Stoopid Bird Tricks - Pooping on Command

Quite a handy Pet Trick when you don't care to be covered in green slime!

1. Put the bird on the ground (For some reason putting them on the ground stimulates them to poopy.)

2. Give it "the command" - whatever you want the bird to respond to - I use "go potty".  It can be whatever - "rocket" "bomb" "poop" "shhhhiiiiitakkkeee mushrooms" "Poo, Todd, Poo".

3.  Watch for "the wiggle" which can look like any of the following:  scooting backwards, shaking tail from side to side, squatting-commonly accompanied by a slight raising of the wings.  Birds tend to do "the wiggle" a few seconds before they bomb.

4.  Repeat "the command" until your bird does "the wiggle" and produces a "bomb".

5.  As soon as the "bomb" hits the ground pick your bird up and give him lots of praise "Good Poo, Todd".

6.  Repeat the above approximately every 15-20 minutes when the bird's out with you.

Birds have evolved to poop often so they are light for flight (whoa! I'm a poet and didn't even know it!).  That's why you have to let them go to a poo spot every 15-20 minutes.  While they can hold it for a lot longer, they don't tend to without a good reason.  Your shoulder is not a good reason.  It's a convenient branch to poo on.

Learn what your bird's wiggle looks like and you can save yourself a lot of laundry - if you're quick you can scoop your bird off of you before the bomb's released.

Bird Tip-The Cage is His Room, not Jail

Does your bird scream or otherwise fuss when you put him back in his cage?

When putting your bird back in his cage put something special in there first - favorite food, toy, etc.  Let him see the special item, then put him in the cage.  From my experience this teaches them that the cage is a wonderful place and they'll start to go into their cage by themselves. 

Leave the cage door open when you have the bird out.  When he's tired, thirsty, hungry, whatever, he can go back into the cage himself.  He learns the cage is not a prison, it's his room.  A couple of days ago my daughter told me Ducky (her sun conure) got tired of playing with her and walked back to his cage for a bath.  Then he took a nap in his cage.

Skittles

(Jenday Conure)

Partied too hard the night before and crashed in the food bowl.

Seriously - this IS about birds and goats. . . and my other kritters

  

(Patrick, a baby pygmy goat with a baby Jenday Conure)

So, this is going to be a blog with pictures of the animals I keep 

and my thoughts on keeping them.

Thank you Holly for the suggestion!