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Help getting parrot out of its cage

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Help getting parrot out of its cage

Postby amidsbs » Mon May 14, 2018 2:30 pm

My girlfriend has a Quaker that’s very cage aggressive (he’ll attempt to bite even if you are some feet away from the cage or scream outraged for you to step back) and only allows her father and her brother to handle it.


I’m trying to encourage her to build her own relationship with the bird, and someday try to get it out of the cage herself, but she is really afraid of it, and any problem it might lead to. She thinks the bird could either bite her, become uncontrollable outside of the cage and hurt himself (like take off flying away from her), and she is afraid she won’t manage to get him back inside the cage. She also thinks she wouldn’t be able to open the cage because the bird will try to bite her.


Is there any way she could approach this that will end up well? Should she avoid trying or is there something she can do to get him out and away from the cage? Will the bird try to bite even if it’s away from the cage?


I saw a video where the owner takes the bird out of the cage using a perch that the bird bites first and then climbs onto, but what if the bird tries to bite her when it’s on the perch?

Is there anything else we should be aware of when and if we try, any possible problems?


If you could give me some recommendations I’ll appreciate them


:monk:
amidsbs
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Re: Help getting parrot out of its cage

Postby liz » Mon May 14, 2018 7:04 pm

Open the door then ignore the bird. He does not know where he is or who you are. Be visible to him as much as possible and talk but not to him. You can talk by saying Good Morning or hello but pretend that he is not unusual in the room. Parrot proof the room you have him in. He is more likely to come out when you are not in the room.
You can put some kind of treat like a foot away from the cage to encourage him to come out.

Don't worry about putting him back. When he is ready he will go back. When a parrot is in a dark room it won't fly so you can "scoop" under him with both hands and put him back to the doorway.

If it was a scared dog you would not push yourself into it's space but wait until it came to you.

Myrtle was a scared, dirty and skinny bird. She would shiver when I got too close. They had cut her wings but I let them grow. She would test them every once in a while to see if they worked yet. She would land on the floor. I could not touch her but she would climb my jeans up to my shoulder so I could walk back and let her step on her cage.

The cage should be at eye level in a corner or drape something on 2 sides of it. The bird will feel more secure. These birds are not wild. They are scared.
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liz
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Re: Help getting parrot out of its cage

Postby amidsbs » Mon May 14, 2018 9:07 pm

liz wrote:Open the door then ignore the bird. He does not know where he is or who you are. Be visible to him as much as possible and talk but not to him. You can talk by saying Good Morning or hello but pretend that he is not unusual in the room. Parrot proof the room you have him in. He is more likely to come out when you are not in the room.
You can put some kind of treat like a foot away from the cage to encourage him to come out.

Don't worry about putting him back. When he is ready he will go back. When a parrot is in a dark room it won't fly so you can "scoop" under him with both hands and put him back to the doorway.

If it was a scared dog you would not push yourself into it's space but wait until it came to you.

Myrtle was a scared, dirty and skinny bird. She would shiver when I got too close. They had cut her wings but I let them grow. She would test them every once in a while to see if they worked yet. She would land on the floor. I could not touch her but she would climb my jeans up to my shoulder so I could walk back and let her step on her cage.

The cage should be at eye level in a corner or drape something on 2 sides of it. The bird will feel more secure. These birds are not wild. They are scared.


Thanks for the help, will give that a try. Hopefully she can get it out without problem.
amidsbs
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Gender: This parrot forum member is male
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Re: Help getting parrot out of its cage

Postby Pajarita » Tue May 15, 2018 8:51 am

Quakers do tend to be a bit too more cage-aggressive than other birds because they are the only species of parrot that lives all year round in a nest but what you describe [the parrot getting 'mad' when you are a distance from the cage] is not 'normal' cage-aggression and, taking into consideration that most people don't know they need to keep their parrot at a solar schedule, I would say that the problem is not so much cage-aggression than that the bird is overly hormonal [do they keep it at a human light schedule and/or free-feed it seeds or pellets?].
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Re: Help getting parrot out of its cage

Postby amidsbs » Wed May 16, 2018 7:09 am

Pajarita wrote:Quakers do tend to be a bit too more cage-aggressive than other birds because they are the only species of parrot that lives all year round in a nest but what you describe [the parrot getting 'mad' when you are a distance from the cage] is not 'normal' cage-aggression and, taking into consideration that most people don't know they need to keep their parrot at a solar schedule, I would say that the problem is not so much cage-aggression than that the bird is overly hormonal [do they keep it at a human light schedule and/or free-feed it seeds or pellets?].


I had a feeling that was not normal, as many things with the bird. They are not well informed on how to keep it, and they are doing lots of things wrong. They keep it in the kitchen or living room at human light schedule, and they have placed three food plates in his cage which they never remove, two of them filled with seeds and another with rice and slices of carrot. I've already told my girlfriend they have to change the bird's diet, but her father won't listen to a single suggestion about how to keep the parrot, so it's kind of a dead end there.

Again, if you have any suggestion please send them my way and I'll do what I can to persuade them. You've been already very helpful so thank you
amidsbs
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Gender: This parrot forum member is male
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Re: Help getting parrot out of its cage

Postby Pajarita » Wed May 16, 2018 9:10 am

Every day cage aggression is normal in quakers but only with strangers and only when they stick their hands in it. When they are hormonal during breeding season, they do get a bit more aggressive than normal and do prevent people other than their chosen one [even the ones that they do know] because this is what they do in the wild, even with other birds, when they have a nest.

I really do not know how we can help this poor bird... I mean, if the owner is not willing to even listen, what can we possibly do?
Pajarita
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