We adopted little Rico about a year ago. Like any rescue, he came with his own little bad habits to fix and tame. One, however, is giving us a lot of trouble. He's cage aggressive.
We've tried rearranging his cage over and over again (without him in it). We cover him at night for about 14 hours and put him to bed and get him up at about the same time every day. We've tried spritzing him to distract him. We've also tried talking to him quietly as we approach.

Once he's out of the cage, he's the sweetest little quaker you can imagine. Approach the cage and he starts the hissing and biting through the bars and at the bars like he just can't stand it-- he's gotta bite SOMETHING. Our hands are covered in the little triangle bites.

Any other suggestions?

VictoriaFe

No advice, but i have the same exact problem with my 2. I can't wait to find an answer!!!

Mine are kinda bad about their cage too. I usually get them out of the cage using a towel covering my hand just so there is less drama involved getting them out. Once out, we go away from the cage so they don't continue the behavior. It has been better since we leave their cage doors off most of the time, and have attached perches on the outside of the cage hence making our own birdie playstand. Just on the one side, it kinda extends the cage area outside the cage. I don't even know if that is related to their aggression but since they are out on the cage and around it more often it seems they aren't quite as bad about it. shrug who knows. I think you are doin the right thing by rearranging the cage and making sure he gets enough sleep though. Any mirrors in the cage? I've heard those can contribute, also any favorite toys? Mine had a big stringy cotton poofy thing that they loved and were regurgitating on. I took that away and it seemed to help alot at that time.

Rico is actually afraid to play with anything that isn't attached to his cage. Won't even play with balls in his cage. When we got him, he didn't know how to play with toys. Since then, we've introduced him to a whole lotta things but he's afraid of them all except for this dangling thing with beads and bells and pieces of wood strung together with hemp. He loves that thing. chews all the pieces off and attacks the bells. But other than that-- no, no toys. We're teaching him, though. Slowly but surely. Especially our other two fids love to play with dingle balls and wiffle balls and foot toys and sticks.

When we first got him, our male bird, Sam, took offense at his presence. When Sam discovered Rico is terrified of sticks (even little sticks, like popsicle sticks and the halved straws we give them to play with), Sam chased Rico all over the play cage just carrying a popsicle stick in his beak.

Was hilarious, but sad, at the same time. Rico likes to tear pieces of his cage paper off and pile them at the corner of his cage and sit on them like he's sitting on a nest. So I can tell he would be a great little builder, if he would just get over his little fear of sticks. And balls. And foot toys.

Don used to have really bad cage aggression. I have a few scars to prove it. After getting tired of nothing working I began getting him to stepup on a spare perch and then getting him out of the cage. It took a while for him to willingly step up onto the perch, but once he figured out that the perch= out of cage time, then he was soon eager to hop right on it.
Eventually I stopped using the perch and began using my hand again. I'm not sure how, but it worked!

Good luck!

Alot of cage aggression is coming up in posts lately but alot of it might be due to the fact its spring and birds are more hormonal with their desire to mate at this time which makes their behavior different on many levels.

I like to tell people to be patient during this time because they cant help it. Still talk to them open their cages and allow them to come out on their own and then get them to step up and take them to another room to spend time with them actually does really help alot during this time.

My quaker is 4 also a rehome and has been horrible this year but he is getting better and I have seen it before so I know it will pass.

On another note if this is an ongoing thing non spring related it might be that he is being over stimulated by being out and handled too much. If thats the case then take him away from his cage for short intervals only and look for body language that lets you know he has had enough playtime and wants to go back to his cage. If its fun and positive he will be more willing to want to work with you when it becomes a chore they do opt to go to great lengths to not want to do it.

There are a multitude of reasons why a quaker gets cage aggresive from not getting enough sleep to being territorial. Yet everything and anything can be fixed with patience and steps to correct it.

good luck

I realize you must be having a horrible time at this. I am not looking forward to possibly jumping this hurdle with Hemingway anytime in the future.. Hopefully I can take notes from the responses you get so I will know what to do if/when the time comes.

With all that said.. I did find this anecdote so funny. (Sad for little Rico!!) How smart is little Sam there!!

The mention of spring actually made me think- I thought I wasn't seeing any hormonal behavior, but she (mock) attacked my brother last night, enough so that it scored and he was whining (baby). Perhaps it's hormonal, after all. I just thought it was a sign that she was starting to like me more (as he was her previous favorite) It's harder to get my brother to respond correctly to the attack as he's a bit jumpy, but I told her I wouldn't talk to her if she was being mean.

About the cage aggression- the stick idea sounds good, except he's afraid of them. I guess the towel would work better, then?

That takes care of getting him in and OUT of the cage, but what about the aggression he shows when I'm just walking by? He bites and shrieks and chews frantically like he just can't stop himself... gotta...gotta... BITE!

Its almost like a nervous reaction. My other two love being scritched and having their feet rubbed with my finger when I walk by, but Rico even seems to resent that. He'll try to push himself between me and the bird receiving attention and try to bite me. But he doesn't want the attention-- oh no! he just wants to bite me if he's in the cage.

Once I get him out, he's all cooing and telling me what a pretty bird i am (or what a pretty bird he is) and grooming my hair, nails, etc. But inside the cage he's the beak with green wings.