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Velcro birds

Wally&Eva

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My lovies have become obsessive! They’ve always been close to my husband and I. But now its getting really crazy :hilarious: they don’t get let out early anymore so I know they are anxious to fly. They get decreased out time from 12+ hours to around 6 hours. Originally, when being let out, they would immediately fly hard for a while before visiting with us. Then the time would be split between flying around, hopping on the curtains and ceiling fan (it’s off) and hanging out with us. It’s was like 50/50. But lately, they have changed their routine. They want to be with us all the time. They still get their exercise but they are obsessed, especially with me. I’ll give you guys a few examples. I can be using a hair dryer, you would think this might deter them, nope. If I’m straightening my hair, they are literally hanging off the strand that I’m trying to straighten. It’s hard to even get dressed. They hang on me, my legs, my hair, anywhere and I just go about my routine. They are on my eyeliner as I’m drawing on my eye:banghead: It’s funny, but it’s really intense and if I’m in a rush, it can be a little distressing. I’ve said this before, unfortunately because of this behavior, it’s hard to let them out all the time. Even though 6 hours is enough, I would like to keep them out longer if I can get some things done. I’ve had to run into the bathroom to eat really quick haha.

The other thing is that my husband is very chill. I’m a busybody. So when they are on me, it’s constant action. Trying to fling them off me haha, placing them down elsewhere, and them just obsessing over landing on my head and hands. So our time together is fun but very chaotic. But they don’t have down time with me. They go to my husband for that *sigh* he sends me video of them on his chest, preening and sleeping and I’m a bit jealous haha

Anyone going through the same thing?How do we ease them out of this? When out, they have tons of toys to play with and forage with, a playground, bath, food, lots of distractions. Maybe I need to change my energy and learn to just do nothing. Sit on my hands or something and they will follow my vibe and calm down. I’ve given them prolonged hours out on my day off, hoping that would get them tired of us for the next day but nope. They will eventually settle in towards the end of that 6 hours and sleep in the curtains but man, for 6-8 hours, they are like boomerangs. @Zara and others with lovebirds, are all your birds super duper high energy and clingy?
 

Wally&Eva

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I guess I should also mention that they are a little under 5 months old, moulting, and practicing their mating dance. They do it to each other and Wally does it to my bun (I stop him)
 

Mizzely

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My Velcro bird was Gizmo the Hahns and we did a lot of training with "stay" and gradually increased the distance and time before she got a treat. I also rewarded for solo play.
 

Wally&Eva

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My Velcro bird was Gizmo the Hahns and we did a lot of training with "stay" and gradually increased the distance and time before she got a treat. I also rewarded for solo play.
That gives me hope. I have to say I’m lucky to have a close bond with them. I love them dearly. But everything in moderation and I would love to get to a place where their time with me isn’t a frenzied, attention grabbing, food stealing, frantically climbing situation where we can all sit like civilized people :roflmao: and putting a shirt on doesn’t take me 7 minutes. Also I know they are antsy cus of the hormones and molting, i want to create a calm space but I’m not really a calm person so I’m sure they are feeding off of that.
 

Wally&Eva

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I mean, they enjoy the frenzy. They associate me with fun, treats, flying and lots of attention. They aren’t anxious, they are having the time of their lives haha
 

Wardy

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Zara

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from 12+ hours to around 6 hours
That is a lot of time for being out of the cage. ANd it´s not a bad thing, as long as they can play independently, which it seems you birds don´t know how to.

I can be using a hair dryer, you would think this might deter them, nope. If I’m straightening my hair, they are literally hanging off the strand that I’m trying to straighten.
Be careful with these. Some hairdryers and straighteners contain PTFEs.

my hair, anywhere and I just go about my routine. They are on my eyeliner as I’m drawing on my eye:banghead:
frenzied, attention grabbing, food stealing, frantically climbing situation where we can all sit like civilized people :roflmao: and putting a shirt on doesn’t take me 7 minutes.
They associate me with fun, treats, flying and lots of attention.
Yes exactly. THey are flock creatures, and they know the food and fun comes from you.... so why are they gonna play on their own when they can have fun with and pester you?
They need to have periods of the day where they are caged, and can play and explore their own cage. It will give you an hour to do your stuff, eat, etc.
For eg. leave them to play in the cage while you get ready in the morning, do hair, makeup, then let them out. After a few hours, return them to the cage for more play time, stick a bowl of veggies or a treat in there for them. Then after an hour or so, let them out again.
 

fashionfobie

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What is your tree stand/play stand like? It may help to expand the scale of their 'playground'. My partner makes our playstands out of bird safe natural branches. My little parrotlets who can have their firecracker moments will usually reassemble at the tree to relax and rip bark etc. I think the size helps. There are also lots of knots and various tree things that parrots seem to love. I included a thumbnail image of the boys all getting along. We also have two different trees set up and they can fly between them.
PXL_20220408_070914473.PORTRAIT.jpg

I don't know what your play area is like, it may even be more fabulous. I am just tossing ideas out there.
 

tka

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Bear in mind that, as adults, a velcro bird is not a happy bird. It's not mentally healthy for birds to bond closely with a human or to be obsessed with a human. As an adult, this will almost certainly turn into the bird trying to pairbond with you, and that way lies a lot of frustration and misery for everyone. It's not even recommended for birds to spend time on your shoulder or sleeping on your chest. That persuades a bird that they have found a mate in you, and that's not cute. You can expect the clinginess to get much worse, as well as behaviours like screaming, feather destruction and aggressiveness.

Teaching your birds how to entertain themselves is a really, really important part of raising a bird who can thrive in a home environment. You are always going to be the most interactive and fun thing in the room, but they have to learn how to entertain themselves in their cages or on a playstand. Foraging and swapping toys regularly will help keep them busy. You can make simple foraging toys by wrapping some food in paper or by adding shredded paper or cardboard to a food bowl. Make them expend some of that energy on working for their food.

Make sure that they have enough playstands, perches and so on - we have four in our living room, plus all the bird stuff in the study which is where their cages are. All except the window perch have toys and/or foodbowls on them, and I make sure that they have different toys and textures to interact with. If they're in the study and want to be on top of the cage nearest my desk, I hand them foot toys to play with so they don't bother me. Basically, my ideal is that we're all in the same room but just hanging out and doing our own thing: Kira might be eating, Leia might be destroying a toy and I can be reading or watching TV.

You can also teach them to station by rewarding them with treats if they stay on the stand (or desired location) and gradually increasing the time between treats.
 

Wally&Eva

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That is a lot of time for being out of the cage. ANd it´s not a bad thing, as long as they can play independently, which it seems you birds don´t know how to.
They always do zoomies for a while, and they used to hang out a lot on the ceiling fan and curtain rod but it seems they kind of lost that desire now that they don’t have blinds to completely destroy.
Be careful with these. Some hairdryers and straighteners contain PTFEs.
Oh boy, I gotta check!
leave them to play in the cage while you get ready in the morning, do hair, makeup, then let them out. After a few hours, return them to the cage for more play time, stick a bowl of veggies or a treat in there for them. Then after an hour or so, let them out again.
I’m going to try this because they are food motivated and I can get them in without anxiety. Thanks!
 

Wally&Eva

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I don't know what your play area is like, it may even be more fabulous
Oh it’s definitely not more fabulous. Yours look awesome! Your birds look so happy on it!

It’s just standard one that my husband bought and we are using for the next 6 months. I think it’s 20x20? Not sure. I did need one that has a bottom because I put little foraging paper things that they are in love with and it makes a terrible mess. They do like to play there, they have lots of different things, different toys from some of the vendors, different sizes and textures. Foot toys, paper toys, sola, mahogany pods, sea grass, plastic toys, etc. I can keep them preoccupied for minutes at a time but they are just obsessive. I will upgrade in 6 months. We wanted to get 1 year use out of it since it was $90.
 

Wally&Eva

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It's not mentally healthy for birds to bond closely with a human or to be obsessed with a human.
Yes, I’m in preventative mode now because they are very bonded and that’s the way it should be. I don’t want to add any animosity between them because Wally is possessive. I know he’s still young but I already see it now.
It's not even recommended for birds to spend time on your shoulder or sleeping on your chest.
This is something I am guilty of. They don’t sleep on my chest but they are constantly on my head and my shoulder. I must remove them immediately off my head at least 75x a day. I am guilty of babying them. It’s just now they are getting older and I’m starting to watch out more but having them since they were tiny really made me a sucker for all the cuddles and kisses (don’t judge me too harshly :facepalm:) they are very affectionate with both me and my husband.
Foraging and swapping toys regularly will help keep them busy. You can make simple foraging toys by wrapping some food in paper or by adding shredded paper or cardboard to a food bowl. Make them expend some of that energy on working for their food.
I fold paper into little triangles filled with crushed nutriberries and they LOVE it. I can show them one across the room and will come flying over. They come faster than just giving them a nutriberry hahah silly birds

They get chop but usually all the pellets they eat, they have to work for in some way. I’ll also weave kale stems in the hanging rubber rolly ball and they will split that. I change their toys in the cages every week because they seem to like it and they don’t stress. They get one entirely new thing at a time every week. This week was sola logs with the bark on it and the rolly ball. They like their cage, they let us know when they want to go in, to sleep and eat.
Basically, my ideal is that we're all in the same room but just hanging out and doing our own thing: Kira might be eating, Leia might be destroying a toy and I can be reading or watching TV.
I can distract them with lots of random things for a few minutes. Then it’s like… oh yeah moms here. I would love all of us hanging out together. That is definitely the goal. I get moments of that. Eva is taking a bath, Wally is on his play stand eating. But 5 min later, they are back to chewing my iPad cover or on me.

I hope to get to a place where it’s a healthy but still close relationship with my babies. I’m trying to avoid jealousy, mostly Wally. I know that means that I can’t baby them as much. I’m going to try putting them in their cage midway during the day like suggested and letting them back out a bit later. They do eventually settle down after about 4 hours. They also spend a considerable about of time just flying which we encourage.
 

fashionfobie

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I will upgrade in 6 months. We wanted to get 1 year use out of it since it was $90.
For one in the style of ours it was about 40$. We bought a bird stand holder for about $35 (and of course no bird should ever be housed in those kinda things!). We bought untreated twine $5. Then we found bird safe branches for free in the forest. My partner looked up videos on YouTube on how to lash. He lashed the branches into a triangle and we hang it from the hook on the stand. I layout old sheets or towels under it and they can poop their hearts out. It was very cheap to make. Play stands don't need to be expensive :) you could probably even find a cheaper hanging thingy.. but I like the ones we got because they are stable and light and easy for me to move on my own.
 

Wally&Eva

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After a few hours, return them to the cage for more play time, stick a bowl of veggies or a treat in there for them. Then after an hour or so, let them out again.
Today, I let them out around 1pm. Put them in cage 345pm. Went to work and husband let them out around 430. He said they were calmer, they even took a stretch and a minute or two to come out. Then he put them back in at 7pm, this is when they are looking to go back in and eat and snuggle each other.

I used to let them out at 10ish and put them away at 3pm for the rest of the night but I always felt bad like all morning and all night they have to just be inside. I know they are early risers and early sleepers so maybe I will try this again.

Also, I should make clear that they only fly in one room, my bedroom. My cat has the run of the upstairs and downstairs and basically…us. So there would never be an opening up of the house unless it was just the birds and we had adequate time to make sure they cant get into anything. It’s a large area and sometimes I can’t even find my cat (she’s deaf but for some reason that doesn’t stop us from telling her name hahaha) so I would be a bit worried for too much space for a bird, if that is a thing.
 

Wally&Eva

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@Zara and others, what is your schedule for “out time?” Just curious cus I’m sure most people let their birds out a lot earlier than me. Wondering if that helps because they have less pent up energy. Or if your birds demand to be let out early. I take them out so late because my cat is so damn needy and wakes us up at 1am, 3am, 345am, 430am. Eventually my husband has to go downstairs at 430 and either feed her or pet her (to be honest, I don’t know what he does and I’m fine with not knowing haha). It’s a struggle. The birds are up at 7. The house quiets down at 8am and we finally get to nap for 2 hours after being up since 430AM. It REALLY sucks but if anyone has senior animals or special needs pets, I’m sure you understand *sighhhh*
 

TikiMyn

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They always do zoomies for a while, and they used to hang out a lot on the ceiling fan and curtain rod but it seems they kind of lost that desire now that they don’t have blinds to completely destroy.

Oh boy, I gotta check!

I’m going to try this because they are food motivated and I can get them in without anxiety. Thanks!
Sounds like they might enjoy a hanging boing with some easy to destroy toys attached? I have had loads of floor based play stand over the years, boings remain a favourite. A very easy idea to create a fun playstand would be to get a Christmas tree stand and put a wooden pole or beam in it, drill some holes to attach perches and toys and you are ready to go:) You can even attach platforms so that have some flat surface.
One of my lovies used to be super clingy. I taught him to fly to a certain spot, he would get his most values treat(sunflower seed). That was the only time he got it, so getting him ‘off’ me was more easy.
Foraging toys may help to engage them when out as well? Toilet paper roll with millet inside for example. a plate with all kinds of stuff they can forage in is a favourite here.
Reward them with a valued treat when they are playing by themselves. I used to reward a lot of stuff Henkie(the clingy bird) did that did not involve me. I also used a clicker, perhaps that might be helpful to you but it is tricky to train two birds at the same time. I believe that helped him make the connection he could be having fun while not on me all the time. He is now an independent bird, still loves sitting on my shoulder en bugging me while I try to do stuff :laugh: But some days he isn’t even interested in me and way to busy with his own stuff to do more than a quick stop to say hello.

Sorry about your senior cat, that sounds though:)
 

Wally&Eva

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Sounds like they might enjoy a hanging boing with some easy to destroy toys attached?
Ooh this is a good idea. I’ll try that. Today they have been more independent, but also because it’s my day off and I’m not doing anything. They don’t feel like they are missing out on anything so they just go about their bird lives.
 
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