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

[NoelTate]

When I have had one of my birds escape, I take a smaller cage to put another bird inside. I then place that cage inside a much larger one (luckily, I have an aviary, but just a large cage with a door that's easy to find should work). Leave the door on the large cage open. The escapee will come to it and go inside to get on top of the smaller cage to be closer to the other bird. When it does, you can close the door on the larger cage and have your bird back.

 

[stephys_fluffybutts]

I am sooooo sorry. I know exactly how you feel. I had it happen the first time I even got a bird(parakeet). The same thing with this one. He was passed from home to home. And I decided I would take him. He was a very mean bird and would actually come to the side of the cage to try to bite my fingers. After a few weeks he decided he liked us and would even perch on our shoulders. I really didnt know about birds so I never knew about trimming the wings and how to do it. One day when he was out of his cage my Dad happened to open the front door and the bird tried to land on his shoulder and instead he flew out the door. It was so horrible all I wanted to do was cry. I called and called for him. And becuase it was fall and it gets cold at night I know he wouldnt last out there. It was torture. He flew up to the highest tree in our yard and he chirped non stop. Well he didnt make it becuase by the next morning I didnt here his calls. He most likely froze to death or a predator found him because I never did find him.

I got a cockatiel and decided to find him a mate. I got a pretty yellow girl. She was very shy and she didnt like to be handled. So I was unable to clip her wings. She finally started to get friendly after we had her for about 7 months. She would come up to us and she would sit on our shoulder. But she was very nervouse. I always let my birds out on top of the cage to play. I tried to keep her wings clipped but it wasnt easy because she would could chew holes into one of us. Well anyways. The exact same thing happened like with your cockatiel except when she got out she was gone. She flew around our house a couple times and she was probably in the next town.

I still have the boy cockatiel, he is a real sweet guy...he is 8 years old. I got him another girlfriend 2 years after the one that flew out the door. The new one was such a sweet heart. Sadly I only had her for 3 years. She died a couple weeks ago. I have a feeling the pet store lady lied about her age. Because they can live for a very long time.

Now I make sure my birds wings are clipped even though they can bite. I just wear gloves when I do it. Its either that or they fly out the door and never come back.

I even see somebody posting that it is easy by just putting a cage out there with food. It isnt. They arnt homeing pigeons. They have never been out in the wilderness. These are indoor birds. They get confused and tressed out. So it is really hard to get them back again...

I mean it wouldnt be to bad if you lived in a place like florida. but where it gets cold. no way it would last

I am sorry for your loss. It is hard to lose a pet.

 

[CATRAY44]

There are a lot of differnt opinions on wing clipping. It actually can affect the respritory system. Clipping does not make the flightless, but it can make it easier to catch them... this includes preditors. I know everyone has to make their own descision, but just thought I would mention this for thought.