Flight practice?

How long should I allow Jasper to be outside his cage flying and running at a time to start with? Last night was only his third time out. The previous two were eventful and he returned out of breath. Last night was much more controlled. He was out under 10 minutes, half of which he was on the ground. When I returned him to his cage he was out of breath again. It takes several 10+ minutes for him to return to normal. I'm not sure if it's excitement or the physical exertion of muscles he hasn't used in a long time or ever. I don't want him to overdo it. Any experience?

My plan is to continue nightly and return him each time to his cage top so that hopefully he will understand he can hang out there. He gets very excited when I open his door and I know he needs to get out of that tiny cage. Stepping up is unknown to him so I have to towel him to pick him back up. Is this going to have a negative impact on him? I can't even do target training yet because he runs. He does preen in front of me now, make his noise and last night started to doze off.

Let it play out a bit longer, a few more days, to see if he self-regulates his activities. The heavy-breathing is clearly a sign of his energy use, assuming this is prior to toweling him.

Try a hand held perch and see if he will step-up on to the perch. Please remember to target "Only Good Things Happen' whey you (Humans) are around. Toweling should be more a last resort use, so work at limiting its use. Yes, much easier to say than to do!

Normally, a Bird will fly to near its limits when just wanting to fly. When the flight is to escape, the Bird could fly until it drops from the air. So, watch closely to note whether its continuous flight or shorter flights from one landing spot to another.

The first week can be a bit crazy until a comfort level is reached for both of you.

SailBoat said:

Let it play out a bit longer, a few more days, to see if he self-regulates his activities. The heavy-breathing is clearly a sign of his energy use, assuming this is prior to toweling him.

Try a hand held perch and see if he will step-up on to the perch. Please remember to target "Only Good Things Happen' whey you (Humans) are around. Toweling should be more a last resort use, so work at limiting its use. Yes, much easier to say than to do!

Normally, a Bird will fly to near its limits when just wanting to fly. When the flight is to escape, the Bird could fly until it drops from the air. So, watch closely to note whether its continuous flight or shorter flights from one landing spot to another.

The first week can be a bit crazy until a comfort level is reached for both of you.

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Totally agree, with my experience being limited to monitoring young birds as they learn to fly. Goffins are superb and nimble flyers, so my guess is Jasper will progress to a high level of proficiency.

This is what I do with Perjo (15 mo CAG). Living in Ohio the winter mos doesn't allow the opportunity to be outside much. So I keep her exercise up by at least 4-5 days a week having her perch on my hand and swing her around the room, but in such a way she doesn't take flight. I'll do a circle with my arm while she's perched on my hand and as I come up (what I call the merry go round) she's flapping away nd I encourage her by saying "c'mon Perjo fly, fly". We'll do this for 3 minutes straight and when she's done she is slightly winded and lets out "whooo" as if to say wow that was fun but I'm tired.