Tweety and Runt this week have started chewing the wooden furniture and the walls when they are out of their cage. They will go into the kitchen and chew the bottom of the doors of the cupboards which are made from particleboard and i know it is definitly not good for them but why would they be doing it. Tonight i have turn the lights off in the kitchen to keep them in the loungeroom and they have found a small section of wall that is missing the skirting board and are chewing the plaster.They have cuttlebone in their cage and natural tree branches so they have stuff to chew. could they be missing something in their diet or is it normal budgie behaviour.

Do they have anything wooden of their own while out of the cage ? If not, its time to make them a perching tree. A great branch...all twiggy and spreading, set it in a pot with cement, decorate it with toys and bells and such ....put it in a corner of the room for them to fly to, play on and take off from....might help :glare:

they do not have any toys while they are out of their cage, i will have to make them something. they used to play with the kids toys but they do not anymore. i feel really stupid now, they are probably chewing the furniture because they are bored.

they do not have any toys while they are out of their cage, i will have to make them something. they used to play with the kids toys but they do not anymore. i feel really stupid now, they are probably chewing the furniture because they are bored.

 

As far as they are concerned...your furniture is their toys.

The easy way to stop the birds chewing the furniture,is to not let them out. :glare:

macka glad to have your sense of humor back we missed you :glare:

Kaz is right they don't look at your stuff and say oh she bought this and that they say want a wonderful place to live and chew. Give them branches to chew on in their cage that will help stimulate this behavior in the right place. When you let them out I would not let them do it by letting them know you don't like it if they are high up you can use a long dowel perch to have them step up if then don't and they just fly away that is okay. Exercise your birds, what I do is I have Merlin go back and forth by using a dowel perch to stimulate him to fly. If you get them flying and exercising by the time they are done they will want to relax not be bored and chew everything apart. .

my birds have their wings clipped so they do not fly around for exercise but they walk very fast chasing each other around. i know everyone has different opinions about wing clipping but for my birds safety they are clipped.

you exercise them from hopping from finger to finger and you can do a climbing motion up to get them to climb this is another way to exercise. I did that with both of mine when they were clipped , foraging for food is also excellent to keep their minds busy.

Do they have anything wooden of their own while out of the cage ? If not, its time to make them a perching tree. A great branch...all twiggy and spreading, set it in a pot with cement, decorate it with toys and bells and such ....put it in a corner of the room for them to fly to, play on and take off from....might help

 

YEP YEP KAZ IS CORRECT ....Or Put it in a pot with sand ( this way when the branches are spoiled and chewed can be easily replaced ... You can also get Toy / Play Gyms

 

Like this one

http://www.bottlebrushstuff.com/new%20pics%203/DSC_7014.jpg

 

Where there is natural woods for chewing - Will save you on buying extra furniture (Laughing out loud)

thanks Elly for the suggestions, they do alot of climbing, when my kids are sitting on the lounge they will climb up their legs and chest to sit on their shoulders and then go down again. they seem to love doing it. They do alot of forgaging for the biscuit crumbs my kids have dropped on the carpet

Thanks Neat for the picture, i went on to myparrotshop last night and saw some great ideas so i will be starting to collect branches and make my own and i am going to bolt it to wooden base so i can change it when it has been chewed or pooped on too much.

Edited April 5, 200817 yr by deb

Do they have anything wooden of their own while out of the cage ? If not, its time to make them a perching tree. A great branch...all twiggy and spreading, set it in a pot with cement, decorate it with toys and bells and such ....put it in a corner of the room for them to fly to, play on and take off from....might help

 

YEP YEP KAZ IS CORRECT ....Or Put it in a pot with sand ( this way when the branches are spoiled and chewed can be easily replaced ... You can also get Toy / Play Gyms

 

Like this one

http://www.bottlebrushstuff.com/new%20pics%203/DSC_7014.jpg

 

Where there is natural woods for chewing - Will save you on buying extra furniture (Laughing out loud)

that is one neat play gym

Yeah it is great made from bottlebrush trees ......

I went to a pet supply store yesterday and was checking out the different stuff they had there, there was a spray to stop your budgies biting stuff... supposedly it gives them a bitter taste... dunno if it works I didn't spray any on my hand... didn't look at the ingredients or anything but you'd hope it was safe if they are marketing it towards budgies... like I said you'd HOPE..

:hap: Don't know about that spray stuff, tried 3 kinds to stop my lovie Phoebe from plucking, didn't work. Really a play gym is the best idea. Many years ago I read a budgie book that said to take a huge plant pot and put a lot of clean dirt in the bottom and then several inches of bird gravel and put 3 large spokes (or branches) into the pot, and tie other branches to them at different levels and adorn them with toys, you are only limited by your imagination. Then you can scoop the poop out of the gravel as required and replace the gravel. I only had budgies at that time and most of them loved it!! Don't have the room now or I would do it again.

Edited April 8, 200817 yr by Phoebe

now i have built them a climbing perch last night i only had to move them once away from the furniture. i put them on the perch and they sat on it chewing.

wonderful news

Your hard work and creativity has paid off. Sounds like you have some quick leaners too. :wine

Great News ... Soooo can we see it : )

Great News ... Soooo can we see it : )

 

 

i posted a photo of it in a new topic called "built a climbing perch"

Heheh I remember now (Laughing out loud) ....

i have still got work to do on it but i love the picture you posted of the playgym made from bottlebrush and my branches are from bottlebrush but i am trying to work out how i could do the arch piece across the top to suit the budgies.