How do you prevent your flock members from walking on other's cages?

[Dinosrawr]

I've lately had an issue with Shiko and Avery regarding their cage behaviour. Avery is very loving and enjoys being near Shiko, but Shiko absolutely detests any bird except for himself. Because of this, he is incredibly cage territorial and territorial in general around Avery (and ironically, not my boyfriend or I).

I just had a minor incident where Shiko was crawling on Avery's cage, and when Avery hopped onto the side, Shiko went straight for her foot and got a good chomp in before I could stop him . Thankfully it did no real damage and Avery is perfectly fine, just a bit red on her foot (it moves fine, it doesn't hurt when touched, and I've cleaned it just incase). But honestly, Avery won't attack Shiko if he's on her cage, which is great, but Shiko will do anything to get after her. He'll look for ways to get into her cage just to pester her. I think it has a lot to do with jealousy, as she's allowed to be on our shoulders and because she gets more "positive" attention from us (cuddling, snuggling, cooing sounds) because she enjoys being handled by us. Shiko likes to be on us, but is rather hands off and doesn't receive the same kind of attention as a result. He was very cuddly with his breeder, so I just kind of wonder if he sees us doing that to her and gets bothered by it because he's not receiving that physical connection anymore. They both receive the same amount of attention, though.

They can be out of their cages together while supervised, but it's making it difficult to have Shiko so... rampant on destruction. I love that he explores and enjoys being in all aspects of the room, but I can't allow him to keep going on her cage. The only solution I can think of is asking him to step up off her cage and placing him in his for awhile until he learns that going on her cage means going back into his. I don't want his cage to be a punishment, nor am I trying to go that route... rather I'm trying to reinforce that being in a place he's not allowed to means he isn't allowed to explore anymore. Do you guys have any other suggestions than that? I want to keep it as positive as possible and I haven't been able to find too much information on it.

 

[Sterling1113]

What I'm working on with all my birds is "station training".(recommended to me by Monica.) Essentially, having a bird on his/her respective cage/stand, and praising them for staying there. If they leave their "area" move them back, after they stay there for however long, praise them again. Treats or verbal praise, whatever works for your fids.

Pascal is cage aggressive and his beak is big enough to do some serious damage to my little conures. So they're currently being station trained to their stand. You can put a word to it(like recall training) so if someone flies for whatever reason, you can cue the verbal command and have him/her return to their cage/stand/whatever.

If you look it up you can find helpful tips and videos that could explain it much better than I can haha.

Are their cages next to each other? My cages are on opposite sides of the TV in the living room, but if you're in a position that you could hang something(like a clear shower curtain) between their cages that might be enough to discourage Shiko from invading Avery's territory.

Best of luck!!

 

[SilverSage]

I am glad you recognize this as something that needs to be addressed. As a child I had a budgie actually lose a toe to a Quaker because the little guy walked on the wrong cage. I really like the idea of hanging something between the cages, that may work! Also, are the cages flat on top? If so, placing a play gym on top may be enough to rout attention away from the cage itself, however it would utterly contradict the idea of training to stay away from the cage. I have also in the past, if I am going to let one bird out and not the other, places a sheet (usually a light colored one so as not to make it "night time" for the caged bird) over all but the front of the cage. This limits the bars available to be climbed on, and could be used in conjunction with training.

Do your birds fly or are they clipped? If they fly, you could consider hanging things like toys around the cage as a barrier of sorts. Often a flying bird can be distracted by a toy if they have to go around it in order to get where they are going, especially if there is not room to fly around it, and they would have to climb.

In general though, my strategy that we employ at our house is that cages are in the bird room, Play stands are in the living room. We do not allow most of our birds out in the bird room because we have a few that would love to remove a toe if it is stuck between the cage bars, but are willing to work it out if both are out of their cages. It is not at all uncommon for 5 or more birds to be roaming the living-room at a time, working things out (it really seems to help minimize fights if the birds are flighted, but I know not everyone has that option) peacefully, where the same birds would gladly chomp on one another if one were caged.

Best of luck! Keep us updated!

 

[Dinosrawr]

Unfortunately I'm not able to put anything between them like a curtain, we have ceiling tiles opposed to actual dry wall and we worry about Shiko crawling up them and getting into the ceiling. He's tried several times and I actually had to dismantle the top piece of a cat tree stand I've bought them to modify because he kept doing that. He's surprisingly good at climbing anything!

I have tried station training Shiko, but I'm not really worried about him staying on his cage per se, or a stand. It's more like I want him to recognize that Avery's cage is off-limits. He's interested in her toys, her food, her, everything that currently isn't... his or about him. He's very easy to remove from the cage, and he can sort of fly but he's got a soft clip at the moment. Avery is fully flighted, but doesn't use flight as a mode of transportation, rather a means to escape. She won't even fly away from Shiko if he comes near her aggressively, she'll just fluff up all happy and be like, "hey! We're friends right?!"

I wish I had the option to keep cages separate from where they play, but unfortunately we live in a basement suite that's very bachelor pad-esque. Everything is open floor plan and connected (except for the bathroom and our closet). I'm also not able to orientate the cages in a manner that would allow for them to be far apart, as we simply don't have the room to. They're not right beside each other though, rather they're distanced by the cat tree stand between them. And Shiko did have a playtop, but it encouraged Avery to land on it and risk her feet when she started moving around. I removed it. Avery's cage is a dometop instead.

I'll have to try station training Shiko, but I'm not sure he'll ever learn without another bird putting him in his place, so to speak. He used to climb up on the shower curtain we have mounted against the wall behind the cages (protecting the walls from food, poop, etc)., but he took a tumble from it the other day (about a 2 foot fall) onto his cage top. Ever since then, he's refused to climb them. So he's definitely not oblivious to what he should or shouldn't do... it's just a matter of getting him to accept what he can or can't do, haha! Thanks for the advice though

I'll work on station training him on his cage, the cat tree stand, and around Avery's cage. Thankfully Avery stays off his!

 

[veimar]

My gcc always walks on the lovebird cage, but the lovie is too sweet not to bite him hard! She doesn't like very much when he is there and would attempt to bite his feet or to fight him through the bars, but doesn't get really aggressive. Outside of the cage they all (lovie, gcc and 2 budgies) get along pretty well.
Did you try to prevent fighting and biting? I'm extremely strict with my birds about fighting from the very beginning, especially with my gcc. They all know that fighting is not allowed at all and are smart enough to follow that rule. Parry sometimes gets mad, fluffs up and gets ready to attack the annoying budgies, but then looks at me … and walks away! LOL
Right now he is sitting on Coco's cage just two inches from her (she is trying to fall asleep on her very top sleep perch) and he knows very well that he is not allowed to get any closer in my presence. I'm not very good at training, but all my birds know the meaning of the word "No!".
Hope you can train your bird not to bite his buddy.

 

[RavensGryf]

For the first time ever, I have the birds pretty close together. That's the way it works in this room. I just keep a close eye and supervise everyone when they're out. They usually stay on their own cages, but in fact I'm trying to show Raven and Griffin the OPPOSITE of stationing... to go climb and explore the new "playground equipment" I put up!

Griffin's problem is that he is such a "baby" that he doesn't know any better when he crosses boundaries with Raven. (I won't talk about Robin here, he's a little farther away since he could be dangerous to the others).
Raven is fine with Griffin unless he really gets in Raven's face. He tries to show Raven affection, gets super close when Raven's eating, pushes himself close to Raven's face, etc. Just like a young child that gets real close to you and all up in your space because they don't know any better. That's Griffin right now lol.

 

[Dinosrawr]

Julie, that's exactly how I feel about exploring . I want them to explore and enjoy their space, it's just a matter of teaching Shiko that Avery's cage is a no-no. And Veimar, I don't let them escalate. When they're out together, I hardly let them get close because Shiko will definitely try to chomp down on her and Avery will take the Griffin route - she ADORES other birds but just can't seem to make birdy friends, haha! It's so cute, but rarely ends well. The poor girl.

Shiko does work well with verbal cues, and he definitely understands no... but he's just so dang set on exploring. I think mostly due to his bluffing stage right now. I might switch their cage locations around tomorrow and see if it's just him trying to get closer to me while I'm on the couch or my laptop, or if it is his genuine desire to chomp on Avery's face. Maybe that will help alongside station training. He's very obedient when it comes to his training... in 3 days worth of training (so about 3 hours totalled) he knows the command to fly to me, to his perch, to turn around, and almost has wave down pact... all while bluffing. His potential is just phenomenal! And he's just so gentle with us, but not so much with Avery I'm hoping with these suggestions alongside time and patience that this habit of his will shift!

 

[witchbaby]

I had the same issue when I first introduced my conure and cockatiel. Luna wanted nothing more than to befriend Picasso, while poor Picasso wanted nothing to do with her. Luckily, over time they've worked it out and have actually become friends. It's a very hands off friendship, however. Picasso doesn't allow any preening, but they are always with each other.

Luna has a huge flight cage which she hates. She spends most of her day camped out on & roaming around in Picasso's somewhat smaller cage. The first thing she does when I let her out is fly over to him. Picasso's wings have finally grown back and Luna has been teaching him the joys of flying. The two of them explore together. It's really cute. There's always a chance Shiko and Avery will establish a similar relationship in the future.

I do plan on adding larger birds to my flock and I know my very social conure will be curious about the newcomer. I'm worried about her getting hurt, so I'm working on station training ahead of time. Unfortunately, Luna is really stubborn and I might have to resort to seperate out-of-cage times and covering the big birds while the small birds are out. I'm hoping that will be enough. I don't want to clip her wings, but I will do so if her safety depends on it.

 

[Dinosrawr]

I hope they can work out a friendship like that! I actually saw a bit of Shiko's "brotherly" protective side last night, or that's what we like we attribute it to, haha. We were bird sitting for our friends over the weekend, and last night we decided to bring our bird so they could hang out and play. Without my friends there, their birds turned into little monsters! Her conure did a flying attack on my boyfriend, which he's never done before. Loki (her conure) started flying around and it was fine for awhile, but then he landed on Brendon's shoulder while Avery was there and he went after Avery.... and Shiko would have none of it! As soon as Avery moved away and sqwuaked, Shiko scrambled up Brendon's arm to get after Loki and basically birdy-screamed at him. Thankfully no one got hurt, but it was interesting to see that change in flock dynamic.

I think station training is working and it does help, same with letting Shiko know that certain things result in back-in-cage time. I still have yet to move the cages because we've been so busy, but I'm thinking that will also help too. I find that because Avery is flighted she's less likely to get hurt so long as she's not near cages. If she's scared or concerned, she'll fly to my shoulder to avoid Shiko or any situation she feels uncomfortable in. It does run the risk of her landing on his cage, but w've also been teaching her that she can't land on his cage if she flies by scooping her off immediately and gently saying no. Hopefully that works! It'll be nice when we're in a place that has more separate rooms so that we don't have to worry about landing on cages anymore