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Flighted Cockatiel Flies off When Taken out of Cage

brebbo

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Hi, I recently got a young cockatiel that was not tamed and was constantly grabbed by people. I've done training with him to the point that he knows how to target and can step on the back of my hand if I have a treat. However, he is very scared of fingers and anything touching him. I want to get him out of his cage which he will do, but will immediately get scared and fly off. My house has high ceilings so last time I got him out, he flew around, crashed into windows, and landed somewhere high where no one could reach. He flew because he was scared and has rarely been out of his cage. It took hours to finally get him back to his cage. I want to maybe get him out of his cage safely and bring him to a smaller room without high ceilings. How can I do that without him getting scared and flying off? He is pretty comfortable with me when he is in his cage. I don't want to lose his trust by attempting to grab him or hold onto his legs to transport him. But having him fly off and crash into walls is pretty scary. He is afraid of most objects larger than him so a carrier wouldn't work. Do you have any ideas?
 

FeatheredM

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Many people here put up nets, and boings so that their bird can have safe places to land when learning to fly.
 

brebbo

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He would probably ignore anything I put up because he is scared of most objects (including new perches, toys, etc.) and will try to go as high as he can. Once again my ceiling is VERY tall so it is difficult to get him down once he's flown up.
 

FeatheredM

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Do you have a room with lower ceilings?
 

brebbo

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Yes, I do. I am looking for a way to transport him in there without him flying off. The room is not big enough to keep his cage in there.
 

flyzipper

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I am looking for a way to transport him in there without him flying off.
Do you have a portable carrier for trips to the vet or emergency evacuation?
 

S.A.S.K.

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Try to get him in a carrier and then transport him into a new cage that is usable for that room.
 

brebbo

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Yes, he has a carrier but he hates it. Just seeing it freaks him out. I am just afraid that I will lose his trust all over again if I try to get him in it. He loses all motivation and interest in treats when he is afraid of something. (keep in mind that he used to be grabbed and unfairly treated so he is skittish)
 

FeatheredM

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Yes, I do. I am looking for a way to transport him in there without him flying off. The room is not big enough to keep his cage in there.
A carrier or a travel cage should work. Then you could keep him in that room with his cage so he's not stressed about having to move all around the house.
 

brebbo

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I will try my best to desensitize him to his carrier :)) Is there any way to help him calm down/relax once I get him into the room?
 

FeatheredM

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I will try my best to desensitize him to his carrier :) Is there any way to help him calm down/relax once I get him into the room?
You could put on some music and just relax yourself. When my birds had night frights I found out that stressing over it and running to the light switch saying," it's going to be okay," in a uncalm way, I found out that only made the problem worse. Now when the rare night fright comes I just walk over to the light switch and keep calm doing a shhhhhh noise. They get back to normal pretty quickly. So just be calm during the process even if he bonks himself. Don't run over and freak out, just softly walk over and ask him to step up and be comforting. I am just saying this because I definitely did it before I knew not to.
 
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