Conditioning birds to fly before the aviary?

[Diveks]

So my birds are in quarantine right now, one of them accidently slipped through the door as i was doing maintenance. Thankfully the cage was in a room but i realized that the bird was barely able to fly, couldn't even go 30cm above the floor. well the aviary will be 3x4x3m so if flying is an issue for them they would not even be able to reach the perches. It seems very hard for them to even get airborne. they have several perches to jump back and fourth in but at the breeders they were not given two perches or they were too close together so that they barely have any muscles. Any way to help them gain flight muscles faster? i would prefer if their current cage can accommodate new arrivals since they are already done with quarantine.

[finchbreeder]

It sounds like you will initially have to position some perching at 30cm above ground for them to sleep on. Then put some more at say 75cm so they need to strive to reach them. Place say 75cm apart initially to encourage them to strive to reach them, and as they achieve this regularly spread them further.
Only time and excercise will achieve this. It is a problem I have come accross a couple of times when buying birds from people who keep their birds in cages not avairies.

[Craig52]

Agree with finch breeder, birds don't get real exercise flying horizontal they also need hard exercise flying up and also down to build their muscles. I have bought cabinet birds before and you need lower perches or brush so they can reach the highest level. It doesn't take long, maybe a week or two and they will do their thing and fly from the floor to a high perch. I don't know where you live but be mindful of the cool weather as it not a good idea to release finches into an outdoor aviary during Winter, best to leave till the weather warms up. Good luck

[Shane Gowland]

Yeah you get this with birds from the dealer all the time. Usually they come good after a week or two of exercise.

[Diveks]

It sounds like you will initially have to position some perching at 30cm above ground for them to sleep on. Then put some more at say 75cm so they need to strive to reach them. Place say 75cm apart initially to encourage them to strive to reach them, and as they achieve this regularly spread them further.
Only time and excercise will achieve this. It is a problem I have come accross a couple of times when buying birds from people who keep their birds in cages not avairies.

alright I will do that, was worried they would get too stressed out not being able to go up for a few days. ill get some lower perches so that at least they can go up to the low bushes

[Diveks]

Agree with finch breeder, birds don't get real exercise flying horizontal they also need hard exercise flying up and also down to build their muscles. I have bought cabinet birds before and you need lower perches or brush so they can reach the highest level. It doesn't take long, maybe a week or two and they will do their thing and fly from the floor to a high perch. I don't know where you live but be mindful of the cool weather as it not a good idea to release finches into an outdoor aviary during Winter, best to leave till the weather warms up. Good luck

Oh so thats why they look okay when the jump from perch to perch but when it comes to horizontal flying they can't. actually i was wondering how people deal with the cold, how could i make some parts of the aviary warmer (if needed). i do live in a tropical area and we do not have winters but sometimes it drops to 16C at night or when there are thunderstorms, not sure if that would be too cold for them, i am used to parrots and my parrots do fine without heating but i know these guys are a bit more sensitive.

[finchbreeder]

It's 16 degrees here now at 10.24AM and I am on the sunny west coast. Cold winds are the killer with Gouldians - not cold itself. So what you need is a nice solid wall on the side the cold winds come from, and open wire on the sunny side.

[Diveks]

It's 16 degrees here now at 10.24AM and I am on the sunny west coast. Cold winds are the killer with Gouldians - not cold itself. So what you need is a nice solid wall on the side the cold winds come from, and open wire on the sunny side.

alright great, the aviary has walls blocking the wind already hoping that would be enough!