do you allow..

[triordan]

your bird to climb around on the outside of their cage?

 

[Aussie Ben]

absolutely, its one of my birds favourite places. Why wouldn't you let your bird on there? (aslong as he's supervised and he cant reach anything dangerous). Its odd actually, most people would be asking 'do you let your bird go anywhere else BUT the top of his cage'? I don't see how you can avoid letting him on there unless you always keep him inside the cage. If you are still working on building trust with him so you can handle him, the top of the cage is a great place to start letting him explore.

 

[Chaos_1.0]

Just a little bit

 

[triordan]

i was told today that they can become cage aggressive if you allow it...since they eat,sleep and now play on the cage...and they said the top of the cage is a huge NO-NO....especially for the larger birds....Remington has been with us for 3 weeks(tomorrow) and we have been letting him go from the cage to the perch, and he seems to enjoy it, see my other post from today, I want to be able to hold him now and i think he's almost ready but was told not to allow the cage climbing

 

[nofearengineer]

i was told today that they can become cage aggressive if you allow it...since they eat,sleep and now play on the cage...and they said the top of the cage is a huge NO-NO....especially for the larger birds....Remington has been with us for 3 weeks(tomorrow) and we have been letting him go from the cage to the perch, and he seems to enjoy it, see my other post from today, I want to be able to hold him now and i think he's almost ready but was told not to allow the cage climbing

I think whoever told you that is probably just repeating something they were told, and so forth.

Some of the funnest, and sweetest times I had with my grey were with him on top of his cage. Rolling toys back and forth, hand-to-beak wrestling matches, skritches, you name it.

 

[AndrewH]

I typically don't, simply because the cage is so tall that I can't get to the bird when she is on the top. She hangs out on it sometimes and I haven't noticed any aggression, but she can climb out of reach.

I usually bring her with me to the room I'm in or put her on a play stand.

 

[triordan]

we have a playstand, but he really cant do much, yea we have a couple of toys on it, but it only has 1 main perch and a small one about 6 inches below, it makes like a "T".... I have a large box on top of the cage because yes it is very tall, so mainly he's on the sides, the cage door and the playstand

 

[Aussie Ben]

If the cage is so tall that you can't reach him, then I understand no letting him on top. Other than that I don't see any problems with letting him explore the outside of the cage, he will probably enjoy it . You could even encourage him to explore by placing some tasty treats around the outside of the cage.

I was told today that they can become cage aggressive if you allow it...since they eat,sleep and now play on the cage...and they said the top of the cage is a huge NO-NO....especially for the larger birds....Remington has been with us for 3 weeks(tomorrow) and we have been letting him go from the cage to the perch, and he seems to enjoy it, see my other post from today, I want to be able to hold him now and i think he's almost ready but was told not to allow the cage climbing

wow that is interesting advice, I have never heard someone say that before. Was it a breeder or trainer or ..?? that told you that? I think it sounds like that whole parrot 'dominance with height' myth, which is completely untrue. If a bird is aggressive about the top of the cage, I'm guessing he would be aggressive about any part of the cage and you have a much bigger and more complex problem than 'cage top aggression'.

 

[Dj tweet]

In the books I have red on parrot training it advises not to let your bird anywhere above chest hight until it is fully bonded to you and has a reliable step up
yes this is in part to the dominance issue which may or may not be a myth
from previous experiance the birds I have allowed free rein to so the speak have been alot harder to handle in their step ups especially off high places and they have had more cage territory problems as opposed to the ones I trained 1st and earnt their freedom

This is just my opinion and observations however and I think it's a matter of what feels right and what works for you
best of luck

 

[Aussie Ben]

Firstly

This is just my opinion and observations however and I think it's a matter of what feels right and what works for you
best of luck

Totally agree and I am not looking to start a fight with anyone here nor do I want to see this thread get out of hand

Anyway, from MY understanding, the 'dominance' thing is a myth and the actual real reason birds don't want to come down from high places is fear of the person trying to get them down. My ekkie trusts me, but he doesn't trust some other people in my house. If they go to try and get him down from a high place,he often gets a little fearful or runs away and on occasions gives you the 'i'm gonna bite you look' lol. However, If I go over, all I have to do is raise my hand and down he comes (we don't have this problem with easy to reach places). They quickly figure out that if they fly up there, it is much harder to be reached, thus they can go about their own business. This is not a display of dominance but a way of finding security. Anyway, I'm not an expert, I have just read a lot (research papers, books, websites etc) and nowhere have I read of parrots displaying dominance as a natural behaviour (wild or tame). Sure other types of birds do, but not parrots. Parrots stick to the treetops for safety. Like anyone else, this is just my opinion from the information available to me

 

[Von1983]

Interesting concept that I've never heard of before. I can certainly see the method in the "madness".

Cal comes if you put your hand out and the only time she goes up high now is SO you put your hand out!!! She has an immense amount of trust in us now which is humbling. The only reason she went up high before was because she didn't realise she could pad around on the floor, us or lower furniture. We just let her realise that in her own time.

For a large bird like a Macaw though, I'm pretty sure I'D be thinking differently too!!!

 

[bogo1]

For my two cents worth on the dominance thing (and it comes with a disclaimer as I am a nurse with a masters not a biologist ) my reading and 40 years of conures with occasional fostering of larger birds is that the idea of parrots having a natural hierarchy and engaging in dominance posturing is a myth that gets its life from people observing behavior in parrots and then trying to understand the behavior by comparing it to more familiar animals such as dogs. What I see with parrots is that dominance is not necessary in the wild but defending space or a mate from a real or perceived threat can be. So we humans interacting with birds may misunderstand a birds's posturing of ( for example ) " You scare me and my only defense is to get out of your reach and bite anything poking at me!" for "hey I am acting this way to show you I am the alpha bird in this house!" The difference is in the answer...trust vs. force. Parrot pets differ from many others because they process info and can and do have their own agendas. The humans they interact with best are those who understand and gain trust with a capital T. If you build that trust from the beginning...rewarding cooperation with treats, words, and freedoms, then when you need to put a bird away for safety while you run an errand and the bird is busy and content right where she is and would have played happily there another hour if left to her own devices, then she needs to trust that your hand reaching up to her 1) means her no harm, 2) will be gentle and a safe perch, 3) will reward her giving up her own agenda with kind words, a treat, or a kiss, and 4) will settle her in a safe place and let her out again soon. That is a very different dynamic than the human assuming it is about making sure they are the alpha bird and forcing their will on the parrot. Both approaches will get the bird in the cage but the latter will lead to problems down the road.

Gee..maybe that was more like 10 cents worth. Sorry!

 

[antoinette]

What ever works for you, try it out it's that simple
Give it a go. In the beginning, give him time, to investigate and play.
If you notice a dramatic change in the birds behavior, cage aggressive, then stop.
I do not go by what a lot of the "professionals" have written, I follow my gut instinct.

My AG Mishka spends hours climbing to the top of her cage and playing.
Some most special moments occurred on top of her cage
Below she is playing "underneath" it "My little Bird brain"

 

[Spiritbird]

You can find article after article disputing height dominence. It makes sense in that birds go naturally to high places and if we deprive them of that then we are guilty of keeping our birds at what we want them to be not what they truly are (intelligent, exuberant, mischievous clowns). My TAG is up high on her cage, shower rod and anywhere else she flies to and she is a sweet, loving creature. The use of the word "allow" in the introduction of this thread makes my hair stand up on end. (I am sure Rosie's feathers are up too)

I have also read many articles and talked with professional bird caregivers and among wild flocks of parrots there is no alpha bird. Sure they may squabbles among themselves at times but that is the nature of the wild.

 

[triordan]

Sorry Spiritbird, didnt mean to ruffle your feathers by using the word "allow"~ i guess i used it because i was told not to allow....

 

[Cynthia]

But of course!! Oliver loves the top of his cage, he sprints from side to side trying to keep his balance and you should see him dance up there! Hes such a goofball. I might have to add a few ropes and such like in Chaos 1.0s picture!

 

[bogo1]

Great thread, triordan! As you can see, we are all coming from slightly different perspectives but the gist is that you will probably be fine as long as the bird is comfortable coming back down and safe while "up there". Use your best judgment and let us know how it goes!

 

[nofearengineer]

I think this whole thing probably started with an aggressive bird, who naturally went to the top of its cage, as it is the easiest position to defend. Any military commander knows high ground is where it's at.

Add a poor sense of cause and effect, and voila!, the old wives' tale starts.