Free Flight w/ Cressi Our Congo

[ChetWomach]

Here is a couple pages of recent free flight training Dave has been doing with his new Congo African Grey Cressi. I'm interested to hear what you all think and if you've had any experiences doing any free flight training outside?

Congo African Grey Freeflight

[loganzheroz06]

Hi Chet! I know this is off subject but i noticed you got her while you were in vegas, and Im just curious whom did Dave purchase Cressi from?I live in las vegas and I also got my congo in jan. and she was born on 10/19/07! Karen the lady we got her from had three other female babies and one of them was still being handfed! I was just curious to know because I think your Cressi and my Aimee might be siblings! I attached a picture of aimee!

[Tink131]

Hey Chet,
I read your page and watched days 2 and 4 on youtub- WOW! Nope, no experience here, though I'd love to free flight Kermit, but I'd be scared to death. And besides, it sounds like you should start their free flight training almost as soon as they can fly- and Kermit is going on 3 yo. I feel bad not free flighting him though cuz I know he wants to- he tries on occassion and a few flight feathers have regrown. But he has such a mind of his own I KNOW I'd lose him And there's no way he's going to eat a pellet (I've tried- and I know this is a big key to training) so even though seeds are yummy- so is the rest of his diet But I think free flighting is so awesome!!

[ChetWomach]

Hi loganzheroz06,

This is actually Dave writing this post. And I do believe that our birds are related. The name of the store was Bahnna Bird Farm in Las Vegas. Cressi (then known as Gretta) was still behing hand fed... infact she still hasn't completely weaned... she's still eating babyfood twice a day, but she is finally eating fruit and veggies on her own. And yes, I believe the lady we got her from was Karen!

Just a heads up - Cressi had Giardia, which is no big deal to treat, but you should probably treat your bird for it as well. It's a simple syringe that I gave her for three days. It's no problem if she's still hand feeding.

I'm excited to know someone who has a related grey!

Dave

[LyndaM]

WOW, that is amazing! Thanks so much for documenting and sharing with us!

[loganzheroz06]

Hi Dave,
Yay I'm excited to! When i read the post and you said you got her in Vegas I got excited! Great job free flighting her! I wish we could of done that with Aimee, but she's so clumsy with her big feet and when she does fly(she's partially clipped) she seems to have no sense of direction lol!

Really Cressi had Giardia, intresting the vet I went to (the store's vet) did the vet check and all the blood work and said everything came back fine. Ha! I dont know i just didnt like that guy, so I listened to my gut and we took both of our birds to our normal avian vet..two weeks ago and got everything checked ($300 dollars later) there supposably having the vet call us back today to let us know what he found out...Ill let him know that your bird had Giardia and see what he says! Thanks for letting me know!
It could of went un noticed. It wouldnt suprise me if she did, that stores not the cleanest one in town, but there nice people. I had went back there saturday and she had 5 more babies..they were just getting there feathers in, they were so cute: Ok enough of me blabbering, Well Defiantly keep in touch, it will be neat to see how Cressi progress'.

-Brittany

[ChetWomach]

We have posted several other videos and lots of pictures if anyone is interested in seeing Dave's progress with Cressi. She loves it!

Free Flight

[Tink131]

Great job on the training and the videos- she looks like she's having so much fun!!

[MicahEspudo]

Hey,

I have been watching your youtube videos (and reading your article about it on your website) and also talking to Chris Biro on youtube... and I am planning on getting a Jenday Conure from my breeder in mid june to start training to free fly :D
All my other birds (and my friends) have been taught recall by me... so I don't think that will be problem... I just think the first few times outside I will be FREAKING OUT haha!

P.S. Have you talked to Chris Biro? he's starting a flock of 12 suns, it sounds pretty interesting!

[karine]

I am training my Grey to fly outdoors with a harness on. It seems way too easy to lose a bird while freeflying. Excitement might lead them to fly way too far from you where you can't monitor them anymore. You can look up at the sky and check for eagles or such....but they also are quite fast to appear(especially when your Grey streaks on her own well away from you).

Just a matter of opinion.