Flight training

[macawlover]

I'm sorry if this topic was just posted not too long ago, but does anybody have any helpful tips for flight training? When warmer weather comes, I'm going to use an indoor soccer field (with no perches above my head) to train Cheyenne recall flying. I don't think I'll ever have the guts to actually bring her outside, so we'll just stick to indoors. I mainly want her to get more exercise than what she's getting (even though her cage door is open all day every day).

So, any suggestions?
Thanks!

[tamaran2]

Ok I'm dying to know, how you got a indoor soccer field to start practicing....

I would love to have this avail.

We started indoors but in the home only. We have a open loft upstairs and we let them fly up and call them back down. When my FULLY clipped B&G flew off a couple years ago, she was in the trees for 4 days. It killed me. But what we noted was that she would have come down sooner if she knew how to fly down to the ground. So from that moment on, we started working on with landing! And NONE of my birds are clipped anymore!

[jenseits]

Is she already flying inside the house?

[macawlover]

Actually, I still have to get a response back from the people who are in charge of the soccer field... I'll let you know what they say! I have a couple of places I can ask, though.

Actually, she hasn't flown around the house at all! When my friend was watching her for a couple days before I got her, she flew twice, so at least she knows she CAN fly. But ever since I got her, she's stayed put on her cage. If she wants to go somewhere, she'll climb onto the floor and reach her destination by foot.

[Sue13]

I would love to know how things progress with the flight training!!!

I have just done some reading on flight training. I would like to work with our little conure on recall training. I have yet to find his favourite food though.

Then there is Jack, our hy. Although he was fully flighted for years, I don't know if he ever learned how to fly. His outdoor aviary really would have been too small to do much flying. I would love to work with him on flying, but wouldn't know where to start. Like Cheyenne, he will just climb down and walk to where he wants to go. I have a hard time even getting him to flap vigorously on my arm.

[Karen1]

You may want to start her on a T stand and have her jump to your arm. Make sure you have a treat handy that she can see. Keep your arm away from your body, so she feels she can land and not crash into you or clip her wings. Then, send her back to the stand. Pratice this until she gets confident and then add distance by taking a step back. Always end on a postive, confident note. I did this with Aspen, when he was starting to fledge and it worked out really well.
Good luck

[jenseits]

I just started recall with my sun conure and posted about it here:
Teaching Flighted Recall: First Steps « Best in Flock - Blog About My Conure Parrot

He's just growing his flights back in but he's been flying back and forth between his cage and his playstand (a distance of a couple of feet) -- I think this approach of slowly increasing the distance helps to build his confidence. If he was already an expert flier there might be a different approach, but this seems to be working for us.

Until his recall is rock solid I can't imagine trusting him to fly outside of my home, however.

[Courtzrocks]

Well mine is only indoor but with Matches i put her on a perch or playstand or cage and would show her the treat...then step back with my arm out and the treat visible so she knew when she landed on my arm she could reach the treat..if she landed somewhere else or on my head i would put her back with no treat...she does it really well. You gradually go further and further away and call them...i say "c'mon, c'mon matches" and she knows to come. Doesnt take too long although she is smart, took her 2 nights to get it perfect.

Still im not sure if i could ever let her fly outside...(to scared of losing her) but inside she is great...not a fan of the harness yet LOL.

[Karen1]

I should have mentioned - keep your arm bent in front of you, not out to the side. If there's a certain time of day you go and get her and she gets really excited, that would be the time to practice.

[Courtzrocks]

Yeah lol same, keep arm bent infront of you.