A Homing Ringneck

[Peppercorn]

Hi, I came to this forum looking for ideas of how to hand rear some baby IRN's and had a read around and thought that I may have something to offer that maybe you don't know about IRN's??

About 4 years ago, I bought a very feisty Ringneck who was in an aviary who was about 8-10 months old. She was "supposedly" hand reared but all she did was take big chunks out of my hand any time I tried to get close and personal with her.
She was SO BAD we named her "Bitchy" because she was such a cunning bitch. She would pretend to be nice and when she was ready she'd pounce and get her pound of flesh....literally!

Anyway, we clipped her wings and she had the run of the verandah for about 8 months to a year.
During this time, she used me when it suited her and she kept herself busy by chasing any wild bird that came nearby. Eventually her wings grew back which was around the same time she became quite horny!
It was then she started to become friendly with me and my son, very friendly!!
She also had the freedom to fly around at this point and to be honest, I didn't care if she took off or not! I know I sound like an uncaring guy, but you had to know her! She was a bitch!

Anyway, over the next 2 years Bitchy has become my best mate (when it suits her) and she'll come to me no worries now and even sleep with me if I let her.
But, the crazy thing about Bitchy is that she has been flying around the neighbourhood for the past 2 years!

The only time she is caged is when she is breeding, and then she is quite happy to be caged for the next 3 months or so.
But when breeding season is finished, Bitchy will be flying around the neighbourhood again. She is really smart and she follows us down the street and will come and watch us doing any work around the yard. She is very inquisitive and smart!

She has a few people that she visits for food, but she won't let anyone trap her or touch her or get near to her, she is smart!
She doesn't seem to go any further than 2 streets away, and she always comes back when I call her, and she is always back by lunchtime generally.

I just thought I'd let you all know that IRN's can "Home!"

So far bitchy has had one baby boy who we call.................................."Son of a Bitch!" no joke!!

She has just hatched 4 babies today which I intend to hand rear. Bitchy is a great bird and she has a great personality. I didn't hand rear "Son of a Bitch" and he is now at the stage where he has freedom, but his wings are clipped. After he wanders around, he likes to be in the cage at night, but slowly he is becoming the man of the house.
Whether he will fly away or not is unknown, I may not even try it with him, but I'll give him every opportunity and see whether he has what it takes.
Bitchy is a very confident bird and that plays a major part in why this has transpired.
Anyway I thought I'd let you know about my little Bitchy!!

[sanjays mummi]

This comes as no surprise to me. Years ago we had a neighbour with a pair of Macaws who had total freedom every day and who flew home each evening. I also remember my late mother leaving an escaped budgies cage out overnight and in the morning there he was on his swing, butter would'nt melt!.

[Peppercorn]

Thanks for your message and experience.

I wasn't positive that I had the only bird who dies this but I have the only bird that I KNOW that does it.

Personally, I think it is great and best of both worlds for the bird who can live in captivity but have freedom. I would like to try it with more birds if I can, but I'm not sure if it is possible and I don;t want to see them go missing and get attacked.

I have tried the same with some Eclectus I have without any great results. I have got them back a few times, but it is only a matter of time that I lose them if I keep trying.

[Peppercorn]

Yes, there are dangers! For instance, someone feeding her could feed her Avocado! The few people's houses she visits I have spoken to and warned them about feeding Parrots Avocado of which they had no idea.

The other danger that I can see is that of a Hawk or similar predator bird. She doesn't venture far from the house generally and seems to be left alone by the minor birds and Crows.
As I stated in the original post she is very confident! We had a Carpet snake in the roof at one stage and it was her who alerted us to its presence. She was smart enough to keep a safe distance from the snake but she just kept going up to it and chirp chirp chirped until we removed it.
She really is a unique bird. When she starts to get interested in mating she eyes off myself and my son. She will follow us around the house and pops in through the window of whatever room we are in. I don't think another male would woo her away, she would demand that he come to her place and visit I reckon.
There are dangers, but she has been doing it now for 2 years and I'm confident that she'll continue after the mating season finishes.