Flying and Landing somewhere she's not supposed to

[missey0000]

I have a almost 2 year old Princess Parrot who is has full flight and has recently decided she wants to constantly fly to and land on my couch where I don't want her to land. Any advice on how to get her to stop landing there?

[Pajarita]

Welcome to the forum, Missey! Unfortunately, parrots are not like dogs, you can't really tell them where to go or where to land. You can tell a dog to go lay down on a specific place but not a bird. They are trainable but only up to a certain point because they do not understand the concept of subservience or obedience and, when it comes to going and staying somewhere specific, the fact that they don't have 'dens' or 'homes', makes it very difficult. We like to use the euphemism that their cage is their 'home' but, in reality, the only birds that prefer a cage are the ones that are traumatized. The healthy and well-adjusted ones go all over the place. Now, you can train a bird to fly from point A to point B but that implies a specific command and a reward once it does it correctly. And it doesn't mean the bird will go to that place and that place alone every single time. It will do it ONLY when it's performing that particular trick and at no other time. At two years of age, your parrot is now becoming sexually mature and more self-assured which means an adjustment on your part. Dealing with a baby or a juvenile is easy but dealing with an adult with a mind of its own is a bit more difficult.

Unfortunately for us, bird keepers, living with a parrot means you WILL have chewed up furniture and poop and food all over the place. They are natural behaviors that cannot be out-trained and they are part and parcel of living with a parrot. I have a lot of birds and they are out many hours a day so I know well the problem that causes to a human habitation. Personally, the only solution I've found is to cover everything I do not want damaged. My sofas and tables are all covered and the edge of my windows sills and molding have protective edges installed. I use old quilts for the sofas and old sheets (with plastic under them so the poop doesn't 'go through') for all the tables. I change them as they get dirty (usually, every other day or every two days) and, when people come over, I simply remove them and everything is nice and clean and in one piece. Try it. It's a relatively inexpensive solution and easy on both the human AND the birds.