What to do?

[Mamanda]

Hello -
Being that Keen isn't yet stepping up or allowing me to hold/touch him, I'm wondering what would be the best way of getting him out of his cage so I can give the cage a good cleaning. Tomorrow will be one week since we've had him.
Also - the DNA kit should be here any day now, any suggestions on pulling feathers since he won't let me touch him?
Should I just reach in & grab him? I don't want to tick him off. We've been working on training and getting him to trust me. (Yes, I am paranoid - sorry).
Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Nakiska]

Hello,

If I were you, and you need to get him out of his cage, I would offer my hand for him first and if he runs off then I would take a small hand towel to grab him out with, that way if he bites he'll bite the towel, not you.

Once you get him out, I'd definitely hold him for a bit in the towel and talk to him.

Do you plan on putting him in a box or carrier while you clean the cage?

Are his wings clipped or is he a good flier? If his wings are clipped, once you get him out of the cage, you can try and get him to perch on your finger/hand for a while and while you are cleaning his cage perhaps he can walk around on your bed or couch and watch you clean his cage.

As long as his time out of his cage is a "good" experience, he'll get more and more relaxed about coming out.

If he's a good flier and he's not hand tame, then I'd advise against letting him go free in the house while you clean the cage...he could be a real bugger to catch again

Good Luck,

Toni

 

[MikeyTN]

Most like to go with that approach, but the way I train mine is to get them out the cage every single day. I do it several times a day! The birds that wasn't trained, now is trained. There's a lot of different methods people use, go with something your comfortable with!

 

[Mamanda]

Most like to go with that approach, but the way I train mine is to get them out the cage every single day. I do it several times a day! The birds that wasn't trained, now is trained. There's a lot of different methods people use, go with something your comfortable with!

I absolutely plan to have Keen out every day, but since he isn't a willing participant in that yet, I'm not sure what to do about getting him out to clean his cage. What did you do until you bird was trained?

 

[Nakiska]

Most like to go with that approach, but the way I train mine is to get them out the cage every single day. I do it several times a day! The birds that wasn't trained, now is trained. There's a lot of different methods people use, go with something your comfortable with!

I agree

I am a bit more "forceful" when taming our birds. I've hand tamed 4 of them in the last 8 months and I use the toweling method to initially get them out of their cage, then once out, I spend lots of time with them, offer treats, let them walk about and explore get them stepping up on my hand/arm.

So far, my experience has been that they are wonderful once OUT of the cage and after the first couple times of toweling them out, I always always offer my hand first, then if he/she takes off, then I quickly towel, no big deal and go about our "fun time"

Usually about a week or so, all our birds, even the feral pigeon, happily hop up to come out. After they're hand tame, I also just leave the cage door open and let my birds come out as they please.

Toni

 

[andrea.faerie]

I know it may be frowned upon but...
whenever i stick my hand in the cage Bleu tries to eat me... So I use one of my naturally treated leather riding gloves to get him out. As soon as I put my hand in the cage with the glove on he steps right up. Granted he's 5 years old so there's probably some underlying problems there from his previous owner, but I find that a fitted glove like that helps. I don't want Bleu to be afraid of towels since that's what I put on the floor for them to play with while I clean the cage

Bribe him. Lol use food to get him out of the cage and then let him play on your bed with some of his toys or something familiar to him and clean his cage quickly

Best of luck to you!

 

[Bobioden]

Have you tried just opening the cage and see if Keen will come out on his/her own?

 

[Mamanda]

Have you tried just opening the cage and see if Keen will come out on his/her own?

No, I guess I was a little worried about catching him if he tried to take off. Tomorrow Keen is coming out of his cage, one way or another.

 

[Mamanda]

Are his wings clipped

I honestly don't know if they're clipped. I got him from PetCo last Saturday. I guess I assumed they were, because he doesn't have long flight feathers like my cockatiel did before he was clipped. Then it occurred to me that I don't know if Conures even have long flight feathers like an unclipped cockatiel. Can anyone advise me on that??

 

[Nakiska]

Yes, conures will have some longer flight feathers, relative to the size of his body, I think my Franklins flight feathers are a blue color, he's a yellow sided green cheek.

As for the toweling. None of our birds have a fear of towels, I only used a specific smaller towel to "towel" them with, and I use larger bath type towels for our birds to play and have "treat time" on. I guess I'm saying, in all 6 birds, none of them have a issue with towels or rags. It is all a personal preference, I'm just stating I've had no ill effects from toweling and now I never have to resort to it.

As a side note, we got our Franklin from Petco and he was clipped so I would guess your guy is too. However if you post a picture someone can easily tell if he is or isn't clipped.

No matter how you get him out of his cage tomorrow, just be sure you have fun with him and talk to him lots and lots. My favorite thing to do with our new birds is just to get them out of their cage and let them walk around on the bed or couch, where ever we are just hanging out watching TV or reading. It's amazing how fast they come around, especially when you try to "ignore" them.

Good luck,

Toni