I thought it would be most useful to the many flighted birds and their parronts to have an informational thread about safe flying within our homes. Would you all please join in and post your safety nets and tips for keeping your birds flighted and safe within your home?

This is something I had posted a while ago.

Window Alert decals help birds "see" windows and thus avoid striking the glass. Protects both indoor and outdoor birds.




Window Alert is a static-cling decal that may be applied to home and office windows. The decal contains a component which brilliantly reflects ultraviolet sunlight. This ultraviolet light is invisible to humans, but glows like a stoplight for birds. Birds have vision that is up to 12 times better than that of a humans.

The window decal is available in either a leaf pattern or a butterfly pattern.

https://www.shop.babybirdfarm.com/di...?productId=364

That is a wonderful tip, Karen, thank you. I hate having to pull the curtains closed when Parsley is out of her cage. She doesn't understand windows yet. Plus in a few months we are moving to a condo that is all windows. I will order some of those.

These are a few that I make sure to do;

No open windows or doors when you have your bird out. Lock them to be certain no one pops in unexpectedly.

No fans on.

No sharp knives in the sink or strainer (My one bird loves to sit on the side of the kitchen sink to get a drink of water)

Close door to rooms where you can't supervise and don't want the birds to fly into.

My dogs are kept behind one of those closed doors. I don't allow them out when the birds are out.

No cooking.

thank you for starting this thread, Karen. i would like to start trying to keep my birds flighted and will need some help with safety. i've always been told by my vet/breeders/etc that clipping is for the best. and i do think there are a lot of advantages to clipping. but i also have begun to believe that there is a spiritual/psychological thing in birds that cannot be placated by anything other than flying. it's what they were born to do!

that being said...i live in florida and almost always have our ceiling fans on. at least during the summer. obviously i would never have a flighted bird out when fans are on, but i was wondering what those of you with ceiling fans do in relation to your flighted birds.

i think i can pretty much safety proof other than that. just have to be very mindful of the back door.

They make covered ceiling fans for birds.


But I think one of the most important things for a flighted bird is flight training. I have never had a clipped bird. And flight training not only helps to avoid accidents, it prevent destruction from chewing, aggression from being able to do as they wish , common in amazons, controls the poop and so on. Eve has designated places where he is allowed to poop and land and play. The recall has it's obvious advantages. Too many people try to have a full flighted bird in the home and fail simply because the effort that goes into training a flighted bird what is acceptable was never taught. .

REALLY? i will have to look into that!

do you think you could explain this more to me? i am so new to all this. how do you go about flight training? thanks so much for your help, hon!

This is where my problem comes in. My birds are never caged except at night. I do leave them out in the aviary to have unsupervised play. Inside the house they do sort of know what is acceptable but I find them planning bad stuff like peeping around corners to look for me, and then going to an off limits place.

Great post Karen, we do the same here in our home.

Flight training can start with simple step-up. You step back & change the word command to 'Come' - getting further & further away [you can start with a clipped bird as they still can fly some]. Training is more focused if done before meals & food is offered as a reward. You don't train for very long each time but you can train a few times a day if you want. I have only progressed to the 1) come to me across the room, 2) from another room where he can't see me & 3) flying down to me from 'the light fixture'. I have been pretty slack with it over the past 6 months & still he does the stuff he learned. Laker progressed really fast last December when i started it & he was a mature bird so you don't have to worry if you don't have a young bird. One other tip would be - make sure they are focused on you before you give any command - otherwise you could train them to ignore you or not take you seriously. [ if Laker is chewing his treat - don't give too much treat or you wait longer - he will not come]
2nd bird - & I also cage Laker & put him outside or in another room to focus Rio & work with him in a closed room so he doesn't go off to find Laker.

Note: we have to keep the lights off in the ceiling lights until we buy a covered light fixture - we live in an apartment & those cheap light fixture covers are irresistible for the Budgies. I don't want them hurt by hot light bulbs or broken glass.

To stop indoor collisions - I suggest landing perches, gyms or shelves near windows & mirrors - they are more inclined to land on something to check it out. This has worked for me. When i first let Laker out of his cage i sat down - not wanting him to be spooked by my movements - he was very calm.

I loved the leaf motif - will look around for it - there's a wild bird store near here & they're sure to have it - hopefully.

Great thread,