Cage changing protocol

Didn't post this in the Cage Forum because my question is on strategy and behavior rather than specific types or attributes.

My primary bird room is a dedicated area 15' x 15' and houses six parrots. Four of the cages are inhabited, two are essentially playpens, and one dedicated playstand is at room center. Two of the birds are never locked in a cage, but the remaining four Goffins have to be rotated due to behavioral issues. All of the units are older, some chipped in spots, most have locks long since disabled by Houdini-Goffins and have improvised latches.

I wish to replace them all with four new cages and two playstands. This is for reasons of health, safety, and standardizing on fewer bowl types. Most of the castors are now non-standard or barely functioning, making rolling them outside for washing very difficult.

The big question is whether to replace them all early in the day to maximize the initial accommodation, or do so in stages, one or two units at a time, spaced by days or a week or so. The primary factor of the former is to overall mitigate the stress period of change as opposed to having a prolonged duration of near constant adaptation. I suspect the TAG will be most resistant with the wild-caught but mostly tame mother Goffin as runner-up. The three hand-fed adult Goffins should adapt very quickly, while the Moluccan, never caged, will not care much.

Opinions please, as I may be overlooking some fundamental considerations. Thanks!!

Hmmmmm I would maybe replace just one at a time, thus reducing the amount of overall stress-- new cages and play stands can be scary, so my thought is if you replace them all at once they wouldn't have familiar places to retreat to.

Once they get used to the new cage, swap out another one, and continue until you're done...

How do your birds react individually to changes? If you have birds who are very accepting and curious of new things, I'd change them out all at once so everyone gets a cool new home to explore and you don't create jealousy issues. If you have birds who need more time to adapt to change, I might start with the play stands first (since those are shared and not anyones 'personal' space), then change the cages one by one starting with the least-fearful bird of the bunch (that way the other birds see him or her exploring the new cage and are more willing to follow suit).

I will say, my dads goffin gets a new cage every couple years (yes goffins are houdini cage destroyers!) and has absolutely no problems transitioning. He's always very excited when he gets a new cage and makes himself right at home with no issues. Not sure if thats just him as an individual or a common trait in goffins though. He does get super jealous if the amazons get things he doesn't though, so if your goffins have jealousy 'issues' I'd keep that in mind too introducing cages one by one as not to create unnecessary tension.

The very reason i change cages often. I switch birds/cages on a regular basis. In your situation,, i'd intro a new cage to the room and put a bird inside. i usually sit the new cage next to the old one and they pick it out themselves. I'll even transfer their favorite perch to a similar location. Do they have travel/evacuation cages? My birds think nothing of spending the night in their tiny evacuation cage. That would help with a transition.I often sit their evac cage on top of their cage and they're happy to sleep in it. just my .02 worth on the subject.

getwozzy said:

Hmmmmm I would maybe replace just one at a time, thus reducing the amount of overall stress-- new cages and play stands can be scary, so my thought is if you replace them all at once they wouldn't have familiar places to retreat to.

Once they get used to the new cage, swap out another one, and continue until you're done...

Click to expand...

Great points! They often tend to flock on one playstand or cage-top, so having a "safe haven" would be appreciated. The wild-caught but tame mother Goffin often notices a perch twisted in a different way after cleaning or power-washing, and it takes a day or so before she is comfortable using it.

Kiwibird said:

How do your birds react individually to changes? If you have birds who are very accepting and curious of new things, I'd change them out all at once so everyone gets a cool new home to explore and you don't create jealousy issues. If you have birds who need more time to adapt to change, I might start with the play stands first (since those are shared and not anyones 'personal' space), then change the cages one by one starting with the least-fearful bird of the bunch (that way the other birds see him or her exploring the new cage and are more willing to follow suit).

I will say, my dads goffin gets a new cage every couple years (yes goffins are houdini cage destroyers!) and has absolutely no problems transitioning. He's always very excited when he gets a new cage and makes himself right at home with no issues. Not sure if thats just him as an individual or a common trait in goffins though. He does get super jealous if the amazons get things he doesn't though, so if your goffins have jealousy 'issues' I'd keep that in mind too introducing cages one by one as not to create unnecessary tension.

Click to expand...

The Goffins are generally very accepting of something new, particularly with a toy. They often cage-hop as frequently most of the doors are open and they like to pilfer food or chew a fresh wood toy. So far no significant jealousy with the birds that are out at the same time. Unfortunately the oldest adult offspring doesn't get along with his mother and middle-brother, so this is the only source of "rotation."

I like the idea of changing the playstands first, and perhaps saving the TAG's cage for last!

henpecked said:

The very reason i change cages often. I switch birds/cages on a regular basis. In your situation,, i'd intro a new cage to the room and put a bird inside. i usually sit the new cage next to the old one and they pick it out themselves. I'll even transfer their favorite perch to a similar location. Do they have travel/evacuation cages? My birds think nothing of spending the night in their tiny evacuation cage. That would help with a transition.I often sit their evac cage on top of their cage and they're happy to sleep in it. just my .02 worth on the subject.

Click to expand...

Interesting! While they are free to cage-hop when let out, when required they are placed in their "own" cages. They do have evacuation "pet carriers" and will experiment with them!

I am going to try and source the cages to have similar characteristics and will attempt to outfit the interiors as similarly as possible, at least for the transition!

I got lucky. I just made the change and mine adapted great. My newest budgie was in s tiny cage and I got her one three times bigger. She loves it.

I did a hybrid of my best guess and your advice. Changed all of the cages in the mid-morning, but am holding off on the new playpens until they are comfortably settled. One older unoccupied cage will also remain in the interim as its upper playpen is a focal point.

Most accepted the changes well, particularly the Goffins, except for the mother - she was a bit skittish but finally entered. The only holdout is the TAG; stubbornly remaining on the top, but will get hungry soon and venture inside!

Scott said:

Didn't post this in the Cage Forum because my question is on strategy and behavior rather than specific types or attributes.

My primary bird room is a dedicated area 15' x 15' and houses six parrots. Four of the cages are inhabited, two are essentially playpens, and one dedicated playstand is at room center. Two of the birds are never locked in a cage, but the remaining four Goffins have to be rotated due to behavioral issues. All of the units are older, some chipped in spots, most have locks long since disabled by Houdini-Goffins and have improvised latches.

I wish to replace them all with four new cages and two playstands. This is for reasons of health, safety, and standardizing on fewer bowl types. Most of the castors are now non-standard or barely functioning, making rolling them outside for washing very difficult.

The big question is whether to replace them all early in the day to maximize the initial accommodation, or do so in stages, one or two units at a time, spaced by days or a week or so. The primary factor of the former is to overall mitigate the stress period of change as opposed to having a prolonged duration of near constant adaptation. I suspect the TAG will be most resistant with the wild-caught but mostly tame mother Goffin as runner-up. The three hand-fed adult Goffins should adapt very quickly, while the Moluccan, never caged, will not care much.

Opinions please, as I may be overlooking some fundamental considerations. Thanks!!

Click to expand...

Hi Scott,

I can relate to that, I have 17 cages and it is a chore to clean them. My main bird room is in Basement. I had a contractor come out and water proof it, then added a dehumidifier so to be sure there is no dampness. My walls are painted white and have a row of lights on ceiling. That room is 20 x 17....upstairs on main floor have a room ( spare bedroom 15 x 13) with a second set of cages and perches so they can come upstairs and be with us.
Then there's the porch/sunroom where I have cages and perches so they can view the outdoors and have a bit of sunshine. My Gazebo got blown down Monday from a nearby tornado winds ( we didn't get hit, but winds were enough to scatter the gazebo into a mess. So that's work in progress)

Now to the cages, it's expensive to replace all cages and perches, so a friend of mine came up with a brilliant idea of using a cattle feed tank and modifying it to wash the cages. They sell these at TSC farm store. You can get them nearly 3 feet high and 6 to 8 feet in diameter. Stainless steel for the price of one parrot cage.

We then built up the bottom a couple feet with slots for ventilation, got 2 sets of entire Grill burners and mounted them on a metal bracket
and hooked up 2 separate regulators and two LP tanks. The tank holds a lot of water, but takes about 40 minutes for the burners to bring water to a hot stage. I add a cup of bleach for disinfectant. ( With that amount of water, a cup is not strong at all)

I take everything out of the cage place place cage in the tank for a while, the hot water takes off and loosens any hard poo, in places that you can't reach, and dose a good job with the casters as you know food and poo gets in them. I then flip cage and soak other side. I run about 15 cages thru it.
Then wash the cages again outside of tank with water and scrub brush with handle. To assure total clean ness. I run a healthy flock around here. Winter months are harsh here, so taking cages outside in winter is not an option, that's why come first warm weather all cages get a good boil.

The set up I know isn't for everybody, but dose one heck of a clean job, boil the cage. It's clean, it's like new, and healthy. But sure beats replacing cages. By the way they do make a good paint that is chip proof and should be ok for birds. I forget what they call it off the top of my head.