Adjusting

[hsmoscout]

How should I go about getting Peanut adjusted to his new cage when we get it on Saturday. He is the kind of bird that is a afraid of anything different or new, so I'm afraid he will be scared if I just put him in there.

[MissV]

Love your new signature.


I don't know...I had this same worry moving my fids from cage to cage, but honestly, they just seem excited about having new and different spaces and adjust almost immediately.


the one thing I do, that I would advise, is build and/or setup the cage infront of him, and talk to him about it. When I move cages, I sing "Moving day, moving day!" a lot in a cheery voice. They seem to get it. o.0

Also, make sure to move favorite perches and toys in there. I also like to take the bird(s) out and put them on the new cage so they can crawl around it as they will in order to check it out before going inside.

[hsmoscout]

Thanks. I think the biggest adjustment for him will be coming out of the cage because of the cage shape being different from his current cage's

[brdfvr]

I wouldn't worry about that. Just give him some time to get used to the place without bothering him or anything. I'm sure he will be fine. Maybe make sure to keep some of his favorite toys in there. Don't just toss him in there. Let him venture in on his own. If he doesn't want to go in there, let him stay in his other cage for a few days always offering him to explore the new cage a couple times a day.

[pippy]

I'm lucky to have birds who are happy to go from cage to cage with no fuss so don't have personal experience of this problem.

I've read it's a good idea to erect the new cage then leave it in the same room as the current cage, leaving the bird in the current cage for a few days so it gets used to the look of the new cage and can reassure itself the new cage isn't a danger.

Whether or not it works I don't know!

[LovelySydney]

I put a rope perch on the outside of the cage and allowed my birds to sit on it and go into the cage when they were ready. They would sit there and preen and still be out in the open. Usually when I put a nice plate of food inside they hurried in, excited to eat!! For most all the birds the rope perch outside is their favorite place to hang out - I think its a comfort zone for them. Good luck, I know peanut will do fine.


Love the new sig, BTW!

[Emmilyy]

put all his favorite toys, and more importantly, all his favorite foods in there. Toc and Cookie don't care what cage they're in - as long as there's something to eat and a place to sleep. Then its aaall good.

[asulli]

When I got the new cage I just put Dharma on my shoulder and went about getting it ready. I was singing and putting the new toys in the cage and before I was able to put water in there she was checking things out. Usually if I am not apprehensive about something, they are usually really interested. Whether food or toy I always have a good time with the item and the "girls" cannot wait to get to it! But all birds are different. Shakti, my Alex, is not apprehensive about anything, Dharma, my GCC, is o.k. with stuff, Baby Isis, my OW Amazon, questions for a few minutes, but me handling whatever it is first makes her less nervous.

[SallyQZ]

I have a really anxious grey. When I got his new corner cage, I assembled it in front of him (ok, my husband assembled it in front of him, but I helped by holding panels and drinking beer). Then we left it in the bird room across from him for a week.

After the first week, I started moving his toys to the new cage - one toy per day until most of them were in the new cage. Then we did daytime "visitations" - I'd put him in for a couple hours, then let him sleep in his old cage. When he was relaxed enough to eat in the new cage, I moved him in permantly. It took about a month to do the full routine.

I was extra cautious because he is so bad with change and had been plucking a few months earlier. With the Avicalm, he had stopped the majority of the plucking, but I didn't want him to get stressed out and regress. So I took a lonnnnnnnnng time to move him into it. I prob. overdid it and he would have been fine, but I wasn't in a rush so I let his body language tell me when he was ready.

We lost a few pin feathers that first week, but he didn't resume full plucking so I think it worked!

[diljaa]

I was worried about that with Pixel too. I just decorated the new cage and put in his old cage's spot and had his old one near it for a day or two, he was very excited about it actually and clearly showed me he wanted to go there. When I fianlly offered him to check it out he readily jumped off my hand and into the cage.

Funny thing is that he didn't seem to recognize some of the old toys I put in the new cage. He always proceeds new toys with caution. Funny how old toys became new just because they were in a new place.