My birds can't take off from the swing

[avicella]

I put a small swing in the bird cage the other day. The first reaction from the birds seemed to be curiosity and fear, and they avoided it. I put some parsley on it, and they showed interest, but not enough to fly onto it. Finally, I manually put each of them on the swing in turn.

So far so good, but when they flew off all hell broke loose. The swing doesn't offer any resistance for the take off push, so the bird kind of goes spinning around and crash lands on the side of the cage. The commotion caused the other bird to go crazy also.

Perhaps the cage is too small for a swing, so I took it out. But what about the lack of a solid push-off for leaving the swing? I assume that this is not a fatal problem, or else swings wouldn't be sold, but do birds eventually figure out to push up or something?

[Raleighwheels]

My birds had a similar problem with the swing in their cage, but after a while, they seemed to figure out how to take off from it. I would just watch them for a while and see if they get the hang of it.

[Sally]

I have swings in all my cages, and none of the birds have a problem with it. In fact, one of the BCCB babies that fledged today was on the swing right away, and I have had other fledglings land on the swing their first day out of the nest. In fact, my avatar is two handfed Star fledglings on their first day out of the nest, they both wound up on the swing together. I think your birds will get used to it in time. One thing I would recommend is to let them try out new things on their own--when we try to make them do things, they could be reacting from fear of us, rather than fear of the item.

[Ursula]

I assume that these finches have been in a cage with rigid perches all their life. And maybe a few generations before them have too. How should they know how to react to a "moving perch" all of a sudden...

I'd keep at least one swing in there and let them figure it out. They might eventually like it. After all, in the wild they sit on trees with thin branches and have to cope with wind etc. My guess is they are just scared because it's new.

(When I moved my budgies from the cage to the aviary for the first time, they were sitting in the same spot in the branches for almost 2 weeks. They didn't know how to fly around and what to do with all that room, and they had problems perching on thinner branches and flat surfaces... Over time they figured it out and had no problems with space and different types of surfaces and branches to land on.)

[avicella]

Well, one of the two figured it out. He's a bit picked-on by the other from time to time, so it's become his little refuge. The other one seems afraid of it. He jumped onto it today and immediately jumped off. I hung some parsley above the swing that can only be reached from the swing, so maybe that will motivate him.

Cages here in Japan are quite small, so even though I bought the biggest available, the swing does kind of monopolize the "air space." I think I'll put it in on alternate days or so.

Neither has figured out the ball bearing water tube, so that's their next challenge. I put in one of those water things that has a little tray at the bottom, and they figured that out right away.

[L in Ontario]

By the way - you might rethink the use of parsley in or near your bird cages as it could be toxic to them.

http://www.finchinfo.com/general/toxic_ ... angers.php

[Ursula]

By the way - you might rethink the use of parsley in or near your bird cages as it could be toxic to them.

http://www.finchinfo.com/general/toxic_ ... angers.php

Liz,

There are various opinions about parsley for birds. I give mine parsley not regularly but sometimes as they seem to like it.

For example, here's a link to an article that says the following: "Parsley has often been reported as toxic in birds, but it has only been shown in ducks and ostriches to cause a sensitivity to the sun. No evidence exists to show this effect in pet birds, and many diets contain small amounts with no harmful effects."

http://www.oldworldaviaries.com/text/mi ... coses.html

If you google "birds parsley toxic" you get just as many sites that list it as toxic as there are sites listing it as safe and saying that this is an old rumor.

I guess the key is moderation though, which probably goes for all herbs...

[L in Ontario]

I guess the key is moderation though, which probably goes for all herbs...

Very true Ursula! Moderation in everything is key even for us humans.

[avicella]

Thanks for the link to the toxics list. The birds seem to have survived the parsley, if indeed it's harmful. They mostly seem to like to tear it apart and rip the stems up, so maybe they aren't even ingesting much of it anyway. Their favorite is a green bean hung from the top of the cage.

They both can now land and take off from the swing, so there have been several fights on it today.

Edit: I see cuttlebone on the list (without explanation). Hmmm.

[L in Ontario]

Their favorite is a green bean hung from the top of the cage.

Greenbean? That's different! I'll have to try it. Do they just play with it?