Hahns Macaw vs Blue Crown Free Flying

[jlindsay]

I was wondering if anyone has experience free flying a Blue Crown conure or a Hahns macaw. Which is better at free flying? Currently I have a free flying Crimson Belly Conure and he is great! I was looking at getting one more conure or mini macaw for free flight. Please let me know if you have any experience with this.
Thanks

 

[chris-md]

Smaller birds in general are not really suited to free flight, as the dangers are magnified. Ssavvy, experience free fliers would reserve free flight for medium and large sized parrots.

 

[charmedbyekkie]

In Asia, people do free-fly smaller birds, like conures, IRNs, cockatiels, and even lovebirds. It's largely a matter of personal comfort level - if someone can accept the risks, then ok. Conures, of course, are more common, but it's doable with the right trainer mentoring the parrot and human. I say doable, not necessarily recommended - that's up to you to decide for yourself.

I have not seen a ff-ing blue crown, but that's because they're rare where I live. I have seen a couple of Hahn's ff-ing, but they isn't to say they're inclined.

I'd recommend you reach out to your local ff-ing community for a variety of reasons. One being that flying as a flock is generally safer, and the other being that they can give you better contextual advice for your area.

Since you're dealing with conures and mini macaws, from my ekkie-only background, it doesn't seem like much a difference since both are monogamous types (I only point that out because ekkies are not monogamous and Aussie ff-ers have found that they get lost more frequently than the other parrots).

 

[chris-md]

Charmed - she’s in Massachusetts. Slightly different from SE Asia

 

[Tami2]

I'm in NJ & PA, too many birds of prey in my neck of the woods to ever consider this.

 

[jlindsay]

My crimson belly seems fine outside he comes back when called and plays while I work outside or have ciffee

 

[chris-md]

My crimson belly seems fine outside he comes back when called and plays while I work outside or have ciffee

That doesn’t mean it’s the safe thing to do.

Smaller birds are EASILY picked off by hawks, and likely to be more phobic than bigger birds (needing larger flocks to feel safe). There are stories of bigge rbirds being plucked off SHOULDERS, so imagine how dangerous it is for something smaller.

And if a bird does fly off, a large loud colorful bird will be infinitely easier to spot 80 feet up compared to a tiny green conure or macaw.

I’m of course not here to tell you what to do or not do with your CBC and the habits/relationship/lifestyle you’ve developed. Not my business, you’re gonna do what you’re gonna do. But pulling another small bird into that would not be wise.

 

[RemiBird]

No way would I let my conures do free flying like that. When I had my cockatiels, the male accidentally flew out twice and miraculously both times we got him back, but he was so traumatized and worn out.
Too many risks and dangers.

 

[jlindsay]

Maybe mine is special or it is training but mine stays around the yard and comes back on command. I should breed him for others to have free flyers like him.

 

[charmedbyekkie]

It's not a matter of special. Training is key.

The concern others are expressing is largely things that are not in your control, both yours and your bird's.

Birds of prey have snatched up large birds (I know of one African Grey) before while in their backyard in urban settings before. Can you train your bird to not get taken by a hawk? No.

Crows and other predators (including humans) have chased off birds before. I have seen bng macaws getting chased off by crows and lost forever. Can you train your bird to fend off a murder of crows? No.

In fact, one of the best trainers on the forum lost his bombproof macaws to a human flailing around with a ladder - the macaw took off and was taken by another human. Can you control your bird being spooked and avoid being taken in by another human? No.

My vet doesn't even take in ff-ers. They run too high a risk of picking up diseases, and she doesn't want to put her other patients at risk of catching a disease from the ff-ers (F10 can only take care of so much). It's a known but hush-hush fact in ff-ing communities that they catch and spread diseases through silent carriers. Can you train your bird not to catch a disease? No.

Free flying and recall is pure training. That being said, all the pro free flyers will tell you, you must be prepared to lose your bird, even with a $2k GPS tracker on them.

Some context on where I'm coming from: my bird was a free-flyer with his previous family. He lives to fly. I could never take that away from him. We do fly outdoors on a harness and a Kevlar line in a park where it is not a claimed territory by any predator, except for humans who show up later in the day. There are predators that occasionally fly through, like crows and a few sea birds, but we don't fly when they're in the vicinity and the moment I see them, Cairo calls out to me and I recall him in. I keep in touch with my local ff-ing communities, and I respect that they have the ability to risk losing their bird to a variety of factors. While Cairo doesn't cost as much as the macaws and other birds they fly, he means too much to me to let go.

 

[jlindsay]

Yes I agree there are risks but birds should fly. I accept that I can’t control things. I can barely control myself. If i hear or see a hawk we go in. My grey got taken by a hawk, so I threw a rock at it and got my grey back. He went to the vet and was fine. I have learned that greys are bad at free flight and look like pigeons so he does not free fly anymore. But he know no there is a devil in the sky. My vet likes free flying.

 

[KawaiiTori]

In my area there is a group called FlightClub that rents an INDOOR space out several times a month so people and their fids can get together for safer flying. Perhaps your area might have something similar? Here is a link to their website so you can get a better idea of what I’m talking about:

https://www.flight-club-foundation.org/

 

[jlindsay]

Yes I can respect that ,my grey did get caught by a red tail who flew away with him. However I did get my grey back with a lucky rock throw. I brought him to the vet and he needed some antibiotics but is fine afterwards. That was tufts medical center and the vet said how nice it is that I let him free fly. But your right accidents happen, that is the chance u take. I have to say up till now I have not lost a single bird including my cockatiel. But u never know. Where can I find a free fly group in MA.

 

[jlindsay]

Thank you for the link

 

[RemiBird]

I like the idea of indoor free flying.
My two conures have a lot of out of cage time and get to do free flying inside the house. In fact, Petey knows how to navigate from the living room downstairs to the bathroom upstairs. Remi is still gaining confidence at flying.
But if I take them outdoors, it's only in their cage. Sorry.

 

[Kiwibird]

While some people do seem to have success free flying conures temperament wise, they are small birds and easy pickings for predators. If you look at the bulk of free flying videos and anecdotes, large macaws dominate the world of free flight. Temperament and size plays a big role (new world parrots seem to have a better temperament for free flight in general in my limited observation). Individual suitability varies and you can have 2 birds of the same species where one is not at all ok to free fly and the other is fine to free fly.

Honestly though, it’s a bit narrow minded to think every pet parrot NEEDS to fly around outside to be happy. They don’t. Any bird that enjoys flying can be flighted indoors and harness trained to fly outdoors on a flight line with a high degree of safety and get the same benefits free flight birds do. Some individuals have no interest in flight at all being born in captivity with no real need to fly as a matter of survival. We didn’t choose it (our bird was an older rescue) but our amazon never learned to fly and by the time we adopted him, he has no concept of or interest in flight. We tried to flight him for years but it resulted in injuries and fear in an otherwise happy, well adjusted bird. He’s perfectly content climbing around and living life as he has always known it- which is not as a flighted bird.