my parrot is cage bound

Hi guys, i hope you are all well. I'm having a little problem with my pineapple conure. I bought her from a breeder and was told she is hand reared. The day after i bought her home she was stepping up and letting us stroke her and all sorts! Today is the fourth day and I'm having a slight problem. We keep her cage open and she stays on the top. Any attempt to bring her away from it, she'll just fly right back to the cage. She'll still step up and take food from us while shes on the cage but how do i get her to come away from the cage and not think of the cage as her only safe place? how do i get her to trust us?
Any answers/method will be greatly appreciated

Welcome! I guess I would say that she’s still getting used to her surroundings and to you. The cage is probably the first place that she feels safe, so she may not be ready to part with it yet. This thread has some great ideas for building a bond with her. http://www.parrotforums.com/general-parrot-information/49144-tips-bonding-building-trust.html

My advice would be to move slowly and take your signals from her. It will happen! If she’s happier getting to know you on/near her cage - that would be where I’d start, and expand slowly from there. Hope you’ll share pictures of your little cutie!

Welcome and congratulations. You can try temporarily stopping the free access , until the two of you are more bonded. Instead take the bird from the cage to a play area you have set up that isn't higher than your face. Make sure you are spending at least three hours a day interacting and out of the cage
My parrots have the tops of their cage with lots of toys and perches and food dishes, sometimes they don't want to leave that area either. That is unless I stand on a step stool and make my head higher than them perching, then they step up. But usually they are hanging on me and I wish they were on the play area, that's Parrots for you four days isn't much time, lots if getting used to each other and the environment.

Welcome to the community and congrats on your little Green Cheek! They're awesome, loving little birds and just wonderful companions and family members...

As already mentioned above, 4 days home is like 5 seconds in "new parrot time", lol. If your new little baby Green Cheek is regularly stepping-up for you and interacting with you and your hands with no issues like you describe, then he/she was no doubt hand-raised by his/her breeder, and it sounds like you got a loving little baby...But as already mentioned above, he/she has only been in your home for 4 days...So she went from being with her breeder, who hand-raised/fed her, and her clutchmates/siblings, to being alone in a new home/place with new people and no siblings around. So as you actually mentioned, in the first 4 days of her/him being with you, she has established her cage as her "Territory" or her "Safe-Space", and it's the only Territory/Safe-Space he/she has right now in your home, so that's where she feels comfortable right now. In addition, in only 4 days there isn't anyone in your home that has earned his/her trust yet, which is the very first step to building a relationship/bond with a new bird, so she also doesn't have anyone that she has chosen as being "her person" yet, so she's not yet comfortable with one person enough to hang-out on/with them either. So right now her cage is where she feels the most comfortable, and that's why she's constantly staying on it/in it/around it...

I'm assuming by the way you described it that you have your bird's cage located in the "main-room" of your home, meaning the room where you guys spend most of your time whenever you're home (usually the living room, family room, etc.), which is exactly where it needs to be, so that he/she is always "among her Flock" whenever any of you are at home. Just being in the same room as him/her as much as possible will gradually make him/her more and more comfortable with all of you, and she'll slowly start to feel more and more comfortable away from her cage every day...

In the meantime, I would try to either buy or build her some other "territories" that are just hers, like some different floor and/or tabletop perches, playstands, T-stands, etc. that are located in different rooms around the house and in different places. This is going to allow her to feel more comfortable in different places all over the house so she'll start to stray away from her cage. It's really convenient and helpful to have at least one play-stand/T-stand that is portable and can easily be moved from room to room, so that she can be with you/someone in the house no matter what room you're in, and this will not only help to earn her trust and build a bond with her, but it will also help tremendously to start getting her feeling much more comfortable away from her cage. The stand doesn't have to be anything big or fancy, and you can make a portable T-stand out of PVC piping/fittings from Lowes and some Vet Wrap from Tractor Supply for under $10. Or you can buy a portable perch/stand at most pet shops...

The other thing you might want to start doing, if you're not already, is take advantage of the time period after dinner but before bedtime, as it's typically this time when birds are the most docile and cuddly, because they are tired and they want to be with their Flock snuggling. I don't know what you guys do at nighttime before bed, but if you are TV/Movie watchers, there's no better way to bond with your new bird than to shut the door to their cage so they can't go back in, turn the TV on and the lights out, and then curl-up on the couch or in a chair with a blanket and watch TV or a movie with your Green Cheek on your shoulder...They typically absolutely love this time of the day, and most Green Cheeks love nothing more than to cuddle-up with you and do some "beak-grinding" while on your shoulder, in the crook of your neck, behind your ear, on your chest, etc. while you give them some head/neck/chin scritches. This will help them to feel more and more comfortable with you and your home, strengthen your bond with them, earn their trust, and get them feeling comfortable away from their cage.

So the general idea is interacting as much as you can with your new bird AWAY from his/her cage, and to get them to start feeling more and more comfortable in places away from their cage, whether it be on different perches/stands or on/with you and your family...And something else that you need to remember that is extremely important is that you do still need to respect their "Safe-Space", as a lot of birds will stay extremely territorial about their cages for their entire lives, and even though they are the most loving, cuddly birds in the world, they still do no want your hands inside of their cage whenever they are also inside of their cage. I have an almost 4 year-old Quaker who I've had since she was 12 weeks-old and who is just a cuddlebug, but who it this day I have to open up her cage door, let her come out on her own, and THEN I can put her on my shoulder or on one of her stands or on top of her cage while I change her food/water and clean her cage out. If I open up her cage door and just stick my hand right in to get her out or to remove a dish, I will get an immediate warning-nip, and if that doesn't get my hand oui I'll get a good bite...But if she's outside of her cage then I can do whatever I want inside of her cage...So keep that in-mind for the future...

The bottom-line is that you're only 4-days in to a 30-40 year journey with your new baby Green Cheek. A month from now things will be totally different, and a year from now totally different than that...It just takes time, patience, and consistent daily interaction and love..

thank you so much. I quite liked the idea of watching a movie at night together as me and my family watch an episode of a show every night together. So i did try to get my parrot to watch with us. unfortunately she was'nt a big fan and kept squirming to go back to her cage. maybe she needs to have a little while longer to get used to us?

I didn't read every little bit of text in this thread, so sorry if someone already said this. I'm not sure where her cage is located, but putting her cage in an area of common use (such as the living room, where you and your family watch tv) might be a good way to let her see you all relaxing, but still near her cage. That way, over time she will feel more comfortable being with you knowing that her cage is nearby.

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Welcome!


It's only been just four days. Your bird is adjusting to its surroundings, considering, so I'd say "cage-bound" is a bit premature of an observation.


Keep its cage door open. Hang around "in the area" with it, in a relaxed and chill sort of way. It'll eventually become relaxed enough to expand the boundaries of its home from the cage to the surrounding environment.