Your Bird Is Frightened of the New Toy. That Is Normal.

You bought a toy, hung it in the cage, and the bird has been pressed against the far bars for two hours. This is not a defective bird or a bad toy. It is neophobia, and in the wild it is the reason the bird is alive.

Why some species are worse than others

African greys and many cockatoos are famously cautious about new objects. Conures, caiques and budgies are often the opposite and will attack a new toy within minutes.

Neither is better. A cautious bird needs a slower introduction, and forcing it produces a bird that distrusts the whole cage rather than one that gets used to change.

The method

Day one to three: put the toy in the room, visible from the cage but well away from it. Do nothing else. Let it become part of the furniture.

Day four to six: move it to a table beside the cage. Handle it yourself in front of the bird — birds take a great deal of cue from what you treat as safe.

Day seven: hang it on the outside of the bars, near a perch the bird likes but not on it.

Day ten or later: move it inside, beside a favourite perch rather than replacing one. Never hang a new object over food or water.

Speed it up with food

A treat placed on or in the new object turns it from a threat into a resource. Start with the treat on the outside where it can be taken without touching the toy, then gradually move it in.

This is also how you teach foraging, so the two lessons reinforce each other.

What not to do

Do not leave a frightened bird alone with an object it cannot escape. Do not replace several toys at once. Do not rearrange the whole cage on the same day the new toy arrives — one change at a time.

And do not conclude after two days that the bird “does not like toys”. Very few birds do not; a great many have been introduced to them badly.

The exception: bring things in fast for a chewer

For a confident, destructive bird the whole staged approach is unnecessary and slightly insulting. Hang it up and watch it disappear.

You will know which kind of bird you have within about five minutes of the first attempt.

Rotation keeps the effect

Once a toy is accepted, take it out after a week or two and put it away. Reintroduce it a fortnight later and it will get a second round of attention with no reintroduction needed.

Three sets on a rotation gives you permanent novelty out of a finite number of toys, and it is considerably cheaper than buying continuously.

Questions about a nervous bird? Ask us — tell us the species and we will point you at something to start with.

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