I Need Help!

[Talon]

Okay, here's my story..........One day as I was bent over putting laundry in the dryer, a bird flew on my back, I wasn't surprised as Rikki has been doing this since she came to us. As I stood up, she climbed up onto my shoulder. I then walked into the kitchen where I saw my other bird eating grapes on the counter. I then said, "Hi Talon" then I went to put Rikki in her cage as I was getting ready to leave for work. As I reached up onto my shoulder and told her to step up, she did, and I proceeded to put her in her cage on her favorite perch. (she always goes in very nicely) Well, she started fighting me, and I of course was in a hurry. I kept telling her to "step down", which she knows, and "what's the matter?" but she kept fluttering her wings and trying to climb up my arm. She was getting frantic! I couldn't understand what happened to my well behaved sweet bird. It was then, I REALLY looked at her, and saw it was TALON!! :pinch: I was trying to put her into Rikki's cage, and she was not happy about it! NO WAY! NO HOW! Was she going to have any part of going in that cage!! :evil: :evil:

I felt soooooo bad! I thought it was Rikki on my shoulder, and Talon in the kitchen, but it was Talon on my shoulder, and Rikki in the kitchen!

 

Well, you can probably guess by now, that I can't get Talon to go in her cage anymore, Every time I pick her up and take her to her cage, she flies away! The other day, I spent 30 minutes chasing her all over the house trying to catch her and get her in her cage. I finally had to towel her and fight with her to go in, My daughter has no problems putting her in her cage at any time!! But here's the interesting part. I can put her in her sleep cage to bed, just not her play cage!

Any suggestions? It's a real problem now that my daughter is in school and can't put Talon in her cage for me when I have to leave. I have to chase her around the house, she knows I get mad, so its not a game to her. She tires herself out, but not enough to let me catch her. I'm ready to buy a net!! :unsure:

[Suzzique]

What about offering her favirot treat? Something that will entice her to go back into her cage. Maybe she is afraid that you are going to try and put her into Rikki's cage agian?

[judygram]

Oh boy you did make a big mistake didn't you and I am not sure how you will have to handle it to get Talon to go into her cage.

 

I'm sure that you have tried to put your fingers over her feet as soon as you get her to step up on your hand. I am a little stumped on this one, maybe some of the more experienced grey members will have some better ideas for you Penny.

[siobha9]

I have had a similar problem with Liath lately because I changed Liath from the upper deck to the lower deck in my two storey cage and she didnt like it at all. So when it came time to put her back in her cage she went mad. And then I realised that the only time I was making her step up was to put her to bed. So I started doing the chasing routine and then when I'd catch her I'd sit down on the chair and chat to her and cuddle her and then let her go. After a couple of days of doing that she started to believe that me making her step up didnt necessarily mean bed.

 

When I did need her to go to bed I would cup my hands over her wings and cuddle her close all the way to the cage and into the cage so she couldnt get away. Let me just warn you though, the first few times I did that I got some bad bites:unsure:

[judygram]

Yikes, I just bet you did but I have Josey step up a lot when she is out so she doesn't know when I am putting her back in her cage. But then she has never been a problem getting back into the cage for bedtime, sometimes she is already in there because she is ready for bed and other times I may be sitting on the couch with her getting some cuddles and neck scritches and I just put her in the cage.

[Talon]

Thanks everyone for the advice.

 

I have always given Talon a treat when I put her in her cage. It's not working anymore...

 

And I can get her to step up and move her anywhere else in the house. I do spend time with her on my lap at night. And I have gone out of my way to spend extra time with her hoping this will help. It's not like she's afraid of going in her cage, Melissa can put her there anytime and with no problems.

 

I have tried gripping her feet, but she bites and flaps and always manages to squirm her way out. :pinch:

[siobha9]

So does she fly off as you get near the cage? Can you hold her wings? Liath lets me hold her body with both hands for a cuddle so I can carry her that way to the cage if I need to put her away in a hurry, I cuddle her the whole way to the cage and then pop her in at the last minute. The look on her little birdy face is priceless when she realises she's been had... again!

[Lyric]

Sometimes I have a struggle with Lyric getting him in his cage too. He'll play the whole keep away game flying off my hand when we get close to the cage. The best way I've found to deal with it is that I show him something he likes and let him touch it as I sneakily get him back in the cage. He has a fascination with cups (yeah, I'm not sure why...) but if I let him see one of the cups he likes he will be too distracted to realize what I'm doing. So far it works pretty good, if it ever stops working then I may be in trouble!

[nims]

Hi,

 

When does Talon fly away is it when you get close to the cage?

 

You said you have tried gripping the feet but have you tried putting your hand on Talon's back as you put her in the cage. Give her a treat as you walking to her cage and make sure she is not facing the cage as you approach the cage place your other hand firmly on her back as you place her in favourite area.

 

Hope this works if you havent tried it already!

 

Good Luck

 

Nims