recommended species to keep flighted?

[bradlywin]

Hi all,

I have not yet become a bird owner as I have been researching for about a year now, but always get cold feet just when I think i've decided on a bird. I was 100% set on a white belleid caique because we have a 3 yr old daughter and dog and i've never met a caique that was a one-person bird. Other than caiques, I have been back & forth between Meyers, B&G Macaw, Lesser-sulfer crested Too, Umbrella Too, and Blue Fronted Amazon. (I know, all totally different). B&G is my fav but cage size is a downside due to a small house.

One thing holding me back is the fact that I cannot (will not) clip the wings. I'm a pilot myself and just can't see depriving a bird from doing what they are made to do. Having said that, I realize it will take much training to keep a flighted bird. There are so few flighted birds (i've never actually met one besides the show birds at Jungle Island here in Miami) that I can't get good info on what species are naturally easier to train to, well, not fly off and get lost. I know smaller birds are risky because they can get spooked if they see a bird of prey. I don't live in a rural area and want to be able to spend time in our backyard just hanging out with the bird as we often do as a family.

So, is there a trend in specific types of birds you all have flighted? I know the Caiques aren't naturally strong flyers anyways, and often prefer to hop around.

Thanks so much for the info!

Brad

[Michael]

If you're asking about outdoor freeflight, it is not recommended. No, it's outright stupid unless you're a very experienced parrot training expert. Even experts lose their birds this way and mid-level trainers even more so. Not something for a beginner to try for sure. See this if you even had the faintest idea of outdoor freeflight:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKlxjZQUueQ

Indoor freeflight on the other hand is realistic for virtually any caring parrot owner. In this case it doesn't matter so much who is the superior flier because they'll be limited by your indoor environment anyway. Outdoors, you should us a flight harness as a backup. Flight recall and training are the primary protective measure but the harness is the fallback in case of spook or something. Unless you have very large open space, smaller parrots will do better flying around as the space is proportionately bigger to them. My Senegal Parrot can barely fly in the 7x14x7 foot outdoor aviary whereas my Cape Parrot can't at all. Just not enough room. So a 10x10 foot room wouldn't be enough space for all but the smallest parrots to fly free. My 18x60x13 foot apartment is sufficient for either small or medium parrot to fly freely. For a Macaw even that might be crammed.

You should consider temperament, personality, and species suitability over flight capability. Even the best flying parrots are no match for migratory birds in terms of flight capability. It's a part of them but not the reason why we keep them. Parakeets (small long tailed parrots, not just budgies) tend to be fantastic indoor fliers for size and also shape.

Indoor freeflight can still provide adequate exercise and lots of fun for both parrot and owner:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQHTvzidFbs
http://www.flyingparrotsinside.com

While clipping parrots is hazardous to their health, so is flying them free outdoors. Indoor freeflight is the greatest compromise of safety between the two. If I may quote something Mona recently said to me, "Freeflyers tend to have short lives for their birds."

[pennyandrocky]

all birds should be flighted. it's a good sign that you get cold feet it shows your actually putting thought into your desision. i would not recomend any of the birds besides maybe caique can't say on meyers but there are some on here who can, for one with no experiance especially with a 3 year old child. my son was born around them and still at 6 needs constant reminding how to behave. all birds listed are capable of doing harm to small fingers, children move fast and parrots tend to not like fast movement.not that it's impossible just not a good idea.

[GlassOnion]

Definitely no Cockatoo and no Macaw. A huge problem I see with people owning these birds is that Macaws and 'toos often become very protective of their chosen one and will viciously attack other members of the family. I've heard and seen numerous accounts of these and you absolutely have to be on top of your game with socialization and bird behaviour in order to minimize such aggression. So many birds are for sale on Craigslist and other sites because someone bought a cool looking bird, and it started attacking the owner's spouse or children and the family assumed their bird has gone evil and crazy.

You'll come across jealous and aggression with smaller species too, don't get me wrong, just it's a lot harder to deal with a huge aggressive bird rather than a smaller one.

[Rokisha]

Well from my experience, so far at least, my Senegal has been great around the kids. I have a two year old son, soon to be three and a three year old daughter about to be four. Now as with any pet you must supervise the interaction between the pet and child or children as well as teach your children how to treat the pet respectfully. Of course not all Senegals are as friendly as my Joe from what I've read so it may or may not be a good idea with your household. I have also read that budgies seem to have a very sweet and forgiving nature so perhaps thats a better choice for a first bird? Not sure since I'm pretty new to owning a bird myself right now. Another thing, just make sure the birds belongings, cage, food, ect is out of reach of the children so it doesn't get ruined, food dumped, or kid climbing in cage, ect.

[bradlywin]

Thanks for all the advice! Looks like smaller Meyers/Caique may be best for flying inside only. I still love the amazons, but every one I have met was only nice to certain people. Problem with Meyers is they are so rare it's hard to spend time with any before making a purchase!

With the dog, we are very aware of supervising children and animals, and fortunately our daughter has been great respecting animals. Budgies don't really appeal to me, and if we are going to take care of a bird correctly we need to get one we are excited about.