Do I have a board Conure?

[generalgibby]

I have a 1 year old male Black Capped Conure, names Yoshi. We got him this year and this is our first bird since I was real little, so I’m still learning.

So, I have bird toys of all types in his cage and on the top of his cage/playpen cage topper. There are plenty in there, but not too many so it’s not clustered. Here is the problem, he never plays with his toys!?! We let him sleep in his cage at night, and let him out all day during the day(he is supervised of course). Every time I let him out and where not playing with him, he just goes to the top of his playpen and kinda just stirs there and stares out the window or at us all day. He has plenty of toys I’m just not sure why he chooses to sit and stare instead of play with toys. The only time he does play with his toys is when he’s locked in his cage and he thinks no one is watching. Anyone else have this problem?! Is it even a problem? I mean he seems happy, but I can’t read his bird mind.

 

[Flboy]

Many birds, have never learned how to play, as sad as that sounds! My JoJo is one of them!

Welcome to you both!

 

[Laurasea]

Ellend recommend used paperback books stuffed through the bars or left in the cage for them to shred and enjoy!! Mine love this destruction is their middle name! I also float bottle caps in a shallow dish of water and out a couple of seeds in each cap, mine really have fun with that! I use those long soda boxes and cut off the ends and cut little windows in it and place foot toys and wadded up paper and treats inside mine really have fun running through the box sticking their heads out the holes I swear they laugh when I give them the box! You can use a bell pepper whole abd cut a window in it and stuff other stuff inside. I have also taken a paper bag and cut Fringe in it and hang it so they have to walk under the fringe, I have given them an empty water bottle to beat up and my GCC will haul the bottle all over the cage! Get creative!!! Mine love to toss bottle caps around, I hang that plastic chain you can get from the big home improvement stores and the hang from it flip around on it, I hang a rope from the top of the cage and they have learned to climb that. Lots of forage ideas on the net. Mine with store bought toys they hardly care about those, but do like bells. Also conures love to untie knots I read that and tried it, and yes they live to untie knots! Hope all that helps!!! Oh let them pull Kleenex out of the box and have some seeds hidden in there ...

 

[Laurasea]

Also Welcome to the forum!!!! Yoshi is supper cute!!

 

[EllenD]

Welcome to the community!!! Firstly, I'm very happy to hear that Yoshi gets all kinds of time outside of his cage everyday and you spend plenty of time with him everyday, as Conures are extremely social, loving birds and they desperately want to be with their "Flock", which is you and your family, at all times. So that's wonderful to hear.

I don't at all think that Yoshi is "bored", especially since he's not locked inside of his cage all day long. That's very important...I agree with what has already been stated above by other members, that's it's very likely that Yoshi has no idea what toys actually are, and he has no idea how to "play" with them, or what "playing with toys" even is. It's sad that this happens, and unfortunately very common as well.

When a parrot breeder hand-raises baby birds, they remove them from the parents when they are between 2 and 3 weeks old, no younger and no older, and they put them inside of a "Brooder", which is basically a big incubator that keeps baby birds at the same temperature that they would be with their mother/father keeping them warm in the nest. Then they remove them several times a day when they hand-feed them, and then put them back into the Brooder, because they have to be kept at around 95 degrees F when they have their fluffy undercoat of down-feathers but don't yet hav5 e their outer feathers...Once the baby birds get their outer feathers and can regulate their own body-temperatures, this is also about the same time that they start the "weaning process", meaning this is the time they start to eat solid food like seeds, pellets, veggies, etc. For a Black-Capped/Green Cheek Conure, the age they start weaning is around 5-6 weeks old...And when they are able to regulate their own body-temperature and they start weaning onto solid foods, the breeder then moves them out of the Brooder and into their very first cage, often called the "Weaning Cage" or their "Starter Cage".

The problem that Yoshi has, where they don't know what toys are or how to play with toys happens because the breeder doesn't set-up their "Weaning Cages" correctly. A proper Weaning-Cage should have multiple different types of food and water dishes/bowls/containers so that the babies learn how to eat and drink from many different types of containers; it should contain many different types of perches that are different diameters and made out of different types of materials and branches so that the babies learn how to perch properly/comfortably on anything; it should contain at least one or two ladders so the babies learn how to climb, and a swing so the babies learn how to swing...And finally (and very importantly) the Weaning-Cage should contain several different types of toys, so that the baby birds learn naturally what "playing" is, how to play, and the different ways to play with toys, chew on wooden toys, shred paper toys, etc. And they also learn from watching their siblings, so if one baby starts playing with a toy in a certain way, then the others see him and then they start playing with toys in that same way...And this is how baby birds learn how to play with toys, and also simply learn what toys are and what they are meant for.

Unfortunately, a lot of inexperienced bird breeders who don't know what they are doing, and also very large bird breeding companies/vendors who breed large numbers of baby birds to sell to pet shops like Petco, Petsmart, Petland, etc. often don't put any toys at all inside of their baby's Weaning-Cages. And the very large bird-breeding companies who supply baby birds to pet shops don't put ANYTHING inside of their cages except for a water dish/container, a food bowl, and a perch or two, because they are breeding and housing so many baby birds together that their Weaning-Cages are simply cages with a bunch of birds inside them... I don't know where you bought Yoshi, but it seems that Yoshi's breeder didn't put any toys inside of Yoshi's Weaning-Cage. So Yoshi simply doesn't know what the toys inside of his cage are, or what he is supposed to do with them...That's why he's not ever played with them. We see this quite often here on the forum, with many new bird owners very worried about their new babies because they seem very healthy and are very sweet and loving, but they haven't ever touched their toys, they have never played with a toy or anything else, and they just "sit there" and do nothing. The good news is that there is nothing wrong with Yoshi, he's not sick or injured and he doesn't have any mental or psychological issues that are keeping him from playing with his toys...Yoshi just doesn't know that he's supposed to play with toys.

***Is Yoshi at all afraid or scared of the toys in his cage? Or is he not scared of them but just doesn't play with them at all or pay any attention to them? The reason I'm asking you this is because a lot of baby birds who were never given toys to learn how to play with when they were babies are actually quite afraid of any toys that are hung in their cages, with some of them being absolutely terrified of any toys at all...Some birds in Yoshi's situation have actual fits when a toy is put inside of their cage or hung on their play-stands, and they actually start screaming in terror and start flapping away and want to just get away from the toys...So if Yoshi is not afraid of toys and just doesn't know what they are or what he's supposed to do with them, then that makes it a lot easier to show him how to play with them than if he's afraid of them...

 

[EllenD]

Here is how I would approach teaching Yoshi how to play with toys...It's important that you start-off showing him the very basics of what playing is, how to play, etc., and that's why I recommend buying a few of those cheap, plastic Budgie toys at Petco that have different moving parts and that make noise. Then remove ALL of the toys that are currently in his cage (they are doing no good and only overwhelming him), and each day you'll work with one or two of the plastic toys outside of his cage, and when you're done you'll hang those toys only inside of his cage, and the next day remove them and work with them outside of his cage, then hang them back up, etc., until he starts playing with them on his own. Then you add a new type of toy, working with one, single toy each day then hanging it in his cage when you're done, then the next day removing that same toy to work with him outside of the cage, then when you're done you put it back in his cage, etc., until he starts playing with each individual toy and you move on to a new one...One toy at a time, until he gets to the point where he knows how to play with any toy you give him automatically...

Assuming that Yoshi isn't afraid of toys and he just pay any attention to them, then you need to show Yoshi how to play with his toys! It's no big mystery, birds are like human children in that they learn by watching someone else do something and then they copy what they are doing, so you need to show Yoshi how he is supposed to play with each different type of toy he has, and then encourage him to do the same. He will learn to play with his toys by watching you play with them. It really is that simple. Now I don't know what types of toys you have for Yoshi, but there are different types of bird toys, each one with a different purpose: Some toys are made of thick paper/cardboard and are meant to be shredded apart, some toys are made of different pieces of wood and are meant to be chewed on and broken apart, some toys are made of plastic and are meant to be poked-at or "beaked" back and forth, with some of them having parts that are meant to be "beaked" in order for then to make noise, such as toys with bells, etc. So you should show Yoshi what each different type of toy is meant for...The best toys to start out showing Yoshi how to play with are ones that make noise, like the very simple plastic toys that have bells on them (usually these toys are meant for Budgies/Parakeets and are very inexpensive to buy in the pet shops; Petco and PetSmart both have a large selection of these cheap, plastic toys that have bells,
parts that spin around, parts that swing back and forth, etc.)...Then I would remove all of the toys that are currently inside of Yoshi's cage or attached to his play-stands/the top of his cage, wherever he has toys attached, because he doesn't know how to play with them, and you need to start with very basic toys that will get his attention with bells, parts that spin around, parts that swing, etc. And those are the only toys you're going to want to have inside of his cage to start off with, building on each type of toy as he learns how to play with him. If you leave all of the toys that are inside of his cage right now he's only going to keep ignoring them and probably be overwhelmed by them because he doesn't even know why they are there or what they are for. So even if it doesn't feel right to remove all of the toys from Yoshi's cage all at once and replace them with a couple cheap, plastic toys that you are showing him how to play with each day, you have to understand that Yoshi has no idea what all those other nice, big toys are for, and he needs to start with the very basics and build-up to the nice, big, expensive toys. He's not doing anything with them anyway, and he needs to not be overwhelmed by them and be able to concentrate on only the toys you're teaching him one at a time. Once Yoshi learns the very basics of how to play with toys in-general, eventually you'll be able to put any type of toy in his cage and he'll play with them; but for right now, remove everything that is in there and start-off with 2 or 3 basic, plastic toys that are the same toys you will be working with him on each day.

***These are the types of toys that I always tell people to start out with, because they either make noises or they have parts that spin around or swing back and forth, and they easily get the attention of the bird. So I would go to Petco or PetSmart and buy a few of those cheap, plastic Budgie toys, choosing one that has a bell on it, one that spins around, one that swings back and forth, etc. They only cost a couple dollars each, and they will be very easy to show Yoshi to play with. Then I'd set aside some time each day where you will just work with Yoshi one-on-one, and where you will actually show him how to "beak" the bell to make it ring (you'll obviously use your finger, not your beak, lol)...And then show him how to use his beak to make another toy spin around. Then show him how to "beak" the ball to swing back and forth, etc. If you work with Yoshi with these simple toys for a little while each day, and after you work with him and show him how to play with a particular toy or toys, THEN you hand those particular toys up inside of his cage. And then the next day take them back out of his cage and again work with him one-on-one outside of his cage with those toys again for a while, and then again hang them back up inside his cage...And do this until you see Yoshi playing with the simple, plastic toys. Once he is regularly playing with the plastic toys, THEN you can start showing him another type of toy, like a wooden block toy he is meant to chew on. Work with him on playing with that toy, then hang it up inside of his cage, and so on and until he's regularly playing with/chewing on that toy...And just keep doing this with each new type of toy you have. But it's extremely important that you start out slowly and use the very basic toys that make noise, spin, swing, etc. so that you get his attention and he learns the very basics of playing...