GCC won't poop in cage

[Sleepie]

Hi, I must've read a thousand forums already and I still feel uneasy. Our GCC is 15 years old and we need to put her to boarding at a vet for 5 days, problem is she doesn't poop in her cage anymore like she used to. The boarding place don't have play times where they let them out. So I'm trying to get her used to pooping in her own cage. She goes to bed around 9pm and when I checked this morning close to noon she still didn't poop and I have to let her out where she does a huge poopie. I read a lot of posts that says they will go eventually, but how long is too long? Should I wait until 2-3pm and then reward her immediately afterwards if she does poop? I still have about 2 months left to try and get her to poop in her cage. And was wondering if I should follow the advice of, she will go "eventually"

 

[IndySE]

She probably won't poop in her cage because I'm guessing she also sleeps there, and birds don't like to poop where they sleep. With mine, I have a seperate cage for sleeping and daytime. The sleeping cage never has any droppings, while the day cage does.

Not sure how much that helps since at the vet's they're not going to swap cages like that. At home it might be a good solution. At the vet's I'm sure your bird will go "eventually"... no one can hold it forever.

 

[Sleepie]

I have a separate sleeping cage as well, and she?s been used to it for 15 years lol. But I have to get her used to pooping in her normal cage now, which is also the cage she sleeps in. It makes me sad, but I want to make sure she?s ok before we drop her off at the vet

 

[Scott]

I suspect she will eventually poop simply from physical necessity, though holding it in cannot be healthy.

Have you considered conditioning her that presence of poop in the cage is acceptable? Essentially, placing poop at the bottom of cage, something she'll likely immediately notice. Place newspaper in the spot she relieves herself in the morning (and throughout the day) and insert below cage - presumably there is a grate to separate. Sound like a crazy idea, worth trying?

 

[T00tsyd]

Syd also won't poop in his sleep cage but I have now taught him to poop on command if needed. I don't use this all the time but will advise him to poop if I am going to take him to another room to do chores etc and he seems to understand that concept. When training him I gave him his favourite treat each time to let him know how much I appreciated it.
In truth no matter how long it takes yours will poop wherever he is out of necessity. What he needs to know from you is that it's acceptable. So just wait and have treats and praise at the ready. It doesn't take long for them to cotton on, they are such bright little buttons. I think as an additional incentive some paper with poop already there is a good ploy and worth a try.

 

[Sleepie]

She pooped in it today! It took awhile (close to noon ish) and I took her out and immediately gave her a treat. What I did was, I tried moving the cage to a different location so I can keep a lookout for her, and she might have got spooked which led to the poop lol. But nevertheless she did poop and I think I?ll keep this up daily so she gets used to it once we are ready to bring her in for boarding. Thanks again for all of your suggestions, I upload a picture of her.. I?m new to this so I hope it shows up correctly.

 

[Scott]

Awesome progress! Hopefully she is now comfortable pooping in cage lol.

Tried to post pic from link, check this post for guidance with Imgur codes: http://www.parrotforums.com/technical-support/6287-how-post-pictures-6.html#post718293