Daisy flying down off her play areas constantly

[Daisy_G2]

Hi, it's been quite a while since I posted here. Daisy is healthy and happy, but in the last month or so, she has decided that she has no interest in her playstand or manzanita tree, and instead is constantly flying down to the floor and running over to us. We will immediately put her back on the tree, but within a minute or two, she will fly down again. Eventually we have to just put her in her cage for a timeout.

We've tried replacing her toys on the tree, turning the tree around, rearranging the rope toys, etc. I've tried redirecting her behavior whenever I see her planning to fly down, and sometimes it works, but not for long. I will wave my hand at her and say "Hi!", and that will cause her to wave back at me and become distracted for a few seconds, but it doesn't last long.

We are also finding that if we leave the room for a moment, she will also fly down and start looking for us. I've been working on doing contact calls, saying "Hi!" back and forth, but sometimes when she hears me calling to her, she'll just fly down and come looking for me.

One possible cause is that I am always very hands-on with Daisy, holding her against me and rubbing her neck, wings, belly, etc. I'm thinking that she sees me as her mate, and doesn't want to be separated from me. So I'm being more careful to only scratch behind her neck and not hold her against me anymore. Do you think that could be the cause?

Any other suggestions?

Thanks!

Here's a recent clip of her swinging around on her tree.

 

[Anne & Gang]

she sure is beautiful...I love the vid of her swinging..I am not sure what your answer is but am not sure what is wrong with her flying down and coming to look for you....She loves you and wants to be with you....however, maybe too close cuddling is causing hormonal behavior...I am sure others with toos will come on with advice. I am sure you don't want to always confine her to her playstand either right?

 

[Daisy_G2]

Thanks for the reply!

I am not sure what your answer is but am not sure what is wrong with her flying down and coming to look for you

Our concerns with that are:

1. We have cats
2. She likes to chew on wires, upholstery, and basically everything
3. She is very quiet on the floor, and we may accidentally step on her

I am sure you don't want to always confine her to her playstand either right?

Oh definitely not. We play with her very frequently each day. But she's showing little interest in her toys and isn't staying on the tree or the playstand at all lately, and is constantly flying down. If it happened just once every 15 minutes, it wouldn't be a big deal, but every minute is just unmanageable.

 

[Anne & Gang]

yes, I see the problem.....hopefully, someone else will come on with further advice...

 

[Brooke]

Ughhh, I feel your pain. Sheldon is CONSTANTLY flying from his play stand onto the floor. I would have to constantly pick him up and place him on the stand, eventually I would have to put him in his cage because he kept interrupting me from what I was doing (mostly school work). Sheldon is clipped, so he can't really fly, so what I did was attach a boing to the stand and stretch it out until it hit the ground, so now when he flies does, he just marches right back up the boing. I think he does it for exercise because he can't fly.

Good luck though!

 

[Daisy_G2]

what I did was attach a boing to the stand and stretch it out until it hit the ground, so now when he flies does, he just marches right back up the boing.!

Thanks, we actually tried something like that several months ago, when her wings were still very clipped down and she was always crashing falling off of any ropes on the tree. I hung a long rope to the ground. But then she would always immediately climb down the rope and run over to us! We've been forced to remove any long hanging ropes, because she'll use them to climb down immediately off the tree.

After that, she was staying on her tree and playing with her toys, and we thought the problem was solved. But now she just flies off the tree whenever she wants (i.e. always).

 

[Ankou]

How far is her stand from where you are? She may just want to be nearer to you and could be more likely to stay on it if she were closer. If you are too far away it can even be a bit unnatural, since birds like to be near their flock. Especially if she is a baby still, it would be very normal to stick close by.

 

[BraveheartDogs]

What you are wanting is for her to station on her tree or play stand so you will need to make that more reinforcing. Having fun toys on there is good. I would also put food on there. Get her favorite food and only use it on her stand. Try things like putting nuts inside a muffin wrapper and twisting it up. Or little boxes full of treats, things like that. These great things should only happen on her stand.

The other thing you will really need to do is give her more physical attention while on the stand. Figure out what amount of time she will stay on the stand and reinforce her with attention before the end of that time. So, if she will stay there for 5 minutes, at 4 minutes, walk up to her and give her some attention. Then leave her again, go back in another 4 minutes and give attention. You might have to set a timer and will definitely need to keep track. After a few times, try 5 minutes. Slowly you can build up the duration of time.

 

[Daisy_G2]

How far is her stand from where you are?

We have a very small living room, and the tree is on the opposite side of it from the couch, but that's only about 5-10 feet away. And when she's in the kitchen (where the playstand is), we are usually only 5-10 feet away.

 

[BraveheartDogs]

I forgot to say that she is super cute hanging and swinging from her rope!

 

[Daisy_G2]

Thanks for the great suggestions, we will try to work on those and let you know how it goes!

 

[JLcribber]

Nice to hear from you guys again.

Well if you look at this from a "cockatoo's" perspective (a very active bird). Asking it to stay on the same branch on the same tree "all the time" is going to get pretty boring (and eventually stressful) no matter how many toys or food you put there. Especially a bird that can fly. The chance of it learning to stay there is a pretty tall order no matter how much training is involved. They are explorers by nature.

What a bird like that really wants (and what I believe needs) is a play "area" that involves a number of play stands (with "foraging") that the bird can move freely between when the urge hits (along with access to some secure floor space).

You guys will come to realize in time that a bird like that is going to need a lot more space than you ever thought you had to provide. JME.

If your always hands on with the bird, that is what it will learn and come to expect (more like demand).

 

[suncoast]

Our girls are all over the house. We have places for them to go and land and we just watch them like a chicken hawk while they're out. They are out for around 20 -30 minutes at a time every hour while Mom and Dad are home and then they rotate in so we can have a break. It's just part of being bird parents. It's VERY unrealistic and not healthy for them to be expected to stay in one spot all the time.

Ginger