how to get Yasef swing?

Yusuf

New member
Sep 8, 2014
14
0
Istanbul, Türkiye
Parrots
African Grey-Yasef
Hello everyone,

My sweet friend "Yasef", would like to play and chew whatever I put as a toy in the cage...Same issue with the swing. Instead of swinging, he likes to chew and put into pieces the nice cotton yarn made swing. I took it out and put the colorful hexagonal one. The result is the same; start chewing...

I am showing him with my fingers how to swing. Is there anything else that I can do to have him to step on the swing and enjoy i/o taking it a part...


Thanks for the advice...

Yusuf
 

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SilverSage

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Sep 14, 2013
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Some parrots do not feel comfortable on such an unstable perch. I would try simply setting him on it. If he does not want to swing, he will get off. But in the end, chewing is one of the great delights of parrots, and most things will get chewed on whether they have other uses or not. I would suggest adding more other chew toys, and natural perches. From the picture it appears that he has a dowel perch, which is too small for him. Dowel perches are bad for parrots, and can make their feet hurt. Can you image if you had to wear the same pair fo shoes your whole life, and never take them off? Natural wood perches made out of non toxic trees provide a slight variety in shape that is quite good for the parrot's foot, and helps them not to have soar feet. Also, his perch is too small, which will make his feet hurt as well. he should have several perches of different sizes, but his main perches should be large enough that his nails hit the wood only slightly below the center of the perch. The natural wood is also much more fun for him to chew. Perhaps proper perches to chew on will relieve his desire to chew enough for him to think of the swing you buy him as more than just something to chew on. I also suggest cuttle bone for chewing, and for bone and beak health :)
 

EAI

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Jul 25, 2014
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Honolulu, Hawaii
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Budgerigar: Arrow, Esther, Kratos, Cora, Ducky.


Lovebird: Izzy, Gizmo.
I'd switch to the more natural swings, i.e. wood or anything not covered in cotton. You don't want him swallowing any of it. I got my birds to go on their swings by placing a millet above there so they'd have to go on. Most didn't appreciate it so I left it out for a while and placed it back in a few months later. It took a week-month for them to try it out but they did. Again, they weren't the biggest fan but they happily went on by themselves.

Gizmo, on the other hand, like the swing more than anyone else. When he first came home in the car he was just swinging on there. His interaction with it has declined but it's still in there if he want's to change his mind.

I'd just leave the swing in there and see if Yasef wan't to explore and try it out. If he still doesn't like it, you could put tissue paper or other bird-safe paper materials over the swing (its better if it's wood IMO) and you have an instant foraging toy!
 

MikeyTN

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Feb 1, 2011
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Antioch, TN
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It can be dangerous using cotton products around birds! They can shred them real quick and tangle themselves in it. They can hang themselves, cut off circulations to their toes, feet, etc. It's just not worth it!!!
 

strudel

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Sep 30, 2013
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I'd just leave the swing in there and see if Yasef wan't to explore and try it out.
I put a swing in my galah's cage and she would not step on it before, but now she does. It's right in the doorway of her cage, so there was an incentive to step on it when she's coming out, but she doesn't have to, she can go around it. I'd also just leave it to him to decide what he'll play with, and when. (my swing is stainless steel on the sides and that concrete perch stuff on the standing part, she has been chomping on it a bit, but that's what it's for, I think)

Has Yasef got other good things to chomp on? If he has "better" things to chomp on, maybe he'll leave his swing alone and try it out in other ways.
 

Betrisher

Well-known member
Jun 3, 2013
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Newcastle, NSW, Australia
Parrots
Dominic: Galah(RIP: 1981-2018); The Lovies: Four Blue Masked Lovebirds; Barney and Madge (The Beaks): Alexandrines; Miss Rosetta Stone: Little Corella
None of my big birds will use the beautiful swings I have made them! :(

The Lovebirds, on the other had, just adore swinging and spend ages flitting back and forth across their flight cage, swinging madly on their swings, bouncing on their slinky toy and climbing up their knotted rope.

I think it's a personality thing. Some like it, some don't. I've noticed, though, that my bigger birds *really* like their cargo net (just a net I made out of cheap sisal rope and wooden beads - you could just use knots, though). My husband made a very long (3 feet) ladder and everyone enjoys running up and down that as well. I think bigger birds are more athletic in the air than they are on the ground and so they tend not to go for things that move too much.

EAI's idea about putting millet or another treat on the swing is brilliant! I hadn't even dreamed of that! Maybe it might work for Yasef? Anyway, try a few things and let us know how you get on. Yasef is a beautiful bird, by the way! :)
 

strudel

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None of my big birds will use the beautiful swings I have made them! :(
Yes, different birds seem to be "into" different things. My galah will now step onto hers, but she's not "into" swinging. When she sits on the swing on my shower rail, she just sits, she doesn't swing. My budgies are into swinging. They've got a little aeroplane and they look like they are flying it when they swing on it.
 

EAI

New member
Jul 25, 2014
867
2
Honolulu, Hawaii
Parrots
Budgerigar: Arrow, Esther, Kratos, Cora, Ducky.


Lovebird: Izzy, Gizmo.
None of my big birds will use the beautiful swings I have made them! :(

EAI's idea about putting millet or another treat on the swing is brilliant! I hadn't even dreamed of that! Maybe it might work for Yasef? Anyway, try a few things and let us know how you get on. Yasef is a beautiful bird, by the way! :)

Don't you just hate the feeling when you bring home this lavish toy or swing thinking your parrots will love it and then they decide "nah"?

That was actually my first option, it worked for around a week then they started getting the idea that the way to the millet is through climbing upside down!

I started placing the swing so it was the highest "perch" and my budgies had no issue with that, (just that they hated the swinging part--much like Strudel's Galah). Maybe something else to try, Yusuf?
 
OP
Yusuf

Yusuf

New member
Sep 8, 2014
14
0
Istanbul, Türkiye
Parrots
African Grey-Yasef
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #9
None of my big birds will use the beautiful swings I have made them! :(

EAI's idea about putting millet or another treat on the swing is brilliant! I hadn't even dreamed of that! Maybe it might work for Yasef? Anyway, try a few things and let us know how you get on. Yasef is a beautiful bird, by the way! :)

Don't you just hate the feeling when you bring home this lavish toy or swing thinking your parrots will love it and then they decide "nah"?

That was actually my first option, it worked for around a week then they started getting the idea that the way to the millet is through climbing upside down!

I started placing the swing so it was the highest "perch" and my budgies had no issue with that, (just that they hated the swinging part--much like Strudel's Galah). Maybe something else to try, Yusuf?

Thank you for the advices and a nice word for "Yasef"...I will try couple of things...For the timebeing I just took it out and left him with the chewables..I may try again with a steel and wood one to restart. I appreciated your support..
 

strudel

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Sep 30, 2013
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Don't you just hate the feeling when you bring home this lavish toy or swing thinking your parrots will love it and then they decide "nah"?
I've sort of moved on from that, because of how my galah is with her "stuff". I buy her things, she completely ignores them, but she has played with all of it. She's eaten the string of her little chew ring things, she's stripped bark off her climbing net thing, she's eaten off the swing and she steps on it, she "attacks" her rope thingie with the stuff on it. ALL of the stuff she went "nah" at has been used. My dogs go crazy over presents, she doesn't. I'm just "meh" now when she ignores it. I know she'll end up using it.... :D
 
OP
Yusuf

Yusuf

New member
Sep 8, 2014
14
0
Istanbul, Türkiye
Parrots
African Grey-Yasef
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #11
Some parrots do not feel comfortable on such an unstable perch. I would try simply setting him on it. If he does not want to swing, he will get off. But in the end, chewing is one of the great delights of parrots, and most things will get chewed on whether they have other uses or not. I would suggest adding more other chew toys, and natural perches. From the picture it appears that he has a dowel perch, which is too small for him. Dowel perches are bad for parrots, and can make their feet hurt. Can you image if you had to wear the same pair fo shoes your whole life, and never take them off? Natural wood perches made out of non toxic trees provide a slight variety in shape that is quite good for the parrot's foot, and helps them not to have soar feet. Also, his perch is too small, which will make his feet hurt as well. he should have several perches of different sizes, but his main perches should be large enough that his nails hit the wood only slightly below the center of the perch. The natural wood is also much more fun for him to chew. Perhaps proper perches to chew on will relieve his desire to chew enough for him to think of the swing you buy him as more than just something to chew on. I also suggest cuttle bone for chewing, and for bone and beak health :)

Thank you for the perch issue. I just ordered one and hoping to receive within today.
 

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