Parrots can learn to go to the bathroom if you are willing to do dedicated and consistent training. Parrots are rarely perfect on their potty training, but with a little work, you can get near-perfect results. In fact, you can usually get such good results that when the parrot does have an accident, it is because you were not paying attention to it!

The characteristics of parrots vary according to their various conditions. Wild parrots do not go to the bathroom where they sleep or eat. They move to another place. In the case of caged parrots, an adult bird will generally move away from its food and perch to defecate. Birds can be trained to “go” to different locations, but the cage is often the preferred location.

SunDance trained me

I must say that I did not invent this technical training. SunDance taught me how to train parrots in this behavior. Whenever she went to the bathroom in a shirt, they would take her back to her cage and tell her to “go home” while I changed my shirt or cleaned up the mess. Often times, he could be busy and not come back to look for her right away, so she was unhappy with this situation. Soon, she started saying “go home” before defecating, giving me time to take her to her cage, let her poop, and take her with me. She liked this much more! If I didn’t respond quickly, she would gently bite my neck and repeat the order to take her home. After he told me the third time, I would just let him go. It was up to me and her other humans to respond to the order she gave us.

Hours to go to the bathroom

Parrots go to the bathroom at specific times that can be used for training. First thing in the morning, they will urinate. About 10 minutes after eating, they will urinate. This is reliable and you can use these times to know when to give the command and expect results.

Other characteristics of parrots include adopting a certain posture before going to the bathroom. They squat down and spread their rump feathers to avoid dirtying them. You will learn to pay attention to this body language and to use it during training as well.

Parrot train

Choose a word for the action of defecation. “Go to the bathroom”, “go to the bathroom”, “go to the bathroom please” or something similar works well. Use this word every time you see your parrot potty.

First thing in the morning, after saying “good morning,” tell your parrot to go to the bathroom. Expect; it will happen very soon. Once you do, praise your parrot. Make a big fuss about what a great bird you are.

Watch for your parrot to finish eating breakfast and repeat the potty process. Also, be careful about potty body language and use the potty command and praise again.

In conclusion

Some parrots learn this behavior quickly; others take some getting used to. But most parrots will get the idea early and become reasonably consistent to avoid getting your clothes, sofa, or carpet dirty.

The key to training this behavior is consistency. After your parrot starts letting you know that he needs to go to the bathroom, be sure to respond. Stop what you are doing and take your bird to the bathroom and congratulate him. If you ignore the need sometimes, you will not be as successful as if you took the bird to the bathroom quickly.