McCaws and the Outdoors?

[EloiseAndMonty]

Hello, I have owned Monty the B&G rescus for about a month so far and he is just amazing. He has taken to me so quickly and we have build an amazing bond in such short time.

He now climbs onto me when I ask him to and yesterday I took him outside. (He spent 29 years inside I a tiny cage and never fully stretched his wings or learnt how to fly so I had no fear of him flying away)

Today we are outside in the sun again. He has a table to walk on with a bird bath. Table half in sun half in shade.

I just wanted to double check any safety rules for being outdoors or any reasons he souldnt be outdoors.

Thank you.

Please enjoy pictures of Montys first ever time outdoors!

 

[thekarens]

If he gets startled he could unintentionally fly away. I'd put him in a harness if he's not in an enclosed space.

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[itzjbean]

Since they can live just fine outside in the wild the outdoors can be a great place for your rescue to get some sunshine, fresh air and learn to be a bird.

I initially was worried about him being outside with no harness but with 29 years in a cage I don't think he's going anywhere. With that being said it could be a great opportunity to get him to stretch his wings and learn to beat and strengthen them.

I wouldn't bring him outside if its cold, depending on where you live probably nothing under 55 degrees I would keep him inside. I would keep him in the yard otherwise of you bring him around town / scary new situations - you have a higher possibility of him getting spooked and taking off suddenly. Try to keep him as calm as possible with all outside adventures.

Great pictures!

 

[bug_n_flock]

Hey there! Monty's story sounds a lot like my Freedom's. He was in a dog crate for 28 years, and in the last 3.5 years has been thru 3 homes after leaving the crate. He still has a lot of issues, but has a LOT of potential. I hope in a month we are doing as well together as you and Monty.


Freedom is also a grounded B&G. I have a photo from the previous owner of him holding his wings fully open and up, but so far he has not done it here, even when out of the cage.

 

[chris-md]

Since they can live
I initially was worried about him being outside with no harness but with 29 years in a cage I don't think he's going anywhere.

This is rather dangerous, in my very humble opinion. The one time you make this assumption is the one time you make an @$$ out of u and me and the bird flies away. Absent a harness, the bird REALLY needs some sort of travel cage or backpack when outdoors.

 

[thekarens]

Our grey was also raised in a dog crate and put in a dark back bedroom most of his life. When we got him we got an enormous cage and let him come out as much as he liked.

I will fast forward a few years. Corky now comes out of his cage all the time. He's also been startled by a loud noise a few times and unintentionally flown off and smacked into a wall and window.

I doubt your Mac would intentionally fly at this point, but it's their instinct to flap their wings when startled and in that case you could lose them.

Sun is good for them, but taking them out without some kind of protection is dangerous. It's a disaster waiting to happen.

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[munami]

I may be wrong but I feel like it's more dangerous if he doesn't know how to fly, whether his wings are clipped or not.

One strong gust and then off he goes, unable to control himself. Maybe like thekarens said, he'd get spooked and go off. There's just too many what ifs.

 

[PenClem]

Have you considered an aviary in which he can move around, flap his wings, and get some fresh air? There are several on the market. They're expensive, but I think the enrichment they get out of spending time in an open space outside more than makes up for the cost.

 

[SilleIN]

I have a lot of macaws of different species. If fully feathered, they are capable of flight and depending on the wind conditions quite far even for an inexperienced flyer.

When teaching my older cagebound macaws to fly, they are all capable of flying 5-10 metres (approx with yards) with no wind. Adding just a little wind they can take off and they have no way of getting down (they don't know how).

I also have freeflyers and one day, when I wasn't going to fly them, someone(guest) opened the door to the indoor arena and it only took 5 seconds and he was out of sight. Fortunately he is an experienced flyer and found his way back, but with just a little wind and an inexperienced flyer- bye bye baby

 

[Scott]

I respect the desire to offer Monty outdoors freedom, but plenty of caution is advised. Besides inadvertent flight, your locale may have stealthy and aggressive raptors. While most smaller birds won't stalk or hassle a macaw, various eagles and hawks are on the lookout for food. If you can successfully harness train Monty and have an understanding of airborne hazards, you'll have covered the critical bases.

 

[Jottlebot]

I would get him used to a harness, then he has his freedom and you have him always safe. You'll need to keep an eye on him that he doesn't get tangled, but I guess he's always supervised when outside anyway.

I agree, if he doesn't know how to fly it means he doesn't know how to get back to you if he does experiment or fly away due to a fright.

If he isn't up to being harness trained just yet I would get him an aviary, or not off an area of garden to keep him safe this way.

 

[EloiseAndMonty]

Thank you for the information guys!!! I will get Monty a harness for when I bring him outside with me on the off chance he takes off. My vet said he will never be able to fly because he has little muscle to his wings and has never learnt how to but I dont want to risk it if you guys think he could take off!

 

[noodles123]

I am not against taking birds outside. I think the sun is very important for them. That having been said, here are some issues:

Outdoors there is always the risk of escape---clipped or not clipped (the right gust of wind or an unexpected fright can cause them to fly---and since they don't normally fly, they can get too scared to think straight and keep going/ get stuck). It happens all of the time-it really isn't worth the risk. You might be surprised at what he could do if terrified. If your bird is outside, put a harness on your bird.

Outdoors the risk of temperature fluctuations from home to outside is another concern. Shifts of 10 degrees (F) or more (say, a 70 degree (F) home to an 81 degree (F) outside temperature) put significant stress on their systems. Although birds will adapt to many temperatures outside of those found in most homes, they need to do so over a period of weeks...It's the sudden shift that is so bad for their systems.

That having been said, the upper-end of a Macaw's heat tolerance (even when allowed to acclimate gradually) is going to be 80 F (ish). With access to moving air and for short periods, healthy birds can handle slightly higher temperatures, but not for a long time. Either way, you don't want to shift temperatures more than 10 degrees (F) within less than a 24 hour period.

Finally, outdoors there is the chance that they will be exposed to other birds' diseases, predatory animals/birds (especially risky for a bird who is not good at flying) and parasites/insects (such as mites and mosquitoes). Parrots can catch diseases from mosquitoes.

*Oh-- and too much sunlight can be a huge hormonal trigger in pet parrots*

 

[chris-md]

My vet said he will never be able to fly because he has little muscle to his wings and has never learnt how to but I dont want to risk it if you guys think he could take off!

If that’s the case, I would get to work building up those muscles! A wonderful opportunity to help improve the quality of life for your bird, and reduce the risk of fly offs. Weak muscles NOW hardly means the bird will never be able to fly.

Start recall training your bird teach it to come to you on demand. It starts with target training (teaching it to touch a stick with its beak). From there you can escalate it to jumping from two perches set a couple feet apart. This perch jumping starts the bird to use the wings for the jump but the perches are close enogubt hat the birds doesn’t have to fly. This jumping and using the wings help build the muscles up to the point where wing strength will pick up again and flight is actually possible.

 

[Oliver17]

Better to be safe then sorry, Thank you for rescuing, good luck and enjoy