Ridiculously hard to get bird back in cage when I let her out?

[meganmshope]

I definitely don't get my lovebird out of her cage enough and I'm trying to change that immediately.
However, once she's out of her cage, she will do anything to stay out and not go back in.
I've tried showing her favorite treat in her cage to lure her back in, and she doesn't care at all. It's usually at least a half hour struggle to get this girl back in.

She's not perch trained which I'm trying to change, but in order to do that I need her out of her cage.
Anyone have this experience and anyone have any tips for me?

[Elle]

Your best bet is probably to do a wing clip until she is trained to step up and to perch on command. I'm fighting with a a budgie these days to get him his medications so I can totally relate with your frustration. These little ones are so quick and agile when it comes to escaping!

[tunchismom]

My baby girl is the same way, and she gets plenty of time out of her cage everyday. She will even try to bite my sometimes when I command her to step up. I have to trick her, I'll grab something she loves, like this blue towel we keep in the bathroom on the towel rack. She'll climb in it and I'll grab the towel with her in it and place her gently on the floor and put the towel back on the rack. Then i'll put my finger down for her to step up like I'm going to help her back into the bathroom to get into the towels and instead I place her in her cage. 90% of the time it works. sometimes she'll catch on to the trick and bite me, but I'm used to her bipolar attitude so it doesn't bother me too much :nyah:

[Z28Taxman]

Ditto used to hide in the middle of my back where I couldn't reach him.:evil::evil: Fortunately he outgrew that and he now will just go right in if I put him in front of the door. sometimes all I have to do is walk toward the cage and he'll fly right in!


The other way to get him to go in is to put fresh food in. He'll be in there waiting where the food bowl goes before it even gets in there. He has an impatient look on his face while he's waiting too! :lol

[Pips mom]

It's always a tough time during the first weeks/months of having a new bird, getting them back in! Pip always HATED going in his cage! and runs right out the minute the door opens! but over time, if you create a routine, (birds love routine!) you can end up like me & Pip! This is one thing about Pip that I love and am proud of! It started out he would run down the back of cages and I had to shoo him out of there, so I would get this baseball hat and stick it back there because it was soft and would reach a bit further than my hand! Now, when Pip sees that hat, he knows it's time to go in! All I have to do it get it, show it to him, and hold it up and he runs right over to his cage and goes in for me! Sometimes he does get in a bold lil lovie mood and gives me a hard time! but that's rare! In fact, I think he has all of his flight feathers grown in for the first time and he's been so good now that I don't clip him, and it's been less and less as each year has gone by. Lovebirds are very smart little birds and if you set a routine, the same every day, it was really easy to train Pip to do this! At night when he goes in for sleep time, he'll go over to his birdie bath first and get a drink! He gets his walnut snack before that! He seems to actually enjoy going in his cage now! BUT!.....he does know that when I'm here, it's time to be out! and he'll let me know if I don't get him out quick enough! Keep in mind that Pip is a pretty mischievous little guy! He always wants out! so if I can train him to do this, I'm sure you can do it too! Takes time, of course, and you can figure your own way and routine that works best! I wasn't even trying to train Pip.......it just seemed to happen! Once you have a daily routine, they learn very fast when it's in time and out time!