Problems with parrot chewing woodwork.

luckyduffy

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Jun 11, 2017
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I am an 80 year old woman, married for 59 years to the same sweet man. We are retired and about 20 years ago we purchased a modest home in bonita springs, florida for using in the winter. Cold weather in our midwestern area really bothers my hubby. We have a home we have lived in for the 59 years we have been together. We promised a long time ago upon our demise, our son would become owner of our family home. Actually my father built this home back in about the 1930's. When my father and mother retired, we purchased the home from them. Since then we have made many improvements to our home and i am truly attached to our home here.

The true reason i joined this forum is for our dear parrots. We have had duffy, an amazon and lucky an alexandrian ringneck since we bought our winter home in florida. That is about 20 years or so.

I really don't know what a tag, trackback means but i will try to learn as i read your information. We dearly love our parrots and they will outlive us, that is for sure. Both are about 20 yrs. Of age.:yellow/green, green/lavender.

The problem is duffy, he has continued to chew or knaw the woodwork and the bottom of doors in the bird room. I have tried many things to stop him, but nothing works. Maybe one of you can help, i hope so.

Please help, sorry for the caps, have trouble seeing.
 

Kentuckienne

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Oct 9, 2016
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Roommates include Gus, Blue and gold macaw rescue and Coco, secondhand amazon
Welcome! It's tough to get a parrot to not chew wood. It's a natural wild behavior and it's hardwired into them. Gus (our macaw) chewed on the wood walls of the log house and on the baseboards for a while, then the novelty wore off or he decided he liked paper better. We keep him well supplied with clean paper to tear up, to the point where he's addicted. He only wants to tear paper now and will hardly poke at a cardboard box. But if he hears paper rustling in another room, the wings go up and he rushes the the closest point of the cage to the noise and waits for the Beloved to appear. The Beloved not being me, mind you, but the piece of paper.

Maybe you can find a different material that Duffy likes better than the bottom of the door? Paper boxes (no colored ink or shiny surfaces), clean paper (no color), parrot kabobs which I think are some kind of yucca trunk, craft sticks (new ones, I'm always afraid they will try to eat the wood if it has residual popsicle flavor), pieces of pine, toys made of stacked pine pieces? Since he likes the door, he probably likes pine, maybe it gives him something to work on more than wimpy paper?

They make brass kick plates for the bases of door, it's a flat plate that covers the entire bottom side of the door, and that might make the door less of a target.

Welcome to the forums, again, and we look forward to seeing some pictures of the babies!
 

Owlet

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Oct 27, 2016
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Ive heard aloe can make it so they'll less likely want to chew since it taste icky. It's completely non toxic though and can be very useful in other situations too. So maybe get a pure aloe spray and give the trim a light spray down?
 

wrench13

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Welcome and be welcomed. THank you, sister for taking care off your man for 59 years - it's a beautiful thing. The kick plate is a good idea, the wood work though presents a different problem, because you can't put a guard on that. Offering the chewers things that they find a better choice is the first route to take and you've been given some good choices. Make clear that you don't like them chewing on the woodwork, that, with the new choices you will give them may turn the trick. Change toys frequently, parrots get bored, some pretty fast, with the same old same old. Salty, my Amazon, has one chew toy he had shown a lot of interest in, demolishing it in a day or 3. So I went out and got 4 more of the same toy. Surprise - he didn't touch the replacements for a while, concentrating on other toys. Good luck, you have some of most experienced parrot people on the internet right here in Parrot Forums.
 

Scott

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Aug 21, 2010
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RIP Gandalf and Big Bird, you are missed.
Welcome to the forums, thanks for joining! Wishing you continued good health and a very long life with your birds!!

Prevention of wood chewing is difficult and sometimes the easiest decision is to keep a close watch and tolerate a bit. An important consideration is the presence of toxins, though leaded paint has been outlawed for years. Trim and minor wall surgery can be done years in the future.
 

janquito

Member
Aug 10, 2016
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Wisconsin
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Two green cheek conures, one sun conure, and two quakers.
Welcome! I'm glad you could join us. I enjoyed reading your post and hope to hear more from you.

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk
 

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