new birdie

[lilyep125]

Hello all! I recently adopted a budgie and did not clip his wings. He willingly comes to me if I offer my hand. my concern is I have been letting him out to fly and he keeps running into parts of the wall and ceiling and ends up landing where I dont want him. I don't care about landing on blinds/chandelier/furniture, but he can somehow latch on to our ceiling can lights upside down. I'm afraid he is going to get burned. I also don't want him to get hurt flying into the wall and mirror (we have a floor to ceiling entire wall of the room mirror I cant cover) I have perches available he sometimes goes to. Is there a way to train him to only land certain places? or will he just learn over time? I dont want to clip his wings

[Jane]

Hi welcome to the forum and we look forward to hearing about your budgie. I’m sure you’ll get responses soon from people with more knowledge than me but I’ll tell you what helps for me.

I always turn the lights off when I let mine out so they don’t knock into the bulb which is hot. It’s likely your budgie is panicking, hence flying chaotically. They tend to do that before feeling more confident and finding their way around which he will in time. My new budgie got our of her cage last week and was landing in the washing up bowl (luckily it had no water in it), on the floor, window frame, floor just panicking. I had to cover my tea up in case she landed in the cup. Just prempt anything he could land on/in and cover up and always stay with him until he’s more confident. Don’t panic yourself as it could make your budgie worse.

Don’t clip his wings as that’s not helpful. How long have you had him? I don’t let mine out until I’ve had them a few weeks and they are used to me. Keep the training up. I use millet and offer that to them when outside the cage to help them relax. The mirror worries me. Is there anything at all you could put over the mirror? Even tacking on some paper on to it as to him the mirror would look like part of the room so no wonder he’s flying into it. Good luck.

[ladybird]

Jane is right please don’t clip his wings, and you need to get him finger or perch trained before you even think of letting him out....Also food should never be offered outside the cage.
As Jane says, a more experienced member will give you better advise very soon...... and a warm welcome to the forum.....

[Marianne Marlow]

Does he have a lot of good places to land?

A playground or a few perches in your living room?

Even a perch on top of his cage.

If he's very new, perhaps he's been let out too soon. How long has he been with you?

[Hezz]

Is he panic flying? For first time fliers, while they are still learning their navigational skills, a small room can help as they don't reach those scary speeds quite so easily.

Mirrors, doors and large windows can be partly covered up with large sheets of paper (not the best look, I know, but temporary) blu-tak-ed on, and day by day remove a sheet or two, spreading the others out to give less and less coverage as the bird gets used to the surroundings. Can you replace hot bulbs with LED? Make sure there are plenty of places around the room for perching.

[lilyep125]

Thanks all! I have had him a couple weeks now. he is well finger trained and when he does fly where I dont want him he readily comes to me. It seems like he is getting better, even since I posted. I put 2 perches up near the ceiling where he seemed to land and that helped a TON. Not sure what to do for the lights, I might have to just cover them with newspaper or something for a while. He has several other perches and playsets available and even though I have introduced him to then he seems to jus go wherever. The main issue is the mirror. I can try covering it but it is literally a hallway length wall, floor to ceiling,built into the house. it seems like the main thing that really confuses him :/

[lilyep125]

Do they generally just learn over time? seems like he is getting better every day

[Hezz]

Of course they get used to their environment with experience. Cover over the mirror as mentioned above and gradually take off some paper and spread what is left over the area so that the amount of mirror is gradually increased day by day. He will get to know that the mirror is a no-go zone and not bang into it. Break up what he is seeing so that it is not just one huge reflected surface that looks like another room open to him.