Is too much out of cage time unhealthy?

[GreenWing]

Now, let's see... nature made birds to live in the trees and the sky and to fly miles and miles everyday, do you think that hundreds of thousands of years of evolution would have made such a mistake? Of course it's not unhealthy! What is unhealthy (and terribly unkind, I might add) is to keep them in a cage all day long.

I agree with this. Chance is happy to sit outside on her cage door most of the time, preening, talking, and just being a perch potato. But no way in hell would I ever advocate keeping a bird in a cage for most of the day!

[Graeme]

Firstly, let him out of the cage as often as possible. Your bird probably will not eat at night so you can take the feed out once he has settled in for the night.

With the training, DO NOT starve the bird, you only run the risk of it becoming ill.

Instead do your training after the bird wakes in the morning and beofre you feed him. Take him out of the cage and wait for him to have his first big poop of the day. You should find the bird is nice and alert, reasonably hungry and eager to see you, he will also be more inclined to take treats.
As far as treats for training goes, try giving it very small pieces of fresh apple, if it doesn't like that try another fruit. later on you could try sunflower seeds. You could also try giving it some cereal.

Keep your training sessions short to start with, approx 15 mins, you will get to know how your bird responds and when he has had enough. make it fun, not mundane and boring, laugh clap and plenty of praise. Don't try to rush it, you and the bird have plenty of time, when the bird seems to have lost interest stop training for the day, but always end on a happy note.

Once you have finished your training session, get the morning feed ready, to help make the bird want to go back into the cage, try putting some fruit in the feed tray. Once he is in the cage, play with him and talk to him for a minute before you lock the cage. Next get his morning meal ready and give it to him. He will soon learn that after training he will be fed and will look forward to going back into the cage.

Once he has eaten and had some time to settle, take him out of the cage for some play time. Let him explore and take in everything around him, but do not leave him out of the cage when you are not around to supervise. but being able to fly around is very good exercise for him.
Once he has been out for some time, place him back into the cage, again with a little bit of fruit in his bowl, again talk to him and play for a minute. Leave him there for 30 mins or so and then let him out again, do this a few times throughout the day and he should get used to this routine.

Hope this helps