• What safety precautions should I observe with an unclipped bird?
When keeping birds which have not been wing-clipped it is important to follow some common-sense precautions. Your bird should be properly supervised at all times when it is out of its cage and make sure to teach the bird the flight requests explained earlier in the training section. Be aware of common household dangers. Birds should not be in rooms which have ceiling fans, open external doors and windows, or large mirrors. Large-pane windows can be very confusing for a bird so these should have curtains or net curtains hung in front of them. Do not allow your grey into the kitchen as there are far too many dangers here for birds like sources of intense heat and toxic fumes from Teflon pans.Ensure your grey has several places outside the cage which it can use as perches. You may find it easier to manage the bird if these places are no higher than your head - for example, the backs of chairs and sofas, window ledges, and tables. Greys should not just be left to get on with things on their own in any new situation. As highly social creatures, these birds need guidance and encouragement from you. So, when introducing a bird to any new place or new room make sure to show the bird the places you would like him to use as perches. Just ask him to 'Go down' onto these places using the requests that you have already taught him and reward him on the first few occasions with a titbit or a favourite small toy to play with. When the bird is used to these places, he will be more confident about knowing where he can land when he does fly. Later, try using the 'Go' command to ask the bird to fly to these places from your hand.
While it is acceptable for the bird to land on your shoulder, the shoulder should not be seen as a normal perch. Always transfer the bird from your shoulder to your hand as soon as he lands there. Just use the 'Step up' command for this. Your hand should be the bird's normal perch when it is on you, not your arm or your shoulder.
It helps if you show a bird places in a new room
on which he is allowed to perch.
on which he is allowed to perch.
If something frightens a bird, it may try to
fly through glass. So large windows should be
screened with a blind or net curtains.
fly through glass. So large windows should be
screened with a blind or net curtains.
Do not leave a bird on a new place for long;
ask him to step back up after a few seconds.
ask him to step back up after a few seconds.
