i am worried about getting him back inside as he is not hand tame.
Don´t worry. You left the door open, so the room must be safe for him to fly in.
One member of my flock (Aldora) is not hand tame nor ¨tame¨. I open her door in the morning, super QUICK as not to be bitten. And she leaves her house in her own time. Her 2 litle ones usually sit by the door coaxing her out. She flies around the room, swings on the curtains and has a good time with the rest of the flock.
Come bed time, I tap her house and she comes and gets in. Never ever had an issue with her and I let her out of the cage starting on day 2 (the day after I found her) while she was in ¨quarantine¨.
I find with all of my birds, the longer they are out of their houses, the easier to put them back.
Funnily, Aldora is one of the easier birds to put back in her house.
I know I shouldn’t have let him out yet it was an honest mistake!
No, you were right to let him out. How long has he been cagebound? A bird needs to fly.
I will tell you what worked for me. It may or may not work for you, but it may give you some ideas-
I would let her out of her house only when I knew I had the time to dedicate. So if I had to leave for a meeting in an hour, no, I would wait ´til after I´m home. That way she could get out and fly and take her time to explore. I would just sit in the same room, but basically ignore her physically, not chasing her, not putting my hand out for her (unless she was falling and not able to find a perch - then I would point my elbow out and let her land on my arm). I would talk to her when I saw she was looking at me. I never stared at her, I would watch her using my peripheral vision. If she landed on me there would be a treat for her, I would slowly bring the treat up from below and in front of her, and place it in front of her, but I never touched her nor shook her off.
Sometimes I would balance a little chunk of millet on my head - a warning, it gets messy.
The first time she made her way down to my hand was so incredible. I felt like I had done something right.
We are still working out our relationship btw, but she wasn´t as young as Kiwi is, you may make progress much quicker than us.
If you forget to move something ¨dangerous¨ like a glass of water or left the bathroom door or curtains open, just get up calmly and fix it, no panicking.
I really do believe that letting the bird out of the cage, unclipped, is the best way to bond. It´s not forced and the relationship you build is genuine. How can it not be real if the bird is given a choice? This is just my opinion
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