The first day flight.

[CSLFiero]

I'm not making any illusions for myself, on the first day my new parrot arrives, I know he/she is going to come out of the travel cage and fly right to the highest perch in the room ad park himself there for hours if not even over a day and not want to come down or be handled.

So I know patience is key.. but is there anything i should know about the first hours? should i leave the room with some water and food? should i attempt to retrieve the parrot from the perch? Should i go right from the travel cage to the living cage? I figure this to entirely be a touch and go proceedure, but I'd like to know your own experience so i can be inspired as to how to proceed on those first couple days.

[Michael]

I'm not making any illusions for myself, on the first day my new parrot arrives, I know he/she is going to come out of the travel cage and fly right to the highest perch in the room ad park himself there for hours if not even over a day and not want to come down or be handled.

That doesn't sound right at all!? What kind of terrible breeder did you get the bird from to get that sort of impression?? When I got Truman, he stepped right up for me and was easy to handle from the first moment because the breeder handled him well. If the bird comes from a good breeder, this should not be the case at all.

So I know patience is key.. but is there anything i should know about the first hours? should i leave the room with some water and food? should i attempt to retrieve the parrot from the perch? Should i go right from the travel cage to the living cage? I figure this to entirely be a touch and go proceedure, but I'd like to know your own experience so i can be inspired as to how to proceed on those first couple days.

If you're concerned about the bird flying off and being irretrievable, you shouldn't let that happen. If you're convinced that the bird is going to do that, you should reach into the carrier with your hand with the door mostly closed, grab the bird, and transfer it to the cage immediately. If the bird is pretty wild and unreliable, having it out and flying all at once is bound to cause trouble. Stick it in the cage and then work on building trust from there.

Most hand raised parrots that are used to humans will sooner go to people for comfort than fly away. You may want to rethink this breeder if this is what you've been led to believe. I'm glad you're not clipping wings though so it's a great start. Next is finding a breeder that does a good job raising the bird so that it doesn't matter that it can fly cause it still wants to be around you.

[CSLFiero]

It's the impression I was given, but I believe it's because this breeder doesn't like to send unclipped birds. She told me it was due to having birds returned. I don't think this is a bad breeder though, she's been around the block so I'm sure she's been thoroughly vetted by the community (Jean Pattison, aka the african queen).

Maybe she's saying that stuff to lower my expectations.. but now that you mention it, I've seen on a few sources that a handfed baby will want to be on your hand

Oh, btw Michael, I saw your vid of when you brought Truman home on your first day and took careful observation of your behavior and I hope my first day goes that well too. When he took off though, what happened after that? I'd love to know more about that first day and what you do/did.

[Michael]

Jean Pattison said she doesn't like to send unclipped birds??? I think she's just worried you're a beginner and don't know what you're doing. What kind of parrot?

[cml]

It will vary depending on both the bird and the breeder.

Stitch was hand-raised and my breeder's favorite (which he had initially selected to keep as his own companion parrot to live in the house) so he was very good at stepping up etc when we got him. When he arrived he flew to a perch, sat there for a while then immediatly stepped up when asked. He also went willingly into his new cage, and after just 1 day he was showering with us in the bathroom (the breeder had taught him this, so it was very easy and something Stitch loved).

Leroy on the other hand was a parent raised aviary bird, and had no taming done at all, and very little contact with humans at all, apart seeing people through the aviary. He was also 9 months when we got him, so not a newly born baby either, and thus not so easy to handle.
We (I) had to grab him out of the carrier and put him into his new cage, and after that a long process of getting him to trust us started. Progess was fast to begin with, he took food from us within a week and we had him targeting by two. Then he flew into a wall and decided it was all our fault, and decided that he shouldnt trust us for a long while.
Months of training later he was a completely different bird, and today he is doing great. He steps up, knows flight recall, targeting, turn around, dance (repeated nodding) and wave. He
oes NOT want to be grabbed though, no matter how much I try to achieve that. He actively seeks our company and wants to spend time with us. Its very heart warming to see .

This turned into a lot longer post than I had thought, but my point is, it will depend on alot of circumstances. If you suspect the bird isnt very tame, put him into the cage immediatly and start working on trust. If not it might go very smoothly.

Either way, I am sure it will work out fine for you, as long as you are patient.

Oh and stick around on the forums!

[marie83]

I just hold the carrier door up to the cage door and let them make their own way out. Never had one that chose to stay in the carrier for more than one minute. They prefer to go out in to the lighter area. I guess some babies might be a bit different especially if they are sold shortly after they leave the nest as they will remember the dark nest as a place of safety.

[CSLFiero]

Jean Pattison said she doesn't like to send unclipped birds??? I think she's just worried you're a beginner and don't know what you're doing. What kind of parrot?

I think that might be the case. She was really concerned about my readiness given i asked for a flighted jardines. We discussed it at length on the phone and got everything settled.

I believe my baby was parent raised for the first 6ish weeks? I know Jean likes to pull them later, at least her greys (reading her articles). I really trust her choices and i think any caution she has for me is meant to keep my mind and heart open so i don't abandon the baby (never gonna happen!)

Pics are in the parrot tales forum, I'm going to show you all the progress on my indoor aviary, too. I've converted my dining room into a 12 x 15 parrot sanctuary

[Michael]

Sounds about right.