YIKES! OPIE MAKES A RUN FOR IT...

[lovezebs]

This afternoon, whilst cleaning Opie's cage and trying to spend some time with him, the silly thing took off on me. And boy can he fly.

I went into 'Alert Mode'. "GRAB THE CATS!!! CLOSE THE DOOR!! TACKLE THE DOGS!!! GRAB THE NET!!!" Holy Crow!!!! Holy Sh...irt tails!!!

Opie, is sailing through the air, and dancing on top of the kitchen cabinets, among the knick knacks and dishes up there, flying to the top of the flights....

All the birds are screaming...

Societies: Get back in your cage, get back in your cage!!!
Waxbills: Dear Goddess of birds, but he's big close up!!!
Parrot Finches: Yahoo, look at him go!!!
Zebras: You go man ! Now open our flight and take us with you!!!
Stars: Get away from our nest! Wait a minute, we took it apart again....

Freebee in her cage just a shaking her head: See, I told you he was an idiot....

Finally he landed on the floor. I picked him up, and back into his cage he went.
Poor little guy was absolutely exhausted and just about terrified out of his feathers. He even let me pet him a bit and rub the space between his shoulder blades and his neck. He'd never let me touch him before, ever.

What an adventure!
Thank God, he didn't smash into anything, break any bones, or get eaten by my menagerie. He is very quiet now. I hope he'll be alright after a good night rest.

~Elana~

[Madcat]

Hahahahaheeee! Great story. Scary and funny. Glad he is ok!!

[Prism]

LOL Great story!

I had a similar experience recently that involved a Gouldian in the bathroom during shower time. These stories are funny now but in the moment they are anything but

[Sam007]

Interesting story!

[isobea]

Elana - I can just see you: hair and eyes wild, trying to catch Opie with that net without hitting him or the knickknacks or the dishes or the other cages. Wouldn't it be nice to be an octopus at times? All kidding aside, I'm very happy this story has a happy ending.
Iso

[J-Netty]

I had that happen once and the little guy flew straight at my face. I didn't know what to do, but my first reaction was to jerk backwards. Then I suddenly realized the coffee table was right behind me. I fell backwards and landed on my butt on the other side of the table. All I could do was laugh at myself! I was so glad I didn't have the types of birds that can talk, so they couldn't tell anyone what happened... Although I'm sure they had a good chuckle amongst themselves.

[lovezebs]

Thanks Folks.

Right now Opie is sleeping peacefully. I really do have to get him to the Pet Shop, to get his wing feathers clipped. I think Freebee needs a trim as well. Today just went to prove, that one little mishap and it could have been game over for one little Budgie boy.

~Elana~

[lovezebs]

J-Netty

I have often thought, that these little guys are laughing at us a lot of the time.

~Elana~

[MiaCarter]

Eeek!
Glad to hear it all ended well!

I love the different cheers from the various finchies! I bet you're spot on!

I had that happen with one of my juvenile gouldians. The door within a door on my 30x18x18 cage got caught open and I didn't notice it. I opened the door to my bird room and he zipped up out of the foliage and flew out into the greatroom, with all the cats!

I was hurling cats into the nearby rooms and shutting the doors, yelling like a maniac the entire time, wielding a broom at some points. Thankfully my guy was caught, uninjured, like your Opie.
But it's scary when it happens! Especially when you're not expecting it!

He's still not hand friendly, eh?
Sometimes, though, breaking the ice is all you need! And sometimes, catching them is the perfect opportunity for that. That's how I broke the ice with my new 'tiel Abigail -- I caught her and then she decided to hang out on my hand for a bit and has been just fine since!

Re: clipping his wings....
Just remember that if his wings are clipped, he won't be able to escape the cats and dogs if he flutters into trouble.
That's why I keep all my guys fully flighted. I figure that they can still flutter into trouble with clipped wings, but the clipped wings make it more difficult to get out of trouble!

[lovezebs]

MiaCarter
Hi Mia.

I do all my 'bird work' in my kitchen (or most of it anyway). I have a gate, that seperates the kitch from the hallway, so no cats and doggies will wander in when birds may be on the loose. If Budgie birds are clipped, they can have the run of the kitchen when I'm busy with cage cleaning and so on. For them, it's like a giant play ground, with flight mountains to scale, chairs and table to conquer, dog beds to cross.

If fully flighted (like the Opster), there are all sorts of dangers. Flying over the gate into a cat or dog's mouth, falling into a soup pot, diving into a sink full of water, crashing into a window, wall, or fan. That's why my Budge babes need a feather trim (eventhough I struggle with the thought of rendering a bird flightless). If not clipped, they would have to spend all their time in a cage, so..... which is the better of two evils?

~Elana~

[MiaCarter]

lovezebs -- Ah, that makes total sense.

The kitties don't jump the gate on you? Those are well behaved kitties! We have baby gates, but they're to keep the dogs out of certain rooms; my naughty lot of kitties don't regard them as an obstacle. LOL

I too struggle with the idea of de-flighting birds, but agreed that if clipping their wings gives them an opportunity to have fun and explore then that just seems to make sense, doesn't it!

[lovezebs]

MiaCarter
Hi Mia.

My kitties, are 12 and 16.
The 16 year old could have birds walking all over him and probably tell them to keep going so that he could get a better scratchy.
The 12 year old (bird killer, sick kitty) would love to try hurdling the kitchen gate, but knows that there is a spray bottle full of cold water on the other side .



~Elana~