Birds going nuts at grey cage skirt

[piousm]

OK, currently I have 6 adult lovies who are paired up in 3 cages. One is an arrangement of two separate cages, about 2 foot cubes, on top of each other. Anyway, the birds are all nesting at the moment, so I have not been able to clean the cages too much, and the birds blow the cage debris around, which makes my wife very excited. I bought two stretchy skirt things for the cages, which seem to be perfect to stop the debris coming out. Except that the birds go nuts when they see them. They screech and chatter, and get really distressed (sort of panting with their beaks open) and wont go into their nesting boxes. After I took them off the birds seemed to settle, but now they chatter and get agitated as soon as they see one. Do you think it is a color thing (sort of pale grey), or just that it intruded on their territory? As always, any help would be appreciated.

[linda040899]

The cage skirt thing is a something new/different thing that the birds see as a threat to their eggs/potential babies. Color could have something to do with it but the bulk of the problem is just that the skirt is something new. Look at it from their perspective. They are inside and there's this "thing" around the bottom of their homes that they can't see through.......

I have a number of my personal pets along one wall on the far side of my kitchen and they kick seed on the floor all the time. Those cages are cleaned every day. I can associate with what you wife is feeling, as I don't like it, either. My solution came in the form of a small, lightweight vacuum. I bought a Hoover Flair, which makes clean up quick and easy. :)

[piousm]

Thanks for that. For the moment I've just lined the bottom part of the inside of their cages with paper, which they are pretty much used to and that will do the trick until it is shredded. I might try the skirts again after the babies are out. If I even pick up the grey skirt and show them they start to chatter, but it doesnt bother them so much if I put a shirt up against the cage. I suspect they have the irrits with it because I just popped it on, so it's now the enemy. Quite clever, actually.