Issue with free flight.

Ok so, i was that guy who always recommended you clip your birds unless you recall train for their safety. Yes its controversial, but that was my stance.

now i'm leaning toward free flight due to the overall benefits. Parrots get to be parrots, exorcise, entertinment, etc.

here is my issue.

My sun conure is now 7 or 8 weeks old (I forgot to mark it) He started flying yesterday. He's doing ok with it, he has an issue with lowering himself. for example if he misses his landing he will continue flying up at the ceiling until he hits a wall (gently) he's still learning. But thats not my issue.

My issue is i'm trying to train him and he will constantly fly to my shoulder. I usually have a no shoulder rule for birds of his age. I kinda let this guy do whatever he wanted except bite because he melted my heart.

So im trying to target train him, which isn't going to well because he JUST started eating solids and he wont take treats, so i give him scritches, but the minute i set him down to teach him BOOM he flys directly to my shoulder and latches on with a death grip. He loves me suuuper much. and i love him, but its getting to be a little annoying. I don't like to lock up my parrots during the day, but he chooses to be with me instead of trying foods and getting weaned.

(This is the first time that i've kept a parrot unclipped beyond learning to fly for a few days fledging stage)

My other parrots are un clipped (Except Maya at this point in time. She's been unclipped for the last year)

Any Suggestions? i mean flying to me isn't the worst thing because if he ever did get out before he is recall trained i know at least he flys to me from any distance inside at least

Argh my thoughts are all jumbled, can you tell?

this is just a first for me and i want feedback. How do i get him to behave if he has free flight from being a baby on. now i did not teach him to fly to my shsoulder, it was the very first place he ever flew (Right after i fed him yesterday)

it is nonstop now, as soon as i set him down, before i can even walk away, he's on my shoulder. If i'm in another room, he flys to the other room (To the floor until he finds me) then flys up to my shoulder.

Today i started sayting "Shoulder!" as soon as he takes off, so he hears it and knows shoulder means fly to my shoulder.

But i want to recall him to my hand eventually, and teach him to fly to perches.

i'm no expert on recall training, though i had success with one of my lovebirds. He was 4 years old when i taught it to him.

[ame=http://youtu.be/cdvCsOPslOQ]Conure flys to my shoulder. - YouTube[/ame]

ignore my double chin in that video. i gotta lose some weight ^^

What do you usually do after he lands on your shoulder? If you transfer him straight to your hand (without scaring him) he may eventually stop flying to your shoulder.

Have you tried preventing him from flying to your shoulder? When he takes off, put your hand in front of your shoulder to encourage him to land on your hand.

Just wanted to point out that "free flight" is different than what you're talking about. Free flight would be allowing birds to fly outdoors with no harness.

I recommend you try station training your bird. It is still extremely young though, I wouldn't get discouraged.

So i set him down to try and get him to stay, and he immediatly takes off to land on me, he freaks out if i block my shoulder with my hand. screaming and stuff. He's very clingy, yes he is very young so i'm hoping to break him of this fast. I want to be able to place him down and have him stay put. Not sure how to do this because he is immediately taking flight as soon as he is set down.

Your right, wrong terminology.

Hah, at first I was thinking free flight uh oh. Especially with such a small bird. Indoor fight is totally different. No problem with that, as long as you teach them about windows, and are cautious of doors and fans.

As for the shoulder, whenever your bird flies to you position your hand in their way so they have to land there. See what happens over time. Rosie my galah always lands on my out stretched hand.

Hm, perhaps you could try to train him to fly to your hand with treats, and he'll eventually prefer to fly to your hand, rather than your shoulder where he isn't rewarded?

He probably wants to be up high, so teaching him to fly to a fairly high perch then to your hand might be effective.

Thanks guys. This is my first time training a bird that is young and never had his wings clipped before. i want to keep it that way.

By the way. He stopped sneezing, the Baytril seemed to take care of the respitory infection really nicely so far!

Great tip Makaisto, yummy treats on the hand will be a great motivation. Just make sure you never offer treats from the shoulder.

I think you are going to notice some happy benefits of not clipping him early

In the wild, when a bird lands somewhere he in not allowed to, the other bird basically just pushes him off. I use this technique, I gently just push the bird off (obviously only lighted birds who won't get hurt, but they are the only ones who can get to no-no places anyway). It works wonders. It only takes a little while with most birds to understand, but some take longer. However, I do NOT suggest teaching him to fly to your shoulder on command at the same time you are teaching him to fly there whenever he wants, save that part for later and focus on getting him to land on your hand for now. I suggest using treats shamelessly to recall train to your hand. Only reward him for coming to your hand, not your shoulder. When he does land on your shoulder, don't pick him up, simply push him off gently, and THEN offer your hand, and a treat. You don't. Want to pick him up and en give him a treat because he may still connect the shoulder with the treat then.

I know you have a lot of bird experience, but it sounds like your baby doesn't have a buddy, which is why he is flying to you. Does he interact with your other birds? In the wild a parrot would never be alone, flocking instinct a bird's most basic survival tool, so it is incredibly strong. I wouldn't try to break that because it is a huge tool if your bird ever were to get loose, but in the mean time you need to come up with a way to fill that need without teaching your bird to be with you at all times. I t could be that he has to be in his cage for parts of the day until he learns, which is not a bad thing provided it is a good cage with lots of toys

I never thought about this issue. I never really cared. My free flighted birds were the tamest of the bunch, and all but one of mine are shoulder birds. (The one that wasn't was clipped. He also spooked easily and was prone to flying off, so no, limited flight capability for you...)

I free flighted for several years, but after a series of unfortunate events, I went back to clipping.

Yeah, as of right now i'm his only buddy, one of my lovebirds gets along with him great, and my b&g is friendly with him, but a B&G is a little to big to be a buddy, atleast while he is a baby and new addition.

Thank you for the advice