Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!att!cbnewsd!bamford
From: bamford@cbnewsd.ATT.COM (harold.e.bamford)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: pet birds that have the fly of the house
Summary: Don't let'm do it!
Message-ID: <2294@cbnewsd.ATT.COM>
Date: 10 Oct 89 22:23:51 GMT
References: <2189@cbnewsl.ATT.COM>
Reply-To: bamford@cbnewsd.ATT.COM (harold.e.bamford,ihp,)
Distribution: usa
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 86

In article <2189@cbnewsl.ATT.COM> nora@cbnewsl.ATT.COM (nora.y.mclaughlin) writes:
>I often hear of how people who own big birds such as Macaws, Cockatoos,
>Amazons, etc. let their birds run around the house on the floor as they
>follow them from room to room.  I'd love to let my amazon do this, but
>I am afraid I'd be stepping in their droppings all the time.

It is surprisingly easy to step on a bird.  Some friends of ours
just lost their lovebird that way.  And if you have a dog or cat
(or baby) the bird is in further danger if it cannot fly.

They DO dump where and when they please if they can fly.  But this
is not the problem you might think it is.  More on that later.

There are three main problems with letting pet birds fly.

1) They get too independent and cannot be controlled.  This is true
of hand-fed babies as well as wild caught.  Birds that fly are
almost always more 'bitey' than clipped birds.  They are difficult
(sometimes impossible) to potty train.  Yes, you CAN potty train a
bird!

2) Birds that fly, will fly out the door when you answer it.  Which
means that when the doorbell rings, there is furious activity on
the part of owner (playing the part of mean, nasty catcher) and the 
bird (working hard to stay free) to cage the bird before whomever is at
the door gives up and goes away.  More of a problem than you might
think.  Makes one dread the sound of the doorbell.

3) Birds are sometimes so "into" flying that they run into windows
and walls.  Often serious injuries occur.  Sometimes lethal
injuries.  No joke.  Happens a LOT!

Our birds used to be allowed to fly.  No more.  And they ARE JUST
AS HAPPY!  Arguments equating clipping of wings to hobbling of feet
notwithstanding, these birds are very happy.  Don't let
metaphysical, pseudo-mystical arguments about the "natural"
expression of a bird sway you.  If you pay proper attention to your
birds, they will be as happy or even happier not flying.  Of
course, all birds (flighted or non) have only a few simple
requirements that they expect you to supply:

	1) Your undivided attention, 24 hours a day.
	2) YOUR food, in YOUR dish.
	3) That pen in your hand.

Simple.

Before Pandora, our Macaw, was doing a lot of flying (when she was
still a baby) we had her 60% potty trained -- 60% of the time we
could tell her to "dump" (while on her perch) and she would.  This
meant that she was "safe" for 10-15 minutes thereafter.  She would
even fly from a shoulder to her perch, dump, and then fly back.
Then she became more sure with her flying and now she is only 
2% potty trained.  Even after clipping her wings, she never
regained her training.  Most annoying.

Merlin, our African Grey Congo, was 95% trained before clipping.  He
rarely dumped on us (unless we had company, of course).  Again,
after getting independence with flight, his training dropped to
50%.  After clipping, it rose to about 80%.  I attribute this to
Merlin's superior intelligence over Pandora's thickheadedness  :-)

As for cleaning up bird droppings, the nastiest seems, to most
people, to be droppings on carpet.  And it is nasty.  But most
people don't know the easy way to clean it up.  Most people grab a
towel and attack it immediately.  Wrong.  The best way is to let it
completely dry and use the vacuum cleaner nozzle (the semi-sharp,
metallic tube) to scrape it up.  When dry, scraping the deposit
flakes it off easily and the vacuum sucks up the dust leaving no
visible residue.  Try it.

So, I recommend that you clip the wings and don't let the bird walk
around on the floor a lot.  A little bit, under close supervision,
is fine.  Instead, make a bird "cape" and wear it when the bird is
on your shoulder.  DON'T buy one of those Bird Shirts (tm)
advertised in the magazines.  They are made of tee-shirt material
which slides off the shoulder too easily and won't absorb enough to
save your clothing from staining.  MAKE a cape from a terry cloth
towel.  Just fold in the ends to make pockets for your shoulders,
run it through the sewing machine, and throw it on.  Make enough of
them for guests.  Just toss in the laundry when dirty (10-15
minutes after wearing  :-)  ).

Whew!  Hadn't intended to say this much!

-- Harold