Keeping him from landing in unwanted places...

[36surveys]

Hey all, I was wondering if any of you have a way to keep your birds from landing on certain things, or teaching them what they can and can't land on? My bird is OBSESSED with my door frame, and as soon as he lands up there he starts chewing it apart. It's the only thing he will willingly fly to from his cage (instead of me, for some reason). I know he does it partially for attention, since I have to get him down once he's up there, and if I ignore him he starts chewing on the wood. He has wooden toys that he used to chew on, but tends to ignore them recently. He also flies up there to keep me from leaving the room, since I can't close the door if he's there.

For a while he stopped chewing on the door frame, and would just fly back to his cage, which is fine. The past few days however seem's like he's gone back to chewing. So, I'm looking for a maybe temporary solution to keep him from landing up there at all. I don't want to discourage him from flying around, but I can't figure out how to teach him the proper places to land.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Mizzely]

My green cheek was obsessed with chewing the door frame too. You can try:

- to cover the access (balancing a box on the door so they can't reach the frame)

- making the spot "scary" with something like ribbons that sway when they fly nearby,

- keeping the door closed so they can't land there,

- providing toy alternatives; As an example, the one thing about a door frame that's nice? It doesn't move! So you can try something like sidemount toys that bolt to the cage side, thick pine perches, or even zip tying a piece of wood to the side of the cage to mimic the door frame.

- providing a perching alternative. A rope perch hanging from the ceiling is often an enticing alternative!

Good luck!

 

[Macawnutz]

My blue and gold used to land on our bathroom door trim when I would shower. He wanted in so he would chew it.

I bought a 1" thick clear acrylic dowel and glued it to the top of the doorframe. He can't get a grip on the smooth round surface and slips off if he tries. It solved the problem in one shower and he hasn't flown there in years.

 

[36surveys]

Thank you guys! I will try the things you've suggested and keep you updated.

 

[sunnysmom]

I taped big pieces of card board on my door frames to keep my Elvis the chewer off. I usually forget they're there until people come over and I see them staring at them. Lol