Time outside of the cage?

Hi everyone, I'm new here Me and my husband got two African greys from his parents, they had been caged in a pet store for very long. Axel our male was left at the store by his previous owner who didn't want him anymore, and Sweedie was probably left there by a breeder that couldn't sell her. We don't really know...

Anyway, when we got them we obviously felt sorry for them being in their cages all the time so we let them go in and out as they wanted from early morning till late night. After a while Sweedie started to pull her feathers in the mornings if she didn't get out when she wanted to so it ended up with the cages being opened even in the night... This setup has brought some issues, they hang in the curtains and they chew basically everything that comes in their way. Most of the day they stay on their cages (the cages have like a top floor they can play and walk around on and an extra stick next to the cage) but sometimes they decided to go on adventures. My worry is that they one day will manage to get out through an opened window or that our dogs, who accept them walking around on the floor now, will run out of patience being bullied by a bird and something will happen or that they chew a cable when I'm not around to watch them. So to the question...

Is it possible to somehow get them used to being in their cages again? How do I do it? And for how long is reasonable to have them caged?

I'm home all the time except for a couple of hours a week when I have to go grocery shopping and maybe another couple of hours when I need to be out in the garden mowing lawn or something. What I would like is for the parrots to be in their cages at night and when I'm not going to be home or around... Is that reasonable? My husband is more difficult than the birds when it comes to this, he doesn't want them to be caged at all but I feel it's for their own best so that nothing happens to them Am I being a *****?

Hi and welcome to the forum! Hope you have a good time here!

First of all, do not let Axel and Sweedie be outside of their cage at night! It is just too dangerous! Not only they will distroy stuff, they might also get stuck somewhere, chew on the electronics cords, get injured by dog, or escape.

I would recommend you buying some new toys in the cage, like foraging toys where they have to spend time to get food from the toy. And decrease the time outside of the cage, it should be done very slowly to avoid stress. Don't leave the cage door. One of the biggest mistake parrot owner makes is to leave the door open all day, so the parrot can get in and out of the cage anytime they want, which will lead to parrot that sceams and puking feathers. I always takes Ozzie out of the cage myself, and put him back in the cage, I do not let him go in/out of his cage on his own. I also takes him out at different time of the day, so it avoids this problem.

I also recommend you getting a play gym for your greys, so they dont spend their whole day on their cage, otherwise they will likely become cage aggressive. Where they will attack people on their cage.

Ozzie is out of his cage most of the time, about 4 hours the minimum, usually with me on thr couch watching movies or on his play stand. But it depends on the parrot, some parrot might prefer to be out while others likes to spend time in their cage. But your greys should be away from its cage at lease 1 hour each day to avoid cage territorial.

Hope this helped

I think you have opened Pandora's box by allowing them to come and go at will. A separate play area for the birds is a good idea and rotating a variety of toys and treats in their cages may encourage them to want to be in a cage and eventually may not be a big deal later when you shut the door.

I suggest clipping their wings as a temporary solution to keep them where you want so they don't climb on drapes or furniture, etc. I am sure many will suggest otherwise, but this is for their own safety and for your peace of mind. During this time, the birds will learn their boundaries and feathers will grow back.

LoveMyParrots said:

Hi and welcome to the forum! Hope you have a good time here!

First of all, do not let Axel and Sweedie be outside of their cage at night! It is just too dangerous! Not only they will distroy stuff, they might also get stuck somewhere, chew on the electronics cords, get injured by dog, or escape.

I would recommend you buying some new toys in the cage, like foraging toys where they have to spend time to get food from the toy. And decrease the time outside of the cage, it should be done very slowly to avoid stress. Don't leave the cage door. One of the biggest mistake parrot owner makes is to leave the door open all day, so the parrot can get in and out of the cage anytime they want, which will lead to parrot that sceams and puking feathers. I always takes Ozzie out of the cage myself, and put him back in the cage, I do not let him go in/out of his cage on his own. I also takes him out at different time of the day, so it avoids this problem.

I also recommend you getting a play gym for your greys, so they dont spend their whole day on their cage, otherwise they will likely become cage aggressive. Where they will attack people on their cage.

Ozzie is out of his cage most of the time, about 4 hours the minimum, usually with me on thr couch watching movies or on his play stand. But it depends on the parrot, some parrot might prefer to be out while others likes to spend time in their cage. But your greys should be away from its cage at lease 1 hour each day to avoid cage territorial.

Hope this helped

Click to expand...

Helps a lot, thank you Our parrots are probably already cage aggressive since they used to be caged up all day before we got them... I have huge issues with them when I clean the cages, basically the only way for me to do it without being bitten is to have a cloth in my hand while cleaning since they are afraid of cloths for some reason and then they keep their distance. I feel horrible doing it but I don't really have a choice

Also at night I stress and can't sleep well cos I'm laying in bed listening if the birds are up to something. I just don't understand why my husband can't see my point, lol, gonna show him your reply and maybe he will see it's not just me being paranoid

Taking the parrot in and out of the cage makes perfect sense... basically we have three places where the birds can play themselves, in their cage (where they at this point not spend any time), on top of the cage where there is a play area, and the stick (looks like a small tree with toys hanging all over). I'm gonna ask my husband to do this since Sweedie won't let me touch her will also look for those feeding toys, at the moment we don't have any that works like that.

It's a little extra difficult to implement some things due to our parrots not being very tame or friendly... don't know which one it is, probably a mix of both.

Thanks so much for answering, I'm sure I can find lots of nice tips here on this forum

Oh and maybe you'll know this? We're gonna move about a month from now... is that a good time to introduce new rules or will it make it worse since I've heard African greys dont like change...?

Petra said:

LoveMyParrots said:

Hi and welcome to the forum! Hope you have a good time here!

First of all, do not let Axel and Sweedie be outside of their cage at night! It is just too dangerous! Not only they will distroy stuff, they might also get stuck somewhere, chew on the electronics cords, get injured by dog, or escape.

I would recommend you buying some new toys in the cage, like foraging toys where they have to spend time to get food from the toy. And decrease the time outside of the cage, it should be done very slowly to avoid stress. Don't leave the cage door. One of the biggest mistake parrot owner makes is to leave the door open all day, so the parrot can get in and out of the cage anytime they want, which will lead to parrot that sceams and puking feathers. I always takes Ozzie out of the cage myself, and put him back in the cage, I do not let him go in/out of his cage on his own. I also takes him out at different time of the day, so it avoids this problem.

I also recommend you getting a play gym for your greys, so they dont spend their whole day on their cage, otherwise they will likely become cage aggressive. Where they will attack people on their cage.

Ozzie is out of his cage most of the time, about 4 hours the minimum, usually with me on thr couch watching movies or on his play stand. But it depends on the parrot, some parrot might prefer to be out while others likes to spend time in their cage. But your greys should be away from its cage at lease 1 hour each day to avoid cage territorial.

Hope this helped

Click to expand...

Helps a lot, thank you Our parrots are probably already cage aggressive since they used to be caged up all day before we got them... I have huge issues with them when I clean the cages, basically the only way for me to do it without being bitten is to have a cloth in my hand while cleaning since they are afraid of cloths for some reason and then they keep their distance. I feel horrible doing it but I don't really have a choice

Also at night I stress and can't sleep well cos I'm laying in bed listening if the birds are up to something. I just don't understand why my husband can't see my point, lol, gonna show him your reply and maybe he will see it's not just me being paranoid

Taking the parrot in and out of the cage makes perfect sense... basically we have three places where the birds can play themselves, in their cage (where they at this point not spend any time), on top of the cage where there is a play area, and the stick (looks like a small tree with toys hanging all over). I'm gonna ask my husband to do this since Sweedie won't let me touch her will also look for those feeding toys, at the moment we don't have any that works like that.

It's a little extra difficult to implement some things due to our parrots not being very tame or friendly... don't know which one it is, probably a mix of both.

Thanks so much for answering, I'm sure I can find lots of nice tips here on this forum

Oh and maybe you'll know this? We're gonna move about a month from now... is that a good time to introduce new rules or will it make it worse since I've heard African greys dont like change...?

Click to expand...

I'm glad I helped

With the rules, how long have you had them? If its within a month or two, I'll say give them a little more time until they get even used to you

Yes, parrots doesn't really like changes, so it's best to keep the way they are, but there's some important rules that they need to know, like for Ozzie, he is not allowed to be around the kitchen.

Wow @LoveMyParrots how did you teach him not to be around the kitchen?

We've had them for a few month now, Axel is getting softer to me but Sweedie is not, she's just getting worse it feels:/ She does LOVE my husband though so he's gonna have to help me making her more used to being caged. Axel works fine in his cage, he's more relaxed and calm, I guess it's cos he's older... but since Sweedie is out of her cage we just let Axel be out also:/ I just know we have to do something right about NOW before something happens with the birds and so that I can have some peace of mind.

The house we're moving to has a big room between the dinning room and tv room... thought that could be the parrots room so they can see us most of the time... would love to teach them not to flap around all over the house unless we bring them... is that possible?

Petra said:

Wow @LoveMyParrots how did you teach him not to be around the kitchen?

We've had them for a few month now, Axel is getting softer to me but Sweedie is not, she's just getting worse it feels:/ She does LOVE my husband though so he's gonna have to help me making her more used to being caged. Axel works fine in his cage, he's more relaxed and calm, I guess it's cos he's older... but since Sweedie is out of her cage we just let Axel be out also:/ I just know we have to do something right about NOW before something happens with the birds and so that I can have some peace of mind.

The house we're moving to has a big room between the dinning room and tv room... thought that could be the parrots room so they can see us most of the time... would love to teach them not to flap around all over the house unless we bring them... is that possible?

Click to expand...

The way I teach Ozzie not to be able to go near the kitchen was just simply telling him to come to me when he is about to go the the kitchen. And reward him. And every time when he wants to go and then turn around to go to anther way, I also reward him. And now he just knows that he is not allowed near the kitchen

And yes, it is possible to teach your greys to not to fly around the house. But it would be much easier if you teach them recall training. Where you tell a comment and they will fly to you. Recall training is very important if your greys ever escapes, or just wants them to come to you. It is also a great way of bonding with them.

This is a great article on recall training

Recall Training...Train your parrot to come to you.

Oh my, I have lots to learn Thanks for the article, hope we can make that happen, would be awesome Will read it right now

Good luck on training!

I give my birds the choice to come in and out of their cages. I don't have issues taking them out or putting them back in if and when required.

I would highly suggest looking into positive reinforcement training, often under the guise of clicker training. This can help you handle the birds and teach them where to go.



Since you are moving, you may want to consider making one of the rooms in the new house as the "bird room" and make the room bird-safe. Set the room up so that they are contained within the room, yet have free access around the room. If you don't want them chewing on something then make it inaccessible to chew on, remove it from the room or give them other things to chew on besides what they'd be interested in chewing on.