Getting Your Bird Back Into Its Cage… Without a Fight

I have a young green cheeked Conure and?he simply will not go back into his cage once he is out, any help?
- Alison

I know it doesn’t seem like it, but this really is a positive thing! It’s a sign that your bird enjoys your company. Usually bird owners have issues getting their bird OUT of the cage so it’s kind of nice to have your issue be the complete opposite.

I had this same problem (or I should say, we had this same problem since it was me, Chet and Dave) with our military macaw. His name is Cash, but I’m sure you’ve all heard us call him his nickname “Crash” which he got during flight training…

What happens when your bird refuses to go back inside the cage is that he is having too much fun outside of his cage and there is ZERO motivation to go back into it.

As humans we have to remember that just because we really really really want our bird to go back inside his cage so we can go do whatever it is we want to do… is not a good enough reason for THEM to want to go back.

There a few changes you can make to your bird’s environment to encourage him to go back into his cage when you ask him to:

Make your bird’s cage more fun!

You may need to make his cage a more fun place for him to be. You can do this by adding what I like to call “shreddables” which are just toys he can tear apart. Food finding toys are great for mentally stimulating your bird and giving him something to do. You may also look at adding a variety of perches; ones that he can eat and others that are of different textures like sandy, rope or different types of wood. Rotating toys regularly is?a MUST with these parrots. They need change and constant stimulation. The idea is to make his cage a positive place for him to be.

For our Swainson Toucan we put shredded strips of newspaper on top of her cage because she absolutely loves playing with them! This creates a great motivation and excitement when putting her back into her cage.

Offer a reward for going back.

When I say “reward” I don’t always mean “food”. A reward can be ANYTHING your bird likes; including time outside of the cage with you! If you teach the bird that if it goes back, it will come out again, it will be more willing to go back into the cage.

We had to use this technique with Cash as a food reward didn’t do much… (but you can do that too and only offer his favorite treat INSIDE the cage using the Touch Training technique.)

Every time Cash went in the cage nicely, he got to come right back out again! You must vary up your actions for your bird so your movements don’t become predictable. Dave talked about birds needing?”consistent inconsistency” at the Seminar and it is so necessary.

If you choose food as your bird’s reward, work around feeding schedules to set your bird up for success. If he ate all day and you take him out only to put him back for the motivation of food… you are setting both you and the bird up for failure. Think about taking him out in the morning and putting him back in his cage with his breakfast once you’re done with your quality time.

And?make?sure that every time you take your conure out, you do something different with him. And put him back in the cage when you can immediately take him back out again. If he doesn’t know whether he’s going to get a big jackpot reward of treats, or a new toy or even going to come out and play? again – he is more likely to go back inside his cage. But if every time you put him in his cage you leave him alone for long hours to do nothing as fun as hanging out with you – then why would he ever want to go back?