Territorial Over Top of Cage

Hi there. Ruby our female eclectus also gets territorial around her cage. Lucky her love for almonds is stronger than her love for her cage & we can offer our hand to step onto to get to the other hand holding the almond.
Ps. Great to see another female ekkie owner. I think our beauties are a little misunderstood.

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This is controversial, and some folks say this is wrong. But at my house?!

Well, first I wobble the cage to distract them from that beak open stuff.

If that doesn't get their attention, and they continue the bad behaviors?

MEET MR. TOWEL.

MR. TOWEL DOES NOT LIKE IT WHEN YOU CHARGE AT FINGERS...

Do that once or twice, then all you have to do is say, do I have to go get my towel, or hold the towel up and show it to them, and give them a choice between step up nice, or meet Mr. Towel. They back down and step up nice.

Another factor: Even though I don't believe in height dominance per se....

If the cage is taller than you are, and they know that you are NOT in a position to control them, they sometime act up.

Get a chair or something and make yourself "taller."

I took the play top off of Bella's cage because she would do something similar. She used it to run away from me and hide under the perch and climbing ladder part so I couldn't get to her.

I have figured out our issue for the most part. If she is close to my arm on top of her cage, or even my wrist, she will pinch pretty hard if she doesn't want to step up. However, if given my fingers, she will beak them, but doesn't apply much pressure. So I just give her my fingers instead of the side of my hand. She will still grab me with her beak, but she is much more gentle. Plus, once she "bites" me, she is willing to step up.

We have never let salty play on the top of his cage, the cover stays bunched up on there, plus there is the wire for his sun lamp up there. And I just lowered his play ring so the top of it is at eye level , cuz he was starting to get prissy about stepping up instantly when offered the hand. That's the one thing we don't stand for with any of our parrots.. you step up immediately if the hand is offered. Saltini is back now to being a excellent birdie when it comes to that.

Step-up is so very important to all parts of working with our parrots that it represents a Must Do. The general day to day activities of life may not see it as a Must Do item, until you have to move your parrot, you name the reason, the list is extensive. Whether cage, play top, remote perch or sitting on you, the Step-Up needs to over-rule.

The success of your request can also be just as much tied to whether you are communicating your intended request as you approach your parrot. If you sneak-up and make your request, you may well desire that bite. Example: Amazons can tend to Zone-Out and while they may look like they are wide-eyed and aware. They can just as well be somewhere in the AmaZone considering the converse effect of a Blackhole. In short, assure that your parrot is aware that you are about to request a 'Step-Up'. If you get a straight-out rejection, consider laddering your parrot to set in place the request.

Who is in charge: The concept of Dominance and who is in charge is fluid in the parrot's nature setting. Thing change and somethings rapidly. This tends to be more a reality in the Social Group based parrots and less so in the Flock Group based parrots. Consider the effected size of each group. With the Social Group, Example: an Amazon family, the effected group maybe as large as 6 to 8 members, whereas a tiel's group maybe 30 to 70 members to much larger. The loss of one member in the Amazon group will have near instant ramification. With the tiel group, not as much. In addition, all parrots will have some level of ownership, i.e. This is Mine!

Therefore, dominance will exist as a base in our parrots. Our presents doesn't alter that reality, we only need to be aware that it is natural and that it is important to maintain our position and the importance of 'Step-Up' is a foundation stone.

Height Dominance has limited if any merit and is more likely an outgrowth of dominance (ownership) of a specific area or item that happens to be at or above eye level.