A long time ago time when I was traveling around, I came across a hotel that keeps a Blue and Gold Macaw with its stand in a wide area in the lobby, and he was without a cage. I approached the bird. And I found him so gentle and lovely, I petted him, and once I protracted my hand to him, he didn’t refuse to step onto my hand, although it was his first time to meet me.
Of course, he was a well-socialized macaw, and surely he had a lot of interaction with humans before, but the fact of having a cage-free parrot with minimal attention in a place that mostly gets a lot of going by humans all around the day is really amazing.
So, Can You Keep a Pet Parrot Without a Cage?
Yes, raising and keeping your parrot without a cage is possible, but only with proper introduction and pairing the new place with praise, treats, and toys. However, this switch depends on what the parrot wants, and persuading the bird into its new stand should happen gradually.
For the blue and gold macaw mentioned earlier, the owner, which is also the owner of the hotel, has a private room to put his parrot in, and he doesn’t leave him all day in the lobby. Besides that, parrots are highly social creatures, and taking the pet parrot out from the cage daily, and letting him fly around and interact with you or any of your family members is an essential thing, that would keep your bird healthy, both physically and mentally.
Do Parrots Need the Cage?
If you think the cage is like something that could prevent your parrot from flying away, somehow you are right. But for parrots, the cage is like a private place or home where they can feel safe inside. Parrots can somehow bond to their cages, to an extent that they can feel sad or even depressed if you just changed the cage for them, even if you brought them a bigger one, and this could reflect on their temperamental status causing them to show aggression or even stop eating until they forget about it.
Depriving your parrot of his cage could get very difficult for him, it’s like taking away his source of comfort and safety from his life. But some pet parrots can get used to living without a cage and feel happier and more satisfied.
How to Keep Your Parrot Without a Cage
Before you decide on disposing of the cage and keeping your parrot without a cage, consider many factors that could be involved in knowing what is the best for your pet parrot.
Understand Your Parrot
The most important and the thing that will help to decide correctly is to understand your parrot preference. These preferences differ between a parrot and the other, even within the same breed. And to do that, I highly recommend getting one of these stands that will help you understand more about your parrot and to let him get used to the new situation.
After you get the stand, clip your parrot’s wings, this step is to prevent your parrot from flying around and hitting something resulting in an injury for your bird, or simply you can put the stand in a place or a room where there are no dangerous things in it. Find a suitable place to put the stand.
The second thing is to introduce the stand to your parrot under a minimal amount of pressure, a way that your parrot will feel the natural curiosity about the stand. And it’s better to put the stand in the closest spot next to the cage.
Don’t put your bird on the stand quickly, just let it be there next to the cage, so your parrot gets excited about it. Later on, take your parrot and put him over the stand, and keep the cage door open. Give him the freedom to choose where he wants to stay and observe. Observe as long as possible.
See what your parrot prefers, either staying on the stand or returning to the cage. As I mentioned, preferences differ between a parrot and another, if your parrot loved the stand, and spent more time on it. Then you have a good chance to dispose of the cage.
You can keep the food and water in the cage at the beginning. But later on, remove the supplies from the cage, and put them on the stand to know why your parrot was going back to the cage. Was it only for food, or was he still bonded to the cage?
If he stopped entering the cage, then you got yourself another good sign.
You can try taking your parrot back to the cage and leave the door open. See if there is any sign of resistance, you will know if your parrot doesn’t want to stay in the cage. And If your parrot resists and goes back to the stand. Then it’s a sign that your parrot began bonding with the new place.
Now, you know your parrot loves the stand, you can put him under more pressure, like changing the place of the stand far from the cage or hiding the cage. And see what your parrot would do.
If your parrot showed some stressful behavior like screaming more than usual, plucking his feathers, or aggression, especially at the time he sleeps. If that happens, then you know your parrot is not yet ready to leave his cage forever.
So, return to the previous situation cage next to the stand, food on the stand, and give it more time.
And since a lot of parrots will never feel safe sleeping outside their cages, give your parrot the chance to choose the place where he wants to sleep.
This is very important, and if your parrot can sleep on the stand with no worries, then this is the best sign you can get.
This process can not be over a night, a week, or even a month. Keep in mind that your parrot has spent most of his life in a cage, and removing the cage away over a short period could cause many problems for him. Consider this switch just like training and consider it may take a long time.
Remember, the observation time should be as long as possible, and every step or change you do should take enough time, so the process can occur gradually. They’re some concerns about this process that you should consider. Like;
What If the Parrot Didn’t Like The stand
There is a possibility that your parrot will reject the stand, and will choose to stay in his cage. He may go discover the stand, and at the time he feels bored, he will go back to the cage.
Here, you can lure your parrot to the stand by putting food and treats on it. Putting toys and decorations on the stand can also help to lure.
You may also cuddle and play with him when he is on the stand, try to ignore him when he goes to the cage. Make him feel the stand has something amazing to offer.
Does Your Parrot Know How to Fly?
This may seem like a stupid question, but there are some pet parrots or birds that have spent the first year or two of their lives inside a cage, with getting no chance to learn how to fly. And if they didn’t learn the fly, they may develop a fibrosis condition to their wing’s muscles, which will prevent them from flying, possibly forever.
If your bird is one of the unfortunate parrots, you may think of this as an advantage for you, since the parrot won’t fly away from the stand. But if everything is normal with your parrot, keep everything closed in your house, windows, doors, closets, etc. Birds harness can also help in this, and if you don’t how to clip your parrot’s wings. Then the harness is crucial to prevent the bird from flying and hitting something in the house.
And if the parrot is highly active, he won’t stay in one place the harness can help with that after tieing it to the cage or the stand, just make sure the harness is long enough so your parrot can get back between the cage and the stand.
How Tamed and is Social Your Parrot?
Trying to train an untamed parrot to a new place instead of his regular cage can cause a disaster for you both, you have to know if your parrot is used to you and bonded to you or not.
Getting your untamed parrot out from its cage could mean that you will have to struggle to catch and get him back to the cage, not to mention that your parrot could get himself in trouble by trying to escape from you.
Make sure your parrot is 100% tamed.
Besides That, consider how many family members do you have living in your house, who may interact with your parrot while he is in the stand, If your parrot is not well-socialized, then maybe you are putting your bird under unnecessary pressure, which could cause the failure of making this switch.
The Place Where You Plan to Keep Your Parrot In
This could be the most important thing, and it’s the place where you want to keep your parrot, if are living in a small apartment or a house without dedicated room for this process, then maybe you are risking your parrot safety.
Find the perfect place, a place with no dangerous objects, like ceiling fans, or kitchen oven, doors and drawers that could accidentally close on him, or any other pets like dogs and cats that may attack your parrot.
And before leaving your parrot on the stand to observe his movements and body language, give the bird a tour around the stuff that may make him feel curious about everything your parrot has never interacted with before.
Your Parrot Behavior And personality
If your parrot is naturally aggressive and bites when people approach him, or he likes to pick on furniture with his beak, like sofas, chairs, etc. Then the disposal of the cage is not a clever decision, because of the damages that could occur from letting your parrot out of the cage most of the time.
But some aggression, behavioral, and temperamental disorders can happen because of the insufficient diet system you are giving to your bird. Read about the breed of your parrot, and how they feed in the wild. Know if your parrot is a granivore or a frugivore, this will help you a lot to provide your parrot with a suitable diet system.
Read More: Most Affectionate Pet Parrot Breeds
Conclusion
Having a pet parrot that is well trained and lives normally without a cage is truly amazing, but if you think that the decision is up to you to make, then you are totally wrong. For people, moving to a new apartment or house can only happen if the person or the family wants to move.
And the same is for parrots. You can’t force them to leave their cozy and safe cages for the new and exposed stand, which won’t protect them if anything bad happened, at least from the way parrots see it. All you can do is try to persuade them to the new place and show them it’s safe and lovely.
Sleeping time is another challenge. Even if your bird has had proper training and taming because most parrots won’t feel safe to sleep unless they are in their cage, sometimes with a towel covering the cage. So, keeping the cage for sleeping could be a necessity.
You can train your parrot to leave the cage forever, even at the time he sleeps, but this requires a lot of experience from you as an owner, and it mainly depends on the place you are planning to keep the stand. Thanks for reading.
Recommended Further Reading:
How to Train a Parrot to Sit On Hand
How to Train Your Parrot Not to Away (Even Outdoors)
How To Potty Train A Parrot
Hello, my name is sadeq and I am obsessed about parrot And I am here to share everything about raising pet parrots and how to be good owners to your bird.
