Cocoa got out of house.

[dhorje]

After cleaning her poops on the floor, I took the rag out to wash. I closed the metal grille sliding door. I have netting over the 1st pane as we only use the 1st pane. The 2nd and 3rd panes are fixed and are covered by the glass sliding door.

 

As I was washing the rag, Cocoa flew to the curtain then climbed over to the metal grille sliding door. She squeezed her way thru in between the metal grille and the glass sliding doors and found her way out of the house. She did that within a few seconds which was pretty fast. She was sitting on the 2nd pane metal grille door facing me. Actually she wanted to come to me. She always does that when I go out.

 

My wife called out loud. I told her not to startle Cocoa. I calmly walked to Cocoa and asked her to perch on my finger. She stepped up and I slowly walked back into the house.

 

This is the 3rd time she got out. The 1st and 2nd were over a year ago. We are going on vacation tomorrow. If Cocoa decided to bye bye us, I think we have to cancel our vacation.

 

I have the confidence that she won't fly away. She has been playing regularly outside the house and has never made any attempt to fly away while I was washing my car or cleaning the water filter or changing my aquarium's water. Of course she was on harness then. I give her 20ft line of freedom to play. She likes to hang around on the clothes rack playing with the hangers.

 

I think it is important to provide some kind of play gyms for our parrots to play outside the house regularly. If they got out, they would look for their favorite play gyms.

It happened once, Cocoa flew out of the house and she landed on the clothes rack. She was on harness with 30ft line. She tried to follow me when I went out.

[ranaz]

Loosing a grey is the scariest thing ever, please be careful, cos if something startled her and she flew away....it would be terrible

[birdhouse]

I think it is important to provide some kind of play gyms for our parrots to play outside the house regularly.

 

I think you're very right about that. If they're outdoors all the time, they aren't as likely to take off. No fear & no need. I've read stories where pet parrots actually have free flight in their yards & don't leave.

 

Unfortunately, most of us don't have the ability to live that way with our birds. We live in seasonally cold climates or otherwise hostile environments where there are predators. And a lot of us live in cities where that just isn't possible.

 

Cocoa's a very lucky bird to be able to live such a great life with you & it sounds like she knows it.

 

So glad she only gave you a quick scare, Sanggay!

[dhorje]

I tested her yesterday, allowing her to play on the curtain with the door open. She was on harness. I wanted to know what would she do after that. She climbed to the door as expected. Then she was looking around where to go. As expected, she flew to the clothes rack to play with the hangers.

 

I think by allowing her to do that regularly, there would be a higher chance of her staying on the clothes rack if she were to get out again.

[Lambert58]

Scary stuff. We're in a situation where we live out in the country. Cold, windy country. We have a 37 acre lot and I "think" that if one of the greys got out they'd be pretty easy to track down fairly quickly. Our conures though, would get caught up in the wind and be gone in the blink of an eye.

 

We maintain a 2-door policy in the house. If the fids are out, you go through the laundry room, close the door, then go out through the garage.

 

I'm glad she came back, that just makes my heart drop.

[Guest Kali_the_Destroyer]

If they're outdoors all the time, they aren't as likely to take off. No fear & no need.

I'm afraid I completely disagree. I have a 13 year old conure and used to sit outside with him (clipped) on my shoulder. He never attempted to fly off and I grew so confident that I started to walk the streets with him just sat on my shoulder (no harness or restraint apart from clipped wings).

This carried on for a couple of years, until one day I took him on our usual jaunt and something scared him (an unfamiliar noise) and he took off. Because he was clipped he only flew about 50 yards but I couldn't see where he was, and he wouldn't call to me. There was a dog running loose in the area and I am just so grateful I got to him before that dog did.

I will never take my birds outside again, it's not worth the risk

[danmcq]

Very close call. It is great to hear she was just chilling and playing and you were able to retrieve her.

 

Having them familiar with the outside surroundings of your home and area is a very good thing to do. However, as pointed out, if they are startled and flee, they will normally end up in unfamiliar surroundings and not be able to find their way back.

 

You do set a good example by always ensuring Cocoa is on a harness, no matter how much you trust her. She is still very young with a ton to learn before being able to free flight and trust that she will return and is used to all the experiences of being in an unpredictable world of the outdoors.

[birdhouse]

I'm afraid I completely disagree. I have a 13 year old conure and ... I grew so confident that I started to walk the streets with him just sat on my shoulder (no harness or restraint apart from clipped wings)...and he took off. I will never take my birds outside again, it's not worth the risk

 

Cocoa lives in parrot paradise & Sanggay takes her everywhere. You might enjoy reading his posts & they have some great pics.

 

She's used to something as close to natural freedom as a harnessed parrot can experience. She's very different from a flightless bird who's seen some of the neighborhood from the illusion of security on a shoulder perch.

 

I think this was meant as a possible stop gap measure for escaped, flighted birds who have some real experience in the outside world. Once a fear response dies out or if the overwhelming need for adventure kicks in, an escapee might be more likely to recognize a safe, habitual roost in it's own territory where we might catch them. So, hopefully, downgrading a situation which could have gone horribly wrong to a major scare.

[judygram]

Cocoa lives in parrot paradise & Sanggay takes her everywhere. You might enjoy reading his posts & they have some great pics.

 

She's used to something as close to natural freedom as a harnessed parrot can experience. She's very different from a flightless bird who's seen some of the neighborhood from the illusion of security on a shoulder perch.

 

 

 

Thats it exactly, Cocoa does enjoy more freedom than most of us give our parrots and it shows in their relationship which we see from the pictures and videos he shares with us, she is one lucky grey.

[dhorje]

I notice that Cocoa doesn't simply take off regardless of whether the places are familiar or not familiar. I have taken her to unfamiliar spots and all she does is just perching there. If she doesn't like the spots she would fly back to me instead of taking off. Lately, I want Cocoa to spend more time outside the house. That will be the 1st place she will go when she gets out. So far she is good. She likes to hang around in the yard. The only things I am afraid of are unfamiliar noise and the loudspeaker of the ice cream man who comes in a bike. That will spook her.

 

She has never took off unnecessarily during our hiking trips. She did freaked out a few times when I stepped on the dried fallen palm leaves. The noise spooked her and she took off but then she came back to me before the leash was fully extended. That shows she had no intention to leave me. The only times she would leave me was when we walked past houses that were under going renovation. The noise would scare the $hit out of her and she would fly in circles. There's no way I could recall her. I have to be very careful about this.

 

Anyway, I am back from holiday. All my birdies are fine. My sis in law took good care of them.