Linnie Burrowing - encourage or discourage?

[DerbyBirdy]

My new little linnie loves to burrow! She's so freaking cute when I put her in my sweater. She likes to hang out in my cleavage while I'm working on my computer.

Anyway, I know one of their instincts are to burrow and I have to be extra careful when I give her out-of-cage-time to keep a sharp eye on her when she's not in my hand or in my shirt. She can run and hop so fast that she could very well burrow under some pillows that can get her squished! I definitely don't want that!

Since it's her instinct to burrow, would it be good to encourage it or discourage it??
I'm wondering if I should put more cozy things in her cage like a fleecy hut or cozy corner or some soft towels so that she can burrow in her own space instead of outside her cage where she can get squashed.... BUT I wouldn't want to encourage her to start laying eggs if she thinks these are nesting materials and I don't want her to get too cage-aggressive. Right now, she has one little tent-thing to take cover in, but it's pretty open and has a hard floor, so I'm not worried about her nesting in it.

 

[sunnysmom]

@Lady Jane ?

 

[Lady Jane]

You are correct in that Linnies love to burrow into soft materials, chair cushions and so forth. One must be very careful to supervise out of cage time for Linnies. I know of two who were actually sat on by their owners children. Personally I would not put soft, fleecy things inside the cage because they could ingest the fibers or get their long nails caught in the fibers and panic. Its difficult to discourage instincts but I would not encourage it either.

 

[Lwalker]

No help with your questions, just a comment...she is so cute!!


Have you picked a name yet?

 

[santacruzjack]

@Lady Jane Thank you for the advice... I was a bit worried about a true Happy Hut because she's already shown that she can be a bit clumsy with her toenails, but she's definitely a lot more agile and good at climbing than Ollie. Is it normal for Linnies to have difficulty learning to step up due to their flighty instincts? When she's in our hands she's quite comfortable, she loves attention and scratches and even is starting to come to us, but when we approach her at first she's always scared, either inside our outside of her cage, even when we do it slow, she either freezes up or darts away into a warm corner...

 

[Lady Jane]

It seem to be a Linnie thing that these birds are hand shy. I could never touch mine or even attempt a step up. I don't know what makes the species that way so if you are able to touch or bird you are way ahead of the training. Its a good idea to perch train rather than step up to your finger/hand. That way you at least have a little control.

 

[JLcribber]

It seem to be a Linnie thing that these birds are hand shy. I could never touch mine or even attempt a step up. I don't know what makes the species that way so if you are able to touch or bird you are way ahead of the training. Its a good idea to perch train rather than step up to your finger/hand. That way you at least have a little control.

Its not just linnies. Hands are weapons and every bird knows that. I've had/have many long relationships with different species of birds that I never touched them with my hands their entire life (except emergencies of course). Touching is a human thing. Not a bird thing.

 

[Lady Jane]

Your right John I just want to hold him and cuddle but that is not in the avian mindset. Now I know you can cuddle with Cockatoos but its not the best thing to do with them. Right?

Linnies are especially hand shy. Cockatiels love a head scratch. I may just begin a new thread asking if your birds are letting you touch them.

 

[Begone]

Touching is a human thing. Not a bird thing.

I don't agree with you, or perhaps I misunderstood you?
My parrots loves to touch me. They preen me and investigate my face, hair and neck. And I will say that they love to be near and touching me, and I touching them.
So for them it's not a human thing. I will say that birds feel safe if they are allowed to be with someone near. And if you look at your 'toos, they are so close to each other so they touch each other all the time, the only difference is that they not have hands doing it, they are using their body and their beaks.

 

[JLcribber]

My parrots loves to touch me. They preen me and investigate my face, hair and neck. And I will say that they love to be near and touching me, and I touching them.

You're talking about a hand raised, human imprinted bird who you have consciously conditioned to these things. None of that is a bird's natural behaviour.

 

[Begone]

You're talking about a hand raised, human imprinted bird

No I'm talking about my birds. They are not hand raised. (isn't allowed in Sweden)

None of that is a bird's natural behaviour.

But birds do touch each other so how can it not be natural?

 

[DerbyBirdy]

... ANYWAY. Thanks for the input about burrowing, y'all.

We're not putting any burrowing/nesting material in her cage, but instead we're encouraging her to burrow/cuddle on us. She loves to cuddle up on my chest and in my shirt. She loves to just nuzzle up against my neck!

 

[Wendy27]

I have 2 linnies (Inky and Boca Grande) - Inky is bonded to my English budgie, Really . . . . Boca Grande doesn't want anything to do with Inky. . . . Boca Grande lives in his own cage happily,Boca Grande is glad to come out of his cage and likes to be held and scritched and gives lovely kisses . . . . . Inky isn't a big fan of leaving her cage but is happy to come out with her buddy, Really. Both linnies are hardy eaters and will try anything and both are happy to sit on my hand if they are getting a special food treat. Inky loves, loves, loves to bathe - Boca Grande - not so much . . . . So - each bird is an individual with their own special personality.

 

[KBEquine]

So, living with 6 Linnies, I DO have an opinion: (1) I don't put cuddly stuff in their cage, but if I did, it would be fleece, not other material. Mostly I go with multiple layers of newspaper so they can burrow and shred and otherwise take on 'linnie jobs'; (2) burrowing is cute until you see all the damage those cute little beings did while under a cover - which is why I let them burrow in old newspapers; (3) whether they are afraid of hands/like to be touched, depends on the individual and how they were raised. Mine range from "hands off or I'll have a heart attack and die" to "Hey. I'm SITTING on your head! Play with me!!!!"

 

[santacruzjack]

Thank you very much for the reply. As an update for all, we've taken anything that encourages serious, permanent burrowing (not destructible and temporary, like paper) and we haven't had any problems with her normal burrowy behavior. She seems to love nuzzling into our shirts from time to time, and we keep an EXTREMELY close eye on her when she's on the bed, but otherwise it's not causing any problems and she's not growing attached to any of the soft objects around the house.

Dinah's very happy lately, she's actually been warming up to us a bit more since her first birthday.... I'm thinking her terrible twos are starting to fade down..... she loves to be scratched subject to her mood, just like any bird, she's hanging out with us on our shirts and chittering to us sometimes, and she's very eager to be on shoulders like Ollie {For better or worse } and we're thinking of getting her a linnie as a companion to make her even happier. We're leaning towards getting another girl, because while it does mean more eggs we're very nervous about having a mated pair, even if we try to discourage their breeding..... If anyone has any experience with linnie females getting along with one another, we're worried about if they would be more territorial with each other as two girls instead of a girl/boy or boy/boy combo........ If that's the case we'd just end up getting a boy for her happiness, but if she can be happy with a girl that's what I'd like.