Did I let him out too soon?

[budgieben]

Hi all.

Scully has been stepping up really well in his cage so I decided to let him fly for the first time today. As soon as he was out of his cage he flew all over the place landing on the curtains and various hanging pics etc until he settled on my daughters play kitchen. We left him there for about 10 mins and I thought i would put him back in his cage. What ensued was pretty much a chase around the house including every room upstairs until he got tired and let me pick him up. He never tried to bite me and while he was out he was ok with me sat near him but putting him back was a drama. I don't want to freak him out so did I let him out too soon? How should I proceed? Is this normal for a first time outside the cage?

[suesbird]

Confine him to one room at first, a lot use the bathroom, I let Jo have the lounge and yep there is a good 10 minute chase to put her back. Try using a perch (I use a dowling one) to let him step on and take him to the cage and be quick shutting the door! If in the day draw the curtains so he does not fly into the glass. Millet is a good bribe, with Jo any food is good, feed him on the perch and go slowly to his cage. I don't feed Jo out of the cage if I can help it as when she gets really hungry she will go back in.

Some of the more experienced ones will help you better.

I think we have all been there chasing budgies remember it is all new to him and he will be frightened.

[Hezz]

Not too soon, but possibly ill-prepared, and uninformed. And that isn't a criticism, just a fact of budgie ownership. I always suggest people make a small room in the house budgie-safe - somewhere with a door - before letting the new bud have free-range of the house. A bathroom can work well, a small bedroom is good, particularly if the bed is against a wall, or you can move it out of the way, an office ........ anywhere small and contained. You learnt that one the hard way!! And then you start step-up, step-down and going home training in this confined space, and nowhere else until you are happy you have some sort of control with the bird's going home routine. Make sure the room has places for the bird to perch, take them into the room in their cage, or if it is too big for easy moving, transfer to a smaller cage first. If they have a play gym that is popular, take this in too - familiar thing around them will help keep them calm. If two of you are doing training, I would suggest only one at a time, so Scully knows who to focus his attention on.

I have to ask, how long was he out for??? Usually they seem to know and pull this sort of trick when you have an appointment that you simply can't ignore. Which brings me to my next point - never let them out when you are pushed for time; never think I'll just do 5 minutes and then I have to go. He will have other ideas and they certainly won't fit into your plans. Sorry, I did have to laugh; we have all been through this, usually with bird number one, then we wise up and say never again!

[OP]

we have all been through this, usually with bird number one

I can't agree more....

[budgieben]

He was only out for 10 mins because once he had landed after crashing into everything,he just sat there not moving. He didn't appear to know where his cage was anyway. I think I am going to follow the advice and confine him in a small room but I thought it best to let him out in the same room that he spends his days?

With regard to bribery,he appears to have no interest in anything other than his seed....perhaps that's another thread

[suesbird]

He will be frightened but time and patience pays off and perseverance. Someone will be on soon to tell you how to go about it.

[suesbird]

Funny I can't remember what I did with Jo but she is really tame, still likes to nip though. I had better learn quick as hopefully new bud coming this weekend

[ffiscool]

Bailey crash landed a good few times at the beginning. That was stater leaving his cage door open for weeks before he wd even venture out.
I would love him to come with me out the lounge, but he still only makes it into doorway of the kitchen. He can see his cage from there. I just think a shame how he calls me and flies non stop if I move to another room. My bedroom though has mirrored wardrobes so not great.

[milliej]

What concerns me most is if I were to accidentally tread on one pattering around on the floor or....our little terrier getting her jaws around them. That's why they don't have free flying time, they stay in their cages. I did give Sid and Mischief free flying time in our downstairs loo (with the seat down before we got this dog and they didn't like it, too used to being in a cage from birth so we bought a second cage to give them more flying space.

The breeder I got Bonnie and Tyler from said he sold a 'show' budgie to a woman and child some time back, she came back a few days later and said that the German Shepherd had swallowed it whole and they wanted another!!!! He wouldn't sell them one (neither would I)

[OP]

Why? Was the dog hungry?
I'm only joking. I would have seen her off the premises.

[Deleted]

Mar 13, 2015 0:18:18 GMT ffiscool said:

I just think a shame how he calls me and flies non stop if I move to another room.

I feel your pain. Munchy does this if I leave the room without him... he knows when I'm at home, unfortunately for the other occupants of the room! He can come with me everywhere but the kitchen (which he won't go into anyway) and also he can't go in the bedrooms if he's moulting. So if I need to cook there's no point bringing him with me because he'll sit in the adjacent room and whistle for me anyway!

[starrymist]

This might sound silly but Brodie had absolutely no concept of his cage door - that he could go in & out of it, nor did he know he could land or even sit on top of the cage. If your budgie has never been out before at his breeders (or wherever you got him there's ho reason why he would understand such things. Brodie has also very obviously never been introduced to millet before either). This meant when I let him out in the large living room we had a BIG problem (& that was how I discovered his ignorance of such matters!). He was out something like 9hours before being caught. Moving to our small bathroom was the answer & I worked hard on teaching Brodie how to go in & out of his cage, that he could sit on top of it & after some time, he mastered the landing on top of the cage. It was only when hed got the hang of all this that he was then let out in the bigger room again.

[Hezz]

Small doors on the smaller, one budgie cages are a nightmare for new nervous buds (and owners!!! ) Getting through that little space they feel very vulnerable, and can be very reluctant to do so, so I am a big fan of big doors for all cages, and one of the reasons I like the breeders cages as they usually have a large door that can be slid up so that a nest box can be attached.

It is a long time since I had a small doored cage, so I had forgotten the trauma that these can cause bird and owner