Bites the cage if inside. Please help!!!

hello!

My boy is a little spoiled. He's got a very nice big cage with 3-4 toys on it all the time. If I see he doesnt pay attention to a certain toy I will change it for a new one. he also has a 5 feet high "tree" with ropes and branches to climb, with 4 toys in it at all times. and if i am in the backyard I'll put him on his outdoor play stand, ill often take him for a walk in my own back yard, he loves being outdoors! If am at home he'll be either on the "tree" or on the top of the cage with the door open. He's only inside the cage when he does something bad or to sleep. in the past 2-3 months he's gotten into the habit of biting certain parts of the bars whenever he's inside of it. Since he's near a window he wakes up with the sun rises and so starts biting the cage to be let out, so i have to get up and open it for him.
im worried about 3 things:

#1 Cage stress. When I first got him the breeder recommended that he spent at least 60% of the time in the cage for another month and he did.

#2 Paint toxicity. I know where he chews because the paint is chipped from inside and i find paint powder too.

#3: Beak damage: every morning, even on weekends, i have to get up when he wakes up because I'm afraid he'll damage his beak biting the cage.

Im not sure if he does this when im not home. one of these days ill record him to see...
Please help! im not sure what to do. I always thought he'd appreciate being let out as much as possible, but now its concerning me .... Thanks in advance!

Well, the paint chips are definitely a concern. I was going to say all birds do this to some extent. They are grooming their beaks partly, especially when they are rubbing their beak up and down the bars. My ex bf accused one of my conures of trying to sharpen her beak in order to bite him. I had to explain, no, all healthy parrots beak groom every day! But, I have never had any powder coating or paint come off and both my cages are more than a decade old.

You may need to find a stainless steel cage without any paint on it for his safety.

I wouldn't worry about his beak so much unless he starts actually wearing a groove in it. That would be a problem because it could affect his ability to eat. We know parrots are capable of extraordinary chewing without harming themselves. My Nanday can chew through large, Manzanita perches. She destroys wood toys very quickly as well! And in 11.5 years of chewing on everything she can get a hold of, nothing has ever been wrong with her beak.

I would be concerned though about possible poisoning from the paint chips.

you need to hold your bird more often talk to him put him on your shoulder when you watch or lisen to the radio .when your not home leave the radio on lowyou will see a differance in him african grays are the same they need attantion or they will pluck them selfs.your bird when you have him on the cage or on your hand you should be looking down on him when you talk to him at all times.your bird wants to play.

place the cage 10 inches from any wall.

i have had birds since i can remember iam 50 years old my bird is 19 years old.he did the same thing its called terrable twos.

Well, it sounds like the bird is getting a lot of attention. Maybe he's gotten too much actually and doesn't want to entertain himself when he's in the cage?

At any rate though, his safety needs to be addressed along with the behavior issue. Many bird cages contain lead, cadmium or other heavy metals. Yes, it's horrible these things would be in cages manufactured for birds, but they often are.

he's 8mn old, not quite 2 yet

My boyfriend says the paint is powder coating, i read its supposed to be safe for birds and rarely do they contain unsafe amounts of metals. so i guess my most pressing issue its how to address the behavior. more cage time? i thought of putting those edible perches in the places he chews the most, maybe he'll chew on the perch since it actually breaks instead of the cage bar.

Well, terrible 2's kind of describes a period they go through in their development that is a lot like human children at the age of 2. An 8 month old Senegal is probably at that stage. That is the age my Nanday was going through it. It will test boundaries around that time, and may even tell you, "No!" or "Don't!", lol!

For my Nanday it was a big deal. I read quite a few bird behavior books to help me get her through it. For my Blue Crown there wasn't even a ripple.

Yes, I would provide plenty of "chewables". Some birds like a grooming toy made of cotton rope or twine or leather more than wood toys. Some birds are very hard to buy toys for. My Blue Crown needed challenging things to take apart. She loved big cotton knotted rope toys because she had to spend hours a day working on those knots. She also loved her little plastic treasure chest with different sized holes and filled with different sized wood blocks that she had to figure out how to get them all out. She also enjoyed unscrewing the links that hold the toys to the top of the cage. So I would put several together and hang that up and she could take each one off one by one.

My Nanday loves every kind of toy there is so she is easy to entertain.

You could also try toilet paper rolls from unscented toilet paper. Or even balled up paper. Easy for them to shred and get some of their energy or frustration out.