* Pet Bird Chat * NEW

[cat;;]

Oh, would there be any way to cover the hole? Maybe with something like a towel? They are very good at flying through narrow spots so I see why it's a concern. The hole should probably be fixed or blocked before letting the dove out. If the hole can't be fixed or covered, and clipping is required, then the wings need to be clipped in a certain way so the bird can still lift itself off the floor of the cage, but if it were to fall off something it can still safely glide down instead of crashing at the bottom. Make sure that no secondary flight feathers are clipped, and only clip two primaries at a time until the dove can get about three feet off the ground. Remember that they will fly down to the ground, so he'll need just enough lift to get back up off the floor. Careful not to step on him when he's on the floor. c:

of course, I'd let him/her still have gliding powers cx I have dogs, and there is practically no chance that it'd ever happen, but if my dogs were to come in my room and knock over the cage, I'd like him/her to be able to glide away. And about the 'hole' its not really a hole? it's just like my walls are... half walls? kinda like this. I just wouldn't want it flying up to the top of the wall, and us not being able to get to it. It's a long fall down too, so if it got scared and fell, it would be seriously injured. I just want to make sure my bird would be living a safe lifestyle, and clipping wings in the beginning sounds the best. c: I understand where you are coming from though, and thank you. I would bring the dove into another, closed-off room so it could fly around with supervision. c:

Well I mean the best outcome from a situation where a bird got up there and couldn't get down would just allowing them to fly so they COULD fly down safely.. And also if your dogs came in, she would be able to fly to safety. Gliding will only get them off the floor maybe 2-3 feet and only for a few seconds, not safe and out of the way at all. It's also way better for their health and overall self-confidence to allow them to fly, considering they have wings for a reason. Taking a flighted bird can be a little more challenging, but not as hard as people make it out to be. I tamed Nash when he was flighted and it was fine because I knew what to do and now he will cling onto me like a monkey, because he was trained and he trusts me.
You want to build up trust with your bird, not just force them to be with you because you clipped their wings.

[Tabbster]

Oh, would there be any way to cover the hole? Maybe with something like a towel? They are very good at flying through narrow spots so I see why it's a concern. The hole should probably be fixed or blocked before letting the dove out. If the hole can't be fixed or covered, and clipping is required, then the wings need to be clipped in a certain way so the bird can still lift itself off the floor of the cage, but if it were to fall off something it can still safely glide down instead of crashing at the bottom. Make sure that no secondary flight feathers are clipped, and only clip two primaries at a time until the dove can get about three feet off the ground. Remember that they will fly down to the ground, so he'll need just enough lift to get back up off the floor. Careful not to step on him when he's on the floor. c:

of course, I'd let him/her still have gliding powers cx I have dogs, and there is practically no chance that it'd ever happen, but if my dogs were to come in my room and knock over the cage, I'd like him/her to be able to glide away. And about the 'hole' its not really a hole? it's just like my walls are... half walls? kinda like this. I just wouldn't want it flying up to the top of the wall, and us not being able to get to it. It's a long fall down too, so if it got scared and fell, it would be seriously injured. I just want to make sure my bird would be living a safe lifestyle, and clipping wings in the beginning sounds the best. c: I understand where you are coming from though, and thank you. I would bring the dove into another, closed-off room so it could fly around with supervision. c:

Well I mean the best outcome from a situation where a bird got up there and couldn't get down would just allowing them to fly so they COULD fly down safely.. And also if your dogs came in, she would be able to fly to safety. Gliding will only get them off the floor maybe 2-3 feet and only for a few seconds, not safe and out of the way at all. It's also way better for their health and overall self-confidence to allow them to fly, considering they have wings for a reason. Taking a flighted bird can be a little more challenging, but not as hard as people make it out to be. I tamed Nash when he was flighted and it was fine because I knew what to do and now he will cling onto me like a monkey, because he was trained and he trusts me.
You want to build up trust with your bird, not just force them to be with you because you clipped their wings.

I agree with cat, if he had clipped wings he wouldn't be able to glide away before a dog gets him. He wouldn't fall off the wall if he had wings, he'd just fly right off. In that situation if he had clipped wings, he'd crash to the bottom. They like to stay on one perch most of the time, and will return to the cage/perch if you move him anywhere else so I doubt he'd get up on the walls anyway. The only thing the dove can and will do while you tame it is fly. With clipped wings, he'll flap rapidly hitting his wings on everything in an attempt to fly away. With taming already being stressful enough, clipping makes it worse and is something that lasts a year until they grow knew feathers. As cat said, having a flighted bird can be difficult; but in the end it's worth it compared to all the downsides of clipping. Sorry if it sounds like i'm completely against clipping feathers, but it's not good for taming or for the safety of the dove.

[BudgieLover5000]

Hi guys, I have a concern.
Someone suggested to me a while ago to just let my birds fly out of their cage because they would return back for their food. Would this be effective? It was suggested to me by my by my sisters friends dad, who owned budgies and breeded them. My mom feels really bad that they're just cooped up in a cage, although I try and tell her I want to bond with them and gain their trust before I try anything. I've had them for 9 months now. They comfortably sit on their front perch with me around now, and sometimes they just stay put and watch me while I change their food and water but sometimes they fly off in fear.

My room is pretty bird-proof. I have a dog, but I can lock the room. I also have one mirror in the room, but I can cover that up. There is also a curtain thing (that thing that holds the curtain up?) and I've heard that birds fly up there and just... sit there and don't come down. Other than that, nothing really dangerous.

Just wondering. My moms real problem with this is if they'll actually fly back into the cage.

[Tabbster]

They will fly right back in for food and water eventually. Just leave the door open for them, and once they get tired and hungry they will go back in and you can try taming them. The dog should be locked out and the mirror covered, the curtain holder will be perched on, but there isn't any real danger to it. 9 Months is a long time to be taming them. It took me 3 days to tame my budgie, but I hear some budgies to up to a year. I suggest you separate the two budgies while taming them. If one flies the other will likely follow, making it harder to focus on that one budgie.

[BudgieLover5000]

Thank you! I'll ask my mom if it's okay. It's kind of hard to tame them because I live in a large family household and they don't know much about them, they just want to look at birds and touch, because ZOMG LIVING BREATHING ANIMAL. Thank you again for the information!

[cat;;]

Hi guys, I have a concern.
Someone suggested to me a while ago to just let my birds fly out of their cage because they would return back for their food. Would this be effective? It was suggested to me by my by my sisters friends dad, who owned budgies and breeded them. My mom feels really bad that they're just cooped up in a cage, although I try and tell her I want to bond with them and gain their trust before I try anything. I've had them for 9 months now. They comfortably sit on their front perch with me around now, and sometimes they just stay put and watch me while I change their food and water but sometimes they fly off in fear.

My room is pretty bird-proof. I have a dog, but I can lock the room. I also have one mirror in the room, but I can cover that up. There is also a curtain thing (that thing that holds the curtain up?) and I've heard that birds fly up there and just... sit there and don't come down. Other than that, nothing really dangerous.

Just wondering. My moms real problem with this is if they'll actually fly back into the cage.

I agree with Sqidge here! I suggest to separate them, even momentarily so you can better taming them. Make sure their cages are right next to each other so they can still see each other, but for taming purposes it is very ideal to have them separate. They will go back to their food and water, but considering they aren't tamed at all it seems, I doubt they will stray far from the cage. How big is the cage? If it allows for enough room plus foraging and exercise, it shouldn't be a problem that they are in there all day while taming is happening since they are together, but if it is a small cages I do recommend target training and letting them out.
Target training is very effective and necessary for a tame bird and can come in handy in a dangerous situation. You can watch lots of videos online, and even I have a simple one up on youtube showing the 2nd time I target trained Nash, and I will be uploading one soon to show how far he has gotten and how it has been helpful. How old are they? How long do you interact with them each day? Even just reading to them and getting them used to you and your voice can help with taming! Some birds take a LOT longer than others, but it will be worth it! Nash took about a month to be fully tamed, and I even got him as a baby.. so its all relative. I have been working with a macaw at work for over 6 months and he still will not let me pet him, but it will happen eventually, you just have to be patient(:

[Tabbster]

Unfortunately, the 1st hatched baby died today. The male dove tried to lift the head of the baby and wake it up, and even defended it by spreading his wings out. =( He had a full pouch of food and I don't know why he died, but I believe it was because the baby and his sibling hatched too early. The other pair of doves have a egg, just one though. Hopefully it hatches, but the last egg they had didn't hatch.

[cat;;]

Unfortunately, the 1st hatched baby died today. The male dove tried to lift the head of the baby and wake it up, and even defended it by spreading his wings out. =( He had a full pouch of food and I don't know why he died, but I believe it was because the baby and his sibling hatched too early. The other pair of doves have a egg, just one though. Hopefully it hatches, but the last egg they had didn't hatch.

I'm so sorry to hear that Is is it's sibling okay? It's always so sad to lose an animal even if you've only known it for a few weeks. I hope the other one is doing well, and will be for a long time!

[Tabbster]

Sadly his sibling was the first to go at 2 days old.. he jumped from the nest and looked fine, but I guess he wasn't. I think that they both hatched too early, they only took around 10-11 days to hatch when they were supposed to take 13. Her other chicks, which are 5 weeks old, are doing really good. One is trained to return to your hand on command and the other just likes to sit in your hand. =)

[BudgieLover5000]

Okay! Thank you, guys! I'm not sure on the EXACT measurements but the lady at Petsmart (who seemed pretty knowledgable about budgies) said the cage we picked was good for two budgies. I can't get another cage because of space, however they seem to be faring pretty well together. I'll try target training, thank you for the suggestion. I believe they're about 1 year and 10 months. They seem pretty young, though. Their cere color changes a lot (from blue to brown and sometimes purple) so I'm guessing that means they're pretty young still. I asked the lady and do she said they get them when they're 1 year old. I spend about 10 minutes each day and whatever I can fit in after, so it might total up to 20-25 all together? I mostly stand next to their cage and talk to them. Sometimes I sit with my computer in front of their cage and just let them get used to me.

However...
Improvement!
When I was changing their food bowls and water today, my birds seemed very brave suddenly? They were approaching the front of their cage boldly, and standing at the entrance thing. I changed the water and food and all, and my birds just didn't seem very scared? So, I decided to try something: hand-feeding! Yes, I know it's a big step. I put some millet in both my hands and they ACTUALLY came and sat on my hand and ate! It's amazing! They don't seem very fearful now. Even the shy female(?) is pretty bold now. So, uh, yeah. I'm not sure how this change happened, especially over night, but they seem to be trusting me more now!


Also, about letting my birds out of their cage, I asked my mom and she said to wait for my dad to come home (he works out of state, and only comes home for 2-3 days before he's off again so he isn't home often) so I guess I'll be waiting a while. I'm kind of wary of this happening, however. My dad is more of a rough and tough tough man. If something happened, he can be quite unpredictable. I just don't want him handling my birds too roughly or chasing them around because 1. They will then be scared of coming outside and be trautamized (I think, depending on what happens) and 2. Our trust could be lost.
So, yeah!