Marleys first time out of a cage, ever.

[natalie]

Well lastnight i opened the top of Marleys cage, put the perch in place and sat on my little stool preparing myself for a non eventful sitting. How wrong was I. Marley was up the side of the cage onto the perch quicker than a flash, like he'd done it daily for 2yrs. I might have known it really, he is such a curius little so and so. He just stood ontop of his cage stareing wide eyed at his new barless vision. Wow i heard him think!
My mind was split, in awe of Marley in his new world and thinking, how am i going to get him back in. Anyway he had a good old nose around, testing every surface with his beak, sat ontop of the clothes airer for an hour then got back in his cage, all by himself. Like hello, this cant be normal. Admitedly he looked a little bit miffed when i shut the cage but it all went gr8 , how come!! So i tried it again tonight, and again everthing went gr8, he went back home for grapes. bless him. Im so chuffed, i love him, i love him i love him.
Ive chosen to let Marley out in the evening bacause i find that, this is when he is at his sweetest. Also my three year old son 'archie' runs everywhere at the moment, if anyone has had a 3 year old human you will know what i mean, so the evening is best, once Archie is asleep. So here is the start of Marleys little adventures, i still need to work on him so much so i can control him whilst he chews my house during his freedom.
Well i had better close now, my daughter wants to go on msn, again. so i will allow her sometime on the pc as im on it all day while she is getting straight A's at school. Bless her. So goodbye for now my new lifeline friends. Love Natalie

[julie]

good to hear that marley is behaving himself hopefully it will continue.i have a 3 yr old daughter who is constantly running around so i know what you mean.

[Neokireina]

Thats awesome to hear you and your bird are doing so well. Its tough to figure out how birds work and think. Keep up the good work and post us some piccies

[natalie]

Well im still letting marley out of a evening and hes getting more and more adventurous!! Last night he didnt want to go to bed. It took me half hour of varous tricks to finaly persaude him to go backin the cage. He had other plans that included finding out what is beyond the kitchen door. I wasnt at all prepared for him to go exploring the rest of the house. I cant beleive he's willing to go that far from his cage. So this weekend will be spent getiin the front room ready for his explorations, i.e all wires hidden, large mirrors covered and precious things hiden away. So my next post will probably be at stupied oclock, killing time on here while i wait for Marley to decide he wants to go home.Im not sure who is more of a handfull Marley or Archie,[3 year old son] I think Marley wins hands down.

[Neokireina]

You tried encouraging him with treats to come back to his cage? or if it's late you can turn the lights off in the room you dont want him to be in. Not sure if that works as well for clipped birds, but my fliers hate being in the dark and they head for the room with the light on.
Or you could try turning all the lights off and getting him to step up.

[natalie]

Thanks for the tip on the lights, i will av to try that.I tried the treats in the cage,i swear he looked at me with one eyebrow raised. as if to say "that food is not as exciting as all of that 'stuff'" But i will try the light trick.
Marley seems to be sulkin tonight anyway, i had to go into London, and was gone for most of the day. He made me wait a whole hour befor he would take some millet of me. Thats the first time i've noticed him do that, but then its the first time he was alone with the rest of the family since he has started to trust me. The family know not to mess with Marley while im not here. They all know not to stare at him , infact they've been gr8. They said nothing had happened today that would make him upset apart from me not being here. So i think that he is begining to realise im his buddy, he was letting me know he missed me and im chuffed. He'll be pleased to know i can revert back to my hermit lifestyle for another 6 weeks till i have to go again. And he can have me allday. Gosh i think im in love

[Neokireina]

Thats great to hear, I think in time things will just keep getting better

[Ginich]

[quote="natalie"]Well lastnight i opened the top of Marleys cage, put the perch in place and sat on my little stool preparing myself for a non eventful sitting. How wrong was I. Marley was up the side of the cage onto the perch quicker than a flash, like he'd done it daily for 2yrs. I might have known it really, he is such a curius little so and so. He just stood ontop of his cage stareing wide eyed at his new barless vision. Wow i heard him think!


Hi- I am fostering an IRN female and have been reading your experience with Marley. I've never taken care of an IRN before. The former owner of "Lady Larry Byrd" was a man who didn't realize she was female and I'm not sure how often she was let out of her too small cage in 14yrs that he had her. However, she is healthy and sweet, doesn't bite but also doesn't step up. I finally bribed her out of the cage today with all kinds of fruit and veggies plus millet on the playgym which I put right next to her open cage in a bedroom. She gave me a bit of a hard time getting back in the cage so I toweled her when she glided to the floor (her flying was very weak and uncoordinated) after she had been out about 2 hrs. We'll try again tomorrow. She also hasn't said anything yet except 4-5 squawks/day. I have three cockatiel rescues from Hurricane Charley also. I had them all on the porch yesterday enjoying the beautiful weather. The IRN stayed in her cage but I let the tiels out to fly on the porch. I want to socialize her before we try to rehome her. I am a member of the Florida West Coast Avian Society and we do a foster rescue and rehome. Gini

[berrynice]

I don't tend to wait for the bird to make up its mind, but just take it out. I've had Bhanu for 3-4 weeks as a bronco and no probs. I put my hand to the perch, say step up. He does and then we have time out. This consists of various things. Bhanu has been to my kids school 3 times now, once caged, and twice on my shoulder in the car. Have I just been lucky or something?! I've never been terribly delicate with bird training and always eneded up with well bonded birds. What I mean is I use a tally ho lets go out we are step up are we friends now method. Oh well, works for me.

[natalie]

Gini, its so sad that your little lady larry hasnt had such a great start but fantastic you have come along to show her how life should be. I have found a surefire way to put marley back in is cage. I hang a mirror in the cage , quite far down [marleys cage is from floor to shoulder height, all cage too] Anyway it takes him about 10 mins tops to get in the cage. I also took advice from other friends here,i have 2 lights in the kitchen one at either end so if the mirror trick isnt coaxing him back quick enough i turn 1 of the lights of and say 'goodnight marley' and he looks at me as if to say 'hang on hang on im not in my spot yet' Since using these tactics i am more in control of Marelys 'out'time. You will have to keep us updated on lady larrys time with you and your re-homing of him. Good luck with it all.
So sad also about the tiels you saved after hurricane charley, thank goodness they are safe with you.

i dont tend to to wait for the bird to make up its mind'

since letting Marley out his cage he has relaxed even more, i can now stand right next to him and give him treats and toys. I havent made to move to handlre him yet but i will very soon, will photograph any woulnds on here for you all to see

[berrynice]

Point made re:wounds. I guess that because I've dealt with bigger birds, what Bhanu does is nothing. I haven't had skin broken which is more then I can say for what my sons cockatiel did to me. Also Bhanu having the one foot tends to use his beak for support alot rather then being nasty. Still tests though, but we are early stagees.