Will getting a new cage help stop cage aggression?

[Chelsea304]

My new member of the family is positively awesome and loves to step up or get petted...if she is not in or on her cage, near her cage, or on anyone's shoulder anywhere in the house.

She is doing well with target training..but that does not help me get her to step up out of her cage. She will target in her cage anywhere for a treat..but will not target on my hand or outside of the cage.

She will step up out of her cage for a banana (but not any other treat/food)

Would getting a different cage help stop her cage aggression/territory based aggression? I know she thinks I'm invading her nest...but obviously she is fine without the cage in the room so I know she is great at stepping up, etc otherwise and is friendly in other settings.


I was also thinking of buying her a sleeping cage to move her back and forth between and have ordered a stand for her.

Anyway! Thanks in advance to whomever is able to reply! I sincerely appreciate all of the advice and wisdom of more experienced parronts on these forms!

* I should also note that she will strike at you or strike at the cage if your hand goes near her in the cage. I'm trying to put my hand near her (out of striking range) and when she calms down...rewarding her calm demeanor near my hand. It has helped a little bit. She does allow me to change her water or food as long ad she is not in that area of her cage at the time.

 

[Flboy]

Welcome to you, new cage stop aggression? Nope! Do some searches on MonicaMC for help here. Reality, long term behavior modification may, big may, help! Another way to look at it, your baby has a strong feeling of her home, you have to wait for her to allow you in! I know I am not wording this correctly, wine!, but like any other worth while relationship, if you want long term, slow is the way!
Sleep cage? For Bongo, fantastic , for JoJo, no way!

 

[Chelsea304]

Awesome! I figured that it wouldn't help too much...she adores her cage. She has had it since she hatched in 1999...so she is very much attached to her home.

I will search MonciaMC for help! Otherwise I will continue to goad her out with bananas! She loves when she is out...but getting her out is difficult! lol

Thank you!

 

[Flboy]

To give you encouragement, the wife's Bongo is her superglue buddie, but even she can not reach into his cage. Up to a few months ago, if anyone walked by his cage, he would lunge at them, biting the bars! Major attitude adjustment on my part, stop seeing it as aggression that had to be 'broken', but more of a creature that wanted respect and protect his space. It took only a few weeks, but now anyone can walk up to his cage and give him a treat and he nicely takes it! Yes, fingers in his cage are still his property, but once out, even sitting on the door, he is good!

 

[MikeyTN]

I once had a Quaker that was very cage aggressive but once out he is fine. Our female eclectus have issue of me cleaning her cage and she'll come over to attack. I'll put her on the stand, she jumps off and walk towards the cage to crawl up to attack. Their cage is their domain like it was mentioned already. So I just let them be. I deal with them when they come out to be on the stand and I move cage outside to clean so they don't see them...lol

 

[Birdman666]

I doubt changing the cage will stop cage aggression.

"THAT'S MINE!" is the dynamic.

"I DON'T WANNA!" is the other dynamic.

Cage aggressive birds tend to equate the cage with "my nest." Then they go into protect the nest modes, particularly when they become hormonal... (especially if they are male amazons, and female Eckies.)

With my CAG, it tends to be more a "don't mess with my stuff" kind of thing.

 

[Chelsea304]

Thank you! I can understand her feelings and she definitely doesn't like to be taken out. Haha On her door she's usually okay...and she likes stepping up for treats!

Thanks everyone! It makes me feel better to know it's not just my baby. Lol

 

[MonicaMc]

Are you still having cage aggression issues with Echo? Have you found anything that may help?


A new cage may or may not help.


Since she's great with clicker training inside the cage, have you considered station training (stay) with her? If you need to change her bowls, teach her to stay put on a perch away from her bowls and reward her.

Have you tried putting any perches on the door of her cage or the outside of the cage so you can practice target training on the outside of the cage?


Try to avoid the lunging behavior. You might need to move slower, talk to her before approaching or try changing your approach. The more she has time to practice an undesired behavior, the more it becomes ingrained. That means, avoid the undesired behaviors!

 

[Chelsea304]

She's still fairly cage aggressive but she has gotten better...when she is out of her cage. ..she's fine for the most part. She doesn't normally strike when I'm feeding her/putting food in her cage or changing her water. She's gotten better with that but sometimes she'll lunge and grab on. You may be right and I might be going to fast for her. Lately she has started trying to outsmart the target stick. (Craning her neck to reach the stick instead of actually moving etc)

I had a perch on her door when I first got her...I may try stationing with her. That's a good idea.

She drew blood yesterday (no real reaction from me which calmed her down a bit) sometimes she is great and other times she regresses. I'm going to try to avoid her lunging at all if I can. She is slowly switching from sets to pellets so that may be why she is cranky? I know I get hangry when I want some terrible food. Hahah

 

[Hawk]

ha...ha...ha....NOPE ! My birds all have 3 cages a piece. They can go to that cage and play or what not. But with my grey...he's Like " What? you don't knock first? "

Their cage is their safety net. Venture at your own risk. That term really applies with my Zon, and Senegal. Enter their cage and you have a death wish.
My Senni is Like ' What are you stealing now??, hey hey, I wasn't done with that food.
don't think about taking my dish. Oh you want to replace the water dish?
How fast are you??? ( I never win at that game)

 

[MonicaMc]

Lately she has started trying to outsmart the target stick. (Craning her neck to reach the stick instead of actually moving etc)
Better to reward for *any* movement towards the stick than not at all!

When doing any kind of training, you *want* to break it down into tiny steps! With target training, the first step would be looking at the target! Second step would be moving their head towards the target. Third step could be stretching for the target. Fourth step could either be touching the target (if you want the bird to physically touch the target - but a bird *does not* need to touch the target in order to be target trained) or taking a step towards the target.

If she regresses at any stage, that's ok! Work with what she's willing to give you before attempting to move on again! If she's only stretching her neck towards the target, then reward her for *that* behavior! Then build back up to moving again!


She is slowly switching from sets to pellets so that may be why she is cranky?
It's possible! I've heard some birds have become more aggressive while eating certain foods... such as sunflower seeds or caffeine (coffee.... big no no!). That doesn't mean that all birds will, but diet can potentially play a roll in behavior. I even recall a story of a croc that lived at a zoo and he was really friendly with his caretaker. Well, when they switched from feeding red meat to white meat (aka chicken) to their predators, the croc became unfriendly. He wasn't aggressive, he just avoided the caretaker. When red meat was reintroduced (not as his complete diet, but as part of his diet), he became friendly towards his caretaker again.

There could be other factors as well... such as maybe not getting enough sleep, or being too close to a window and instead of enjoying being by the window, what's going on by the window could be stressing her out... or maybe it could be other animals. One cockatoo (if I remember species right) became extremely stressed once the owner started feeding their dogs by his cage and this went on for a long time. When the owner was advised to feed the dogs elsewhere, the stress levels of the 'too went down.

I'm saying it could be anything, sometimes even things we may not think about but are clearly apparent to our birds.