Can u teach a conure not to poo on your shoulder while sitting on you?

[ewalker]

Just wondering.. I mean, it is only poo... However, if there is a way to teach them to not poo/potty while they are sitting on you shoulder, that would be awesome! Anyone have any pointers, that would be great

 

[IcyWolf]

Yes, you can potty train your bird. I'm going to give you a super quick run down only because I told myself I wasn't going to post anymore tonight, lol. Learn your birds body language, if you watch him enough it will soon be pretty obvious to you when he is getting ready to go. When you see that he looks like he is going to, take him to whatever approved pooping place you have made for him and hold him there. Try saying the word poopy, or potty or whatever word you want him to associate with going to the bathroom. Hold him there until he goes and make sure to say your word right as he does and give him a treat. Make a big deal about, let him know that you are proud of him and that he did a good thing. Keep up this routine, it sounds a bit crazy but birds are smart, he will learn in no time that that is where he is supposed to poop and he will go there on his own. We trained our conure and used his cage as the poopy place, the only problem with this is that his cage is in our room so if we have him in the living room we have to periodically bring him back to his cage to poop or else we get pooped on. If we are in the same room as his cage, which we usually are, he just flies to the top of his cage, poops and then flies back to us

 

[Featheredsamurai]

@Icywolf

Never recommend using treats in potty training, it's dangerous to do so because some birds will hold it in because they want a treat. Birds have died from internal infections caused by this.

It's better to just get excited as a reward

 

[lene1949]

I'm happy if Max does his morning poop on his playstand, so I can wipe it off...

 

[Sulphiria]

Two of ours are potty trained as well. I wish our quaker would. She seems to poop more than the other 4 put together.

 

[dishgal1]

I have what we call a "potty Stand" ........first thing in morning I put him on it.....the big poop of the day gets dropped there. It is huge because he will not go in his cage. He always jumps off of me to poop thru the day. I am very lucky there. It is just the way he is, didn't train him for that. Poop off works well for cleaning it up.
He spends most of his time out of cage is probably the reason he doesn't go in cage.

 

[IcyWolf]

@Icywolf

Never recommend using treats in potty training, it's dangerous to do so because some birds will hold it in because they want a treat. Birds have died from internal infections caused by this.

It's better to just get excited as a reward

Thanks, I've never personally had that happen and I've done it that way with everything from tiels up to my goffin too but if that is a possibility then yea, don't use treats.

 

[lexx510]

I use verbal praise/reinforcement, and it's worked quite well. First observe your bird's body language to predict when she needs to go. Take her to a location of your choice (make sure it's the same location consistently) and immediately before she goes use a verbal command (i.e., "Go Potty") then praise her as soon as she goes. Consistency is key. Keep in mind, your bird will still go on your shoulder (or wherever else) if you do not take her when she needs to go. Here's a video clip of Guava in action, lol.

[ame="http://youtu.be/7Xt0NiJjQNk?hd=1"]Green cheek conure potty training 2 - YouTube[/ame]

 

[IcyWolf]

I use verbal praise/reinforcement, and it's worked quite well. First observe your bird's body language to predict when she needs to go. Take her to a location of your choice (make sure it's the same location consistently) and immediately before she goes use a verbal command (i.e., "Go Potty") then praise her as soon as she goes. Consistency is key. Keep in mind, your bird will still go on your shoulder (or wherever else) if you do not take her when she needs to go. Here's a video clip of Guava in action, lol.

Green cheek conure potty training 2 - YouTube

Holy cow!!! That is a HUGE poo for such a teeny little bird! I wasn't expecting that! We have a black capped conure and his poos aren't nearly that big, was she still on formula when you shot that vid?

 

[Mozzie]

My Conures are potty trained as well. They pretty much trained themselves too. They are funny, they don't like to go in their cage or on me. Some can be trained pretty easily. I guess it depends on the bird.

 

[lexx510]

I use verbal praise/reinforcement, and it's worked quite well. First observe your bird's body language to predict when she needs to go. Take her to a location of your choice (make sure it's the same location consistently) and immediately before she goes use a verbal command (i.e., "Go Potty") then praise her as soon as she goes. Consistency is key. Keep in mind, your bird will still go on your shoulder (or wherever else) if you do not take her when she needs to go. Here's a video clip of Guava in action, lol.

Green cheek conure potty training 2 - YouTube

Holy cow!!! That is a HUGE poo for such a teeny little bird! I wasn't expecting that! We have a black capped conure and his poos aren't nearly that big, was she still on formula when you shot that vid?

No, she's not on formula (she's 1). It was a morning poo after I just took her out of the cage. Her droppings are not nearly as big the rest of the day. Didn't mean to scare ya, lol.