A bit of a freakout today... what to do?

So, I made a post about help with hand taming my two precious budgies, Skye and Cloud. Your advice has helped tremendously and we have made great progress. That being said, today I took it a step further and took them out. All seemed well at first, Skye stepped up and I easily took him on the top of the cage. Cloud gave me some issues though and wouldn't step up, eventually she just went out on her own. Bad decision to let her out too however, because once she got to the top she waited about 2 minutes and then for some reason frantically flew around the room. Skye followed suit and started flying as well. Once they finally landed, exhausted, Skye stepped up and I took him back. Cloud however kept flying away for about 10 minutes, rejecting my finger. These were slow approaches, and I was talking to her the whole time. Eventually I got the food bowl and she stepped on that but I'm having a hard time figuring out what set her off like this. She flew so much without any provocation that she was audibly breathing hard (although she recovered quickly). Did she do this to simply get some exercise? Or is there another reason? She is used to the room as they have lived in it the majority of their lives. She also was rather clumsy, flying in intentional circles around the edges of the room. She didnt try flying back to her cage.

I think I'm going to just let them out one at a time from now on, but I do want to know thoughts on Clouds freakout.

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Sounds like it went great!

My budgies get frustrated when they spend half their day in their outdoor cage, and as soon as I bring them in they fly madly around the room! I’m sure your babies just wanted some exercise!


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Just make sure that they have been shown around your house/apartment, and they know what windows and mirrors are ( preferably these are covered up during flying time).
Take the time to play Real Estate Agent with them, slowly walking them around the house. MAKE SURE that everyone knows your birds are out of cage, because all it take is a split second, if somebody opens a door or window, and they will be gone. Flighted parrots demand all in the house observe the rules strictly on this point.

Also, do not chase your parrots around in order to get them back in the cage. If they do not willingly step up, and you have to chase, or worse, towel them - those are not trust building actions - they re trust busters.

Sounds a lot like a recent episode I had with my two new babies recently, though neither of mine know step-up yet so returning them to the cage was difficult.
I think, until both are confident with your hand and step-up, letting them out individually might be easier.
Moth and Melia slipped out of their cage whilst I was cleaning it and one followed the other. If I manged to encourage one onto my hand to slowly inch her towards their cage they flew off almost instantly to rejoin the other.

It sounds like your budgies got a good chance to exercise. Like wrench13 has mentioned, be careful with them out of cage. I've heard of many a time people losing their birds out of open windows and doors.

Thanks for the responses! I'm definitely going to let them out separately from now on. No worries, all windows and doors were shut and it was in just one room so no worries there. If they still start flying around I'll be sure to just stay in place and wait for them to get out their energy :^). Last time they did this however cloud did sometimes land between objects which scared me. I'll have to cover these for now.

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My little cockatiel boy BB just turned two and he flies very well now. There are times however,he just jumps from wherever he's roosting and just ZOOMS around the kitchen or living room like a little bazerkowitz! Like he has no clue on what he is doing or where he is going and he chatters away as loud as he can
At first I thought he was going insane but now I've figured out its just his thing to do and he is getting his exercise.
He hasn't crashed into anything in a long time lol.



Jim

If it’s of any consolation in the flight department, I grew up owning budgies. They ALL did what you just described, multiple times a day. They’d get very chittery, start some squawking, then fly in circles around the room, land, quickly take off again, land, repeat. It was part of their exercise routine, they’d work themselves up to excitement then whiz around the room. And if it’s of more consolation, my current budgie and my parrotlet do the same thing. Work themselves up, then whiz around the room for fun and exercise. So at the very least, that part of your experience I want to say nothing wrong was going on. They were just having fun and exercising. The step up though with your other bird refusing, like wrench13 mentioned, “chasing” (meaning even the simple act of slowing walking up to your bird repeatedly) your bird around the room to get them to step up when they don’t want to, is a bond breaker. Better to either let them go back in in their own or like he suggested, towel your bird to get them back in. It might sound like the toweling would be worse than the chasing, but it’s actually not. Towel is quick, in and out of situation. Chasing is lengthy and thus more stressful on your birds, especially if they’re afraid. But like others suggested, let them out one at a time for a bit. Hoping all works out for you soon.