Training Free Flight

Okay, so Erin is doing much better! Less nippy- if she does bite I tell her Naughty Naughty and giver her beak a playful shake. She climbs to me if scared (dogs, and for some reason, the husband, being cold, etc). So I know she trusts me. She does love her cage more than me. I am teaching her to fly and have the aviator harness. I am not sure I am doing it well, so please give me some advice, but don't tear into me please

Here's what I have been doing:
Flappies- tons of flappies. She even does these in her cage by herself.
Then i take her to the backyard (my house is to small for practice) and let her walk around for a few minutes to get used to it again.
I take her out for this about 3-4 times a week at least.
She doesn't really care to explore. She walks 2-3 steps and starts eating ants (Goodness, I have the weird child) or she just stares or climbs up something if it is near- she loves to climb.
After a while of that I pick her up and slowly and gently (not thursting my arm in the air or shaking or throwing her- that just screams to be bitten) I raise my arm up and down 3 times and by the third time she flies a good 10 feet about 5 feet in the air.
We only practice this about 6-8 times. She is getting farther distances and is pretty good at landing but sometimes she lands gracefully and then leans forward and uses her beak to help herself. She is pretty good and graceful about it. She is good with not running into anything and prefers to land in the grass, so that's not much of a problem.
She won't fly higher than 5 feet, but we have only been doing this for about two weeks.
I did use an aviator but she seems to like to pick at it or eat the rope,so I just let her go with out. I know this is dangerous, but there is always a risk a bird can escape. She doesn't move more than 3 steps form where she lands, so I'm not too worried, plus are trees are no more than maybe 50-60 feet so that's nothing our ladders cant get us to.
Anyway, I want to teach her to fly on command instead of having to prep her with the 1,2,3 arm raises. I also want to teach her to fly back and to land on something or some one other than grass. Any suggestions?

Help somebody please?

Free flight is way too scary for me. There used to be a free flight group on Yahoo, which I joined when I thought that the idea of free flight sounded really romantic, but then over time, people who were really into free flight posted stories of how their birds suffered various horrible mishaps, including one bird who had a lot of free flight experience in Saudi Arabia (every weekend for more than a year, I think), suddenly for no reason getting lost one time and not returning, and I had bad dreams of that bird flying around and around without any sense of direction, no familiar landmarks to guide her, just expanse after expanse of sky and sand, getting tired under the glare of the Arabian sun, wings starting to get tired, now feeling thirsty, finally landing on the sand and feet starting to sink in, flapping wings and kicking feet, trying to fly or walk, but each attempt at moving the feet getting herself deeper and deeper into the soft sand, sand now flying everywhere, sand getting into mouth and nostrils and eyes, throat dry and rasped, tired, sinking, last squawk for help, disappearing under the sand, buried alive, flesh dessicating, feathers falling off, finally mummified...

Free flight should only be attempted under the super vision of a trained professional for safety reasons. Birdtricks.com has a free flight course, it cost $5,000 and takes around 3 months, After I'm out of college I want to take their course

This is a video of their birds free flying, as well as some of their students for a upcoming DVD they are going to release
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yO0v2N_K6AA&context=C46f9eebADvjVQa1PpcFNrmgF5W_AVi44G0eeML5v2ParTXqVjG4I="]Freestyle Flyers Club - Adventure Film Teaser of Freeflighted Parrots - YouTube[/ame]

That's quite scary and bit morbid...

hi MaraWentz, I do free flight my umbrella cockatoo, going on two years now. I recommend not forcing your bird to take off, especially while just getting use to leaving you. Be patient, let her leave at will. Call to her and let her know where you are at all times while she is out and about.

It took some time before he would come when I called, like a year. He's always known where home was but as far as coming to my call, that took some time. We are now attached at the hip, so to speak. We go on walks, he flies, follows me everywhere and comes home when I call.

enjru just resding your post gyves me the creeps I want sweetie pie in thr house where i know she is safe and their is no hawk hot on her tail. Alison and sweetye pie

I would never free flight a bird smaller than Amigo, he's as large as the red-tail hawks in our area. He's also aggressive when it comes to his territory, so far, so good at backing them off. The ravens also don't like hawks and move them off.

how did you get him to come to you? My bird doesn't care for my existance unless its to be given a treat or pet. She steps up, but i cant "call" her to me. There isn't enough pine nuts in the world for that.

MaraWentz said:

how did you get him to come to you? My bird doesn't care for my existance unless its to be given a treat or pet. She steps up, but i cant "call" her to me. There isn't enough pine nuts in the world for that.

Click to expand...

That's the tricky part. I've never done recall or clicker training, know nothing about how it works. Your bird has to be bonded with you and your home, she's got to know that this is where her food and water comes from. That's why I suggested you not MAKE her fly away.

We started with Amigo by sitting on our deck, at that time he would sit with anyone, and allowing him to venture out and come back at free will. He seemed to always know where we were. His flight feathers were still growing in, so he couldn't travel too far.

As far as calling Amigo home, I don't know the answer on how to train them to do that. He just does. It takes a long time for them to become a part of you. And if you have the time, it's worth it. Most importantly, in my mind, is that she knows where home is.

Copperarabian said:

Free flight should only be attempted under the super vision of a trained professional for safety reasons. Birdtricks.com has a free flight course, it cost $5,000 and takes around 3 months, After I'm out of college I want to take their course

This is a video of their birds free flying, as well as some of their students for a upcoming DVD they are going to release
Freestyle Flyers Club - Adventure Film Teaser of Freeflighted Parrots - YouTube

Click to expand...

waaaaaaht, 5000$ thats totally ridiculoous!!
I Have a cockatiel that I am raising since it was Born and tube feeding it by myself, I never really had to train it for it to come fly over to me on command, If I call its name even while he is busy playing, he stops what hes doing & tweets back & always Comes fly towards me. I guess this is the special bond you get for Getting a baby and Hand raising it yourself so its world is all about you, This is my first bird experience & I Would like to get a bigger parrot like a Macaw or a african grey in the Future, but I would not like to get one that is already an adult , From my experience which is my only experience, I would Get a baby and Hand raise it & create a special bond & start to train it as early on as possible I really spenda whole lot of time with my bird, I kind of have too because I have to feed it and give it company as I am the only thing it knows
But 5000$ WOW, I dont really think its that difficult to train a bird to do free flight. I take mine to public parks where there are Dogs, and People all the time and he flys but Comes back as long as he Can hear me, and People get really amazed and curious when they see it LOL

animalkindness said:

Copperarabian said:

Free flight should only be attempted under the super vision of a trained professional for safety reasons. Birdtricks.com has a free flight course, it cost $5,000 and takes around 3 months, After I'm out of college I want to take their course

This is a video of their birds free flying, as well as some of their students for a upcoming DVD they are going to release
Freestyle Flyers Club - Adventure Film Teaser of Freeflighted Parrots - YouTube

Click to expand...

waaaaaaht, 5000$ thats totally ridiculoous!!
I Have a cockatiel that I am raising since it was Born and tube feeding it by myself, I never really had to train it for it to come fly over to me on command, If I call its name even while he is busy playing, he stops what hes doing & tweets back & always Comes fly towards me. I guess this is the special bond you get for Getting a baby and Hand raising it yourself so its world is all about you, This is my first bird experience & I Would like to get a bigger parrot like a Macaw or a african grey in the Future, but I would not like to get one that is already an adult , From my experience which is my only experience, I would Get a baby and Hand raise it & create a special bond & start to train it as early on as possible I really spenda whole lot of time with my bird, I kind of have too because I have to feed it and give it company as I am the only thing it knows
But 5000$ WOW, I dont really think its that difficult to train a bird to do free flight. I take mine to public parks where there are Dogs, and People all the time and he flys but Comes back as long as he Can hear me, and People get really amazed and curious when they see it LOL

Click to expand...

The difference with the bird tricks course is they do the training very carefully. The birds they train are skilled fliers full of confidence, and they come back reliably when recalled. Also not very many people do free flight training.

Because of the huge risks involved with free flight it's worth the price to have your bird properly trained if you aren't experienced in this training yourself.

A important thing to remember is pet birds are not usually skilled fliers. If you take your bird outside and they get scared they might not know how to return to you. One of the most difficult things for a bird to learn is flying down. Keep this in mind when deciding if your bird is a good choice and if you want to try training without help

5000 is a lot! Also I have heard that the trainers aren't the best. However for 1500 (cost for 2 people) I can do a course with Chris Brio. He has the most experience of an flight trainer and he uses only positive enforcements for teaching. He doesn't make you starve the bird in order to train them. He has one class this summer in may so I will be doing one next year with him but wanted something to train her in meanwhile. Chris actually trained the birdtricks first bird, an African grey, how to fly, etc. Chris is very helpful and intelligent. I actually spent a half an hour just chatting about my bird and it's personality, diet, behavior , etc the other day with him on the phone (accidentally interrupted his lunch). He is very friendly and approachable. The videos and the program is very clearand just breath taking. I reccomend giving him a call.

I agree with you Copperarabian. Not all pet birds are meant for this. It requires hours and hours, days and weeks of being available for your bird, so, not all pet bird owners are meant for this, either.

I agree free flight is so scary! My bird and I are working on adjusting him to the aviator harness, but that's the only way I would let him go outside with me! I don't think my husband would ever let me get the birdtricks people to free flight train with us, but I would LOVE to - they are such fantastic people and well worth the money.

Haylie said:

I agree free flight is so scary! My bird and I are working on adjusting him to the aviator harness, but that's the only way I would let him go outside with me! I don't think my husband would ever let me get the birdtricks people to free flight train with us, but I would LOVE to - they are such fantastic people and well worth the money.

Click to expand...

Listen to your husband , he is a wise man

Haylie said:

I agree free flight is so scary! My bird and I are working on adjusting him to the aviator harness, but that's the only way I would let him go outside with me! I don't think my husband would ever let me get the birdtricks people to free flight train with us, but I would LOVE to - they are such fantastic people and well worth the money.

Click to expand...

I definately agree with you! they have so many videos on youtube of their parrots and toucans free flying and they have yet to lose a bird. i jus wouldn't pay that much haha i can't afford it. i would if i could though!

Copperarabian said:

Free flight should only be attempted under the super vision of a trained professional for safety reasons. Birdtricks.com has a free flight course, it cost $5,000 and takes around 3 months, After I'm out of college I want to take their course

This is a video of their birds free flying, as well as some of their students for a upcoming DVD they are going to release
Freestyle Flyers Club - Adventure Film Teaser of Freeflighted Parrots - YouTube

Click to expand...

I wonder where they learned all the training for free flight ?
And how did they find such place to train free flight ?
I'm sure there are certain places you would only take a bird that is just starting out with free flight...............just wondering. :54::53:

My theory is, birds are going to fly to the nearest tree. If you are it, you got lucky! Just kidding, kind of. I also find this program fascinating. I believe that the bird has to have some kind of connection, be it food or having a strong bond.