Rewarding Bad Behavior

Kiwi the Grey has tantrums when she is not let out to play when she thinks she should be let out to play. She throws her food dish on the floor, which makes a big mess. I decided it was time to get her a new cage.

To the best of my understanding, we should buy the biggest cages that we can afford, assuming that we have the space. So I did. I bought this King's Cage. You see that little bird on the bottom? Kiwi is about that big. Her old cage is (seems) half this size.

After our volunteer meeting yesterday, some friends from the Refuge helped me put it together. They made fun of me for getting the enormous thing for such a little bird.

Manu, my foster bird, was convinced it was for him. He is no longer speaking to me.

I moved Kiwi in tonight. She was perfectly happy to play in it. Then she figured it out. She flew back into her old cage and started to growl. When greys are really upset, they growl like little dogs. I got her back to the big cage and gave her a snack. It looks big and empty by comparison. I have some perches and swings coming in from Windy City Parrot early this week and I plan to make some more toys, too.

After some cleaning and moving around, I set up Kiwi's cage for Manu. Because it is bigger than what he has and he doesn't throw his food dish. He thinks such behavior is silly. He was not impressed with the new digs, but I think he is just offended with the hand-me-down and will lighten up tomorrow.

I put them to bed about an hour ago. I heard some flapping around, which must have been Kiwi getting her bearings in the dark. She has settled down.

Space is really tight in that room now. Might have to get rid of the TV!