would yours come back?

[joojoobeans]

if you let took him outside and flew around.. would he return ?

 

[Birdbabe]

I would never take that chance....

 

[Shyra]

There are some really good threads on free flight if you do a search. A lot of controversy but most importantly a bird should be trained to have total recall (as in flies to you every time you ask them to) before attempting anything like taking them out and expecting them to fly back to you. You should also be sure your bird knows how to fly downward. Many birds who get outside and fly only know how to go higher so when they fly into trees or onto roofs do not know how to get down. People who free fly their birds usually train with their birds for a long time in closed areas and with experienced free flyers before attempting to fly their birds outside without a harness. Even the most experienced have lost birds doing this. Check out the threads on the subject. Some very interesting reading.

 

[joojoobeans]

I don't think mine would even leave my hand if I took him outside

You should also be sure your bird knows how to fly downward.

like this????????????????

Dropbox - g1.MP4

 

[Hankmacaw]

I don't think mine would even leave my hand if I took him outside

I wouldn't count on that, if I were you. You very well could lose your bird trying that theory out.

 

[joojoobeans]

I live in South Florida.. he'd be living in paradise =D

Dropbox - here.jpg

 

[MyAussieFriends]

I live in South Florida.. he'd be living in paradise =D

Dropbox - here.jpg

I hope you are joking

 

[Princessbella]

I wouldn't risk Bella either not coming back or being eaten by a predator.

 

[Macaw Lover]

I don't think mine would even leave my hand if I took him outside

A heck of a lot of people have said those exact words when their bird took off. I don't have to wonder how they felt when the bird did and they were out there searching for it.

 

[SandraK]

I've had to retrieve a couple of birds due to my own stupidity and was fortunate that in both cases the retrievals ended well. No, I would not even think about it. I'm paranoid about opening the screen doors in the house before checking that nobirdy is nearby and that the solid door is almost closed behind me.

It only takes a sudden noise to spook your fid and it'll be gone in two shakes of a lamb's tail. That's what caused one of my retrieval stories.

 

[Bokkapooh]

Perhaps you should get an outdoor aviary?

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

Absolutely NEVER would I do something so dumb. And if one of mine ever got out to the great outdoors, they wouldn't stand a chance of surviving; a falcon nests in one of the big pine trees two blocks down in the boro park. She often comes and hunts from my old chestnut tree, picking off doves as they leave my feeder.

You think Florida would be paradise for your bird. You don't understand their native and instinctual foods are not growing wild for them, even if they recognized their wild form. Pet birds think bowls produce their food magically when you wave your hand over the bowl! Your birds have no idea how to cope with the avian and reptile predators in the few wild patches left of Florida wildlife. They also probably have never been rained on either, having a swift shower soak their feathers with water so they cannot fly well until they dry off.... Your PETS would be a snack to any predator, and would be confused and afraid as soon as they landed on a branch more than ten or fifteen feet off the ground. Have they ever had the experience of flying higher than most ceilings limit them? Pet birds can actually be afraid to fly down to their owner when they get out because they accidentally flew too high up!

 

[Mizzely]

Seeing as how my green cheeked conure accidentally got out over a month ago and I haven't seen her since, no. And quite honestly the fact that people do this WILLINGLY and tempt fate ticks me off. When my birds are outside I take every precaution to ensure they don't escape. And yet, it happened and I am looking daily for her and may never see her again, but SURE, please go ahead and try it.

 

[jeme3]

My Pepper was lost for two days after accidentally getting outside. I was unbelievably lucky that #1, someone found her safe, and #2, saw one of the several ads I ran, and #3, called me to return her to me.

She was a long way away, across a busy freeway and we have many hawks and crows in the area, not to mention cats, dogs, coyotes and who knows what else. It was cold, windy, and stormy during the time she was gone.

She and Morton were both so traumatized by the event that they still, three years later, start the alarm squawk if I walk near the back door that Pepper got out of. If I'm in the backyard, they both continually contact call me until I come back in. Three years later.

Don't take a chance.

 

[Heather F]

There are some really good threads on free flight if you do a search. A lot of controversy but most importantly a bird should be trained to have total recall (as in flies to you every time you ask them to) before attempting anything like taking them out and expecting them to fly back to you. You should also be sure your bird knows how to fly downward. Many birds who get outside and fly only know how to go higher so when they fly into trees or onto roofs do not know how to get down. People who free fly their birds usually train with their birds for a long time in closed areas and with experienced free flyers before attempting to fly their birds outside without a harness. Even the most experienced have lost birds doing this. Check out the threads on the subject. Some very interesting reading.

As a follow up to this, given that this was posted in the parrotlet forum... NOBODY free flights something as tiny as a parrotlet. The people who do free flight are doing it with much larger birds that would at least be likely to make a predator think twice. I haven't even had any more than a cursory thought of even harness training my green cheek conure, a bird that is twice as big, simply because I don't trust myself to be able to keep him safe outside without a carrier or cage to protect him. There are feral cats on my building grounds, lots of pet dogs, and crows and hawks and the occasional falcon. He is a tiny snack sized morsel who does not know how to fend for himself.

Letting a bird that small fly away outside deliberately is letting him out into paradise, all right... but it's a paradise where he is on the menu, not one of the revelers. I saw a sign posted in a local pet shop that sells rabbits and it applies to this too... "Setting your [bird] outside doesn't make them free, it makes them food."

 

[artgeek09]

I know a lot of the words here may seem harsh, but please believe the firmness of those words are absolutely in the best in interest of you and your bird.

I'll share my story. My heart bird's name is Donnie, and he was a green cheek conure. We had a very close bond. In the house, he would come to me (most of) the time when I called him, and he was an excellent flyer. I mean, excellent. I can't adequately express how close of a bond we had. a Once in a Lifetime bond that I doubt I'll ever experience again. One morning I was sitting with him in my screened in porch area. We were cuddling, giving kisses and scritches. Just very close. There's a small tree up close to the screened in porch area, and two squirrels got into a scuffle. This startled Donnie, and being a bird with a natural startle response to flee, that's what he did. It's an instinctual reaction that he could not control. In that exact second my dog pushed open the screened door to the porch, and Donnie's startle response told him to fly out and away from what scared him. Before I could stand up and scream Donnie's name (i.e. less than a second), three hawks that were hiding in another tree in my backyard saw my Donnie and chased him down, grabbed him, and killed him before my eyes. Donnie gave them a run for their money in his excellent flying ability, but in 15 seconds my Donnie was dead, being ripped apart by hungry hawks. A green cheek (and parrotlet) is no match for the speed and agility of a single hawk, let alone a family of them.

To this day I have recurring nightmares of those seconds and I mourn for my heart bird Donnie. Please. please reconsider attempting this. I can't only hope that Donnie was instantly killed and didn't suffer the relentless shredding and peircing of his small body for long. But I'm not sure that was the case. Please. Don't risk your parrotlet's life that way.

 

[Begone]

Perhaps you should get an outdoor aviary?

Or get a parrot like this. This parrot is 100% safe to go outside with not using cage or harness.

 

[SandraK]

 

[SandraK]

I live in South Florida.. he'd be living in paradise =D

Dropbox - here.jpg

In paradise along with every hawk, cat, dog, snake and any other predators I've forgotten to mention.

 

[macawpower58]

Mine would like to come back. But truthfully, they'd panic and not know how to.

It'd be a death sentence for my babies.