Can I train my bird for free flight?

Most captive birds can learn free flight, but they need to be properly conditioned and trained. 

I have raised thousands of birds for free flight but I do not recommend any owner to free fly their birds. Very few owners are qualified to raise their bird to safely free fly. Training for free flight after a bird is 4 month old becomes harder because the bird has already passed the sensitive stage of development for learning all of the tasks necessary to successfully navigate. 

All of the babies we have raised at Hartman Aviary are trained to understand object permanence and learn significant flight skills within 1 week of their first flight. Any of our babies that get out of the outdoor nursery instinctively will not leave the compound. We raise our babies in a similar manner to what the parents would do. They understand that they have a place in the world and how to maintain an awareness of where this is. In the wild they do not get lost from the parents and the parents do not need to follow them outside of their home territory.

Even though our birds leave our facility being able to free fly we always expect the owners to use a harness when outside. As educated as our birds are we still have about 10% that get away from the new owners. However, because of the way we raise our birds we only know of one of our babies that did not make it back home.

The Aviator Flight Line is a very good tool for a bird to learn flying skills and how to turn around when they fly too far from the line.

We also have the Aviator Leash Extensions that allow a large parrot to fly as far as 40 meters.

Very few dog trainers would ever start training without a leash. Dogs are a lot easier to raise and train than birds and many dog owners do not walk their dog without a leash. The same concept applies to birds. Free flying your pet bird is possible with the help of a professional trainer.