Flying to perch

[Wayne361]

I have searched but havent found how to train parrot to fly to his perch. My has recall flying down well now and his confidence in flying has increased greatly. He was previously clipped by prior owners and even though his feathers grew back was not confident in flying....that has changed. Anyhow any pointers on how to motivate bird to fly back to perch on command/cue would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Wayne

[marie83]

I used a hand held perch to start with and started by getting him to step up on it. Then I introduced the command ''perch''. I gradually increased the distance so he had to walk to get on it.

After this I attatched the perch so it was free standing and continued with the ''perch'' command but at stepping up distance. Then I gradually increased the distance again so he had to fly to it.

It may sound a very long winded way to do it but Ollie got the hang of 3/4s of it on the first training session and was flying across the room to it on the second session. Every birds different so it may take less or more time as you know.

Hope this helps and good luck.

[Wayne361]

Thanks Marie...I have him flying perch to perch on command at each individual perch. Sometimes he will fly to the other perch when I fail to give the command/cue. I dont reward at these times since he didnt follow cue. I will use this "habit" of his to reinforce the "perch" command. Seems very simple to me now....

Thanks your advice helped me see the obvious

Wayne

[marie83]

Thanks Marie...I have him flying perch to perch on command at each individual perch. Sometimes he will fly to the other perch when I fail to give the command/cue. I dont reward at these times since he didnt follow cue. I will use this "habit" of his to reinforce the "perch" command. Seems very simple to me now....

Thanks your advice helped me see the obvious

Wayne

Lol, the perils of owning an intelligent animal. They will often do their repitore without being cued if they think you have treats, almost like they are saying ''see how clever I am? I can do all this stuff without being told so I deserve more treats'' It's quite funny and sweet really but you do right to only reward cued behaviour.
Ollie will do pretty much everything I've ever taught him without being cued, usually the things we have been working on that session apart from the target stick which he will make a beeline for whenever he sees it. I ignore him if I haven't cued the behaviour but it doesn't seem to stop him trying.

[Wayne361]

An update...about 20 minute training session and Oscar is learning surprisingly fast the cue for "perch" and becoming more adept at it. Time and practice is all that is required now. Thanks again.

Wayne

[Fportilla77]

just throw them into flight

[marie83]

just throw them into flight

But then they might get nervous/stressed or they might land somewhere you don't want them too at that moment in time.

[Wayne361]

just throw them into flight

Bad advice but I appreciate your effort

Wayne

[Jackson312]

I made my cockatiel step up onto a perch and i just said "Go to perch." She got this after about three tries.

[Wayne361]

I now have training perches about 20-25 feet apart. Just the word "perch" and he will fly to the other perch. I can now recall him and say "perch" and he will fly to nearest perch. Just takes practise and training. He also has learned to wait for the cue before flying to the perch. In all good progress.

Wayne