Step Up/ Potty Training

[Skye]

Guess who finally stepped up on my finger from inside the cage successfully?! Lola! I'm so happy! Next, potty training. Does anyone have any advice for helping to potty train her?? I know I'll still have to work on the step up thing until she is 100% comfortable but once she is I saw a youtube video that just said to take them over to their perch every 10/15 mins and wait until they poop to pick them back up. Is this the most affective? Thanks everyone!!

 

[andielane87]

Awesome!!!! Isn't a "tiny" accomplishment a big celebration? It is for us with our Banjo.
Banjo is what I call selectively potty trained, the little guy knows he has to poop before he's taken out of the cage to play, He steps onto my finger and I say Go Poop (first started by saying go poop every time I saw him poop) and when he does I say good boy and take him to play.

The little stinker was on my shoulder the other day and climbed down my arm stuck his butt out real far and went plop on some paper. It's so cute how he sticks his butt out!

 

[Skye]

it really is an accomplishment! no matter how little it may seem to others! and I do notice that she will try to go to the edge of my shoulder as to not to poop directly on me when she is sitting on my shoulder but still, there has to be a better method haha. I will try to use the term "go poop" whenever I see her go, like you suggest! Thank you!

 

[MikeyTN]

All my bigger birds are potty trained, I didn't have to do a thing, they just don't poop on me ever and goes to do their business in their cage or stand. The conures I used to have did the same thing as well.

 

[Skye]

All my bigger birds are potty trained, I didn't have to do a thing, they just don't poop on me ever and goes to do their business in their cage or stand. The conures I used to have did the same thing as well.

Was this something they figured out on their own? Did they fly back to their perch to poop or did they just go to the end of your shoulder and make sure their poop didn't get on you?

 

[MikeyTN]

When they gotta go they start to get irritated and wanted off of me. So I know what they gotta do. None of my big birds will fly around the house even though they can if they wanted to. The only time they would do so is if I leave the room and they fly onto the floor and start walking around looking for me. The conures I've had before would fly back into their cage to poop then come right back out. I didn't teach them, they were breeder birds that I bought off a breeder. But one was curious enough to be workable. I know there's quite a few folks on here that does potty training.

 

[Anansi]

I'm still in the process of potty training Bixby. He, unfortunately, was not as considerate as Michael's birds. He was more of a free pooper, going whenever the mood struck! Anyhow, I've been using the technique you mentioned, Skye, of putting him on his perch every 15 or so minutes and saying "poop" when he does his business. I facilitate this by keeping a training perch near where I sit with him with lots of newspaper underneath.

At this point, he recognizes the word poop and has also realized that is what I'm waiting for when I suddenly put him back on his perch. So he's been working with me. He'll also occasionally fly from me to his perch unasked to do his business, but only with maybe 50-60% reliability. So, if I get caught up and forget to put him on the perch, there is a chance my shirt will be sporting some new designs. Lol! But it's still a work in progress, right?

 

[labell]

I have been pooped on, peed on, vomited on and spit on by both dogs and humans (I am a mother and at one time a social worker, hence the spit). So bird poop is the least offensive of all these LOL!
I never really cared to train my parrots because I wasn't crazy about them learning to say poop which usually goes with the territory and I have also heard stories about birds who had problems (health) due to either forcing it on command or holding it until commanded. Some of mine are polite and just don't go on me but I can read when they are getting ready and just hold them off to the side, none of mine are allowed on my shoulder. It hits the hardwood floor and then is easily wiped up.
Of course I also see this as a personal decision (same as to clip or not) but I thought I would share my views on it and hopefully give you a chuckle as well!

 

[Anansi]

Labell makes a very good point about the possible issue of a bird getting to the point of holding it until commanded otherwise. I've even heard of a case where this resulted in the death of a bird who was left with a boarding facility. The caretakers were tragically unaware of the need for a command.

They say this is avoided by not necessarily training him to go on command, but rather allowing him to understand that going on a perch is preferable to going on you. Also, no treats for going in the right place. Just a little encouragement, as a strongly food-motivated bird might well hold off in the hopes of getting a tasty treat.
Once he sees that you always pick him up AFTER he's done his thing, it will be an encouragement to go in the appropriate place, rather than an incentive to hold until you tell him to go. Hope that makes sense.

 

[veimar]

I don't know how to potty train Parry, my GCC. He is out of cage A LOT, like most of the day if I'm at home, and I don't want him to hold while being out of cage. He a also sticks his butt out and poops on the floor when he is sting on me, but sometimes it still gets on my shirt. LOL So I just let him do whatever he wants. He doesn't fly or walk around a lot - he just sits either on me or the kitchen counter with his little food plate, so there is not too much mess.

 

[Skye]

Thanks everyone for the replies! I know that Lola tries to go on the end of my shoulder when she poops but this isn't a very good method. Even if it doesn't get on my shirt (which is usually does anyway) we have carpet and it drives my mother crazy! hahaha I also heard about birds holding it and causing health problems which was another concern of mine. Another thing, its almost like she ONLY poops on me or in the cage. When she is on a perch she doesn't like to poop on those and I'm assuming its because she usually likes to play around at the bottom and doesn't want to be stepping through her own filth. She sure is smart in that aspect haha. The second I take her off the perch is when she lets a big load out. I just hope it isn't that she is frightened of me and that causes her to poop.

 

[kiwiS]

That take to the perch every 10/15 minutes is exactly what I do and it works great. I have a portable perch 'potty' that I bring around with me, so I don't have to get up and walk all the way to her cage every time.

It's come to a point where she will get antsy every time she has to go, and will wait till I put her on the stand before she lets it out. I will say "poop" when she does and give her lots of praise for poo-ing in the right spot.

However, when she is NOT on me (e.g. on the couch, computer, floor) she will go whenever and wherever she likes! >.<

Hope this helps ^.^

 

[veimar]

Oh, poo on carpet is horrible! We had to move Parry's cage from my husbands room to the living room because of that. If you notice the poo right away and clean it up it's fine, but when it dries it's really hard to get off, especially from a "deep furry" carpet like ours. Don't you have a place without carpet to hang out with your 'baby'? I usually sit with Parry in the kitchen dining room which has wooden floor.

 

[lquan]

The ease of potty training has a lot to do with the bird's individual personality. Some have a lot luck and barely need training. Some will never learn, not matter what. Start potty training when the bird is young (1.5 to 3 months old) will yield better result. My wife and I are clean freaks. Luckily, our bird picked up potty training mostly on her own at a fast pace. Our home is filled with fancy curtains and curtain boxes where the bird loves to play on. I trained our bird to poop on hard surfaces ONLY; not on fabrics. Since our home is 2-story, training a bird to poop in one spot is not practical, even though she can fly to the upstairs or downstairs easily through the opening in the livingroom, but I cannot rush her upstairs or downstairs fast enough to train her to poop in one place. I trained her to poop on hard surface like table tops or counter tops only. Not pooping on fabrics includes; our clothes while perching on us, couches, curtains, beddings, etc. I waited for many years to get rid of the carpet for hardwood floor to own a bird.

She doesn't poop in her sleep cage either. In the morning, she comes out of the cage, poops on the newspaper beside her cage on her own from a perch, flies into the bathroom, plays on the window silk or towels while waiting for me to wake up. The bathroom window is always open for fresh air. There is only a mousquito screen to prevent her from flying out. She can easily chew through the screen, but she never chew it. She just stands in the window silk mimicking sounds of other birds on the vines 4 feet from the window. As soon as she hears my footsteps, she flies out, gives me some kisses, flies over to perch ontop of her sleeping cage, and poops again over the newspaper. This is her morning routine. (Oh, I had to wake up early for over 1 week training her to do this morning routine.)

 

[Skye]

Thanks guys! she isn't as young as Iquan recommended starting so hopefully I haven't missed the cut off (she is 6-7 months) but she learned to step up surprisingly fast after getting comfortable with us being around. Unfortunately the only places that we have that are tile are bathrooms and the kitchen so its a little it would be really inconvenient to have her only in those rooms. When she does poop outside the cage, I've started to put her back inside the cage while I clean up and do my best to not make a big deal. I know that birds don't understand punishment so is this a bad thing to do? Will this make her poop whenever she wants to go back in her cage?

P.S. she pooped on me halfway through this post. whatcha gonna do? haha

 

[Anansi]

Whatcha gonna do, indeed! Hahaha! I guess that drives the point home that accidents will happen!

And no, Skye, you haven't missed any cut offs. Worry not. I didn't really start working with Bixby on potty training until around a month or so ago, and he's 8 months now. Puts them in the same ballpark, no?

I'd suggest that you get the training perches, soon. You can put paper down under them so that you're not having to constantly return her to the cage every time she does her thing. At present, I have 2 adjustable height training perches and a tabletop play stand that I have conveniently located by my most frequented areas. If I'm watching TV and it's been around 15 or so minutes, I just put him on the perch next to me. No implied punishment, no pressure. He put together really fast that the express ticket back to my arm was to do his thing.

In a way, it's less training than facilitated learning. If your bird wants a certain outcome strongly enough, she'll figure out how to make it happen.

 

[lquan]

Correct, birds don't understand corpral punishment. You need to understand what your bird likes and deny him/her that until they learn to associate the command with the routine. For example, our Lily is a velcro bird. Knowing that she likes to perch on our shoulders, I use that as leverage. To train her to poop on hard surface only, I begin with: every 10 min or so, put her on the nearest table, and tell her "poop" until she poops. I don't let her fly back up to my shoulder until she pooped. If she pooped on my shoulder, I immediately put her on the nearest table, and stand there with her for the next 10 min. After 10 min, tell her to poop, after she pooped, physically put her on my shoulder. I put her on my shoulder as a reward. Keep her on the table as a punishment. If she likes to be on my shoulder, she will learn the routine. Nowaday, she flies down the nearest table to poop without my involvement or command. It took me about a week to train her this.

 

[Mishcka]

I don't know if Loki is consider potty trained ... He poops on the floor lol but not on people or things .... So I think he half trained so far. I need to teach him to go back to cage.

 

[veimar]

Haha - this is what happened in past half an hour. I always carry Parry around the house on me, and although he tries to stick his butt out and poop not on my shirt he really doesn't try that hard. So he pooped on my shirt without even trying to get further and I gave him a very dirty look, showed him the poop and told him I was very upset about what he just did. He looked very embarrassed. Then 15 min later he walked to the end of my shoulder and pooped on the floor! LOL (it's very easy to clean it up form the kitchen floor) I gave him his favorite sunflower seed for that and he was very happy.

 

[Skye]

How funny! At least I am not the only one struggling with this! haha I DID just get her to poop over the toilet bc I saw her fluff up and get ready for a big one! I'm so proud! She even gave a proud squawk (she is usually veryyy very quiet especially for a jenday) afterwards when I praised her for her good job! It was a total fluke but hopefully this is the first of many successful potty training lessons!