No Mac experience, just kinda looking at the whole picture. I'm thinking there's a combination of things going on. Hormones likely part of it. Once again, it feels like we're having a really long hormonal season in my house. Baxter is the only one who is affected for the most part, and thank goodness she's not angry or aggressive, just over amarous and way too easily excited. Even a head scratch quickly turns to squatting, honking and clucking. Poor girlie. The other behavior for her is the insistance on nesting. ANYTHING on the bottom of the cage is to be destroyed, shredded, and turned into nesting material. At this point, I've taken the approach that I'd rather see her shred and destroy "stuff" than turn it on herself out of frustration or boredom.
As far as the cage, I feel like Blue might see it as a safe space. He hasn't been with you for that long, and as we know, sometimes solid trust can take ages, if ever. So to me, allowing a place where he's allowed to say no thank you isn't terrible. Other folks may have different opinions on the subject, just my own beliefs.
Overall, they're going to chew stuff up. Some are just more determined than others, so keeping them supplied with acceptable items helps a lot. I love sailboat's suggestion. I've done just that on a few occasions. Depends on who's working. Sometimes it's a basket of cutoffs for a couple bucks, sometimes it's fill a shopping cart with whatever you want and take it out of here, no charge. A chop saw and drill, and recycled chains from old toys, and it's an almost endless supply of destruction material. I also use limbs from trees around the yard for perches. Handy and easily replaced if they chew them up. Thus far, Avery has been hardest on the perches, but mostly just loves stripping the bark. Yes, they're scrubbed clean and summer sun baked for quite a while before they're allowed to have them. (Too long for the oven) No bugs allowed!
May this phase pass quickly for your sanity!
