Happy huts

I read somewhere on the forums that happy huts can trigger nesting behavior. Is this true? I bought one for Pyro before he came home and long before I knew this could become a problem. I got it for him because I knew he was going to be young when he came home and I always worry that he wont be able to maintain his own body heat at night. I do cover his cage at night, so that helps. The nights are pretty cold here in Michigan and I keep my house heated at 68 degrees. The vet did tell me this temperature is fine and that he doesnt need a heat lamp. Pretty much she told me he is fine the way things are. I didn't ask her about the happy hut though because I didn't know there was a potential problem. He loves his happy hut and that is usually where he is at in his cage. I thought about taking it out during the day to force him to explore his cage more. When he is in his cage all he does is sit on his food dishes and eat or sit on his happy hut. He never goes in the hut, but he just sits on top of it. When he is out of his cage he explores and plays with his outside toys. I'm wondering if this is normal behavior? Should I take away the happy hut during the day or take it away altogether?

I have a happy hut for Keen. I didn't have one for the first several weeks I had her & I know PetCo didn't provide her one. I have seen her go in it during the day, but mostly it's just to walk through because she's playing. I have never seen her SLEEP in it though. She is always sitting on a perch when I put her to bed at night and when I uncover her in the morning.

I haven't ever seen Pyro go in his either. He is always sitting on top of his though. I think the inside might be too small for him. The packaging said for conures and cockatiels though. I attached some pics of him sitting on top of it.

I hadn't seen Phoenix go into his happy hut either but one day I didn't cover him at the time I usually do and instead covered him when i went to sleep, around 12 am and he was inside the happy hut. so my guess is yours probably does go inside his but after you cover him. He also used to always sit on top of the happy hut like yours but he eventually started exploring his cage, I'm sure yours will too even if you don't take out the happy hut.

Maxx LOVES his. He goes in it a few times a day for naps, and climbs in it at 8p for the night. I usually cover his cage a bit after that, and don't hear a peep out of him until I uncover him at 7a.

Halo sleeps on top of his happy hut, and naps inside it during the day.

SunMommy said:

I haven't ever seen Pyro go in his either. He is always sitting on top of his though. I think the inside might be too small for him. The packaging said for conures and cockatiels though. I attached some pics of him sitting on top of it.

Click to expand...

My sun had one of those and did the same thing. He sat/slept on top of it. I've since taken it out. He sleeps hanging on a rope toy now. My dusky has one of the triangular ones and adores it. She climbs in it when she's ready for bed. I've never seen her sleep anywhere else. I tried the triangular tent kind with my sun and once again he sat on it and never went in.

Bobioden said:

Maxx LOVES his. He goes in it a few times a day for naps, and climbs in it at 8p for the night. I usually cover his cage a bit after that, and don't hear a peep out of him until I uncover him at 7a.

Click to expand...

same here. dont think my conures could live without theirs.

I don't mean to be a buzzkill, because those pictures are adorable!

But, be very careful with these - one, for the reason you mentioned, they have the potential to trigger hormonal behavior, but two, because our little guys are very "beaky" by nature and will pick apart the happy hut over time. This means a lot of loose threads and/or materials that can be accidentally swallowed and harmful to their digestive tracts. So, if you decide to keep the hut in the cage indefinitely, please go over it once a day with a close eye and a pair of scissors, and trim any loose pieces that may pop up.

TheDukeofGoodCleanFun said:

I don't mean to be a buzzkill, because those pictures are adorable!

But, be very careful with these - one, for the reason you mentioned, they have the potential to trigger hormonal behavior, but two, because our little guys are very "beaky" by nature and will pick apart the happy hut over time. This means a lot of loose threads and/or materials that can be accidentally swallowed and harmful to their digestive tracts. So, if you decide to keep the hut in the cage indefinitely, please go over it once a day with a close eye and a pair of scissors, and trim any loose pieces that may pop up.

Click to expand...

Ok I will do that. I have noticed that he chews on the ropes that hang the hut.

My birds love their tents....I don't use happy huts anymore...I get mine from a lady that hand makes tents at justbirdtents.com.....my birds go nuts over them. They usually stay out of them during the day and just sleep in them at night. Sometimes, my love bird will nap on top of hers during the day but then crawls inside it at night.
She had a happy hut a couple of years ago and she started to get friendly with it if you know what I mean so I took it away for awhile...now that she has this tent, she has been fine....silly birds.

When I first brought home my BCC she slept in her little tent. The breeder had advised me to get her one. I don't remember if that was called a Happy Hut or something else. Then when she was about 10 months old she decided she didn't want it anymore. She always let me know she didn't like something by pooping all over it. And that's what she did with it! So I took it out then.

I had given one to my Nanday as well but she never liked it for going into or sleeping. She just happily shredded it.

roxynoodle said:

When I first brought home my BCC she slept in her little tent. The breeder had advised me to get her one. I don't remember if that was called a Happy Hut or something else. Then when she was about 10 months old she decided she didn't want it anymore. She always let me know she didn't like something by pooping all over it. And that's what she did with it! So I took it out then.

I had given one to my Nanday as well but she never liked it for going into or sleeping. She just happily shredded it.

Click to expand...

Pyro poops on his, but I think its on accident. He scoots to the back and tries to drop his bombs off the side. Sometimes they just go down the side of the happy hut. I've had to wash it before and I'm cleaning his cage today and it looks like I'll need to wash the happy hut again.

In her case she was doing it on purpose. She was pooping inside it and all over the outside, lol! She was always that way. When I gave her something she didn't like, she would go and poop all over it! Or she would fill it with food and pieces of rope she unknotted from her big knotty rope toys. It was her way of saying, "That's what I think of this! I think it should be treated as a toilet or a garbage can!"

roxynoodle said:

In her case she was doing it on purpose. She was pooping inside it and all over the outside, lol! She was always that way. When I gave her something she didn't like, she would go and poop all over it! Or she would fill it with food and pieces of rope she unknotted from her big knotty rope toys. It was her way of saying, "That's what I think of this! I think it should be treated as a toilet or a garbage can!"

Click to expand...

Reading this made me laugh out loud and disturb my poor sleeping birds. Totally made my night because I can just picture my one conure doing that while mumbling to herself. She normally just totally shreds and destroys whatever it is she doesn't like. The more expensive it is=better and more fun to destroy.

I dont have the ever popular Happy Hut, but what I do have is a little tent it hangs from the top of the cage and lucy sleeps on it, in it, drags her toys in there and pushes them out the other side... she loves it. It's made of microfleece so I dont have to worry about toes getting caught. it's super easy to clean too, i just throw it in the wash with the towels

^ That sounds like the ones I had. Yeah, it was kind of funny how the BCC loved it as a baby and then decided one day she was a big bird now and didn't want it anymore.

Sorry, Customcasket, that I made you wake up your birds! Bird stories will do that though, lol! There was never any doubt with her when she didn't like something. For a few months I had a larger water bowl hanging in there to help her bathe, but she hated that as well. Every day she would poop all over it and fill it with stuff. Finally after several months of having to constantly clean it, I gave up and took it out. She did the same thing with cuttle bones as well.