My flea-market find

My mom and I went to a flea market today and there was this one man set up that had a rack of DVDs for $1 a piece. I was looking through them not expecting to find anything good, when I saw a case with a cockatiel on it. I looked closer, and it was a BirdTricks.com DVD! Not even opened! It is only one volume covering one topic ("Flying on Cue"), but still cool. Now, I've heard mixed opinions on Chet and his training, but heck, $1? Might as well check it out.

I just finished watching it, and it's really interesting! There are so many different flight tricks I want to try with Cody.

Now, my question is whether they would need to be modified at all? I have heard mixed opinions on this, but do you think it's alright to "throw" or "drop" your bird into flight? What I mean is, to drop your arm or toss up your arm to get them to fly from you? I've read some people doing this and say there's no problem, and some saying it'll make a bird lose it's confidence, so I figured I'd ask on here and find out. I know I'm having a heck of a time with Cody right now trying to get him to fly on cue, so dropping my arm, if acceptable, would help so much!

Wow, difinitely treasure out there if you're willing to dig.

As for "throwing"...I'm really not sure. Would it be realistic if you gave a verbal cue before you did it? Something like "ready, set, go"? That way your bird will know this is the only time it will happen. I have no idea if this will work, it's just a thought.

Yeah, I could do that. That way he'll know that I'm not always gonna drop my arm out from under him. I actually looked up a few more training sites about the topic, and it seems pretty standard to "launch" your bird for flight training (that's the term they used). So, I think I'm pretty comfortable with it, and if he seems like he really dislikes it, I'll try and figure out a way to modify it a little so I don't have to launch him.

I'll let you know how it goes though, and of course if there's success, there will be videos. I really couldn't believe my find, I couldn't wait to tell you guys, lol. My family didn't understand my enthusiasm, haha.

I'll probably get shunned for this

Bartleby is a bit stubborn about flying when I want her to get exercise. So I throw her, but gently, like you're throwing a ball to a 3 year old. She does fly, she never fell down. So you might try it.

I think it is an individual bird thing and you have to feel out your bird's reaction to getting "a boost " into the air. One of my conures,Sam, can only do level flight so when she sends me "cage please " messages I do give her a bit of a throw so she has no trouble making it the whole way. But I am pretty sure Gem would hate that sensation.

I agree with the idea of a cue for your bird
I would start out really slowly giving the cue and just gently lowering your arm and progress for there to slightly faster to slightly harder until he is happily lifting off when you drop your arm
who knows he may even figure out the cue and just fly on his own

I do have that DVD and I have watched it, I thought it was well presented and the info was great. Still, I don't (or at least find it very hard to) follow just one set of instructions/guides for training. There are many great books out there that go through the process of training and there are many standout people such as Barbara Heidenreichand the Womach brothers and I think they all do a wonderful (sorry...exceptional) job. However they all follow some slightly different methods and come from different backgrounds. And just like there are different training methods, there are also 'different' birds . Like Barb said, it comes down to the individual bird. Try the method, if it doesn't work, try something else. Just read your bird and look for the signs as he is your best guide to training.

As for the flight training, I get Buddy all worked up and ready by talking very energetically. She gets excited, her crest goes up and her wings open. Then...I give her a little 'boost' (not a throw) and off she goes lol . Only thing I would not recommend is 'unexpected' flight as this generally causes them to panic. This creates high risk for window, mirror and wall crashes. Try to get the bird to understand what you want him to do. The first few times are the worst, but very quickly, they figure it out.

I also find 'boosting' the bird in the direction you want him to fly also helps. The room I train Eddie in has about 50 places to land and I want him to land on his perch. When I want him to go, I point at the perch and launch him in that direction. 90% of the time this is effective in getting him to land where I want

Izzy has a cue for flying (Izzy went back today ). I flip my hand over a little bit ( not all the way ), which is his signal that he's allowed to fly. He does, then gets a sunflower seed. Congrats on your find!