Skye still won’t come out of his cage...

We have been trying to get Skye to come out of his cage for several days in preparation of his vet appointment on Saturday. He will not even consider it an option. We have even tried to just leave the door open all day. Nope. He shows literally no interest in the “world” outside of his cage. He hasn’t had so much as a nibble of millet because we are trying to bribe him out and he is just STUBBORN. The good news is that I can get Sunny out, and into his make shift carrier no problem. Sunny will happily come out to explore and once he’s been out for about 10 minutes he will get onto a stick (or broom handle) and let us place him in his box. My escape artist will absolutely be going to the vet this weekend. Hopefully he doesn’t escape in the car. Lol.

I’m out of ideas for getting Skye to come out, so I’m thinking I’ll need to wait until he is ready to come out before scheduling him another appointment. I really don’t want to force him, I feel like that is just cruel, but I also know he needs to come out eventually.

Thoughts? Ideas?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Gee, just brainstorming here...
Can ya just take the whole cage and let the vet get him out?
Get in there with a towel and bring him out?
Ask a competent buddy to bring him out?
Sure, you could just wait... hopefully he won't get sick beforehand...
Ask the vet for ideas... any chance of a house call, from this vet or one he recommends?

Good luck!

Drape his cage and make it dark. Then put a place to land with millet treats outside the cage and put bright light by it. Budgies move too
light. Good luck

Pull food out at night and then maybe move it to the outside? Some people will not like this, but pulling food at night is common practice for many..So maybe he will come out to get food in the morning if his normal dish is not there (especially if he grazes at night--which is a real possibility). Do not starve him -- if no progress, put the food back in, but you might try waking him up and leaving the food outside for a bit -like an hour or two (...a treat..something that she knows and likes---maybe that isn't millet?) and see if within an hour or so she goes for it. If not, you will have to try something else because you don't want to starve her/mess with blood-sugar too much. This would have to be a short experiment...

I am not saying this will make her vet appointment ready, but it could at least break a barrier with regard to out-of-cage issues. I would postpone her appointment if you can.. just because that is going to scare her even more.

If you do get him out, I found that Noodles initially transferred better to a covered travel cage---(make a cave and then lift off the cloth immediately once they are in).
Note: I DO NOT think you should be doing traumatic stuff on his 1st-5th time out of the cage, as that will just create negative associations....IMO

I looked at a video about getting a bird out of the cage. This lady tried with a perch, but that didn't work, so she took a portion of the top of the cage off and gently herded the bird with her hand to the open part and it flew out. If the top of your cage is one piece then you would have to remove the whole top. Mine is that way. Could you get hold of Skye if he left the cage that way?

I would just be cautious about making the outside of the cage a fearful place---I mean, I guess if someone coaxed him out anonymously, you might seem safer than that "other" person who did the coaxing, but I would be careful about the possibility of attributing trauma/associations to certain people (in an already fearful bird). How long has it been? A month?
I don't think that is long enough to resort to toweling etc.

I’m going to think out loud here, so please just bear with me.

Putting the whole cage in the car would have been my first option, except it won’t fit in my car.

There aren’t any avian vets in my area that do house calls, so that’s out. There is 1 exotic vet I could try, but I’d rather go to the avian vet. And to be honest I doubt the exotic vet will come this far for a house call.

I can try to drape a few towels over the cage except the door area and leave treats in view where it’s brighter, I haven’t tried that. I can try that tomorrow and see how that goes.

I can’t take the top off the cage without breaking down the sides of the cage. Plus the noise will probably scare him quite a bit too.

We brought him home November 29th, so we have had him almost 7 weeks. In that time he has made leaps and bounds, and has done very well adjusting to life in a home.

I’m not sure how I feel about removing the food overnight. I can see the point, if he’s hungry he might be more likely to leave his cage for his food in the morning. I might be more likely to remove it for an hour or so then offer it outside the cage first.

If it wasn’t for the unplanned meet and greet with Sunny I wouldn’t even bat an eye and just cancel the appointment for Skye.

Maybe I can bring some fresh droppings into the vet from Skye and that might suffice for now!




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think the structure of your cage is a lot like mine, so no taking the top off would not be an option. Thinking about it now in that video that cage was smaller, and the top just snapped off.

Jasmine333 said:

I think the structure of your cage is a lot like mine, so no taking the top off would not be an option. Thinking about it now in that video that cage was smaller, and the top just snapped off.

Click to expand...

That would be so much easier than what I have now. His first cage that would have been an option. The top opens and you can stick a perch between the two sides to keep them up. But that cage is Sunny’s home until they can be in the bigger cage together.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My cockatoo has a cage like that and if I open the top she FREAKS out lol. She has never ever used the perch on top..just sits somewhere shaking until the top is shut and perch removed...
UGH....Sometimes she is very frustrating when it comes to things one would hope she might enjoy.

I've been looking around the internet and so far about all the info found on getting the bird out of the cage without using force and breaking trust is place toys and food outside the cage. Have you tried putting all his toys and food outside the cage? I know you said you tried enticing him out with millet, but maybe if all the toys and dishes were on a table near the cage . . . . . . . . . . perhaps he'd come out.

noodles123 said:

My cockatoo has a cage like that and if I open the top she FREAKS out lol. She has never ever used the perch on top..just sits somewhere shaking until the top is shut and perch removed...

UGH....Sometimes she is very frustrating when it comes to things one would hope she might enjoy.

Click to expand...

Sometimes I wonder what goes through their minds. I bought this cute little swing for Skye with a bell underneath and colorful beads around the sides. He hated it. I bought him a simple metal one with a wood perch, no frills, very basic and simple, he loves it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’ve read as a rule of thumb to never try to make a budgie do something she doesn’t want to do.
Can you provide her a safe space, not too big but big enough, where she has access to her cage and can come out on her own?

I’m having slow but consistent success with this method for my agoraphobic (not really, just cautious survival instincts, I believe) young one. She’s got a play tent, intended to be used for young children. It’s got mesh sides and an open roof to which I sewed a mesh sloped ceiling. I made a tree stand for fly/play time. Treats, snacks and other goodies are littered about. The mesh provides access to natural light through the windows. When it’s cold, a transparent drape made of artificial fiber cuts the draft. Natural fibers breathe, as you know.

HowdyDoDee said:

I’ve read as a rule of thumb to never try to make a budgie do something she doesn’t want to do.

Can you provide her a safe space, not too big but big enough, where she has access to her cage and can come out on her own?



I’m having slow but consistent success with this method for my agoraphobic (not really, just cautious survival instincts, I believe) young one. She’s got a play tent, intended to be used for young children. It’s got mesh sides and an open roof to which I sewed a mesh sloped ceiling. I made a tree stand for fly/play time. Treats, snacks and other goodies are littered about. The mesh provides access to natural light through the windows. When it’s cold, a transparent drape made of artificial fiber cuts the draft. Natural fibers breathe, as you know.

Click to expand...

I would never force Skye or Sunny to do anything that isn’t necessary. At some point Skye will NEED to leave his cage to go to the vet. We are focusing on training that behavior at the moment. So far he has gotten to perching at the exit. That’s not a lot, but it is at the same time. Skye is much more timid than Sunny, for a few reasons. It’s partly his personality, and partly because of his background.
Just a quick overview of Skye’s background: He’s not a baby, he is 2 years this month. He was held back from sale by his breeder to be used for breeding purposes. He is definitely a he, but didn’t perform with the ladies, so he was brought to a local family run pet shop to be sold as a pet, where we purchased him. Skye has made a huge transition to the pet life. He has come a very long way in a very short time. He was absolutely terrified the day we brought him home. Within the week (I think it was 3 or 4 days) he was calling out for us to come sit in the room with him. He quickly warmed up to my daughter and myself. He doesn’t like my husband, or my son (8) but is especially fond of my daughter(10). My husband and son tend to be loud so I’m not really surprised that Skye isn’t all that fond of them. My daughter has done an amazing job, and he is such a good little guy. Skye is an attention hog, and is making up for lost time, but his WHOLE life was nothing but a cage, he wasn’t hand raised, or anywhere near tame when we brought him home.
Fast forward 7 weeks: Skye is still not to sure fingers are to be trusted, but will step up onto anything perch like. Arms, broom handle, actual perches, sticks, you name it. All we have to do is say step up, and he jumps right on, even from several inches away. He’s slowly getting there. He will land on our arms and fluff up and preen himself as long as we keep him inside his cage. He will gladly nibble millet or lettuce from our hands. He will even (rarely) trust fingers to stand on for some millet. We have tried every suggestion to get him to come out, except for removing his food at night and hoping he will come out to eat in the morning. I’m personally not comfortable with that, even though I know realistically it won’t hurt him, I just cannot with hold food. Skye is still very much the timid distrustful bird that we brought home. He’s afraid of new things, he’s afraid of cell phone’s because I forgot to put mine on silent 1 time . I don’t think his distrustful nature will ever truly change, and that’s fine. We love him as he is. But there are certain things that he NEEDS to be able to handle, for his own health and well-being, and leaving the safety of his cage is one of them.






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

With all of our Amazons over these many years, getting them to come out of a cage has never been a problem. In fact, keeping them in a cage has been a greater challenge.

Cages are designed to be shipped dis-assembled and as a result them come apart. Several of our Amazons (including our current owner) simply gave-up waiting for us, so they simply dismantled the cage themselves.

The recommendation regarding food, IMHO, is a great idea for both getting them out and also, getting them back in...

If the food does not work, simply consider taking one side section-off. Now, simply removing a section could freak some Parrots, so consider slowly over several hours or days, sliding the section open.

Most Parrots, once they come out of the cage, like being out of the cage.

I agree, at this point, set the Avian Appointment Off for a bit until you succeed in getting your Parrot to be comfortable being out!

There is no need to destroy any bond you have by attempting to use a towel to remove the Parrot from the cage.

Ijistcantsayno said:

Putting the whole cage in the car would have been my first option, except it won’t fit in my car.

Click to expand...

Kudos and gold stars to you for providing your budgie a sufficiently large cage!!

:smile022: :smile022: :emoticonc :smile022: :smile022:

noodles123 said:

My cockatoo has a cage like that and if I open the top she FREAKS out lol. She has never ever used the perch on top..just sits somewhere shaking until the top is shut and perch removed...
UGH....Sometimes she is very frustrating when it comes to things one would hope she might enjoy.

Click to expand...

Several months ago I upgraded my Sunny Sun Conure's cage to the "Conure Taj Mahal" (so named by Petco's bird expert). I was quite excited that the beautiful playtop would give her additional out-of-cage play areas. But of course, My Sunny still refuses to visit it for more than a few moments at a time!

In fact, for quite a while the budgies avoided the playtop also, only perching on the edge. Once they finally got used to it, though, now it's their preferred location. (The established budgie presence does not account for my conure's avoidance of the playtop, since she happily hangs out in the budgies cage.)

Sometimes it seems our birds can read our minds, and just want to enjoy our frustration!

Skye still won't come out of his cage...

Click to expand...

Once Skye comes out of his cage, you're going to wonder why you ever decided to train for that.

At some point, your Sunny is going to make Skye into his henchman.

And you will long for the old days, before it was too late to contain them!

SailBoat said:

With all of our Amazons over these many years, getting them to come out of a cage has never been a problem. In fact, keeping them in a cage has been a greater challenge.

Cages are designed to be shipped dis-assembled and as a result them come apart. Several of our Amazons (including our current owner) simply gave-up waiting for us, so they simply dismantled the cage themselves.

The recommendation regarding food, IMHO, is a great idea for both getting them out and also, getting them back in...

If the food does not work, simply consider taking one side section-off. Now, simply removing a section could freak some Parrots, so consider slowly over several hours or days, sliding the section open.

Most Parrots, once they come out of the cage, like being out of the cage.

I agree, at this point, set the Avian Appointment Off for a bit until you succeed in getting your Parrot to be comfortable being out!

There is no need to destroy any bond you have by attempting to use a towel to remove the Parrot from the cage.

Click to expand...

Taking even 1 panel out isn’t an option without compromising the rest of the cage...it’s 6 pieces held together and interlocked by 12 screws. Well, bolts really. The kind you tighten with an Allen wrench, that is provided, when purchased.

I’m trying to be patient and let Skye take his time. He will get there eventually....his trust in us is currently more important than a visit to the vet.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

fiddlejen said:

Skye still won't come out of his cage...

Click to expand...

Once Skye comes out of his cage, you're going to wonder why you ever decided to train for that.



At some point, your Sunny is going to make Skye into his henchman.



And you will long for the old days, before it was too late to contain them!

Click to expand...

You are probably 100% correct. Lol.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk