These are all great Karen, all things I abide by religiously.

A few more:

Don't shut any doors without first looking on top.

A couple gyms per room that the bird frequents, so that if he's spooked there are places for him to land.

Toilet lid shut at all times.

Make sure any plants you have aren't poisonous.

Watch what food you may leave out (some people keep bowls of candy/chocolate, etc.).



About flight training. It was so easy with Ollie- I didn't even consciencely do it. Shoot- gotta get to class, will finish this later!

This article is copyrighted so you’ll have to follow the link;

Free Flight – Getting Started
By Nate Waddoups

Flighted parrots have freedoms that clipped birds can only dream of.
They can go where they want, when they want. They don't have to
wait for their owners to take them from place to place.

This additional freedom comes at a cost, however. It's nearly
impossible to get a flighted bird to do something it doesn't want
to do. This places a greater burden on the owner to not only
respect the bird's wishes, but to find ways to make the bird
want to cooperate with activities like returning to the cage,
staying on a perch, or chewing only on designated chewables.

CONTUNUED AT:
Avian Health Network

Also on the page are links for;
-Teaching recall
-Training fly-to-perch

I do recall with Jerry and it has improved his flying ability and strengthened our bond. Working on it with Winston too.

Remember to pause and look before entering closed off rooms because sometimes I'll try to enter the bathroom and there'll be a budgie or two on hot pursuit of my tail and I've narrowly missed closing the door in their face behind me!

I agree with Jac about windows - provide a landing spot next to or near the window. I've always had boings hanging along our huge window and we've never had any window crashes:



Once they know the layout of the flying area and have controlled flight, they won't spontaneously crash into things. We don't have window coverings on the majority of our windows and we have no crashes. They can all land on window sills from top flight speed too.

Additional advice for birds still in the learning phase, which can last weeks or even months:

1) Close off all dark rooms not in use - they may fly into a dark room due to lack of steering ability or being spooked, and if they find their way into darkness it doesn't help!

2) Start them in a small area until they can learn to turn and land - allowing a large area means the potential for them to gain enough speed to do real damage if they have a crash. The only time I worried about a big crash with my guys was with Winston and it was my fault - it was his first time out of his cage in the living room. He did fine until he got spooked and flew into the the next room, the dining room, and crashed into the window. I should have known to close off the dining room somehow because if I had he wouldn't have worked up enough speed to crash hard.

Hy. Love....
This is what I've done, and the most important thing in keeping a bird off certain area is to teach the go back commands talked about below, as well as off limits commands, Off limits is not discussed below and it is very different than no. SO I will explain that as well. But you also need to make sure that if you have a flighted bird tha bird must have bird approved places around the house to land or he/she is bound to get in trouble. This means every room in the house and can be a simple as the back of a chair. This avoids counter landings, tops of the fridge and such.

Off limits is a concept that I experimented with Eve as well as Eve's BFA friend and it works very well. My theory is that the word "no" to a bird means not socially acceptable and is therefor a choice in all reality, while the word" off limits" mean might kill you or is dangerous and therefor not a choice. This would be important for survival in the wild not to eat certain things and such, so it made sense to me to try something like this. I use "off limits" for outlets, power cords and the stove and such, all I did is when My bird went for something dangerous I immediately stopped what I was doing, picked up my bird and said in a even and very serious tone "off limits" and completely removed my bird form the situation. No drama, just matter of fact. Now all I have to do is say Off Limits and Eve and Poe immedatly stop what they are doing and walk/fly away. It has worked better than I thought it would and has been vital in their safety while they fly around. So I would suggest trying it.
With the combination of this and flight training I have no issues with Eve being out all day, nothing is destroyed, pooped on, no accidents....He's better behaved than he cats, so is Poe in his home. This a sexually mature free flying amazon who does not rule the roost, nor is nippy or a bully or any of the things common for unclipped zons.
One other thing...is your bird is out all day than afternoon naps are ital to a well behaved bird. Consequently, if your bird is not than when it first comes out help to get rid of the crazies from pent up energy by flying your bird around the house, get that energy out! You will be rewarded with a well behaved bird.


First you need to find your birds favorite treat, preferably one they would sell their soul for, but also one that can be eaten in one bite, Like sunflower seeds, raisins, piece or almonds or walnuts. Than stop giving your bird these treats, because they will now ONLY be used for flight training.

Next...You will need a stand that has little if no toys on it. If you do not want to take apart your stand or you don't have one than the back of a chair or step stool will do.

Pick an area of the house to work in, it should be away from the cage or other popular landing spots if possible, A hallway works well. If this is not an option than a room that has little in the way of distractions or landing spots.

Whether your bird is clipped or not the method will be the same but the distance will obviously change.

Pick a time of the day that is best suited for training, such as early afternoon or early evening. Morning is a bad time as the bird is more interested in breakfast, or has just eaten and is full, (a bird will not want o fly when full because of the added weight) and playing, and night time the bird wants to start settling down for the night.

Make training sessions short but frequent, No longer than 5-10 minutes a couple of times a day. And ALWAYS keep the session positive, if the bird is not in the mood simply try again later, and never punish the bird for not responding.

Training Time.....

Place bird on stand and have treats on hand. Hold your arm/hand about 3-5 inches in front of your bird and show him the treat, hold the treat on the other side of your arm opposite the bird and say "come here" or whatever command word you would like to use, just make sure it is the same word each time to avoid confusion. Praise your bird for any effort they exhibit but hold out on the treat till the actually make it to your arm.

Now for a fullflighted or very confidant bird this should happen rather quickly, but for a clipped bird that might be afraid of falling while jumping you might have to shorten the distance and really encourage them to jump. As the bird jumps to your arm constantly you can increase the distance. When they become uncomfortable with the distance just shorten the distance till they are once again confidant.

Every time you place the bird back on the stand say "go back" This will greatly help you when it comes time to teach the bird to fly back to the stand on command. For more advanced birds you can have different commands for different places. Eve knows "go back" which means to where ever he was before coming to me. "Go back to stand" and "Go back to cage" To do this start saying "go back to cage" every time you put your bird on it's cage and so forth for other places. But wait on training them this till they know what the "go back" command means.

Go Back....When your bird is on your arm/hand you point the bird in the direction of the stand Say "go back" and give your bird a little help with the take off, usualy a little upward jerk of your arm will do the trick, but be careful not to send your bird flying into the ceiling or wall. They will already know what is expected of them or rather where they are supposed to go because every time before when you were placing them back on the stand they were told to go back, now you are simply asking them to do it by them selves. When they go back give them a treat! Again you will increase or decrease the distance as your birds comfort allows.

Relay bird.....Same techniques but instead of a stand use another person, and the bird gets treats from each person. To make it more advanced....add the persons name to each command and than you can teach the bird to go to certain people. So it would be..."go to so and so" instead of the other person saying "come here" Depending on how advance you would like to get, (these are just the basics) you could have your bird bring light object to you or carry them back to the cage, get creative, it's about bonding and communication, and have fun!
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A work in progress about vasa's...
http://kawaldie.googlepages.com/
Eve stories....
http://kimbascorner.blogspot.com/
Just some of my art...
http://kimbasart.blogspot.com/

Kimba, thank you for the excellent post!

Do you have suggestions for a very scared, not confident bird to take that first leap of faith. Kady requires a very secure arm to move forward or he will move back. If I try to keep my arm a little bit away to get him to jump, if he can't first reach me with his beak, he won't do it?

thanks Kimba sounds real good. I definitely need the "off limits" command.

Yes, beside lots of time and patience, will Kady go on the floor or perhaps a long table? If so start there, get Kady to come to you from one end of the table and step up on your arm, this way there is no risk of falling. Table will work better since it is higher up, so it will feel more secure and it will help in eliminating distractions since kady can't run down the hall instead of paying attention to training. Once Kady comes to you on commands and steps up (keep your arm flat on the table!) Than work on raising your arm from the table and having kady step up. Once this is consistent you have a choice , you can continue the table method and keep raising your arm and have her jump or try moving to a stand or chair rail and start the trying to get her to jump to your arm. The table will act like a stepping stone for her confidence level as well as pattern her to the commands, so she knows what is expected.

WOW, thanks kimba! sounds like you really know your stuff! i am going to try everything you have mentioned when ivy comes home and maybe a few of them with artemis. i appreciate you typing all of that out

No problem! Since I was 9 I've always had unclipped birds, My first birds were a pair of unclipped keets, that I decided to train because I wanted them to fly, but be safe. I had them for 16 nad 18 years with no mishaps, I believe it really benefited their health. And it has all spiraled from there.....

Thank you for your very informative tips, Kimba! (And wow that your parakeets were 16 and 18!!)

Very interesting about the "Off limits" command. I haven't needed that one yet, but that might be a good thing to teach Lulu. The budgies really entertain themselves by flying and they very rarely stray from their cages or multiple gyms (or us of course LOL). But the idea of having multiple "safe" landing stations around the house is a must. My birds have access to the living room, kitchen, and bird room when they are out, and they all have landing spots in those rooms (the kitchen landing spot is simply the kitchen window sill).

I love your mentality about No vs. Off Limits, too - really reinforces that we have to think differently for training birds vs. dogs (for example).