HELP! Cockatiel escaped from his cage outside!!!!

[77horses]

We always bring our two Cockatiels, Brady and Moss, outside in their cage. We clipped Moss's wings but couldn't clip Brady's wings, since he bites HARD and hates it when we hold him.

Well anyways, since it's so warm outside right now, we bring their cage outside so they can get some fresh air and sun sometimes. But today my brother was cleaning their cage outside and Brady somehow managed to slip out of the door before anyone could stop him!
Now he's flying around outside! He is staying close by because Moss has been calling to him. What do we do!?

 

[77horses]

Right now he's in the top of a tall pine tree. We've tried calling him down but he's nit very trained at all(we got him and Moss at 3 yrs. old from some people who smoked and rarely handled them). Right now we have Moss and his cage outside on the porch where Brady can see it. He has tried a few times to fly down to it because of Moss calling to him, but he's confused and has no idea where he is!

We've tried going on YouTube and finding videos of Cockatiels singing and everything because maybe he would think it was a real Cockatiel and then he might fly over to it? But all he does is call back to any whistling sounds he hears.

I'm really worried that we will never catch him again! Right now it's really warm outside, but when fall comes it can get really cold up here in Maine. Definitely not the right place for a Cockatiel to survive.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[lurky]

Do you have a net on hand in case he comes down at some point? Thats what i would be planning. If he is not tame, i would have a food dish on top of the cage in hopes of him coming down to it and trying to catch him with a net

 

[77horses]

Quote:
No I don't think we have a net.

But what has worked for us is we take a large, light sheet and if he lands close enough we toss it over him so he can't see us and before he knows it we capture him(gently), unwrap the sheet so he can breath and then put him back in his cage. We are hoping that because of Moss's calling, he will land on the cage(which is actually on our roof now) and stay there until dark. Once it's dark, he won't be able to see and we can catch him. But right now he's just staying in that very tall pine tree(which is way taller than our house!)

 

[WalkingWolf]

Put a cage out with food and water in it. Tie a trip string to the door with a treat on the string. Make sure the door closes when the string is pulled. If you have been using a sheet to catch him, forget it outside he is going to stay away from it.

 

[77horses]

Quote:
Thanks. We haven't used a sheet to catch him yet; he's just too high up!

He has flown to a closer pine tree, and we've been using YouTube videos of Cockatiels singing to get him to get closer so he can see Moss and his cage. And we can hear him answering back to both Moss and the video sounds, so we have an idea of where he is.

Please hope and pray that our spunky little Brady comes back soon!

Moss would be very lonely without him; they are brothers and we would miss him very much, too. He has a lot of character; he whistles, screams, bobs his head, taps his beak on his water/food dish, and he even flips his head while he's whistling when he's happy or excited. We've had him for about 2-3 years now and even though he bites and hates to be handled, we really would miss him.

 

[LarryPQ]

All my cockatiels have been birds turned loose by their owners. I caught most of them by standing by my outside cage, talking and whistiling to my birds.

Get a sheet, keep unfolded in hands with hands down. Put a little millet or treat on top of the cage with water. Continue to talk to other bird. DO NOT LOOK AT ESCAPED BIRD unless he engages you. Once the bird is eating/drinking and is releaxed, start raising the sheet. Do this very slowly...maybe take 10-15 minutes.

Once the sheet is in position, wait for him to go down for a drink, then *foop!* get him!

This may take a while. Plan for an hour or so. If you have chores to do outside, you may want to do the chores and talk to the other bird the whole time. Cockatiels are jealous little buggers.

 

[English Chick]

ohhh nooooo..... hope you catch him again..........

 

[77horses]

It's about 90*F right now with a slight cool breeze. Very humid. I'm worried that Brady will get dehydrated.

 

[77horses]

Brady has been quiet and he's still up in one of the pine trees. We can't see him(even after using binoculars) but we can hear him. I was getting worried but then we played more cockatiels sounds off of youtube a minute ago and i heard him calling, so he's still ok.