Accidental Potty Training

[Whoviana]

We have been encouraging Sunflower to poop on one of her cages or perches instead of us (she can fly and always has access to her main cage, play cage, and play perches). In the process, she seems to have instead learned to poop on my husband. She has literally flown across the room, pooped on him, and then flown back to the original location. I am also a little concerned that she doesn't seem to want to poop on her cage. When she has cage time, sometimes she will not poop until she gets out. I don't want her to hold it the whole time she is in her cage. Any advice?

 

[Lesley Yeung]

Lol. No advice. But I can relate. Bird poops on my husband's knees and shoulders almost exclusively. He also prefers to poop on my spot on the couch if I am not there and in the kitchen. If he is feeling extra big and bad he will sneak onto my knee, poop, and run as fast as he can. But he does go out of his way 9/10× to poop on my husband.

 

[DoubleTake]

Birds tend to poop every 15-20 mins. So when it's about time I take my guys to an appropriate place for them to go. If they do t have to go... they well fake it, do a squat and shake their butt, yo let me k ow they tried. They will still occasionally poop on me but it is my fault for forgetting to take them to their spot. The baby will lean her butt as far as possible from my shoulder or hand so she misses me... she's the best! Lol

 

[Whoviana]

We actually tried taking her to her cage every 20 or so minutes to poop. She would fly back to my husband and poop. He is tired of it, but I think it's hilarious.

 

[Lesley Yeung]

Bird sometimes toots, trying to poop on Mikey. Bird makes zero attempt to not poop on Mikey. He does the exact opposite.

 

[JLcribber]

Stop drawing any attention to the event (reward) and ignore it. When she flies to your husband to do it, either don't let him land or shoo him away immediately before he can do it.

 

[Laurie]

We actually tried taking her to her cage every 20 or so minutes to poop. She would fly back to my husband and poop. He is tired of it, but I think it's hilarious.

If you are making a show of how hilarious it is then that is probably why he does it. You could have your husband take the bird immediately to the spot you want him to go. If he can make it there before the bird does his business.

The cage ins't the best spot to pick. Birds do not like to poop where they sleep. For some birds this means they will hold it (which should not be encouraged) or will pick specific areas in the cage to poop. This could be part of why he won't go there.

When I have fledglings they always like to go as soon as I let them out of the cage, I usually try and put them on the same perch when they get out and they will go there, pretty soon they learn the routine. This is especially useful first thing in the morning after they have been holding it all night. If they go somewhere else I just ignore the event and clean it up.

 

[Whoviana]

I don't make a big deal when she poops, but my husband does. I told him he should stop reacting when she poops on him. It's a work in progress.

 

[Donna turner]

Lol about pooping on husbands. Cheeky always comes off my head or shoulder to let me know she's gonna poop, but she runs straight up to my husbands shoulder to poop. In her defense she tries to hang over the edge but mostly hits the shirt

 

[BrianB]

I started early with my GCC. When his cage was in the main living area I would take him out and immediately hold him over the sink drain, then tell him to go potty. He learned it pretty quick, but I figured out in the morning he didn't hold it very long and if I didn't get to the sink right away, I would have to clean something up. I praise the action and ignore the accidents. Now that he's in the office with me, when I take him out, I hold him over the base of his play stand and do the same thing. It's usually successful. Even with that, if he's on my shoulder, he still gets me once in a while. I only do it in the morning, and some mornings I'll wait until I see him go before I take him out. I don't want him to be dependent on my command to go to the bathroom. Always a work in progress.

 

[cassiesdad]

Birds tend to poop every 15-20 mins. So when it's about time I take my guys to an appropriate place for them to go. If they do t have to go... they well fake it, do a squat and shake their butt, yo let me k ow they tried. They will still occasionally poop on me but it is my fault for forgetting to take them to their spot. The baby will lean her butt as far as possible from my shoulder or hand so she misses me... she's the best! Lol

This is exactly the procedure we had with Cassie, and have with Milton and Buddy. I can't remember that last time Milty pooped anywhere else but on the papers...well, there was that one time he was unhappy that I made him return to his cage so I could fold the clean laundry. He looked at me, walked to the side of the cage where there weren't any papers...and pooped. He then looked straight at me, to see my reaction. I said "That's nice"...and nothing else.
He then went back to the same side...and pooped again! He thought that was funny, because he then began laughing hysterically...

 

[Rolanda]

I think Milton was an Ornery Old Man in a former life! But we LOVE every minute!

 

[Lesley Yeung]

I am notoriously finicky. My hands are always dry from washing, for example. My clothing lasts me until it is way out of style because I am so careful with it.

I lose it when I get pooped on.

My husband could not care less. He will leave the house with multiple poops on his shoulders and legs. When I point out the number of poops on him, he says, "its ok., just bird poo, good luck".

Bird knows how I feel and is mindful of this fact. Mostly he lets me know he is going to poop so I can put him somewhere poop-on-able. But if he is in a bratty mood he goes out of his way to poop on me without me knowing until he is running away.

I also can't leave anything lying around, because Bird will poop on it, or destroy it if possible.