So yesterday morning I spent cleaning cages, soaking bowls etc.

I go inside and late in the afternoon I go to cover one of the cages. I think, wow there's a yellow budgie visiting one of the cages. I get closer and see it's not visiting! it's one of my girls! I had studiply failed to properly close one of the trays and she'd climbed out. I walk up and grab a net but missed and she flew behind the cages. I try to get her again but she took off into a tree 30 metres away. I approach her again and start pulling the branch down ready to net her - she is very calm.

Suddenly a wild bird screams and freaks her out and she takes off! Last I saw she was being chased by 4 of the noisy miners and I figure that's the last I'll see of her. I go as fast as I can up the back yard but see nothing. Suddenly hear a rustling in the garden and she flies out to another garden and sits on top of the mother in laws tongue. As I approach she darts to another section and looks at me. I go up (reassuring her she will be okay) and net her. She struggles at first but then settles into my hand and I pop her back in the cage where she goes up and starts kissing a male friend. I really have to figure a way of securing those trays so it doesn't happen again.

I got lucky this time!

 

I am amazed she hung around - at her cage too!

Hey Karen,

if your breeder cages are anything like mine are, with the pull out tray, and when itss out while your cleaning theres a gap left at the bottom. i just simply overcome this by cutting a scrap piece of timber the size of the gap at the bottom. the birds arent strong enough to move this and it blocks up the gap left where the tray would normally be. ive used for ever and never had an escapee.

good luck and glad you got your little hen back, its not every day you have an escapee and get them back!

im so glad for her safe return boris being calm and trusting of you im sure helped the situation

 

 

if she had a friend she was bonded to and the escape was executed and not,not a shock its not uncommon for a bird to hang around for a few days up to a week even

which give a chance to plan a safe and none stressful catching and return of them

 

i have had hens with a clutch of chicks excape and then return a day or two later

they hang around hiding amongst the trees then when the feel safe know one is about they will come down to try get back to their chicks

not always only the ones who themselves got out

i think it has something to do with their becoming disoriented

when the lose was due to fright eg cage falling crashing open ect

thats when the birds usually just fly getting lost or chassed by wild birds

they dont know where their home was and having so many people with avirys and birds outside in cages (even other types)

they can not find their way back

its a fact that if your were to tame your bird to the full extent of freedom outside and in that budgies only fly up to 500 meters surounding their home each way true .

its a fact that if your were to tame your bird to the full extent of freedom outside and in that budgies only fly up to 500 meters surounding their home each way true .

 

That is awesome

cameronsch my cages are exactly as you describe.

It was after I'd cleaned the cages though and gone inside for the afternoon that I'd left about an inch & a half gap. I was thinking of going to Bunnings and getting some of the rubber that you put on the side of doors to stop creepy crawlies coming in from the side. That way if something happens again they will be safe. Ideally I'd like to put something for the trays like what the locking mechanism is for the show cages. The trays aren't flush though which may create their own problems. I will have a closer look next weekend and ask the father his opinion.

 

GB if it was Boris who got out I doubt I'd catch her easily - she is a good flier. Even though she is tame she is a little @#$%& when it comes time to catch her to put her in the cage.

I'm very, very glad you got your bird back. So lucky.

their is a book about budgies out their somewhere that has a section solely on the teaching of how to tame your whole flock to be homming budgies

i started with budgies so i could try it

i was 12 i didnt get my first birds till i was 13 (aviry ones )

and wasnt going to try with my best friend from inside

so when i started breeding i started to test the theroy out

it actually is true it works and i do remember the aviry layout it includes a special cat safty door for the birds to safly come and go

it worked to my advantage when alot of my good birds were stolen and the rest let go free

i got all the birds back but the ones who were taken

i just left my aviry door open and the next morning at precicly feeding time slowly every one returned home

their were straglers that came that night or the next day but out of 25 birds that were let out minis the 15 that were taken

that the best rezult ive ever heard or had for that matter

i have thought about doing it again but you need to be prepaired to lose a few to people catching them and animals sometimes people would bring them home thinking they excaped so its best to let people know that they are free to come and go as they want

you find that if people know not to leave seed for them and know its for everybodys pleshure to beable to see such a beautiful colour flock flying around they do respect the efort you went to to allow it and they do do whats asked

mostly

it takes 6 months to 1 year to fully tame the flock starting slowly with a number of up to 6 birds at first and adding more slowly as they learn to come home

and a lot of trust from your birds but worth it if you live in the right kind of area as i would not sugest this in a built up suberb

personly i got sick of people returning my poor excaped birds

I wouldn't attempt that in my area. We've got hawks and I've seen a wedge tail around. Plus the many many butcher birds and those annoying noisy miners that just love to scare the daylights out of you.

My father would enjoy if I got into pigeons - was offered a flock of 25 - but I would lose too many to the predators.

I wouldn't attempt that in my area. We've got hawks and I've seen a wedge tail around. Plus the many many butcher birds and those annoying noisy miners that just love to scare the daylights out of you.

My father would enjoy if I got into pigeons - was offered a flock of 25 - but I would lose too many to the predators.

 

belive it or not the egales and hawks dont tend to pray on them we had wedgies and hawks we lived across from aches how ever thats spelt of farm land and creek flowing right passed

the budgies always seemed to stay with in the area of houses didnt matter what way you went their was always a lot of farm land in every direction our estate was in the middle and we were right on the edge of that

they would land in the feww close paddocks and eat the fresh seed but only as i said a few hundred meters away they never took flight very far from our home mabe 5 to 6 houses each direction that was it mostly stayed around the house in the large trees we had

That was a close one, l'm so glad you where able to catch her and get her back.