Potty training for quakers :)

[LaManuka]

I'm looking for suggestions please on how to potty train baby ScoMo the quaker. He is very young, not sure how young exactly but fully weaned and has been hand raised. I've only had him for a few weeks and don't necessarily wish to start pushing potty training on him if its too soon, but it would be handy to have some ideas for maybe a little further down the track. Unfortunately I've been quite spoilt by the fact that my (dearly departed) GCC virtually taught himself potty training from day one and almost never pooped on me! ScoMo is otherwise a very well behaved and quite confident young man. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanx in advance everyone:40::smile015:

 

[Laurasea]

My GCC is the same! My only goal with Neptune is to not poop on me! If I see him squat I hold him off me and say go poop, when he does I say good boy. He now squirmy if had to go and I move him so he can, or he climbs away from me and trys to shot it off to the floor. He seems to be a gentleman and had gotten the idea quickly. He loves to poop in the cage before I pick him up, so we can both look at it, and determine if it's s good poop! Lol

 

[LaManuka]

Thanx Laurasea, actually potty training has been going quite well. Like you my main goal is just that he doesn’t poop on me, anywhere else is fine, cage, bench, long-suffering husband, whatever! If I haven’t seen him poop before he steps up for a ride on my shoulder I pop him on the floor and he goes poop and we’re on our way Thing is though for a a larger bird (larger that is than a cockatiel or a GCC) he seems to go poop quite frequently and I have no idea what normal Quaker poop frequency is! Oh well something else to ask the doctor when I FINALLY get him down there

 

[Sunnyclover]

I trained all mine the day I got them or day afterwards and they were all just babies. I would take them to the sink in the kitchen when it was about I'm to go and say "go poopy" over and over and wait until they pooped. If it took too long I'd pick them up and then wait a couple minutes and try again. When they pooped I'd say "good birdie goes poopy!" and give them a small peice of pine nut. I would continue to do this through the next 24 hours. Once they got the sink down I'd start to train them on a specific perch in their cage that is close to the door sort of near the bottom. I would do the same thing for the cage so the don't get fearful to poop in their cage. So in 48 hours they've learned 2 places to poop. Then over the next week I start putting them in more spots like other sinks or off my hand/perched finger over the toilet or trash can ect..so now they have learned that what they really need to know is that when say "go poopy" that means if they need to go they can go where I we're at. So now I have 3 birds that go on command but also have "poopy spots" and aren't holding it when they're in their cage. I also make it a point to have them go in the sink or cage even now so that they don't think the have to hear "go poopy" to go so they don't hold it too long. Now I'm to the point where if I'm across the room I can ask them by name to "go poopy" and they will go and sometimes all of them go lol. I still periodically give them treats to reinforce the behavior. They also all 3 do their morning poop in the sink instead of their sleep cages which is amazing...less cleaning. Oh and sometimes I ask them to "go poopy" and they don't but it's because they went recently and they all have this one noise they make to tell me they have already gone and so I never force them to go if they don't want other need to. Me or my furniture has not been pooped on in a very long time and both Finley and Paris have never pooped on me even once. If an accident does happen you just ignore it and never punish. Positive reinforcement only!

PS. All my 3 birds are clipped is that helps at all. 2 because their wing feathers haven't molted yet and the other because he nearly flew into a frozen slusht pond on Christmas day and I promptly clipped him after that.

 

[Laurasea]

SunnyClover bis a poop master!!!!
My quakers poop a lot! More than bthe GCC, or else she holds it cuz she is such a good girl.

 

[LaManuka]

From what I’ve read, a lot of GCC’s seem to almost work it out for themselves. ScoMo usually has one locked & loaded & ready to go so if he doesn’t poop at first request it’s usually not far off! If he gets it wrong it’s no big deal, and there’s lots of “Yay good birdie” & kisses & cuddles when he lets one rip in an authorised place (ie anywhere but on me!)

 

[Sunnyclover]

Mine all poop around every 20 mins. Finley will go longer sometimes but that makes sense because he's bigger. Also if I'm cuddling with one of them they can easily go 30 to 40 mins and they all tell me if they need to go but I'm usually on top of it and give them regular potty breaks as to not let them become uncomfortable holding it. They make it easy on me and I make it easy on them as it turns out. My babies! My loves!