Trained Parrot BlogParrot Wizard Online Parrot Toy StoreThe Parrot Forum

Wanting to Teach Recall to my Cockatiels.

Discuss topics associated with teaching birds to fly. Training parrots recall flight, target flying, and other flying exercises.

Wanting to Teach Recall to my Cockatiels.

Postby CherryTiel » Wed Sep 11, 2019 5:51 am

I already bought two adorable flight suits for them so going outside will be safe and fun! But in case of the absolute worst coming to worst, I believe recall is important. So how can I go about this with such a little bird? I've only ever seen Macaws and big parrots recalling successfully. Can my little tiels do it too? :?
:greycockatiel: Cherry :greycockatiel: Cassidy
CherryTiel
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 8
Location: Oxfordshire, England
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Cockatiels
Flight: Yes

Re: Wanting to Teach Recall to my Cockatiels.

Postby Pajarita » Wed Sep 11, 2019 10:34 am

Any bird can learn recall but one simply cannot trust the training to work all the time. And this is not just my opinion, it's a fact - there have been lots and lots of professionally trained birds that have flown away and not come back. Michael himself once lost Kili that way - thankfully, he found her. I also do not believe that taking birds outside benefits them because I strive to avoid all unnecessary stress from my birds lives, and birds get anxious and stressed out when in unfamiliar territory - but that's my thing.

Having said that, recall is not hard to teach. It just takes time. For one thing, you need to identify the high value item and reserve it only for training. Then you start by teaching the bird to just take a couple of steps to reach your hand once you give the command - and praise, praise, praise and give the reward when it does. Then you do it from an increasingly longer distance until the bird needs to fly to get to your hand. Once the bird does this consistently, the bird is trained... not with a 100% rate of success but as trained as it can be.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes


Return to Recall Flight & Flighted Tricks

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 18 guests

Parrot ForumArticles IndexTraining Step UpParrot Training BlogPoicephalus Parrot InformationParrot Wizard Store