Flying ability when wing clipped???

My Eleonora Cockatoo has been wing clipped, I hope to someday be able to have him fly freely (perhaps in a gym or other open building at least) but for right now i was wondering...

If all of his Primary Flight Feathers are cut, how safe would it be to have him outdoors, if only to travel between the house and his outdoor cage?

The primaries are cut even with the coverts, so they are quite short, but being new to owning a bird, I am worried for his ability to fly with clipped wings.

Any help is appreciated.

Tony

Also...how long would it be until his wings are fully feathered again?
As a bird new to our family, I am unsure of when he will molt.

TonyCagg said:

The primaries are cut even with the coverts

Tony

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The coverts have not been touched, correct? It can cause issues since the coverts job is to protect new growth. I still would not risk it, why not buy a flight harness? Your bird shouldn't be able to do much but glide a few feet near the ground, but you never know what can happen. Birds of prey, cats, dogs, it's just not worth the risk. Catching a clipped bird in an open area can be more difficult then you think as well. Trying to wrangle a flapping gliding bird who doesn't want to be caught is no fun!

He was clipped at the rescue where I adopted him from. Coverts are untouched.

I purchased an Aviator flight harness, but even though he is very trusting and allows me to do just about anything to him, he gets very upset with the harness.

I have been introducing it to him slowly, step by step, but he is really not keen on it.

I will continue to work with him and see if I can gain his acceptance of it.

Try and introduce it with treats and toys, make it a fun part of the day! I definitely would not take a bird that is not 100% trusting outside without a carrier or harness. It's just not a good idea. You could end up getting bit badly if he was startled or was scared. For now I would just use a carrier and work towards the harness.

It is surprising how well they can fly even with clipped wings. Get a little wind gust under those wings and he can soar.

TonyCagg said:

My Eleonora Cockatoo has been wing clipped, I hope to someday be able to have him fly freely (perhaps in a gym or other open building at least) but for right now i was wondering...

If all of his Primary Flight Feathers are cut, how safe would it be to have him outdoors, if only to travel between the house and his outdoor cage?

The primaries are cut even with the coverts, so they are quite short, but being new to owning a bird, I am worried for his ability to fly with clipped wings.

Any help is appreciated.

Tony

Click to expand...

Tony, it would depend on how many primaries are clipped. If approx 8 are clipped on each wing it would be safe to take your bird outside. We have a Too as well with clipped wings, actually he is the only bird clipped as he spends each afternoon in the garden with hubby & myself. Personally i would think it safe to take her from house to cage. I mean to say you will be holding her.

A larger heaver parrot with clipped wings has a much harder time getting air bourne. The smaller lighter parrots can easily fly off in a strong wind.

I can't say with your species of Too but our SC Too seems to molt out 1 or 2 of his flights almost every 8 weeks. We no sooner clip & he will drop a feather with a new flight feather following soon after. So we make a habit of asking him to spread his wings so we can see any new growth.

If you are wanting to let your birds wings grow out & fly in the safety of a large building, you will first have to recall train her so she will come to you on command. Otherwise you will have a hell of a time getting her down from high places.

I guess at the end of the day you & your parrot should have trust in each other so that she feels comfortable to be outdoors with you. My Too won't have a harness on either so i don't force the issue.

Nic is an Eleonora (Medium Sulphur Crested), he is a pretty big bird all things considered.

I understand the risks and training required to fly him freely, I certainly didn't mean to sound like I thought this would be something which happened quickly, I would gather it will take a long time, years perhaps.

He has all 8 primary feathers clipped, I just looked (and counted). He would ALWAYS be with me, on my arm or shoulder. I would never assume to leave him alone with the number of hawks we have in this area.

Even now, if he is on his playpen top and I call him he will try top fly to me, so i am hopefully I can train him to recall. I have only had him for about a month and I can honestly say, I have never felt as comfortable with an animal in so short a period of time. I feel our trust has built (or rather, is building) very quickly, although I am not rushing things.

Sounds like a good plan Tony & you are heading in the right direction. Lets face it only you know your bird. It does take many years to really work with a large parrot. I know how hard i have worked with Cocky to get him to trust me as much as he does. We are still working together & i am hoping that one day he will trust me enough to let me cradle him in my arms the way my eclectus let me.

Well, as a bit of an update...

This afternoon I continued my flying harness work with Nic Nic.

I am using an Aviator and he was very comfortable with being near it and I have draped it over him. We have been working on it for about 2 weeks now.

So, this afternoon he allowed me to put the harness on him. He was perfect, never seemed bothered or nervous about it in the least. He was calm and allowed me to adjust it and get it comfortable on him. He bit at it once but seemed to be unbothered by it.

I spent time with him in the house wearing it and decided he was calm enough, so we went for a walk around my property. He was wearing it for about 15-20 minutes in total...I figured it was enough time for a first run.

He was fine...UNTIL.

When I tried to take it off him he went wild. He seemed terrified and I suffered several very painful and bloody bites.

In he end, he seemed fine with me and doesn't seem to blame me for the whole event, quite to the contrary, he acted as though I actually SAVED him from the Evil Harness of terror.

All in all...I am unsure how I will approach the harness next time. He was not afraid of it after I removed it, but it was an ugly, scary scene for the two of us.

Next time why not try only putting part over his head then taking it off and giving a treat then putting only part around the torso then taking it off and giving a treat if the only part that he was distressed with was taking it off try to "desensitize" him to taking the harness off

as with anything if he spazes when you take it off when you are adjusting him to it don't pay attention to his actions just ignore it remove the harness and walk away for a few until he calms down then try again in a while etc.