Pictures He refuses to come out of the cage unless...

[Britnicorn]

Raijū refuses to come out of the cage unless I’m sitting on my bed. If he comes out of the cage while I’m at my desk or near the cage, it’s an accident (he falls out of it sometimes, now he can fly to catch himself)
It’s not like he’s scared of me, because he flies directly to me when I’m on my bed. He’ll hang out with me, or fly around the room with Phoenix, but he doesn’t unless I’m on my bed
I’ve even tried leaving the room for hours (I watched them through FaceTime with my iPad, I was right outside the room the entire time) and he still doesn’t come out. It’s only when I’m on my bed

It sucks because I don’t like sitting on my bed unless I’m going to sleep, but I want him to practice flying and this seems to be the only way he’ll do it

Any ideas on why he does this?

(peep at my Costco teddy bear in the back )

 

[barbs0nly]

your flock is so beautiful!!

 

[camelotshadow]

Maybe the bed as its a big place to land & you make him feel safe?

 

[Lady Jane]

So he grew in his flight feathers. Thats great. Birds are birds and trying to figure out their behaviors is exhausting.

 

[Pepebirdie]

not related, but he is such a pretty bird I love his colors

 

[Britnicorn]

So he grew in his flight feathers. Thats great. Birds are birds and trying to figure out their behaviors is exhausting.

He actually hasn’t grown in all his flight feathers, I’m genuinely confused!
He only dropped two of the smaller flight feathers
The main flight feathers he has were never dropped but now they’re bigger than when I got him.

When I first got him:


And now:



The first two big ones on his wings are clipped still (heavily, I might add) but the rest of the main flight feathers weren’t clipped at all. It makes me wonder if they were plucked, or if they somehow took 4 months to grow out

 

[Britnicorn]

not related, but he is such a pretty bird I love his colors

He is so pretty! I love that him and Phoenix have the same mutation but in different colors

 

[flyzipper]

The minds of our birds are confusing. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

My Oscar only flies to a specific perch if I'm in the kitchen.

PS - you win the Clickbait Title of the Day award for this post. Had. To. Click.

 

[Wardy]

PS - you win the Clickbait Title of the Day award for this post. Had. To. Click.

i second that

 

[Hermesbird]

i second that

Going to give it a third! They are so funny, ,u parrot let will only fly to my head if in sitting at my desk and won’t go to her tree unless treats of encouragement are left behind lol

 

[aooratrix]

Streamlined birds like macaws, parakeets, and tiels can fly short distances even missing primaries. With the right wind and/or motivation, they can fly even longer distances.

 

[Britnicorn]

Streamlined birds like macaws, parakeets, and tiels can fly short distances even missing primaries. With the right wind and/or motivation, they can fly even longer distances.

He's able to lap around my room only twice before coming down, and he also can't steer very well, but I take what I can get! This is much better than when he wasn't able to fly at all

 

[Mybluebird]

Before he could fly, did you by any chance let him out to play while you were sitting on your bed? Or let him out to play and run around on your bed? Some how he associates you being on your bed as "safe". Start letting him out while you sit on the edge of your bed, then standing beside your bed and then increase the distance you are standing from your bed. This may take several days, each time he should get more comfortable.

 

[Britnicorn]

Before he could fly, did you by any chance let him out to play while you were sitting on your bed? Or let him out to play and run around on your bed? Some how he associates you being on your bed as "safe". Start letting him out while you sit on the edge of your bed, then standing beside your bed and then increase the distance you are standing from your bed. This may take several days, each time he should get more comfortable.

No actually, he was scared of me for a long time so I just left his cage open with a ladder to come out, he was never on my bed before he started flying over to it
I'll do that though! Thank you!

 

[Kate&Pigeon]

He's beautiful!
Is it just what he's used to? Maybe he's just got into the habit of expecting you in a certain place when he comes out. I have a few stands that I wheel to a corner of the room when mine are in their cages, and wheel back out for playtime. At some point I got into a habit of putting a java tree outside a certain cage, because now one of my birds actively waits for its arrival before stepping out, despite various other branches and boings being available to him.

 

[Britnicorn]

He's beautiful!
Is it just what he's used to? Maybe he's just got into the habit of expecting you in a certain place when he comes out. I have a few stands that I wheel to a corner of the room when mine are in their cages, and wheel back out for playtime. At some point I got into a habit of putting a java tree outside a certain cage, because now one of my birds actively waits for its arrival before stepping out, despite various other branches and boings being available to him.

I’m never at my bed unless I’m going to sleep, the day he started flying out to me I was laying in my bed sick... now I sit in my bed just to get him to fly and come out to play with Phoenix since it’s the only way he leaves the cage

 

[Wardy]

Could it be that as he is only just learnt to fly he knows the bed is nice and soft if a crash landing is needed ?

 

[GreenThing]

Bed = big landing pad makes sense to me. Merlin is clipped and I'm learning he avoids very specific situations/exploring certain areas because he doesn't feel confident he can make a precise turn or landing. I had a really nice wide T perch on top of his cage for landing for the first month or two, until I realized he always landed on the cage top itself because it didn't require the same precision. He also always wants to approach perches with his wingspan parallel to the widest part of the branch (maybe that's birds in general-- approaching a branch beak to branch point means a turn at the last minute to properly grip), and since he can't turn on a dime that means he will only use exterior mounted perches if there's enough room for him to make a very wide circle to land.

As for you needing to be ON the bed, maybe he's now had enough safe interactions with you there that it's gone into his head as "this situation = safe".

Also: Raiju is such a prety little guy.

 

[GreenThing]

He actually hasn’t grown in all his flight feathers, I’m genuinely confused!
He only dropped two of the smaller flight feathers

That's so funny, Merlin just dropped two of his smallest clipped feathers earlier this week and I got excited for more to follow, but nothing yet... I continue to follow you and Phoenix and Raiju hoping for budgie ownership spoilers.

 

[Britnicorn]

I would think he just sees my bed as a landing pad, but he refuses to come out of the cage unless I'm on the bed (voluntarily, he does fall out of it sometimes)
If I'm on my desk or even out of the room he still doesn't come out Raiju has some odd preferences