How to Flight & Recall Train Your Parrot

[carlylu]

Clipped or fully flighted, Greys can and do escape, and sometimes they can fly much further than we realize. All it takes is a bit of wind or adrenaline.

 

Here is a link to step-by-step instructions and tips for recall training your parrot -- the most effective way to increase the odds of getting him back home safely. It's all done using positive reinforcement methods, and is also a great way to interact and bond with your bird, as well as get him some needed exercise.

 

http://www.likambo.com/flyblog/

 

This can be done with flighted or clipped birds. The steps given are what I did with my Grey between 1-2 years old, after she had a very severe baby clip that was growing out, while I was recall training her for outdoor flight. (Indoors is the crucial Step #1 for that; do not try outdoors without consulting an experienced trainer for instruction.) These are the same methods used by zoo and show trainers as well, and the file has been read and edited by some I know to make sure I was presenting the material accurately for pet owners.

 

 

Have fun with it and let's have safe birdies!

 

raz<br><br>Post edited by: carlylu, at: 2008/06/19 04:54

[dblhelix]

Very good and useful post!

 

Thanks for the link and info. B)

[Tari]

Great link and wonderful Idea Im going to start this. Can we train to many things at a time? Cause I have been working on towel training so I can get the dang feather teather on my grey. So can I work on both at the same time?

[Guest Monique]

Thanks carlylu!!!

 

Tari - most definitely you can train more than one thing at a time!!

[dblhelix]

You certainly can have multiple things "in training" at once. Try to have each training session focus on one item to avoid confusion. If you switch to a 2nd session I would give them a bit of a break in between so they do not get mixed signals. But really, they are pretty smart and the more you interact the better!!

[carlylu]

Tari wrote:

Can we train to many things at a time? Cause I have been working on towel training so I can get the dang feather teather on my grey. So can I work on both at the same time?

 

You can train too many things at once (particularly if the behaviors overlap a bit) but doing two things is fine. I think it's good to build up a little repertoire of tricks/behaviors so once they are in the lineup you can vary the training session a bit. Doing ONLY recall can get a little monotonous after awhile.

 

raz

[Tari]

This is great thanks. Ill get a clicker next time I'm on the other side of town or maybe this weekend at the birdfair.

[danmcq]

This is an interesting, though daring link provider by Carlylu.

 

I must say, these free-flyers are much bolder than I may ever be. But, to see these magnificent Parrots doing what they were made for is inspiring and beautiful to watch.

 

The most important factor I take away from this is recall training.

 

It not only trains your Parrot to stay and then come on command. It also would greatly help in retrieving your Parrot if they ever got out. It also helps safety wise, in maintaining a flighted one in your home.

 

Here is a very informative article on recall training I found while web-surfing:

 

http://www.featherforum.com/article/recall

 

Enjoy and learn :-)

[Talon]

Dan, that is a very good article. Thank you for sharing it. I have started to train Talon to come to me for meal time by encouraging her with the food that I am eating. She did it for the first time yesterday!

Prior to this, when she does fly, I call to her and she will land on my shoulder or hand. One step at a time I guess, but I think we're on the right road, thanks again for the info!

 

One more thing, I don't have the guts to ever try it outside. Nope, never!!!<br><br>Post edited by: Talon, at: 2007/09/09 14:47

[danmcq]

Thanks Talon :-)

 

I don't have the nerve or the desire to free-fly Dayo outside either. But, I have the Aviator harness and once that is mastered I can purchase the spool to give him leash controlled free-flying experiences out doors.

 

Right now though, after my brief lapse into Moronism in having Jake outside on top of his Cage top enjoying his daily Mister shower and flying away, though clipped. I have realized some very important steps I have failed at, in performing crucial learning tasks with my Parrots to ensure their safety, flying abilities and training they would normally receive from their Parents.

 

Here is a list of cause and effect I have so far:

 

1) Cause: No flight confidence due to lack of training and being clipped.

 

Effect: Jake would not come down from tree due to having a fear of heights and just not knowing how to fly down.

 

2) Cause: No Recall training.

 

Effect: Jake would not even try to return. He was desperate, starving and severely dehydrated from being out in 107 degree for 30 hours.

 

3) Cause: Insufficient Fledging time.

 

Affect: I have found that Dayo will not fly at all from a height over 5 feet due to fear and lack of confidence. The breeder did a minimum clip (thank god) and he can maintain level flight.

 

Plan: Fledging, Recall training - Train, Train, Train!!! :-)<br><br>Post edited by: danmcq, at: 2007/09/09 15:19

[shanlung]

Tari wrote:

Great link and wonderful Idea Im going to start this. Can we train to many things at a time? Cause I have been working on towel training so I can get the dang feather teather on my grey. So can I work on both at the same time?

 

Tari,

 

I am not sure I quite understand you on towel training to get a harness on.

 

If you need to use towel to get harness on, neither you nor your parrot is ready for harness as yet, not in the long run at least.

 

Perhaps you might like to read this.

 

http://www.geocities.com/shanlung9/wUsingHarness.html

[carlylu]

danmcq wrote:

Plan: Fledging, Recall training - Train, Train, Train!!!

 

You will be amazed at how much regular training helps improve both flight skills and confidence. The training routine itself becomes a kind of security. And if you progress gradually to increasing levels of difficulty they just get more and more confident.

 

Flying down from heights is always going to be a difficult one. It's the one big sticking point when it comes to safety for birds that are not outdoor fliers, if they escape. If you can do it safely, I found doing recalls (or targeting to a stick) in small trees to be very helpful. Especially so for greys I think, as many like to crawl around and hang on twigs. It certainly gave Carly a lot more confidence when she landed in a tall tree for the first time. She just started crawling down. We only practiced in a small pine on branches 4-6 ft off the ground, but she knew exactly what to do when she was 50 ft up a eucalyptus tree. Be sure to do this on a harness however, and make sure it's clipped securely to your belt!

[carlylu]

danmcq wrote:

Here is a very informative article on recall training I found while web-surfing:

 

http://www.featherforum.com/article/recall

 

That's interesting; I hadn't seen that before. There is some good advice in there. It's dated 2004 however, and there are a few things I'd like to point out that are normally done differently by professional trainers.

 

[ol]

[li]Never, ever, toss a bird to get it to fly. Positive reinforcement training is all about gaining a bird's trust and empowering him to make his own decisions. It's different if the bird has been trained for this like a game, and clearly "allows" himself to be put in a position to be tossed, and returns for more. But it's a bad way to encourage confidence when a bird is unwilling. [/li]

[li]Training a really reliable recall will usually require some food management. This can be as little as reserving a favorite treat only for training sessions, but more typically will require timing the sessions so they are right before meals (which means no free-feeding in between. In my experience this is a much healthier way to feed and maintain a healthy appetite for a broad, balanced diet also.)[/li]

[li]The owner of the mailing list mentioned in the article actively discourages training anything but baby birds now. They are focused on training very young, unweaned birds and relying partly on the so-called "baby bond." It's an unecessarily dangerous way to train (there are so many factors one needs to be skilled at for hand-feeding and proper weaning and socialization) and of course does nothing for the birds you already own. Good training is good training; you don't need to risk a young bird's physical and mental health by attempting to hand feed and wean him yourself. [/li]

[/ol]

 

There's a guest post on my blog about this last subject by Barbara Heidenreich (well-known zoo trainer and educator): Barbara Heidenreich on Weaning & the Baby Bond (http://http://likambo.com/flyblog/?p=49)

 

and also one by one of the best breeders of greys and macaws in the country, Wendy Craig: So You Want to Buy an Unweaned Baby Bird? (http://http://likambo.com/flyblog/?p=47)

 

rz<br><br>Post edited by: carlylu, at: 2008/06/12 02:54

[danmcq]

Thanks for the great feedback, links and ideas CarlyLu. :-)

 

As all the information you have provided states, it is going to take a lot of time, devotion and training to ever consider free flight. Presently, I know I do not have the time and schedule to maintain a consistency level required to accomplish this.

 

But, just training at any level on recall training indoors is great exercise and training for all our Greys. :-)