Changing Cages

[lnlovesorange]

Hello to all my favorite finch experts. Just a question as to how you would switch cages. My gouldians are in a 30X18X36 cage, and they DO NOT use the bottom. I also have a shelf that is at the 18 in mark (so the cage is 30X18x18, but only for about 6 inches or so as that is how wide the shelf is) and they don't even land on the shelf, never mind go all the way to the bottom, heck i can't even get them on a perch below... 15 inches.... I think they are scared. So i bought a 30x18x18 inch cage for them to try to see if that is better for them. And I'm going to see if my babies (zebras) will use the ENTIRE cage that the goulds are in now (i think they will as they are more outgoing, and curious) Does anyone have any ideas on how to get the gouldian's into their new cage without catching them? Any tips, hints, stories would be helpful. So far i've lined the two doors facing each other and hung spray millet in the new cage, but no go, (i didn't take their food out of their cage) and also the way i have my cages, and the way the doors are, they don't line up properly, so there is a smaller opening than normal for them to go through to get to the other cage (maybe 6 inches instead of the full opening of 10) which I know they'll fit, but just wondering if anyone has any ideas. By the way, I've tried just leaving their cage open so they come out during free fly, but they wont', they are still very nervous, and have yet to participate in free fly, I leave their cage open for hours at a time and they don't budge!!! Thanks to everyone for any advice. As always it's much appreciated!

[Sally]

Often when you line up two cages with the doors facing each other, the birds still won't venture into the new cage. If you have a stick of some sort that is thin enough to fit through the bars, sometimes you can shoo them into the new cage that way. Once one bird has gone, the others usually will follow pretty quickly.

[lnlovesorange]

Sally I did notice that. It only takes one bird to do something (for example, my Goulds would NOT bathe, but finally the other night I saw one of them doing it and making these "this feels awesome, you should come try it out" noise, and the other two were right on top of him and started bathing (needless to say i was happy!) Ok, so my goal will be to get one of them to do it, not all three!! Thanks Sally!!

[wildbird]

To teach my Java finch to go into her travel cage from the larger 30 x 18 x 18 cage, I put a cardboard type divider in (it was made for a divider), moved her food to the other cage, placed perch close to the doors with a piece of millett just inside on wire next to perch. It helps to have a perch next to the door of the cage they are in for easy crossover. Then I used a very thin piece of wood, like a ruler to guide her toward the door. Don't scare them, just put it through the wires on top to get them to go to the other side, then wait. Covering part of the cage they are in might help too. It takes a lot of patience. You won't get anywhere if they are flying around scared. you can try this, but don't keep the food or water away from them too long or over stress them. My bird learned to cross over and now goes from cage to cage easily by herself so I don't have to catch her.

[lnlovesorange]

wildbird Awesome, Great ideas, thank you. That is what I was REALLY trying to avoid. As they are already a little skiddish with me (still fairly new) the last thing i want to do is scare them, or have them flying around like crazy freaking out I want to AVOID that at all costs. So thank you very much for the idea. I will give that a try (blocking off some of the cage) also, I REALLY didn't want to take their food away from them either (My birds are kind of sissy's cuz i spoil them...) so I wasn't a fan of the idea of taking their food away either (especially when in reading up on finches I read that they would starve themselves before they ate something they didn't like) I feared they would let themselves starve before moving from a cage they're comfortable in, but I know they'll like the shorter cage better. Anyhow, thank you very much, appreciated, and I'll let you know how it works out!