To what end.

[KQarberroh]

I got a parrot as a gift. But it was motivated by me since I saw free-flying parrots and I was absolutely astonished, even moreso since I know it might take me 2 years to get there. In the meantime I am reading reading reading.

He is a 17yo BF Amazon Male. In three weeks I got it to step up and target. I didn't let it out of it's cage untill he could step up freely because me chasing him would be counterproductive. So during the daytime he has a big aviary, into which I let him for an hour at a time before taking him back to his cage. In the aviary is water only.

My questions

1) I keep food in his cage so that he has to associate it with a place to return to, should I some day have him fly away?

2) I let him out of his cage after work, he gets to be with me at work - where the big aviary is too. He seems to be climbing down to explore immediately. If I let him on my shoulder his attention span is usually 20 minutes, if it's not near bed-time and he dozes off, then he will climb down to explore. What should I expect of him? Will he eventually favor his cage over exploring? What should I not allow and what should I allow? This is a discretion question I know, but if you could try and answer me so that I might develop some insight.

3) I basically have 17 years' worth of behaviour to reverse and he is quite quick to adapt, trust and change ( a lot less screaming in 2 weeks). Will it be impossible for me to have him free fly? (Another insight question which you could try to answer even if indirectly)

[Athena&beepbeep'smom]

Have you taken him to the vet? Our vet has rescued some older birds and says that if people do damage clipping the wings wrong for a bunch of years in a row or allow the muscles to atrophy by keeping them in cages to small to stretch them or denying them out of cage exercise sometime they are really physically incapable of flying. Do you know what conditions he was kept in before? I guess otherwise its a psychological thing and maybe he just doesn't think of it as an option because he's not used to being able to anymore? Not sure if you can fix that or not?

[Michael]

Indoor freeflight yes, outdoor freeflight no.

[KQarberroh]

So Micheal you are saying that this is impossible/dangerous ? http://www.likambo.com/training/Carly_Gets_Her_Wings_GoodBird_Sp08.pdf. I don't mean to argue in a non-constructive way I would like to hear your valid reasons why.

I'm going to rephrase the one question which is not included in the reference to the url above.
If I let my parrot out of it's cage indoors. What should I allow him to do? Wander around? When should I stop him or move him back to his cage etc. Any pointers on what is acceptable at first and what to expect as he adjusts to me and my household?

[pchela]

Hi,

I'd like to show you a video about free flight.

It's just not worth it and especially if you are new to parrots.

As for inside the house, my birds are free to roam the house (supervised of course). I have two playstands set up in different locations for them to hang out on though they prefer to be on a person. Every situation is different though. Will the bird step up for you? Can you get him back into his cage when you need to?

[Michael]

Thanks for posting Tui video, that's a fantastic example of why not to freefly outdoors. As for Raz' articles, why don't you take a greater look at all the problems, losses, and failures she has had to put up with. Also, look at countless examples of outdoor freeflight parrots that got killed by predators, lost, or stolen. I do much admire outdoor freeflight of parrots but I cannot recommend it to anyone. It is a decision that only you can make but it must not be taken lightly; mistakes are deadly.

However, the biggest reason I say to forget about outdoor freeflight is because the parrot is old. They have enough trouble getting reliable outdoor freeflight with young fledglings, so the chances of success with an older parrot (especially if you haven't had major success with outdoor freeflight on younger birds in the past) are terribly against you (but even moreso your parrot because that is who will pay the consequences). Simply speaking, older parrots that have spent their lives indoors will lack the flight skills, survival skills, and self preservation skills needed to safely fly outdoors beyond just good recall training, etc.

Please do not attempt outdoor freeflight with your parrot. Nobody on this forum is qualified to help you with outdoor freeflight except to tell you not to do it. There is so much that you can accomplish with indoor freeflight, that you really need not even bother with outdoor flight to be able to enjoy your parrot.

[MandyG]

If you are really determined to fly your parrot outside you should look into harness training. With a properly fitted harness and a background of indoor flight training your parrot can get a lot of benefit from flying outdoors. For tips on harness training your parrot check out this article.

[KQarberroh]

Thank you for your responses it makes a lot of sense.

He's stepping up 100%, had a bit of trouble at first getting him off my shoulder again till I realised that he hates it because of what being taken off means to him. He goes back to his cage with no trouble. He started recall flights (3 feet flights) a week ago and I do about 10 reps per day with him to improve fitness and confidence. He's bonded very nicely with me only going back to his cage when his hungry. The rest of the time I accustom him to different people and things, with him setting the pace and still not touching everything I show him. He was a problem screaming parrot that has never gotten much farther than a metre from his cage and any human bond.

I realised that any kind of freeflight will take about a year or so because of the different skills needed ascend, descend, turns etc. what I'm trying to say is that I am taking it slowly and being patient. I just enjoy him learning new things, gives me a lot of joy to see his reaction to things and feeling good about mastering tricks etc. From what you are saying now though I will keep his flights indoors though.

As you can see I can write a book about the things achieved vs the things learned to me by him especially body language to name but one. So I'm gonna cut this wall of text.