Wow, Zoey is a cutie and very well behaved. That is adorable how she watches the vids, she has good taste.

kksuns: yeup, thats Curtis! And Sugar Magnolia is a Grateful Dead song. How did I make the street lamp float? Well, that's not really important ... the real question is WHY I made the street lamp float.

Pudgie's mom: I know Zoey hasn't had a bath in a while since it's been cold, but I didn't think you'd be able to pick up on that over the computer.

Thanks again for watching everyone, I'm scripting a sequel.

-JoeJoe

I've never been a big Dead fan but I've always loved Skynyrd! Other than Freebird of course, I think one of my fav Skynyrd songs has to be Was I Right or Wrong. Skynyrd Rocks!!
As for WHY you made the street lamp float? Maybe to make a point you can't believe everything you hear? As in that streetlamp was supposed to be unmoveable. Or never stop believing in the unbelievable and never stop wondering? IDK Why did you make it float??
BTW I am with you on the "rule breaking" thing. You are so right. We are taught to always follow the rules and think in black and white. It's so wrong..life is not just black and white. There are many many dif shades. I think kids should be allowed to think outside the box and form their own opinions.
Awaiting the next vid LOL

Sorry people..guess I went a little off topic? Oops! there i go getting out of my box again! LOL

That's about why I did it right there.



-JoeJoe

Coming back here and seeing Zoey for the first time...has brought laughter and happiness back into my day! Thanks a lot, dude.

I'll be checking back in for more! =]

off topic but good to see you AyEe YOo How's your flock doing?

:) [size:11pt][b]JoeJoe, I can’t believe Zoey was an [color:#990000]unwanted bird[/color]. Did you adopt her through an animal rescue shelter? You have certainly given her a wonderful home & obviously plenty of love. Seeing her outside is really amazing. :) What could be more natural than a bird flying through the sky, right? Can you remember the first time you took her outside to fly? No fear that she would keep on flying? How excellent! The [color:#990000]“gargantuan parakeet”[/color], very cool! :cool: Thanks for sharing, I hope to see you around here in the future.[/b][/size]

She had been returned to the pet store and was on consignment there. All the other birds were in the front of the store at the window, she was in the back ... apparently, all she could do was scream - she didn't "talk" like the other birds. And her cage was on the floor, so nobody could even see her unless you knelt down. She was begging me for attention when I walked by. She was in the early stages of feather plucking, not that you could tell that now. We fell in love with each other instantly.

Ok ... this will end up being a long post, but it will give you a complete history of her flight training. Here goes...

I trained her to "come" on command for about a year before she ever went outside - one thing I wanted to make very clear in that video is that when I say "come", Zoey comes. That also included teaching her to fly from the top of the door to the floor, which is important - indoor birds fly left to right, outside birds have to fly up and down - huge difference! Especially when you consider the wind, that creates lift that doesn't exist indoors.

We then took brief trips outside with her on my shoulder to familiarize her with the area ... which turned into longer walks, and eventually perching her on the fence.

After a couple months of going outside, I went for a flight ... about 5 feet from my arm to the fence, she ended up flying upwards towards the condos - I was somewhat concerned, but knew her flight path would lead her to the 3rd floor banister - in other words, I had anticipated her being taken upwards due to the extra lift of being outside and doing it in front of the condos would minimize the risk. She was about 15 feet in the air when I screamed "ZOEY" and she turned around on a dime and landed on the fence!

After that, Zoey refused to fly outside. She wanted nothing to do with it. I had to slowly coax her into it by having her face me and toss her gently into the air and run backwards ... a few feet at first. Always praising her upon landing. Eventually, that turned into me running across the yard. If I had to start over, I would use that approach - that is, having her fly a short distance to me instead of flying to the fence.

In short time, Zoey began to love flying outside ... if I just open the door she will fly to me. You can see all how excited she is being outside in the video. The first clips of her flying to the fence were taken last spring when she was still learning - the shots taken of her on the roof were done in the fall.

I want to do another video, showing her flying indoors - she can fly through this house like you wouldn't believe! She will fly out the bathroom, turn 90 degrees down the narrow hall to do a 180 to land on her shelf in the living room. I have always encouraged her to fly. I believe every bird owner should teach their bird to fly, it is as important as teaching your baby to walk.

The next video is going to give training tips and expose the evils of wing clipping. I hope to get shots showing my parakeets playing on the ceiling fan and landing on mirrors. Wing clipping is the worst thing you can ever do to a bird and I am hell bent on proving it - if you don't believe me, I will show you.

Clipping a birds wings is very dangerous to the bird and should be illegal! You can't short cut proper training by clipping wings - all it does it create a false sense of security that puts your bird in greater danger than flying ever will - please don't clip your birds wings!

-JoeJoe

What an awesome story.Sounds like you and Zoey were meant for each other and obviously she loves and trusts you. You did such an amazing job with her

I think birds are happier if they can fly too. I know that since i let Levi's flight feathers grow back(he was clipped when I got him) he has become an expert flier and he is SO happy and ALOT more social with us.He has a blast zipping around the house and annoying everyone LOL Not to mention the exercise. I think it was probably easier to train/tame him because he was clipped tho. I say "I think" because since he's my first and only keet right now I really have nothing to compare it to!
Even tho I think they are happier being able to fly I don't think it's "evil" to clip them. Sometimes circumstances don't allow people to let their birds have that kind of freedom,and clipping may very well be in the bird's best interest.

Looking forward to more bird vids Joe Joe

totally awsome! what kind of cocatoo is zoey? i am most familiar with the sulpher and salmon crest. she is wonderfully trained. did you use anything like a clicker or check up on falconry techniques to train her? one day i hope to have a large parrot, can't decide on which one though! not to be sexist, but you are one of only 3 men that i have seen that have hookbills and i think you are probably the most laid back about them. i am canadian, but when i've mentioned there was once a north american parrot...i seem to suddenly develop two heads. the final naritive was wonderful. excellent presentation!!!!!