Free flight for a tailless tiel?

[Zoruace]

hello i have a tiel her flight feathers finally grew back and i was thinking about free flying her she is ground recall trained and she flies to me short distances but now she flies all over the place now i keep upgrading the distance of course i wont free fly her till her muscles are back and i will get a GPS for her i know free flying is risky stuff but i have allways enjoyed flying bird espically tiels and conures my past conure was free flighted so i had some expirience but i heard that tiels are bad flyers unlike conures since they like to fly very high but i dont know if its true and she always has these bursts of energy where she just screams and fly in tight circles for 30 mins straight so i think free flying would really help with her enegry and her over preening problem (shr overpreens from bordem) im sure her tail will grow back at some point but most of the feathers are plucked out the rest are broken and the tip is still in her skin so that wont happen for 6 months or so
should i free fly her
and if i did does anyone have any tips for ff tiels?

 

[SailBoat]

Freeflight in the Great Outdoors is just plan dangerous in most places! Yes, lots of Humans do it and its is truly great right to the point that it is NOT! Most areas in North America are truly No Fly Zones as a result of the extensive return of Bird of Prey!! And although, your area may have a limited number, or your area have larger Sky Hunters they have young and a Tiel is a nice size snack for a young Red Tail Hawk!

I know that it is very popular in England where Birds of Prey are near unheard of. But even there, the number of well trained Parrots that just keep flying away is large enough that they have groups that have flight builds that they Free flight their Parrots!

At the end of the day, it becomes your choice. IMHO, its a choice we have elected to not be part of!

Cockatiels are strong flyers and a healthy Tiel can fly with easy! And, distant flying is much easier for a Tiel that smaller flight surfaced Parrots.

 

[Owlet]

I honestly wouldnt recommend free flighting a cockatiel. of course every bird is different and training can go a long way but tiels tend to be more skittish and I would be worried about something spooking your bird

 

[chris-md]

I’ll reiterate the great advice above.
Tailored more to your specific circumstances, NO. Your bird needs its tail feathers for proper flight. The tail acts as a rudder, significant source of control for flight.

Can they fly without it? Yes. But in a dangerous situation like outdoors, you really want to make sure they are in full control of their flight at all times. Inability to control flight could mean life or death in a run in with above mentioned raptors, or it could mean a crash landing. It’s just not safe to free flight in this situation at all.

 

[Zoruace]

I’ll reiterate the great advice above.
Tailored more to your specific circumstances, NO. Your bird needs its tail feathers for proper flight. The tail acts as a rudder, significant source of control for flight.

Can they fly without it? Yes. But in a dangerous situation like outdoors, you really want to make sure they are in full control of their flight at all times. Inability to control flight could mean life or death in a run in with above mentioned raptors, or it could mean a crash landing. It’s just not safe to free flight in this situation at all.

alr ill wait or i wont ff and i havent seen or heard of a single wild raptor in my area

 

[Zoruace]

I honestly wouldnt recommend free flighting a cockatiel. of course every bird is different and training can go a long way but tiels tend to be more skittish and I would be worried about something spooking your bird

mine is very skittish tbh but i dont think anything will spook her we dont have raptors in my area or anything like thta

 

[Zoruace]

Freeflight in the Great Outdoors is just plan dangerous in most places! Yes, lots of Humans do it and its is truly great right to the point that it is NOT! Most areas in North America are truly No Fly Zones as a result of the extensive return of Bird of Prey!! And although, your area may have a limited number, or your area have larger Sky Hunters they have young and a Tiel is a nice size snack for a young Red Tail Hawk!

I know that it is very popular in England where Birds of Prey are near unheard of. But even there, the number of well trained Parrots that just keep flying away is large enough that they have groups that have flight builds that they Free flight their Parrots!

At the end of the day, it becomes your choice. IMHO, its a choice we have elected to not be part of!

Cockatiels are strong flyers and a healthy Tiel can fly with easy! And, distant flying is much easier for a Tiel that smaller flight surfaced Parrots.

we dont have raptors in our area im having second thoughts after reading this thank u for reminding me what can go wrong haha

 

[MrLaurieKeats]

we dont have raptors in our area im having second thoughts after reading this thank u for reminding me what can go wrong haha

Just because you've never seen a raptor does not mean they're not there. Birds of prey have VERY keen vision and can spot an easy meal from an awfully long way off and would snatch up a lone domestic cockatiel before anyone knew what had happened. Even much smaller birds that you may not consider to be a threat often gang up on what they consider intruders in their territory and drive them far away, never to be seen again. Please don't even consider free flying your cockatiel, there are far too many risks and it's just not worth it.

 

[Zoruace]

Just because you've never seen a raptor does not mean they're not there. Birds of prey have VERY keen vision and can spot an easy meal from an awfully long way off and would snatch up a lone domestic cockatiel before anyone knew what had happened. Even much smaller birds that you may not consider to be a threat often gang up on what they consider intruders in their territory and drive them far away, never to be seen again. Please don't even consider free flying your cockatiel, there are far too many risks and it's just not worth it.

ok thank you

 

[chris-md]

I think you misunderstand. It’s not just raptors that can scare them - I alluded to this, if perhaps too subtly - that there are dangers outside of raptors.

Mechanical issues with being able to maneuver and land properly.

but also, environmental factors can create fly offs as well. We had someone around for years who free flew his macaws. His most beloved green wing macaw got startled when someone swung a ladder out from their car. He never recovered her.
It’s hard enough with a massive macaw flies off. A cockatiel? You’d have a HUGE challenge recovering it.

Other possibilities are sudden gusts off wind the bird can’t handle, or god forbid a cat (the biggest threat to the USAs song bird population - we have one where we live constantly hunting doves in our backyard).

lots of issues with free flying cockatiels. Worse idea free flying a cockatiel? Flying a cockatiel who is Equipped without proper tail feathers.

it’s just a bad idea all around at the moment.