Just started flying!

[newbaby]

As the title says, my baby just started flying.

Is it always so….horrible?

She’s very uncoordinated and flies into things a lot. She seems ok, but is this normal?

 

[Vampiric_Conure]

As the title says, my baby just started flying.

Is it always so….horrible?

She’s very uncoordinated and flies into things a lot. She seems ok, but is this normal?

Yeah, they can be very uncoordinated! Show them that windows and stuff can't be flown through by going up to the window and banging on it. That seems to educate some birds

 

[LaManuka]

Yes it can be very scary, I always have my heart in my mouth whenever my little ones take to the air at first! I always found that it helped to teach them how to stick the landing first of all. I used to take them maybe a foot or two away from somewhere they felt most comfortable landing, like on the top of their cage or a playstand, and let them hop/flap the short distance back there. A little further away each time, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat, usually so they never had more than about three or four feet to travel, with lots of praise and "good bird!!"s for their efforts. I think when they know where they can land safely it helps build confidence in the air. Good luck!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

They're always uncoordinated at first but it's important to let them make mistakes and learn. If she doesn't learn to fly while very young she may never. Fortunately, a larger fledgling parrot like yours generally can't get up enough speed indoors in a small room to get badly injured flying into something. Just supervise closely and minimize hazards by keeping curtains or blinds closed, no open containers of water (including toliets), no uncovered trash bins for them to fall unto, etc. Just think- pretty soon she'll be flying to you and following you around like a winged puppy dog!

Which brings me to the next hazard- once she flies to you she may try to follow you right out the door and either get slammed in the door or fly away. It's always the birds that are loved the most that fly away never to be seen again. It seems like every month a PF member's bird escapes and I feel their pain. A few months ago a PF member lost her beloved 5 month old bare-eyed cockatoo, Grim, when he followed her out the door, took to the sky and was killed by a hawk within minutes. The entire family was traumatized and devastated. I had been communicating with her since she adopted Grim a couple months earlier and that very morning she has posted new pictures of him so I was devastated, too! People often underestimate how well their birds can fly but when given the wide open space outdoors and winds, even a very young bird or any inexperienced flier can cover quite a distance. Even birds with clipped wings can fly surprisingly well on a gust of wind with no obstacles to slow them down. In most parts of the world an escaped parrot can't survive long in the wild. Most will die from freezing temperatures, predators or starvation. The lucky ones will be get rescued or seek out humans when they're hungry. I adopted an escaped budgie a few months ago that survived by eating at a birdfeeder. When a small cage with food was placed nearby she flew down and went into the cage on her own. It usually isn't that easy.

 

[newbaby]

They're always uncoordinated at first but it's important to let them make mistakes and learn. If she doesn't learn to fly while very young she may never. Fortunately, a larger fledgling parrot like yours generally can't get up enough speed indoors in a small room to get badly injured flying into something. Just supervise closely and minimize hazards by keeping curtains or blinds closed, no open containers of water (including toliets), no uncovered trash bins for them to fall unto, etc. Just think- pretty soon she'll be flying to you and following you around like a winged puppy dog!

Which brings me to the next hazard- once she flies to you she may try to follow you right out the door and either get slammed in the door or fly away. It's always the birds that are loved the most that fly away never to be seen again. It seems like every month a PF member's bird escapes and I feel their pain. A few months ago a PF member lost her beloved 5 month old bare-eyed cockatoo, Grim, when he followed her out the door, took to the sky and was killed by a hawk within minutes. The entire family was traumatized and devastated. I had been communicating with her since she adopted Grim a couple months earlier and that very morning she has posted new pictures of him so I was devastated, too! People often underestimate how well their birds can fly but when given the wide open space outdoors and winds, even a very young bird or any inexperienced flier can cover quite a distance. Even birds with clipped wings can fly surprisingly well on a gust of wind with no obstacles to slow them down. In most parts of the world an escaped parrot can't survive long in the wild. Most will die from freezing temperatures, predators or starvation. The lucky ones will be get rescued or seek out humans when they're hungry. I adopted an escaped budgie a few months ago that survived by eating at a birdfeeder. When a small cage with food was placed nearby she flew down and went into the cage on her own. It usually isn't that easy.

I worry alot about her getting slammed in the door. I’ll probably have that anxiety for the rest of my life. As for escaping, not saying she couldn’t, but we have two doors leading to the outside. One to get into the porch then another to actually get outside. We have a cat that is constantly trying to escape so we’ve been doing a two door security system for her already for years lol. Everyone in the house goes into the porch, closes the door, then opens the next door to prevent her from getting out. She’s very sneaky and will sometimes hide behind the furniture and wait for you to open the door to get into the porch, but then she’s caught. She can’t get out. So hopefully it will work the same for Millie (previously Dolly…we’re trialing names lol).

 

[DonnaBudgie]

The door situation sounds good as long as she doesn't get slammed. But how are you keeping your bird safe from the cat?

 

[newbaby]

The door situation sounds good as long as she doesn't get slammed. But how are you keeping your bird safe from the cat?

They are in separate spaces unless supervised. Cats locked up in a. Different part of the house when no one is around.