# Bird's first flight



## mighty2571 (Oct 25, 2018)

Hi, 
So this happened tonight, as I was sitting in front of Kiwi's cage with the door open (as I have been doing for a while now) trying to get her more comfortable with my hand being close to her, she decided to be super brave and fly right pass me out of the cage (freaked me out a little). Now this is the first time in almost 8 month that I've had her that she's been out of her cage, normally she's get scared of the door being opened, but not tonight. 

Anyways I realized that Kiwi may not be the best flyer, or navigator, the poor thing flew right into the wall, then freaked her self out and started flying at full speed (her cage is in the living room and that's open to the kitchen and sun-room) she flew up and hit the ceiling, and flew low and hit into the kitchen cabinet, finally she settled down a bit to where I could take her and bring her back to her cage, and she didn't like me handling her at all, she was biting and kicking the whole time.

But my question is do bird usually fly like this? I wasn't prepared for her to do this, years ago I when I had budgies, I guess I never noticed their flight patterns, but they would fly all over the house with no problem and I truly can't remember how they did it (it was 25 years ago) just that I would leave the cage door open and they would just cruise about the house without hitting anything.

So was she out of control because it's her first time out and was scared? If anyone can enlighten me on this it would be much appreciated. Either ways now she's mad and got to give her few days to her self . Thank you


----------



## Cody (Sep 5, 2013)

It is not uncommon for this to happen when a bird first comes out of their cage to fly around. They need to get comfortable being out and used to their surroundings, since she has not been accustomed to being out she was confused and did not know where to go once she exited the cage hence the behavior you saw. Do you have other birds that come out of the cage, that know their way around, sometimes that helps, like follow the leader. Make sure that your windows and mirrors are covered, no open windows without a screen no open doors,toilet seats down and no cooking or open pots of anything when she is out of the cage. You don't want any accidents that could be avoided.


----------



## RavensGryf (May 8, 2015)

As mentioned in the post above, it’s quite common for a bird who isn’t used to flying, to not be able to navigate very well at first. It takes a bit of practice. Don’t worry, you’ll see that Kiwi will become adept at flying quickly.. she’s a bird after all . They learn especially quickly if they have other birds to watch. In the mean time, please keep toilets closed, no ceiling fans, mirrors and glass windows covered, etc.


----------



## mighty2571 (Oct 25, 2018)

Thank you for making this better, I do have all the precautions set for the bird to fly, ceiling fans in the bedrooms are off (it's freezing weather anyways) and doors closed, also door to the bathroom is always closed, windows are closed and locked and beside they are all screened, however you guys mentioned to keep windows covered, I do have blinds on most windows but not all, I have lots of large windows and a sun-room and since most of my widows face a private yard we never bothered adding blinds, so any suggestion?


----------



## Cody (Sep 5, 2013)

Maybe put up some sheer curtains, something so the birds don't see the window as something that they could fly through.


----------



## Birdmanca (Jan 24, 2008)

I have had that happen with budgies before. Also, if you have trouble getting a budgie back in the cage. just leave the door of the cage open with food and water for the bird. When your bird gets hungry, he will return to the cage on his own. I found that easier to do than when I cannot get him to go back on his own.


----------



## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*You can temporarily put up a sheet a few inches out from the large windows and perhaps cover the entrance to the sun room as well.

Once Kiwi learns the dimensions of the area she has to fly in, she will no longer need the shield over the windows and probably won't need to be blocked from the sun-room either.

A couple of my budgies hit the sliding doors in my previous home the first couple times they were out. 
I covered the sliding doors for a few days when the birds were out so they could get used to the room's area and put tension rods with curtains on them to block the kitchen area. 
After uncovering the windows, the budgies quickly realized there was glass there and there were no problems with them flying into it. 
I was also able to take down the curtains blocking the kitchen and the budgies did not venture into that room when flying throughout the living and dining rooms during their out-of-cage time.*


----------



## philw (Aug 22, 2014)

At this stage when they won't voluntarily go back into their cage, I've found that having a long (3 ft.) wooden dowel (found in most hardware stores), half inch diameter that you can use to get them to step up (from a distance) and slowly walk to the cage door and go to their cage.


----------

