Flighted

[ZephyrTK]

Hello all,

I am hoping someone can help me with a question. Emmy has been clipped since she was young and has never been able to fly. I have made the choice to let her be a flighted bird. Her flight feathers have grown in but she doesn't seem to understand or show any interest in flying. Is there any training I can do to help her gain comfort with flying? I've been gently tossing her into the air and letting her fly back to me or to her playstand but I am concerned that this could cause trust issues. Not sure if that's rational.

Any suggestions from someone who has gone through this would be greatly appreciated!

 

[weco]

If she can fly a short distance to the playstand, she can fly, so it's not as if she never knew how to fly.....some birds are clipped by their breeders before they ever fledge & end up never learning how to fly.....

I might be inclined to think that it is just her preference.....at least at this point.....

If she stands & flaps her wings, exercising, I'd say she was OK, but if she doesn't do that, keeping up with the tossing will keep her wings/muscles exercised.....

 

[MonicaMc]

I'm of the belief that if a bird is clipped too young - even if they knew how to fly, if clipped at a certain age they can "forget" how to fly.

I bought a budgie from a pet store and he was an excellent flyer! I bought him because when he flew, he looked like an acrobat in the air! One of the store associates asked me if I was sure I wanted one of their flighted budgies instead of one of their clipped ones... I was sure. He asked me if I wanted him clipped and I said no.

When I got him home and put him in a cage he wouldn't eat for the first 24 hours and I panicked.... I panicked and clipped his wings. He did eat within 30 minutes of that, but when I noticed he could no longer fly even though he had all his flights, I regretted it. He was a beautiful flier and I had mutilated his beauty. He couldn't fly off the ground more than 3-6", he couldn't follow the other budgies.

For two weeks, at least two or three times a day, I would toss him onto my bed forcing him to exercise his flights. I did this until he was worn out. After that, he could fly once again on his own and take off from the ground, but he was never the beautiful flyer again that I had purchased.




I don't recommend this method of training, but it did work. Here's what I would recommend now.

Typed this up for someone else... it's a cross-post, although perhaps it may be of help...



If he knows step-up, and he'll step up reliably, then you can teach him to fly on command! The first command is step up, using a different command.

1. "Come" - have Kiwi step up. Repeat 10 to 100 times
2. "Come" - have Kiwi stretch just a little to step up. Repeat 10 to 100 times
3. "Come" - have Kiwi use his beak to step up. Repeat 10-100 times
4. "Come" - Have Kiwi hop to your hand. Repeat 10-100 times
5. "Come" - Have Kiwi hop to your hand with a wing flap. Repeat 10-100 times
6. "Come" - Have Kiwi fly to your hand in a short distance. Repeat 10-100 times.
7. "Come" - Have Kiwi fly to your hand in a somewhat longer distance. Repeat 10-100 times.
8. etc....

More or less, break down the command into small steps, and repeat each step until Kiwi accomplishes the step at least 9 times out of 10. If Kiwi is reluctant to go onto the next step, then go back a step and repeat until Kiwi is comfortable with that step before proceeding further.



You can read more below.
http://www.flyingparrotsinside.com/