Elvenking Posted September 17, 2015 Share Posted September 17, 2015 Hi guys. My and my boy have been doing just great and we are as happy as ever. One thing i was thinking about was a larger cage for Isaac. Two things hold me back at the moment though. The first i think he would get over pretty quickly which is a new bigger cage. Isaac tends to adjust pretty quickly to things like that. The other is "cage flapping". So what I am worried about there is that in his smaller cage, he occasionally gets startled and flaps in his cage like he is a little out of control. I'll come over and calm him down with a calm voice and ask him what's wrong....tell him things are okay. In a small cage he can't get much velocity from any direction enough to do much more than the infrequent scrape on the head. In a new larger cage, I worry that he could pick up more speed and do damage to himself. Looking for thoughts on this. I always have a towel to pad the bottom of the cage for him, but I don;t want to create a situation for him to do more harm for himself. I also want him to have as much space as i can give him when I am not home to care for his little butt. Advice? My dream is getting him a larger room and\or aviary to spend his time in. However, I want something for the near term. I live in apartment so it's a little way off for a full room for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave007 Posted September 17, 2015 Share Posted September 17, 2015 Hi guys. My and my boy have been doing just great and we are as happy as ever. One thing i was thinking about was a larger cage for Isaac. Two things hold me back at the moment though. The first i think he would get over pretty quickly which is a new bigger cage. Isaac tends to adjust pretty quickly to things like that. The other is "cage flapping". So what I am worried about there is that in his smaller cage, he occasionally gets startled and flaps in his cage like he is a little out of control. I'll come over and calm him down with a calm voice and ask him what's wrong....tell him things are okay. In a small cage he can't get much velocity from any direction enough to do much more than the infrequent scrape on the head. In a new larger cage, I worry that he could pick up more speed and do damage to himself. Looking for thoughts on this. I always have a towel to pad the bottom of the cage for him, but I don;t want to create a situation for him to do more harm for himself. I also want him to have as much space as i can give him when I am not home to care for his little butt. Advice? My dream is getting him a larger room and\or aviary to spend his time in. However, I think you may want something for the near term. I live in apartment so it's a little way off for a full room for him. I think that you may be confused by that very heavy duty flapping which parrots do periodically in order to excersie their wings. It can get very intense and last a little while. Usually, they hold on to the perch but the flapping raises their body a bit even tho the claws remain in the perch BUT getting a bigger cage is always a plus if a person can afford it. As they say,--the bigger the better Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elvenking Posted September 17, 2015 Author Share Posted September 17, 2015 (edited) I think that you may be confused by that very heavy duty flapping which parrots do periodically in order to excersie their wings. It can get very intense and last a little while. Usually, they hold on to the perch but the flapping raises their body a bit even tho the claws remain in the perch BUT getting a bigger cage is always a plus if a person can afford it. As they say,--the bigger the better Thanks for responding Dave! I wish I could say it was exercise flapping. It is like he forgets he is in a cage and tries to fly aimlessly. Going from one side to the other to the floor. Scary stuff when you hear or see it. You wonder why. Something in startles him or something because he is at full attention when I see him and sometimes looking around like he saw or heard something. It is not all the time for sure. It happens though. So I am afraid he will be able to get velocity to hurt himself. I'll get him the cage this weekend if I can feel secure in him not hurting himself. Edited September 17, 2015 by Elvenking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRSeedBurners Posted September 17, 2015 Share Posted September 17, 2015 GreycieMae does that same thing and it scares the hell out of me. Every time it's something has spooked her. As you probably know she's isn't locked up much except in the outdoor aviary. She gets spooked out there too and I've found if she has room to corner in her flight, she won't slam into things. Occasionally something will spook them while they're in our living room and she'll go into a hot freaky-fast loop around the living room doing her screech. It scares the hell out of everybody/birdy in the house when she does that. I think bigger is still better considering. We also have little feeding cages 18x24 inches or something. She'll flip out in one of those and I hate it. The bigger the cage the less she's inclined to hurt herself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elvenking Posted September 17, 2015 Author Share Posted September 17, 2015 I suppose I can arrange things inside the cage in a way that would prevent any possible injury. It is exactly as you say. When he is out of his cage and something spooks him....it's like he disappears. It is amazing how fast. Inside the cage, yeah...it does get a bit freaky. I think i will order one for him and get him ready. I think he would like the upgrade of about 3x more space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greywings Posted September 17, 2015 Share Posted September 17, 2015 I agree the largest cage you can almost afford is what many would recommend, the occasional bird may feel unsafe in a large cage like Miss Gilbert. Our flock all have the larger cages and Sparrow is our bird most likely to panic and fall so she has a wide shallow height cage to prevent falling too far. she is missing a portion of one wing so unable to ever fly and balance is difficult when in a fright panic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elvenking Posted September 17, 2015 Author Share Posted September 17, 2015 Thinking of one of the above cages. The XL one is quite a bit more expensive....but I do love my baby. Let me know if you know of any inherent problems with these cages. Stephen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elvenking Posted September 17, 2015 Author Share Posted September 17, 2015 ...and yes...of course I am leaning toward the larger one. LOL. Ahhhh boy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kins2321@yahoo.com Posted September 17, 2015 Share Posted September 17, 2015 Beautiful choice... HOWEVER... bigger, is not always better.A Grey's home, is so very important to them. Changing to a new cage, is a lot of work. You have to slowly introduce new cage, give them a choice. We would leave new cage door open, let Sophie checkout new cage. Put her to bed in old cage ( which was big enough actually). She now has two cages. Her older one, and new " grand palace", that she has had for a few years. She goes to the " palace", maybe twice a week. Just like a new play gym, Sophie has been introduced new gyms, but prefers her old metal one that my son has repaired over and over. Its hanging by a thread, but she watches him repair it, supervises... once its fixed, Sean tells her she is " good to go"... She is thrilled and tests it out! Off she goes sliding down the sides 90 miles an hour.I have tried to replace the same gym... she wants nothing to do with that plan! We've kept her gym since I adopted her, and trusts Sean to fix it! Nancy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judygram Posted September 18, 2015 Share Posted September 18, 2015 As Dave said bigger is always better but since this particular cage is made for a corner make sure you have the appropriate corner for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elvenking Posted September 18, 2015 Author Share Posted September 18, 2015 As Dave said bigger is always better but since this particular cage is made for a corner make sure you have the appropriate corner for it. Yep...he is already close to a corner. I am moving out a desk close to his cage and placing his cage directly in the corner quite perfectly. Planning it all out. I'll probably build it and let it sit in the apartment for a little while if he doesn't seem to take to it right away. Let him get used to its presence. Then ease him over it. I hope he likes it! The main reason I want to do it is to offer him more choices of toys with the new space. More things to stimulate his mind without crowding the cage. Stephen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greytness Posted September 19, 2015 Share Posted September 19, 2015 We recently upgraded Maalik to a macaw cage. The first day he was a bit perplexed, but by the second day he was in seventh birdie heaven. He loves having all the space to do his thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elvenking Posted September 19, 2015 Author Share Posted September 19, 2015 We recently upgraded Maalik to a macaw cage. The first day he was a bit perplexed, but by the second day he was in seventh birdie heaven. He loves having all the space to do his thing. Isaac adjusts pretty fast to most things. I am hoping I share the experience you had. I'll be sure to get pics of him in his new palace when I get it. Here he is for now saying HI! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elvenking Posted September 19, 2015 Author Share Posted September 19, 2015 As Dave said bigger is always better but since this particular cage is made for a corner make sure you have the appropriate corner for it. Ahh...it's done....the XL Jumbo One. Significantly more than the other, but Isaac deserves the best I can give him. I am going to make a wonderful place for him. I am so excited. I will feel far better while I am at work knowing he has that to play around in. Stephen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRSeedBurners Posted September 19, 2015 Share Posted September 19, 2015 Awww...he's cute as always. Can't wait to see pics of him in his new digs. Video too if you can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danmcq Posted September 19, 2015 Share Posted September 19, 2015 Dayo has a very large cage. When he does become startled, he will sometimes either flap down to the bottom or he will flap quickly from one side to the other and grasp the side looking around to watch what startled him. A larger cage is much better in my opinion because they do not beat their wings against the sides of the cage as they are flapping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elvenking Posted September 20, 2015 Author Share Posted September 20, 2015 Dayo has a very large cage. When he does become startled, he will sometimes either flap down to the bottom or he will flap quickly from one side to the other and grasp the side looking around to watch what startled him. A larger cage is much better in my opinion because they do not beat their wings against the sides of the cage as they are flapping. Great to hear from you Dan! I know Dayo is Isaac's long lost cousin and they share the same basic attitude. LOL. I began to think about that as well. If there is more space and he is agile like he is, maybe it will ultimately be better. I am really excited about setting it up with him. I am going to let him sit with me while I build it for him. We'll talk about where to put all his toys and how to make it fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvparrots Posted September 20, 2015 Share Posted September 20, 2015 Stephen, you are so attuned to Elvenking. That is something that I have always enjoyed about your posts. You try to understand him and do so well. I salute your and Elvenking's relationship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greytness Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 If only more parrot owners would be like that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elvenking Posted September 24, 2015 Author Share Posted September 24, 2015 His new home arrived on Tuesday and I promptly built it up. My goodness....it's big. Like easily 4x the space of his old one. He actually landed on it while I was building it...so I was glad he wasn't just afraid of the new cage. Anyway....that night, I just built it up, put toys and stuff in it...and let it be. I didn't want to rush him. So it sat across the room from his current cage. Today I decided to see if I could get him to perch in the new cage. I was able to easily put him in on the perches twice. I took him out and praised him to no end. "Good boy...good boy!!" He seemed to enjoy being hailed Anyway, I ended up getting him to hang out in there while I made a quick run to the store...he did just fine and was making some of his usual noises. I am going to say that he reluctantly moved forward a few steps. He didn't let me put him back in for bed time though. So I had his original cage right next to it so he could sleep there tonight. We'll start with a lot of supervised time in the new home so he can get used to it in small doses...increasing over a few days. Then I'll get him used to hanging out in there all day. The last move will be sleeping in the new home. In his current cage, he has this spot he goes to for sleeping, and I know he feels comfortable there. I know he can make the transition though. Pics Coming in a sec. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elvenking Posted September 24, 2015 Author Share Posted September 24, 2015 On the edge while I am building. The completed home Inside view I will let you know how the adventure continues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdhouse Posted September 24, 2015 Share Posted September 24, 2015 Looks like there may be some technical difficulties. I'm not getting any pics w/the last post. But that pic of Isaac looked pretty good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elvenking Posted September 25, 2015 Author Share Posted September 25, 2015 (edited) Yeah....looks like my pictures didn't come through. I'll try to fix. Anyway....today. I ended up taking a little risk. I let him spend the day in his new cage. I was just going to put him in for a few mins. But he was walking around a little and making some of his noises like normal...so I ended up leaving for half the day...coming back at lunch to check on him..and then let him finish the day in there. No major mishaps. He does look like he stayed in one single place for the day. He didn't eat the chicken I put in around lunch....so I came home and made him another leg bone and he is eating that now. He only lightly pecked food in there. Anyone have experience with cage transitions? Suggestions? I am pretty sure he will get used to it...and I am already proud of his first day in there. If you have experience I'd love to hear it. Thanks. Edited September 25, 2015 by Elvenking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timbersmom Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 I have plenty of space so I just put the cages side by side (touching). After Timber started spending more time in the new one than the old one, I removed the old one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoow Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 I've changed Alfie's cage three times now I think. He had his original cage which was in my bedroom at my parents house then he moved downstairs to a corner cage. When I moved house I got rid of the corner cage (too much vertical space and not enough horizontal space) and he went back to his original cage and was located in a hallway. Then when my housemates moved out I got him the biggest cage I could find and moved him into that. He also moved into the living room at that point. When I bought the house I live in now he moved with his big cage. Fortunately, Alfie is pretty good with change. He has moved house with me twice. I kept his original cage in case he ever needed to stay at my parents house whilst I was away but I'm going to throw it out because it's stuck in the garage and is starting to fall apart. I can't get his current cage out of the room without pulling it completely apart (it doesn't fit through doors) so if he does need to stay elsewhere then he'll go in a travel cage. When I go away on a couple of courses next month my lodger will look after him for me, so no worries there. Anyway, I digress.... Whenever I wanted to move Alfie I put him on the cage, then in it and let him get used to it. As I mentioned, I'm really lucky because he'll sit on a perch and observe everything closely, then he'll explore. He never really freaks out about changing cages/house/toys etc. He just likes to have time to sit and look at everything first. I'm finally at a place where I'm happy with his cage and because I now own my house I'm not moving any time soon either, so he shouldn't have to deal with any BIG changes like that for a while yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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