My Cockatiel has escaped! What can I do?

Question

My 2 Cockatiels have sat on the window ledge in my lounge for years with window usually slightly opened, somehow one sqeezed out, He flew about in circles for while but soon disappeared, can't see or hear him anywhere what can I do?? I'm in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, He is white Lutino, yellow head, orange ears. Myself and other bird are going crazy with worry, they have not been apart for 10years, he doesn't like it

Can't put other out, cage is one of these huge ones that had to get built in room, won't get out door

Other bird has been screetching for him by window since he got out, don't think he can be near now. Have notified neighbours and got a notice in newsagents, other shop refused even though I offered £20 for 2 days, last time I shop there. Case of waiting now. My partner will go mental, thats his little baby :(

Answer 1

I'm sorry but your bird is gone. By the next morning it will probably be eaten by an owl, cat/dog, or something else. If not, it will just fly around, get dehydrated and exhasted and die. So either way, you aren't getting it back. Cockatiels have virtually no homing instinct whatsoever, so even if it was alive, it wouldn't know how to get back home. People who let their birds out while a window/door is open, never get them back. If they do, I don't know how. Sorry if I sound sort of mean...but...I'm just telling the truth. My best suggestion is get another friend for your other cockatiel and never EVER let them out without checking all windows and doors to make sure they can't get out. You shouldn't even have risked leaving that window slightly opened all those times D:
Anyways...yeah...
I'm sorry D':
*hugs*

Answer 2

Ok, first CLIP THE OTHER BIRD'S WINGS SO THIS DOESN'T HAPPEN AGAIN!
Then, take the other bird outside in its cage. Put a bowl of their favorite treat (millet works well) outside near the cage and then go around the neighborhood calling the bird. Usually (especially when it starts to get dark out) the bird will return. Calling the bird will make it call back to you sometimes so you can locate it. Also, the other 'tiel will call to it and tell it to come home. Especially since you have this other bird to help, your bird should return so don't give up hope. Also, call all of your neighbors and put them on the lookout for your bird. Small children are VERY good at finding lost birds. I have no idea why, but they can sometimes hear or see things that we can't. Also, they sometimes have a sixth sense about it. It's kind of odd.
Anyways, good luck and CLIP THOSE WINGS!

edit: ok then, if the cage is too big, clip your other bird's wings and take her outside with you
DO NOT take her outside until the wings are clipped or you'll have two missing birds. Carry this bird around with you while you look for the other bird. Also, don't waste your time in the house asking us what to do, go out and get that bird!

oh yeah, and if it doesn't come back by sunset, go to the store and get a cheap cage that is big enough for the bird to get in the door, put food, water, bells, etc in the cage and if it's warm enough, put your other bird in the cage overnight (cover half the cage so that the bird doesn't get cold)

edit again: He probably is around, but he's enjoying his freedom for the time being. When he gets hungry, thirsty, cold, lonely or scared, he'll be looking for home. Just keep that other bird making noise out the window. Birds can hear better than you think. Even if he doesn't come back tonight, its ok. Some birds show up after a week or two. Just make sure when you get him back to take him to the vet. Don't put the two birds together until the vet has checked him out. You don't want him passing a disease or something that he caught from wild birds to your other bird!

Answer 3

One thing you might try but be really careful about. Can you spend some time outside your window and your house/apartment in general with the other bird in a cage? Maybe hearing the other bird will attract the lost one back home. I hope you find him!

Answer 4

Quick, put your other bird in it's cage, and take it outside, and just sit there with it, calling to the other bird. If he has a bell in his cage that he likes, ring the bell. Mine flew out the door last summer and into the neighbor's tree. I took his cage out there, and sat in a chair, coaxing him, he finally flew down at my feet, I scooped him up and put him back in his cage. Now he is afraid to go near the door. I surely hope you get him back, I know how upset you must be. But if you get him back, please keep the windows closed. They can squeeze through the smallest place. I;m sure that bird wants to come back home, as bad as you want him back. Good luck.

Answer 5

If you can borrow a smaller cage put it's mate outside the window where they normaly sit open the window he will hear it before you and you may be lucky they will call to each other if it's in the vicinity and might go in through the window..Good Luck don't give up hope.

Answer 6

FIRST OF ALL CLIP THE WINGS!!!!!!!

Well if u hold the bird firmily by the window lege and somehow get the other bird to chirp, the other bird might chirp and come back becuase once a cockatiel hears a cockatiel they somehow find each other!!!!
Hope that helped,

good luck! :)

Answer 7

Put the cage with the other bird outside . The calls of bird in cage may bring him back . Good luck

Answer 8

I hope your cockatiel is an exception to the rule, but I fear Avian Queen gave you not only an honest answer, but a regretably true one too.
I have lost 4 cockatiels in the past. I watched two of them do exactly the same thing once they realised they were flying out in the open and not in a room - they had expressions of horror on their faces and didn't know how to come back down.
It is heartbreaking, because they are so intelligent. They just know they are in trouble, so high in that sky, but despite that intelligence, they don't seem to know how to come back.
Anyone who says they long to be free is mistaken - cockatiels have been hand-raised and man-bred for years and years. The big outdoors is scary for them. Some don't even want to try to fly and prefer to climb and dance! My remaining bird is almost 20, and he wouldn't join any of the others for fly-time; hates coming out of his cage.
It is odd; I have kept Rossellas and Mynah birds too, and they escaped but I could get them back.
The mynahs often flew around people, which helped. Yelling my name loudly (they picked that up from my husband! Every cloud has a silver lining!) helped more. Within 24 hours, someone would be knocking on my door saying there was a small crow flying in their garden, shouting out my name! So all it took was for me to get their favourite food ready and call them, and they'd fly to my hand.
My Rossella escaped while I was cleaning the cage. The pair of them had a big cage with enough flying room; custom built by my husband. Something startled her and she took off, but tried to come back immediately. However, by now, my cats were interested, and she panicked and flew outside.
It took 3 days to get her back. I used the male as "bait", and she tried many times to return to him when he called but couldn't come back the way she left. The cage door was vertical, and she couldn't handle that.
Whilst he was still calling her, she kept nearby. But was gradually moving further and further away into the woods. It's a long story, but it ended with me having a brainwave no-one else believed in - a long shot. We moved the whole cage into a place she could see - I'd checked out where she was, and she no longer had a view of my house and garden. So, on this open land, we had this big cage, door wide open; the male in a small cage attached to the side. And we moved away and waited. Not long after, she swooped down but tried to get back in the cage through the top, not through the door.
So I ran for wire cutters, and something to use as a blocking device. My husband cut the top of the cage open. We retreated again, and 10 minutes later she was in! We blocked the top. It was a very happy day!
But cockatiels - my heart has been broken by them.
I have made posters and put them up in a wide radius. I have deprived myself of sleep for more than a week, searching for them and calling. Never any joy.
Budgies can survive, often form colonies, or else land in a kind person's garden and either get reunited with their owners or become new pets.
Cockatiels seem to vanish into space.
I really hope yours comes back and proves me wrong. But this is all based on my own sad experience! It would make me so happy to return to this question and find you added this comment: "Thanks everyone for your advice and sympathy! It's all o.k! I got my cockatiel back!"
I want to see those words, I really do!
If you write them, please say how you got your lovely bird back, that would help us all!
God Bless your bird, and you and her partner too. xxx

Answer 9

OMG !!! my new female cockateil i got yesterday just flew out her cage today. i have a male with me now too. i love her and she wont come back!! i know how u feel, i feel horrible. i was with the 2 cages and my son was with me. It happened so quickly i don't know how she got out!! i was going to clipp her wings within a week for this reason . It may be a slim chance they will come back, just leave their cage where it is with window slightly open. I hope so much they come back for you..GEEZZ i feel like a bad owner!!

Answer 10

Right away call him over and over. Have food in your hand and by the outside window. If you have an extra cage put it outside with food and water.

Put out phone calls to neighbors, flyer's on all bulletin boards, post office, telephone polls, etc. Put an ad in your local paper. Let your animal shelter know he is missing.

I know how you feel, my friend lost one and we never found her.

Please act speedily before she gets too far away.

Good luck with your plight.