CAG - New to this site

[Mzd1959]

Hi - Doc our CAG - is has begun a new behavior. Doc is 15 years old - we got him when he was 3. For the first time ever he is going to the bottom of his cage and shredding every sheet of paper to pieces - we can't get them in there fast enough. He was never one to be at the bottom of his cage. Is this just a nesting thing and perhaps he's a she?

Doc isn't flighted and when we work and are away from home (about 11-12 hrs a day) he and our other birds are in their cages.

Are there other CAG owners on this site?

Great Site btw!!

[liz]

It could be bordom.

Rambo turns card board boses into mulch even when it isn't nesting season.
Rambo is 21 and has never mated. He was never DNA tested so we call him Rainbow when he is in season.

Tommy, one of my cockatiels gets under news paper and trys to crumble it. Then he starts shredding. I believe my tiels are nymphomaniacs. They mate all the time even though there is one season for eggs.

Why are your birds not flighted. Without flight they cannot exersize the way they were designed. Flight also burns energy. A newly flighted bird developes a better personality.
How much out of cage time does he get?

[Mzd1959]

Well hmmm, I say not flighted because he's never flown, we have not trimed winds in over a year. but in the past we consistently did it twice a year. he's never tried to fly even off his cage, he climbs down and up again. Just when he began going to the bottom and shredding he started climbing down on outside of cage and messing around until he can plop down on floor, then he just snuggles in a corner behind his cage. It seems our birds have alot less freedom then what I've read on this site. We both work alot and our birds just don't get a ton of out of the cage time. When we can we bring doc out and set him on a chair back - we chat and go about our chores here. we have one of those stands but it freaks him out and he crashes to floor if we push it.He loves to be on my shoulder but I can't have him on my shoulder all the time.

soooo. I'm sure we are flunking some standard somewhere.

[liz]

Rambo does not have flight feathers. He flies by jumping off things and flapping hard until he lands. I am helping him practice his flapping by lifting him up and down. I stand about 8 feet from the couch and let him flap. When he is ready he lets go and flapps to the couch.

Yesterday I was not home and my mother said he flew from the back of her recliner to the kitchen floor. He wants to fly so bad that he is willing to do controlled crashes.