My birds all spend their out of cage time a bit differently. I have a 10 month old CAG who enjoys hanging out on top of her cage and inside of it (she's allowed to come and go as she pleases when I'm home). I take her room to room with me on my arm (small apartment here) and sometimes she will sit nicely on my lap, or perch on my lower arm while I type/write/play a game. She just loves to be with me, so just about anywhere I go, she's happy now.
I built her a simple but large PVC training stand, which is light and easy to move from room to room. It's 4ft tall so she's at a comfortable level for training when I'm standing up in front of her, and when I'm sitting somewhere else in the room, she feels comfortable enough to just sit on her stand and play with the toys I attach to it.
Before I built the stand and was able to acclimate her to it, she was petrified of going to any room other than where her cage is. But since this stand is now very familiar, I have been able to bring her to more rooms for long periods of time, and I bring her back to her cage when she starts getting fussy (usually meaning she's hungry or thirsty; she won't eat or drink in another room just yet). She will take almonds no matter what though haha. Those were also pretty helpful in getting her to be okay with being in a new place.

I'm going to be buying her a really nice playstand/activity center soon for my office room, so we can hopefully spend more time in here. We're actually in that room right now! She's sitting on her training stand about 3ft away from me, happily making noise and playing with her toys.

It's been all about baby steps for me with my grey, as she is somewhat neurotic and very young. Hasn't quite found all of her courage yet, but she's starting to! I believe that with enough patience, understanding and consistency, you can get a bird to do just about anything you want them to. It's all about speaking their language and figuring out what steps need to be taken.

I also want to add that I LOVE the toy basket idea from Peppo! I'll have to look for a nice big basket for Nephele now. She loves foot toys, and always has a bowl full of them inside of her cage.

 

[Birdman666]

Before I built the stand and was able to acclimate her to it, she was petrified of going to any room other than where her cage is. But since this stand is now very familiar, I have been able to bring her to more rooms for long periods of time, and I bring her back to her cage when she starts getting fussy (usually meaning she's hungry or thirsty; she won't eat or drink in another room just yet). She will take almonds no matter what though haha. Those were also pretty helpful in getting her to be okay with being in a new place.

It's been all about baby steps for me with my grey, as she is somewhat neurotic and very young. Hasn't quite found all of her courage yet, but she's starting to! I believe that with enough patience, understanding and consistency, you can get a bird to do just about anything you want them to. It's all about speaking their language and figuring out what steps need to be taken.

CAGS tend to be cautious, and more skiitish than other birds by nature.

And young CAGS, especially ones that were clipped before they really fledged properly, tend to be clumsy, and have confidence issues. It can take awhile for their coordination to develop. (As compared to say Amazons and Macaws for example, just seem to have been born goofy and outgoing... and it doesn't seem to phase them in the slightest...)

 

[Lullx]

CAGS tend to be cautious, and more skiitish than other birds by nature.

And young CAGS, especially ones that were clipped before they really fledged properly, tend to be clumsy, and have confidence issues. It can take awhile for their coordination to develop. (As compared to say Amazons and Macaws for example, just seem to have been born goofy and outgoing... and it doesn't seem to phase them in the slightest...)

I knew this before I got her, so I spent a lot of time trying to brainstorm ways to introduce things to her in a not-so-scary fashion! She was clipped by the aviary after she fledged, but I don't think they gave her enough time, as she was extremely clumsy and still lacks confidence. However, she's been greatly improving on both fronts!

Looots of patience and respecting her boundaries. But now I'm also able to distinguish between genuine fear and just hesitation or skittishness. I gently push her through those hesitant or nervous moments and she's been very good about getting over it and realizing that X isn't scary or bad. It feels like she's making progress in leaps and bounds and is trusting me more and more as days go by.

I don't recall Taprock mentioning how old Buzz is, or how long they've had him. I've had Nilly for 6 months, since she was 4 months old, so I'm seeing her grow up. I feel like the more I get to know her as an individual, the more I'm able to alter my "attack plan" to get positive results. We're starting to really speak the same language, which feels like it makes a world of difference.

 

[Birdman666]

Funny thing.

With a bird like a Macaw you have to kind of reign in their behaviors, and gradually allow the boundaries to expand as they start to behave properly...

With CAGS you have to get them to open up and allow stuff... CAGS get held on their own terms.

As far as clumsy goes? Yeah.

Mine's around 12-ish now. Flew into the second story of a house the other day. Like Tusk - dude- could you not see that there was a two story building directly in your flight path?! Is that why you flew directly into it?!

He quite literally bounced off the second story, I ran over there and caught him in my arms, to prevent an equally clumsy crash landing on the ground.

He has also been known to get so wound up playing with his toys while hanging upside down like a bat, that he occasionally just forgets to hold on, and drops himself on his head! OR BONKS HIMSELF ON THE HEAD WITH A WOOD BLOCK, AND KNOCKS HIMSELF SILLY....

GETS UP, LIKE, OH, YOU SAW THAT?! YEAH, I MEANT TO DO THAT...

 

[Taprock]

Buzz is 18, we've only had him a month. Initially we let him initiate the out of cage time and he would hang out on top or come down to the floor and investigate. But now we can't do that with his guarding of the chair and foot/dog attack deal. He also hates my husband and will seek him out for an attack. It sounds like we need a good play stand and training.

Our guy is very clumsy. Hubby says he hits the ground like a potatoe. He was fully flighted until about two months ago. He doesn't have a great wing clip and still gets around fairly well.

 

[drveunutz]

Funny thing.

He has also been known to get so wound up playing with his toys while hanging upside down like a bat, that he occasionally just forgets to hold on, and drops himself on his head! OR BONKS HIMSELF ON THE HEAD WITH A WOOD BLOCK, AND KNOCKS HIMSELF SILLY....

GETS UP, LIKE, OH, YOU SAW THAT?! YEAH, I MEANT TO DO THAT...

my new baby macaw is doing that hanging upside down i got fearful he would fall he is n a seperate cage right now because he is only a baby and his talons are not big enough to grasp the bigger perches.

 

[flyingron]

Every morning we bring Bacca up to the stand in the kitchen/dining room where she gets an apple slice and a little fragment of my toast (she will do anything for toast for some reason). She hangs out there until she gets board then she'll climb down run across the floor and then climb up my pants leg and hang out on me for a while.