For every room in the house, have a play pen or a lunch tray or a plastic turkey serving tray like the one in the playpen pic in every room. You can get trays at the dollar store and at thrift stores. Or at least get some sort of perch for them to sit on with paper both to shred and to catch poop. You’ll probably want to invest in a treat seen cup and a couple of toys, just enough to keep them occupied if they want to be out of their cage and in the room with you yet not be ON you.
Here is the setup I built for our living room coffee table. (Pardon the mess but… welcome to birdies. i.e. winged toddlers)
We use this room because it’s the biggest and it’s also where we have our couch and watch TV. This is important especially for young birdies you’re trying to bond with. You can watch your favorite show, movie, internet videos etc. all while your birdies get there much NEEDED, not optional, NEEDED daily recess from their cage. This is where having a place for your birds to be in each room is important. If you are home, if your birds are trained/disciplined in where they can and can’t go, you can leave your birds out for most of the time you’re home. Granted, there are instances where that won’t be a possibility. For example, when breeding time hits, they’ll explore every nook and cranny looking for a nesting spot. This includes behind the DVD shelf, the entertainment system, under the couch pillows, the curtains, everywhere that mimics what they’d use in the wild. This behavior basically amounts to being “bad birdies who need to go back in their cage”. Usually those listed spots are either dangerous or destructive. It’s easy to dive on a couch and squish tiny birds when you’re unaware that they’re under the couch pillows and they can shred curtains and blinds in seconds when your head is turned. So fledgling birds and nesting birds generally need to be supervised especially if they’re flighted like ours are. Even if they’re clipped, if they are in the mood to explore you can easily step on a wandering bird or drop a laundry basket on one that’s unknowingly following you like a buddy of mind did in grade school. If your birds know their boundaries you can leave them out almost unsupervised. Until then, or if they’re in the Dora type mood, its best to watch them. Either way, giving them a place to be by you in every room. They’re basically your children and your kids want to be by you. Kids don’t want to be in their room all day. Give them a place to play. Below are some examples.
There are many things I have “engineered” into this playpen I built and they all have specific little functions just like the newer baby sit & step walker have little toy doohickeys on them, each for an environmentally stimulating purpose. I also have things on the rest of the table for similar reasons. Also keep in mind that we currently have 14 birds at the taking of this picture. Most of the feed dishes for the treat seeds is overkill for 4 birds but necessary to keep 14 birds from bickering over space and keeping them occupied enough to not get bored and go Dora the Explorer throughout the rest of the house.
The clear thing in the top left and the astroturf in the brown square are for seeds. The astroturf is to mimic foraging through grass like in the wild. The clear thing is an example of utilizing a “useless toy” (which will be discussed later) for another function. The clear thing is a bird product where a divided piece of cardboard that you can put treats inside, goes in it. Lovebirds are not quite strong enough to snip through the cardboard so they never use it. Don’t let that fool you. A lovebird bite can draw blood if they really want to lay into you but this foraging item is probably more for Conures, Quakers and such. So I put seed in it and tip it on its side. This way its like a sideways hog trough that can accommodate 2 birds and since its clear plastic, if another bird decides it wants in on the act, the bird that’s currently eating won’t get startled and start a tiff. That usually won’t happen if there is 1 seed dish per bird but this is a scenario where you can’t really leave the birds unattended like you can if there are only 4 and its not breeding season.
The wheel is another utilization of a toy for hamsters used for birds. Only 1 bird has ever walked in that wheel and when he did it was only for a couple of seconds. We put seeds in there to try to coax the birds to use it but it turned out to be a good thing with so many birds because even though they won’t walk in the wheel, we put seeds in it and its one more seed dish for the birds. You’ll also notice that it’s right about the grass dish so any excess or tossed seeds wind up in the grass dish which makes for less mess which makes for easy cleaning.
There is a laser pointer there. I urge extreme caution if you have these around. If you wish to know more about this go to the training section.
In training young birds where they can and can’t go in the house you’ll almost always have birds wanting to fly (or climb) to the top rung of everything. In almost every case, this means the curtains when it comes to the house. If you have to stand up to shoo the birds off the curtains every single time they go on them you’d never have to go to the gym. This is an unrealistic event for almost every modern person but it’s also unrealistic to put the birds back into their cage every time they do this, especially when they’re young and are learning. The birds will almost become resentful not knowing why they can only come out for short periods of time and will be very reluctant to go back in the cage because they don’t know when they’re coming out again and the young ones haven’t yet made the correlation. Point blank, negative reinforcement is much more difficult on birds than humans, especially if they haven’t built up that trust with you yet, plus positive reinforcement works exponentially better. Unfortunately there is no way to positively reinforce staying off things by praising them for staying where they should be. Then they’ll just think that they get treats all the time and will come to expect that and then get mad when it doesn’t occur, giving you another problem that didn’t exist before.
The laser pointer can be used but in a very SPECIFIC way. Laser pointers, especially the green ones can be incredibly and irreversibly damaging to the eye. For this reason you should NEVER aim the laser pointer at the bird. The birds didn’t seem to see the red cheap laser pointers we had and I happened to have this green one that I got years ago on Ebay for $5. It doesn’t work 100% of the time but what do you expect for 5 bucks.
What you do is this; when the bird goes on the curtain or a picture frame or anywhere you don’t want them to go, you tell them to git. Say “git” or “off” or “off the curtain” or “no curtain” or “no frame”. When disciplining or training you want to try to use words that don’t sound like other common words. You also don’t want to name your bird something that sounds like “no”. You may confuse the bird although intonation usually has a greater effect than the word itself. Perhaps say no in a different language. Then again nein in German sounds like nine or mine in English and Russion nyet sounds like get or bet or yet, so…. But… you tell them to git and if they don’t do so on voice command then you stand up from your couch and shoo them away. Do this about 5 times. Start over every day too with this pattern. Do that about 5 times. Hopefully they will soon get off the area on voice command which is your end goal. From there they should eventually get the hint not to go there. From there the only time they’ll do it is if they’re mad or want attention.
So… you say your word. In our case it’s “git”. After 5 times, if they haven’t skedattled, you continue to say “git” and simultaneously, you take the laser pointer and point it at the ceiling and swirl it around 2 or 3 times quick for a second or two then turn the laser off while continuing to say “git”. They will probably notice the laser dot on the ceiling and notice that you have correlated and escalated the situation. If they don’t move then keep saying “git” and do the same maneuver with the laser pointer only the second time you hit the ceiling for a second with a swirl, then while the laser is still on, you move it to the wall opposite the naughty birds and swirl it on that wall 2 or 3 times for a second or two then turn the laser off. (you point it at the opposite wall, assuming of course there are no birds on the wall you’re shining the laser on, in which case choose a neutral wall with no avian life forms) If they still don’t move, swirl the laser on the (side) wall (not the ceiling) for a second while saying “git” and this time stand up and shoo them off. This has a multi stage elevation of “seriousness” similar to children. You ask, then you ask sternly, then you say their full name, then you start counting. Similar scenario. This will let the bird know that if they are where they’re not supposed to be that you will shoo them when they hear “git”. But since words aren’t as scary as a physical presence of you coming towards them, they’ll first learn to respond to you. Then they’ll realize the laser means the same thing and that when they see that laser, that means that if they don’t move… you’re soon standing up and they’re moving anyway. They’ll get the point eventually. The whole point of the laser is so that you don’t have to constantly have to get up to shoo them away which is almost a must for older or disabled people. From there you can use the laser and they’ll shoo. From there they’ll just cut out the hassle and avoid the area altogether. Birds, like dogs, like children, like husbands, don’t want to be scolded. If they can get through life never hearing “no” that makes them happier which in turn makes you happier which in turn makes them happier because birds can sense your emotions. Its reciprocal.
Your other option is that you simply clip your bird’s wings and deny them the ability to learn to fly from babies like they’re supposed to. I’m sure that there will be people who think this is somehow cruel or even dangerous but its just like guns, cars and nuclear power, if done correctly, it is safe. The other option is another item in the picture which is the wooden dowel. You can also use nerf dart guns and aim in their general direction but after losing numerous darts and having to pick up the only four I had and doing so every 3 minutes it kind of renders itself pointless after awhile. I find it more cruel to deny them flight than to chase them off places they aren’t supposed to go until they’ve learned not to. Birds are highly intelligent animals and even though it takes some time, they’ll learn what they can and can’t do. Probably faster than most husbands.
Train your bird to do what you want it to and think ahead. Suggestions are best given by those who have been there before. That’s why when your first child is born you have grandma on speed dial.
Regardless of what you have on your setup and how many poke yoke (fool proof) devices you put in place to keep your play area clean, like with kids, It’s impossible but that doesn’t mean that you can’t somewhat alleviate it. The best way to accomplish this is to get a cheap but durable tablecloth to put on your coffee table. Two actually. Like children, you sacrifice having nice things. If you have the birds in another room or a room upstairs and you bring them downstairs on your shoulder, etc. whatever you do, have a play area that’s theirs and theirs alone. The table cloth will allow you to swap out surfaces, its easily cleanable by simply washing it (in mild detergent with no fabric softener), easily cleanable by pulling up the corners, carrying it outside and tossing the seeds and such outside in the grass or compost pile and it saves the tabletop if you happen to need it for an emergency alternative purpose.
You can easily make tablecloths out of excess fabric at fabric stores that can are usually sold at a major discount just so they can get rid of the scraps. You can also get tablecloths for relatively cheap since they don’t have to look or stay nice. Look for clearance sales at stores since whoever does the inventory decided to get 2 or 3 colors that no one, unless they’re stuck in the disco era, would purchase. Birds don’t care if your room colors match. However, I will say though, sometimes, from our observations, we have noticed that our birds will shy away from red when they’re babies. Not so much the babies we’ve raised since we have red things around our house but our first 2 birds seemed to not want to come by us until they got used to us if we were wearing red or used red cloth for handling them etc. Just an observation. But, I will say this because I just read it in a trivia book. Wild birds are 18% more likely to poop on red cars. My guess is that there’s something to that in a survival sense but until some PhD candidate decides to apply for a $250k grant to study it, the phenomenon will remain a mystery.
Here is the bedroom setup.
Notice the piggies gorging themselves on treats? Then I upgraded.
I acquired a lunch tray from a thrift store and found a ladder at a pet shop while traveling. Notice the magnet holding the paper down? This is a cheap particle board book shelf with a thin top so the bigger magnet is underneath and held up by the smaller magnet. This is so that the paper (which is a box of cheap recycled dot matrix printer paper so if you can find some online for a bargain, do it. I’ve still got some from this same box from years ago, it lasts forever) not only stays in place for when they shred the paper it stays in place for when they take off and land which generates quite a bit of air flow for such little creatures. But, keep the magnet in the middle but towards the edge. All animals generate a magnetic field. Birds have a rather large magnetic field surrounding their brain which is most likely how they know where to migrate. There is no documentation of magnets disrupting this and causing any adverse effects but at one time there was no documentation that smoking caused cancer either so… do as thou wilt.
Here is “The Fort” that I have hanging from my door in my studio. It has a seed dish (2 now actually, one on each side) and a place for them to chill when they’re in my studio but don’t want to be on me or if I don’t want them ON me. Sometimes they’re very persitent in giving birdie kisses when I’m trying to work. You’ll notice the corner of my desk in the bottom right of the right picture. That way they can fly to the fort and decide if they want to fly to my shouder. I can also lean over to the left and peer into the living room to watch them on the playpen so they have free reign for all allowed rooms and they can come and go as they please. They know where they can and can’t go so now we have happy, fully flighted free range birdies. You’ll also notice the ladder/rope extension leading to the floor. This was back when they had their wings clipped and could only walk from room to room. This way they could climb up to The Fort by themselves to get used to doing it by themselves.
Holly bein’ a goof & hangin’ out
Here’s The Holly Bird bein’ silly & chillin’ in the hut hangin’ off The Fort. She still wanted to be by daddy but yet not on my shoulder.
Dehneh nehneh nehneh nehneh neh…. BATBIRD!
Our Bat Bird. She’s so weird sometimes lol. This is part of the hanging dowels by the curtains.
Also, this way, if I’m working on something and I don’t want to be disturbed, I can shut my door and my wife can take the birds out and they can still fly to The Fort but not into my room.
I also have a little bird stand I made of of scrap wood and a dowel that sits next to the recliner/glider. That way if I’m in the chair watching TV the they want to be on a perch but by me they can be on that.
Notice the ladder/rope for when they were clipped? They could still walk to it and climb up. But now that they can fly, it gives them an extra point in the room to fly to. That way they have the playpen on the table, the curtain rod substitute hanging dowel, their cage and the table/cart it sits on and the stand near the chair. Now add The Fort and the lunch tray with the ladder on it and they have multiple spots to fly to whether we’re in the room or just want to let off energy and fly to different perches. That way they get exercise, stay healthy, don’t get bored and they do it all where they know they can be and its easy clean up for us. Every spot has paper down or can easily be swept up with a vaccuum or a Dustbuster. (I’m showing my age with that one)
Essentially what you’re aiming for is that by the time they’re about a year old and have started growing their wingys back in, they’ll know where they can and can’t be. Our birds know not to go in the kitchen and to not go on the curtain rods. (Because they WILL. They’re birds. It’s a long perfect diameter perch near the top of the room. They love the tops because they can see everything. It’s in their nature, don’t fight nature.) They’ll go on curtain rods, hide in curtains and hide in/chew up blinds. The hiding in curtains is kinda cute but in can be destructive. You’ll notice in the pic that there’s a green curtain that’s identical to the tan ones on the window so that if they want to go play and hide in curtains, they can. Do you think they do? Nope. It’s like getting a cat a fuzzy housing unit and what do they do?… sit in a cardboard box. Oy. But at least the option is there for them. We didn’t want them on the curtain so I took a similar diameter dowel and made a drop down perch that hung from the ceiling so they would go there instead of ruining the curtain. And if they pooped on the carpet, it’s older utility carpet, plus it wasn’t anywhere we walked and we just let it dry and sweep it up every day or so. But that way they didn’t ruin the curtain.
And if they jumped on the curtain rod we’d say “no curtain” and take a laser pointer and point it at the wall opposite the window so they had a direct line of sight to see it. NEVER POINT IT AT THEM! Especially in the eyes as it can permanently damage them. But doing so let them know that anytime they saw that laser on the opposite wall that if they didn’t move off the curtain or wherever they weren’t supposed to be that we were about to stand up and if we stood up, next was “no curtain or I’ll put you back in your cage”. If they did it again, we caught them easily because their wings were clipped and put them back in their cage. They’ll eventually catch on to what that means. They don’t want to be in their cage so if they know where they can and can’t go, they’ll avoid getting in trouble and they’ll know where the can and can’t be in every room. Just like a child or a spouse, if you know what not to do in order to avoid wrath, you live a much happier existence.
We have our birds fully flighted after the wings grow back. Only once have we had to clip Holly’s wings because she got super hormonal and was looking for nesting areas where she shouldn’t have been. But clipping a bird wings for life is not a good idea. I know that sometimes it’s unavoidable especially for larger birds but it’s like people who get these huge dogs and instead of training them to do what is necessary to keep them in the yard, they put up this huge fence because people want to have the pet but they don’t want to put in the work that goes along with it. A bird’s primary source of exercise is flying. Taking that away you get the human equivalent of couch potato ass which leads to all sorts of health issues later on. So basically we jeopardize our bird’s health because we’re too lazy to take time to train. So have a plan and provide those perching/chillin’ places for your birds and reinforce them with a treat ball a day in the seed cup or a few tiny millet buds and if they fly somewhere they’re not supposed to be tell them “no” and if they don’t listen, put them back in their cage. They’ll learn. Remember, they’re as smart as toddlers.
As discussed in “Bringing Birdie Home” if they’re babies, especially if their beaky still has black on it, this would be a good time to start putting them in your shirt pocket to chill (preferably a flannel that you use specifically for the bird washed in perfume free detergent with no fabric softener). If your bird likes chilling there you may be able to have a pocket parrot for life. Generally this will only work with baby birds that get use to you and the pocket as something they’ve always done. But if they’re chillin’ by you they’ll soon start the opposing eyelid closing behavior and soon start grinding their beaky. This means you have a happy content little bird. But if you get them used to sleeping in your pocket they’ll climb in there and snooze. It’s the cutest thing.
