How to stop Cookie from chewing the cage bars?!

[mona]

Since past 2 days, Cookie has been adamant on chewing the cage bars.. 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

She is very persistent and will never forget, even if I distract her for a while. There are so many items in the cage to chew and shred.. I have no idea why she wants to chew the cage bars.. I'm worried if she takes out the coating, it'll damage the cage again..plus if she ingest any of it.. She has never done it before.. it's the first time I am seeing her do like that..

I can't keep a watch on her at all times during the day.. So worried 😟

[Morgan]

I wonder if you could coat the cage bars (in the places she normally chews so you don’t have to clean the entire cage later) with something bitter? Like a paste or strong tea of something buds don’t like much - but won’t hurt them. That’s all I can think of right now cause I’m already in bed and need to sleep. >.<

Hopefully someone else has a better idea and I’ll check back later!

[mona]

That thought actually crossed my mind.. just like when you want kids to get off the milk bottle! I couldn't think of what to use there! I have added a bunch of papers together for her to shred at the top corners.. sometimes, she takes to a cuttlefish bone and a wood toy to chew.. maybe she is bored or uninterested in other things added there.. the swings and all perches are chewable too..

I need to find out what she likes.. both of them haven't taken to toys as such since past year.. i have seen them stripping the bark from branches.. and they love chewing the bark from wooden toys.. I have added all of them there.. Maybe it's time to try different kind of toys to check what else they are interested in..

Just I don't want her to chew on the cage bars 😫

[Hezz]

You can get a spray called bitter apple that is made to be a deterrent for chewing birds, but I'm afraid it only put my hens off for a few minutes! Is there anything that she is more interested in that you can put in the way? That does seem to work for some people (not me). Or go the other direction - anything she particularly doesn't like?? Pieces of eucalyptus bark can work well as a shredding toy. You can also try moving the cage furniture around so that perches run different ways to normal, just to mix things up and give her something else to think about.

[mona]

I cannot think of the things that interest her. I haven't seen her chewing anything other than wooden toys and recently bark.. eucalyptus trees aren't available in my city, as far as I know.. I'll still check out if there are any.. I'll take a look at the apple thing..but I think she will not give up! 😅 She gives a couple of days to things that interest her, gets bored and gives it a go again after few days.. I have rearranged the cage items too.. Breezie is a bit cautious, but Cookie is exploring.

Yesterday, I tried filling a bamboo ball with a couple of sticks and some treats and had put it in the spare food bowl with seeds at the end covered with bamboo balls, few wooden beads, a couple of sticks.. that kept her busy yesterday.. she threw everything down a couple of times and played with the bamboo ball for the treats.. i refilled everything two to three times.. also, dismantled her old wooden chewing toy and added it differently to a natural bark i had.. Have added one of it there..

I have another bamboo ball ready filled with shredded papers stuffed inside. I guess I have to be very creative to keep her engaged.. It's good anyways that she is engaged in something! Just not the cage 😅

Right now, she is playing with the coconut toy I made for her.. She's going to keep me on my toes all the time.. 😂

It would be very mean, but there is a non wooden ball they are afraid of & it used to be in their cage for months. Worst case scenario would be putting that there!

[Morgan]

mona - Hahaha you would have to take a video of her reaction to putting that ball up there if you had to resort to that!

Is she chewing on the cage bars even with the cage door open? What a funny little girl! I wonder what it is about it that makes her like the bars. Maybe the smooth texture? Is there anything else similar that she can chew on that could be made into a toy? Maybe uncooked spaghetti or something... smooth and thin.

[mona]

I hope I don't have to go ahead with that ball.. 😅

It doesn't really matter where she is or if cage door is open/closed,etc..she is very determined.. She tried chewing off the wall paint earlier.. nothing really worked, except I had to cover it with coconut coir ropes which are a bit harsh, so she won't go near it.. Yes, actually that's something she repels.. 😅 I feel I'm being mean to her, but that's for her own safety and my pocket too!! 😂

The earlier cage bars were thinner than these ones.. that's the difference between them.. plus it can be dismantled, so that leaves a bit more attachments..

Spaghetti idea seems nice..never thought of it earlier.. if that's safe to do, I can give that a try!

[mona]

I have also added changing the food bowl location and food bowl too.. I think I have read earlier the location shouldn't be fixed for them.. they should be foraging for food instead..

At least starting with moving food bowl around.. I think Cookie seems to understand a bit of foraging.. Breezie doesn't at all.. I'm not sure if that can keep Cookie busy..

I have seen people making foraging trays, which is filled with shredded paper, dried grass or leaves and seeds or treats are added there.. I guess that would also look like a nest to Cookie?

[ladybird]

My Charlie is a real bar chewer, the noise drives me mad..... Somebody on here suggested following round the cage with wooden pegs to stop him . And it did help. It really annoyed him and was tiring for me.....but worth a try for you....... They seem to get some satisfaction from doing it and I think it becomes a habit..................I have a few wooden pegs hanging in his cage now and he does play with them a bit.

[mona]

She has wooden peg kind of chewing toys too.. I really don't want her to develop it as a habit..!!! It would be nightmare. I have added bunch of shredded papers on the cage corners.. except one.. they are still cautious about that.. don't want them to freak out.. Do you mean covering the cage bars with wooden pieces, ladybird?

She is so cranky right now.. i hope the moult gets over soon.. her tail feathers have dropped and still growing.. today, i heard long squabbles and found cookie nipping Breezie's tail feather.. that happened last year.. Breezie was singing all time while she wanted to sleep.. the boy doesn't understand!! I had to intervene and she didn't feel guilty at all!! 🤦‍♀️

[Hezz]

She is probably hormonal as well - is she in breeding condition? You could wrap some of the coir rope around the bars or the cage, particularly where she is chewing? Something that is safe to chew on, whether she likes it or not doesn't really matter. If she likes it maybe she will prefer to chew on that; if she doesn't maybe it will put her off.

[mona]

Brown crust on her cere fell few weeks back and has developed again now. It seems she is hormonal... She is giving Breezie a run for his life again.. She seems irritated as well.. If Breezie keeps singing even if the radio is off she would chase him on all the perches until he stops singing..

Yesterday she was trying to pick and throw the food bowl - I'm not sure if that's normal for a hen or she is aggressive or irritated. Pin feathers are still there on her head and tail feather still growing..

For now, she is exploring other toys and foraging for seeds in the bamboo balls.. and she took to bark shredding instead at the cage corner, where she was chewing earlier...



Next, if I see her chew again, I'll add the coconut coir rope to the cage corner where she prefers to chew.. I have kept a few more handmade shredding toys ready.. I made some yesterday too.. to switch when she is bored of the current one.. I will try adding them to the cage corners too..

[Morgan]

I wonder if increasing her sleep hours will calm down her hormones a bit? Or decreasing the amount of food available (hens will only want to nest if there is sufficient food to feed not only themselves but their offspring too!). Or maybe you can move their stuff all around and maybe that would be enough to set her off the idea of nest making, if that is what she’s after.

[mona]

They sleep for almost 13 hrs at night.. 6.30 pm to 7.30am. They wake up at 7.30 to eat food and sleep again for another half hour or so, before actually being active again. They nap during the day for 30 mins to 1.5 hr, in multiple iterations..

I have changed the location of items in the cage. Reg reducing the food intake, they are also going through a moult and reducing the food could again lead them back to inactive sleep heads..like a few days back. I'm not giving them the oily seeds to aggravate the hormonal behavior. I have read excess protein also makes them hormonal.. so just keeping a check on that and providing fresh greenies instead.. veggies and grass..

I'm not sure about the nest thing.. she just wants to chew anything and everything.. that also includes Breezie!

[Hezz]

You are doing all the right things, mona. And it does seem to be working as she has changed her attention to other things. Keeping one step ahead of her will keep you on your toes, though.