back to cage, problem, I spoiled my birds

[Ms Disney]

Hi I have 5 cockatiels. 2 lovebirds 2 budgies, I have different fly times for each different breed lovebirds and budgies in the morning and the cockatiels the rest of the day, however I have two spoiled cockatiels my first two. One believes my right shoulder is his and the other believes the left shoulders his, until its bed time then they feel its time to fly and will not go into cage with out a fight with my husband. They are so good I work 90% of the time from home and they spend 5 hours a day out of cage with me at least. Time for bed and my two babies go to the highest point in the room and refuse to come down. I am worried my others will start acting like by sucks. I would appreciate any help on getting them back into there cage. treats do not cut it. help help how do I unspoil my babys so they will go to bed

[Jannabellsmom]

Can you try putting them in before they expect it?

[tielz]

Sometimes changing the routine a bit as Jannabellsmom says can help.
I am not sure what your tiels bedtime is, but mine are more agreeable to go back inside theiir cages at dusk. Once it starts getting dark they are more reluctant to budge.
I have 6 tiels, 3 boys and 3 girls. Each of my girls has a favorite spot on me and that is their perch spot. Your tiels each picking "their" shoulder is normal. :)

[Ms Disney]

I have been trying to get them in before 9 at night, I start at 8 or there after and spend the time trying to catch them, I have tried getting them to step up but soon as I get to there bird cage door off and flying they go.I try to have them 5inches away from cage shut light and hoped they would not fly but that didnt work either even in a dark room which scares me. so I would do that again. but I do not want to have to use towel ever night. all ideals are appreciated Thanks

[paw0214]

What if you gave them a special treat saved only for bedtime? That's when my flock gets their nuts and small portion of seed (macaws and greys). They are happy to crack away as they don't get any of this at all during the day.

[MightyMouse]

I have 6 lovebirds. They are handfed so very attached to me and easy to pick up, however, when one of them becomes too independent when it comes time to go back into their cage I clip one or two of their flight feathers. This enables them to fly but not to attain altitude. By the time the new flight feathers grow in they have either gotten the message or I clip them again - never have had to do that so far.

[Jannabellsmom]

If you are spending an hour catching them, how about the oppopsite approach then, maybe wait until 9 to begin the process, and maybe then they will be tired enough to comply? I don't know, it's just an idea, but I find we have to try lots of different tactics with our sneaky tiels. Sometimes mine pretends she dosen't want to go to bed, but it's more because she enjoys playing battle of the wills. Also, mine actually cries to go to bed when shes tired/overtired. But maybe that's because shes still a baby, (6 months). Also, I concur that the special treat for cage time/night time is a must. For my girl its millet which she only gets then, and when we clicker train.

[jenseits]

I'm really lucky in that Stewie usually puts himself to bed, but of course there are times I need him to go inside and he doesn't want to. Clicker training helps and paw0214's advice is right on too.

When I need Stewie to go inside I make sure he sees me putting a Nutri-Berry in his cage. Then I put him on the door and let him decide if he wants to go in or not.* Sometimes it takes more coaxing (waving the treat in front of him), but he loves Nutri-Berries and will do almost anything for them. He knows he only gets the very special treats inside his cage.

*Letting him think it's his decision to go inside helps prevent him from flying away every time I carry him close to the cage. I also vary the routine - so sometimes going back to the cage means he has to go inside and sometimes it means fun and treats (i.e., we do training on his cage) ... this way he doesn't automatically assume going to the cage is bad.

You should be able to train them to go inside voluntarily, but it might take a little while. Don't give up.

[Ms Disney]

thanks for all the helpful advise, my two spoiled tiels have not gotten a special treat yet, they like everthing. and they fight with me when I will not let them in the other tiels cages for their millets. if it wasnt for the other tiels are re -homed from a recovery program. I would let them stay in the other cage and play back and forth with 2 tiels here and 2 tiels there, but they are extremly upset if the spoiled once go any were near their cage. these four play together in there gym, chandler my head, but cages are off limited. which I think is a good thing I have three small hanging cages that the play in one has a bath tub in, one has paper in the other has nothing but they have ladders from each cage to play. but their cage now way. They were up at 5:30 this morning and I just got them to settle down. if I could bottle their energy , I would not make a fortune I would take it :) I am going to take all treats out of gym and but in cages and order a clicker start there and keep trying till I find what works with my baby's

[socratesmama]

I had a mated pair of lutinos that did this exact thing. They were out for the majority of the day and it was as if they knew when I would put them into their cage for the evening. I too had a few different species and kept them seperate for the most part. I was talking to my mother one day about how I had to chase them down each night and it was getting to where I was ready to adopt them out and keep the rest. She(never having any birds) related it to when I and my 10 siblings were young. She told me she had to shake things up. I took her advice and started putting my kids in cage at odd times of the day. Then, I would let them back out. I changed they way they looked at their cage by giving them special treats at different times all day but only in the cage. It only took a few weeks and they would sprint to the cage to find out what I had done/left. I spent a lot of time giving them attention while they were in the cage so they didn't think being out was so different. Play with them through the cage bars. Give them a special treat only when they are in cage and it is closed up. They need to associate the cage with good things. Think about when you were young... I always thought the party started once I went to bed and the door closed. Anyways, this worked very well for me. Good luck.
Oh and they are adopted out now hence the past tense in the first sentence. But only because I have become disabled and can only handle my Greyson. He learned the same lesson and I don't even put him in cage now. He has a staged cage that is covered at 1/4 of the top and he goes there when it is nap time or bedtime.