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Crazy in the morning

Simourg

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Fira
I know that parrots wake up with the sunrise and are usually very active in the morning. But I was wondering to what extent the behaviour is viewed as 'normal' and isn't destructive, aggressive or neurotic?

Early in the morning, when the skies are still dark, my CAG Jo-Jo starts climbing all around his cage non-stop. He also bounces up and down, puts his wings away from his body and makes a short "wee" sound. If there are any branches or wooden perches, he then moves to destroying the branch that he sits on and eventually falls down because he breaks it. I've already run out of branches for him once and he started chewing on the bars of the cage and scraping of the iron powdering cover off. I know he wants to be let out of the cage, but I don't want to reinforce this behaviour so I'm waiting until he calms down a bit and then I let him out. I suppose maybe that could be a learned behaviour with his previous owners, because he started doing that from the very first day at our house.

Another problem is that he doesn't care about his breakfast in the morning. He doesn't react to food at all. He also doesn't concentrate on training even though he is supposed to be hungry and want the treats. It is also really hard to provide him with so many branches, because he shreds them so aggresively in the morning.

I don't know if it is normal behaviour or a destructive behaviour? Could I improve it a little bit and how? I am an early bird myself and I'm fine waking up early and soing some routines, but this behaviour just confuses and upsets me so much, sometimes I feel that it almost drives me crazy because it seems unstoppable. :(

I also forgot to mention that he can keep performing this behaviour non-stop for three hours.
 
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sunnysmom

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Tiel Feathers

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Wow, sounds intense! What time does he go to bed at night? Is his cage still very, very dark when he wakes up? How big is his cage? How long have you had him, and has he been to the vet for a check up? How much ch out of cage time does he get? I'm not sure what could be going on, but more info might be needed to figure it out.
 

BirdGuy21

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Do you have a consistent bedtime-morning routine? Where is his cage located, in a shared space or in a private, quiet area?
 

Simourg

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Wow, sounds intense! What time does he go to bed at night? Is his cage still very, very dark when he wakes up? How big is his cage? How long have you had him, and has he been to the vet for a check up? How much ch out of cage time does he get? I'm not sure what could be going on, but more info might be needed to figure it out.
Do you have a consistent bedtime-morning routine? Where is his cage located, in a shared space or in a private, quiet area?
His cage is located in my bedroom, in the corner. Unfortunately that was the best possible option to place the cage, but NOT the best for a parrot cage. I couldn't avoid anyhow putting the cage with one side facing a covered window, because half of my room's walls are, in fact, windows. But this window never gets uncovered, but the curtains don't have 100% protection from light. Also we have a little bit busy street so you can hear cars passing and also there is a lot of light on the street in the evening, and our street shines till 1-2 pm, so I am pretty concerned it could be disturbing to Jo-Jo. I will get a curtain on that window that would shield him from any flashes of bypassing cars in and the streetlight as soon as I am able to. But throughout the day my room is really silent. Lately I spend more than half of the day in it, but I don't make much noise except when I'm cleaning the room, so when Jo-Jo wants to take a nap he always can do it without any problem.
Also, I stay awake till midnight sometimes (but most of the time I am in bed by 10-11 pm), but I turn down any disturbing or direct source of light when I see that he wants to go to sleep, leaving only mild LED light over my bed. When I move out of my parent's apartment, I think I will consider putting his cage in the living room, but of course NOT in my bedroom.
I can't cover the cage first of all because he is very scared of it. Secondly, I have no idea how to cover such a big cage that additionally has a perch and an antenna (for toys) attached to its top.
His cage is the biggest I could find in my city, it's 37"x32"x61".
Tomorrow will be exactly one month since I have him. No I didn't take him to a vet yet, because he is a rehomed CAG and generally was very stressed moving into our apartment and I won't be able for now to put him into a crate or a smaller cage to take him there. But I took his poop to check in the lab, and it said he's okay, thankfully no parasites or anything suspicious.
He is out of his cage from 9-10 am till 5-6 pm. He mostly just sits on the perch on the top of his cage, but recently he started vocalizing more and has become more curious to the things around him.
 

BirdGuy21

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He could be bothered by the noise and activity at night. I would try to slowly work on at least partially covering his cage to provide a dark corner for him to go to, since you are active in the room past his bedtime. Odds are if he sees you up or a light on he isn't asleep. I have a similar size cage for my Grey, I use a queen size sheet to cover him up at night.
 

Shyra

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If he is chewing the same place every morning maybe you could hang wooden toys beside his perch in that area so that he could chew on them verses the perch. Even a toy made from cardboard or something might be a good alternative to keep him from chewing on his perch. My Timneh is awake all hours of the night (we're not awake but she is) and I've found that keeping shredding toys and/or preening toys near her sleeping spot helps keep her quiet and gives her something to do until she goes back to sleep. Not the same as what your grey is doing but maybe having a toy that he can take his destructiveness out on would help the situation.
 

JLcribber

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I know he wants to be let out of the cage, but I don't want to reinforce this behaviour so I'm waiting until he calms down a bit and then I let him out. I suppose maybe that could be a learned behaviour with his previous owners, because he started doing that from the very first day at our house.
Reinforce what? That is the behaviour of a bird that wants out of the cage. Let him out and the behaviour will disappear. The cage is always the biggest source of anxiety and stress. The best thing you can do for your bird is to eliminate that cage as much as possible. A cage is just a box specially when measured in inches.

Eventually you will come to realize that your bird is going to need an environment. Not just a cage or stand.

It is also really hard to provide him with so many branches, because he shreds them so aggresively in the morning.
You’re going to have to put in a little more effort getting branches and Chewable things for your bird or you’ll end up with more problems.
 

Simourg

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If he is chewing the same place every morning maybe you could hang wooden toys beside his perch in that area so that he could chew on them verses the perch. Even a toy made from cardboard or something might be a good alternative to keep him from chewing on his perch. My Timneh is awake all hours of the night (we're not awake but she is) and I've found that keeping shredding toys and/or preening toys near her sleeping spot helps keep her quiet and gives her something to do until she goes back to sleep. Not the same as what your grey is doing but maybe having a toy that he can take his destructiveness out on would help the situation.
I tried this one, I made my own toys for him with hemp rope, carboard rolls and cardboard egg holder, but he doesn’t care about them, or chews a bit on them in the evening, but in the morning he keeps chewing only on his perches and branches. Branches DO keep him quiet in the morning for a while, but it’s just impossible for me to provide him with so many branches every day...
I think I also could have reinforced him with attention. Every time he fell in his cage along with the perch or branch he destroyed (because he sits on them while shredding the parts that help to fix the branch on the cage bars), I would get up and run to the cage to see if he’s okay. Now I ignore this and just try to make it impossible for him to sit on the branches, but it doesn’t always work. Tomorrow I will finally get breech perches for him and I won’t need to use branches as perches anymore. I hope he doesn’t destroy these perches too, though.
He could be bothered by the noise and activity at night. I would try to slowly work on at least partially covering his cage to provide a dark corner for him to go to, since you are active in the room past his bedtime. Odds are if he sees you up or a light on he isn't asleep. I have a similar size cage for my Grey, I use a queen size sheet to cover him up at night.
Thank you for your advice! I think I will do that, too.
But I’m sure that it is still a different kind of problem. It’s more like he just wants to be let out of his cage so badly that he throws a tantrum every morning. When he’s finally out of his cage and on the top, he usually starts to flap his wings and exercises like that. After being let out, he keeps being very agitated/excited for an hour/hour and half. Then, when this obsessive behaviour fades away, he eventually goes down into his cage to eat (I take the cage rooftop off so he can climb up and down into the cage easily). I think the weirdest part of this behaviour is that it is so obsessive that he ignores food, not to mention that he refuses to communicate with me anyhow.
 

Simourg

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Reinforce what? That is the behaviour of a bird that wants out of the cage. Let him out and the behaviour will disappear. The cage is always the biggest source of anxiety and stress. The best thing you can do for your bird is to eliminate that cage as much as possible. A cage is just a box specially when measured in inches.

Eventually you will come to realize that your bird is going to need an environment. Not just a cage or stand.
I understand that he wants to be let out of his cage, and I do it everyday except for one day a week when I need to be away for most of the time and there isn’t anyone to look after him. I didn’t say that I want to lock him up in his cage. I just want to redirect this behaviour, make it milder, more controllable, maybe reinforce a different behaviour, that would be more favorable for both of us. I know I need to be patient and maybe it will change when he becomes more trusting of me. I want him to know that he will be let out of his cage regardless of whether he throws a tantrum or not.

I think an enriching environment for a parrot doesn’t build up in the blink of an eye. In my country I don’t have access to most of the goods and supplies for parrots. It takes time to come up with alternatives and adjust.
 

Shyra

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I went back and reread your original post. Not sure how long you have had him but it could be he is just so set in his ways from the routine his previous owner set that he's having a hard time adjusting to a new one. He could also be missing his old owner which is why mornings are so upsetting for both you and him. If you are still in contact with the previous owner you might ask about what their routine was. When we rehomed our too it took over 6 months for Gizmo to stop wanting his old owner and acting like we were the bad guys. Our birds now are so used to their routine that when it gets thrown off they react negatively to everything else. I agree with you about the environments taking time also my birds view their cages as safe havens and not as a box. Even with their doors open they will spend half the day in their cage because they like being in there or it makes them feel safe when scary things are about like when a ladder to change the lightbulb is in the room or some other nonsense. :) It does sound like you are doing well with your grey and it's just going to take more time for him to get used to everything.
 

Laurul Feather Cat

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You can clip sheets along the sides of his cage to eliminate the view out of the cage and into the street where the windows are. I note you are not located in the USA, but if you can get your hands on those monsterly large paper clips, they can hold the sheets up by clipping them to the top of the bar edges and do not necessarily have to be draped over the cage entirely to work properly.

 

Simourg

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Fira
I went back and reread your original post. Not sure how long you have had him but it could be he is just so set in his ways from the routine his previous owner set that he's having a hard time adjusting to a new one. He could also be missing his old owner which is why mornings are so upsetting for both you and him. If you are still in contact with the previous owner you might ask about what their routine was. When we rehomed our too it took over 6 months for Gizmo to stop wanting his old owner and acting like we were the bad guys. Our birds now are so used to their routine that when it gets thrown off they react negatively to everything else. I agree with you about the environments taking time also my birds view their cages as safe havens and not as a box. Even with their doors open they will spend half the day in their cage because they like being in there or it makes them feel safe when scary things are about like when a ladder to change the lightbulb is in the room or some other nonsense. :) It does sound like you are doing well with your grey and it's just going to take more time for him to get used to everything.
Thank you so much for your kind words and support, it means world for me!
I was told that Jo-Jo is 2 years old and his previous owner had him for 2 months only. But he still seems to have bonded with her in this short time. His owner (a young woman) had a more low-pitched voice, and I can see that now he feels more secure when my mom talks to him, because she also has a bit lower and deeper voice, whereas my voice is a bit higher-pitched.
Also I know that they would just let him go out of his cage and return back on his own whenever he wanted, and I think that played a great role in shaping the behaviour I see now.
I hope I will be able to figure it out and offer him a better alternative behaviour with time.
And I also try to make his cage a safe and nice place for him, so he wouldn’t get very stressed if I sometimes can’t let him out for a full day as usual.
You can clip sheets along the sides of his cage to eliminate the view out of the cage and into the street where the windows are. I note you are not located in the USA, but if you can get your hands on those monsterly large paper clips, they can hold the sheets up by clipping them to the top of the bar edges and do not necessarily have to be draped over the cage entirely to work properly.

Wow, that is a great piece of advice! I think I could find these, so I will definitely try it!
Thankfully he doesn’t see the street, all windows are fully covered in the evening, but lights are sometimes flashing through the curtains and it can be a little bit disturbing.
 
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BirdGuy21

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Honestly a busy beak is a good thing. I would love for my Grey to be interested in wooden toys and perches to chew. Try hanging pieces of wood in different spots throughout the cage. You don't want to discourage him playing with toys or wood.
 

Simourg

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Honestly a busy beak is a good thing. I would love for my Grey to be interested in wooden toys and perches to chew. Try hanging pieces of wood in different spots throughout the cage. You don't want to discourage him playing with toys or wood.
I've read that live branches from safe trees are also rich with microelements that are very good for their health, so I am very grateful that Jo-Jo likes to chew on branches and that can keep him reeeally busy. I'm just afraid that I won't be able to keep up with this little Shredder, because trees in our countryhouse garden don't grow branches as fast as Jo-Jo shreds them. :) I will also look for pieces of wood for DIY toys, maybe I can find it!
 

Rivka

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Seems like he’s like that from the original owner. Also I really wouldn’t say you’re doing anything wrong in fact you’re doing great so keep up and you’ll have a amazing bird:)
 
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