Bird doesn’t like cage

[Beakz]

So my baby Ringneck has been spending a LOT of time outside of its cage. Pretty much all day, but the problem his he poops all over the house and goes where pleases , this is becoming a problem! During the night time I offer him a sunflower seed for stepping up and then after for stepping down in the cage. But as soon as I close that cage door he goes crazy and it takes him turning off all the lights for him to calm down and go to sleep. But I’m the morning by the time I wake up he’s squawking and climbing all over his cage like a crazy little thing. I let him out first thing in the morning, I realize this might be creating a bad habit for him but u fee terrible when he’s basically begging for me to take him out, I don’t know what to do! During covid I’m working from home so him being loose all day is not too big of a problem but when I start working again it will be. I need advice , not sure what to do. He has toys, food, treats , I just don’t know what else to put in there for him to be interested in it, he just wants out out out

 

[Fuzzy]

I was wondering if having him out all day was going to be a problem in your other post. Where does he eat his main meals? It would be good if he learned to go in to eat.

Try offering him a sunflower for stepping up and stepping down into his cage at various times of the day, but don't close the door. He will realise that he can immediately come out again if he wants to - that going into the cage is nothing to be fearful of.

Then you can shape the gradual closing and opening of the door:
He goes in and gets a sunflower seed. You reach for the door and he gets another sunflower seed for his relaxed body language. That might be it for the first session. He's free to come out again.
Repeat until you are able to touch the door all the time reinforcing his relaxed body language with a sunflower seed.

Then you might be able to move the door an inch and open again. Sunflower seed.
Move it two inches closed and open again. Sunflower seed.
Etc., etc., until eventually you are completely closing and then opening the door and reinforcing his relaxed body language with the sunflower seed.

Of course you are going to have to shut him in at night, but try the training in very short bursts now and again through the day. Just a few seconds here and there. Make it fun!

 

[Beakz]

I was wondering if having him out all day was going to be a problem in your other post. Where does he eat his main meals? It would be good if he learned to go in to eat.

Try offering him a sunflower for stepping up and stepping down into his cage at various times of the day, but don't close the door. He will realise that he can immediately come out again if he wants to - that going into the cage is nothing to be fearful of.

Then you can shape the gradual closing and opening of the door:
He goes in and gets a sunflower seed. You reach for the door and he gets another sunflower seed for his relaxed body language. That might be it for the first session. He's free to come out again.
Repeat until you are able to touch the door all the time reinforcing his relaxed body language with a sunflower seed.

Then you might be able to move the door an inch and open again. Sunflower seed.
Move it two inches closed and open again. Sunflower seed.
Etc., etc., until eventually you are completely closing and then opening the door and reinforcing his relaxed body language with the sunflower seed.

Of course you are going to have to shut him in at night, but try the training in very short bursts now and again through the day. Just a few seconds here and there. Make it fun!

I know He’s Been warming up to me and loves Doing training sessions but I’ve been noticing that the cage thing might be a problem, so I want to catch it as soon as I can. He usually eats his main meals on top of the cage, maybe I should try giving it to him inside? And that’s a great idea on doing it throughout the day, I hadn’t thought of that,I will try it and keep you updated. Thank you!

 

[tka]

One of the things that's really important during lockdown is to try to keep a consistent routine that will be similar to your normal working routine. Yes, if you're working from home you can have your bird(s) out all day - but it's going to be really, really hard for them to adjust when you go back to working outside the home and they have to get used to being out for less time. From talking to an animal behaviourist friend, a lot of pets are going to have trouble adjusting to their humans going back to work. It's best to work out what sort of routine you can maintain fairly consistently and stick to it.

For example, I am working from home. This isn't especially unusual for me - I often work from home during the summer and only need to go into work for meetings. Leia could be out for the full 12 hours that she's awake. However, I cannot maintain that year-round and it's not fair on Leia to make her go from 12 hours to only 3 hours out of her cage in the evening when work steps up. It's morning here so at the moment I'm settling into work and she's chewing up a toy in her cage. At 6pm she comes out of her cage, plays and hangs out with her people, then at 9pm she goes to bed. She'll often put herself to bed in her cage if she thinks I'm being too slow.

You'll need to build up to offering meals inside the cage as at the moment he's probably too stressed out to eat in there. Try the training that @Fuzzy suggested, doing it a few times a day in short bursts and building up the time that he's happy and relaxed in the cage. A couple of minutes every hour is better than a solid thirty minutes. Little, often and intensely rewarding is how you want to go.

 

[Fuzzy]

I know He’s Been warming up to me and loves Doing training sessions but I’ve been noticing that the cage thing might be a problem, so I want to catch it as soon as I can. He usually eats his main meals on top of the cage, maybe I should try giving it to him inside? And that’s a great idea on doing it throughout the day, I hadn’t thought of that,I will try it and keep you updated. Thank you!

Yes, see if you can get him eating inside the cage but leave the door open. Then train in very short bursts throughout the day.

That’s wonderful he enjoys training sessions! You can train anything by breaking down the desired goal behaviour into tiny manageable steps towards that behaviour, and reinforcing the last of those steps every time. Always stop on a successful step so that he is willing to resume training next time... ie try never push it so that he fails. If he does fail then go back a step or so that you can end the session on a good note. Then proceed with smaller steps.

 

[Beakz]

Just wanted to thank you all for your suggestions! Blue is starting to go into his cage without a fuss

 

[Fuzzy]

Just wanted to thank you all for your suggestions! Blue is starting to go into his cage without a fuss

So good to hear!!!