Flying or Crashing Gracefully?

[forbey]

Skittles has never truly mastered flight. On the rare occassion that he has to move fast he flaps and flops till he lands (kind of like a Dodo bird) on something lower than where he was.

I figure it will be a matter of preference; however, I would like some input on whether or not to build an outdoor "cage" or "flight" aviary.

Part of me says Skittles isn't really interested in flying and I'm good with it.

THe other part says birds fly, if I want him to be a bird, I need him to lern to fly.'

?????????????

 

[JerseyWendy]

Before you start buying the lumber for the aviary, I have a question: Is Skittles currently clipped? If he is, wait for the flight feathers to regrow, and teach him how to fly.

If he isn't trimmed, but just out of shape, I would slowly build up his stamina, but doing flapping excercises. (Gees, that sounds kind of funky :54 If he hasn't used his wings in a long time, the muscles may have atrophied, and he first has to build them back up.

Does any of that make sense???

 

[forbey]

Before you start buying the lumber for the aviary, I have a question: Is Skittles currently clipped? If he is, wait for the flight feathers to regrow, and teach him how to fly.

If he isn't trimmed, but just out of shape, I would slowly build up his stamina, but doing flapping excercises. (Gees, that sounds kind of funky :54 If he hasn't used his wings in a long time, the muscles may have atrophied, and he first has to build them back up.

Does any of that make sense???

It all makes sense ... that's scary, but I'm not sure if it's more scary for you or me!

He is fully feathered. I'm not really interested in getting him clipped. A local pet store owner told me he always takes his birds to the vet to get clipped because he doesn't want to be the one the birds remember as tramatizing them. My question is "If it's that tramatizing to them, why would I want anyone to do it?"

He has always flapped and glided downward till he lands and has never shown an interest in flying and has never been able to elevate.

IF (big if) I build the enclosure I have in mind, it could start out 3 or 4 feet wide (both ways) and 7 to 10 feet tall (so I can walk in). But, I would be able to add panels to make it wider or longer.

If I decide not to let him fly, I keep it the same size and just provide him with stuff to climb on. However, if I want him to turn into a "real bird" I could widen it once and then lengthen it slowly until it is long enough to get a good flap going. (Start smal, give him room to stretch out then to slowly make it longer.)

Forbey

 

[SandyBee]

Another possibility is that he never really learned how to fly, if the wings are cut too young before they learn they don't have the basics.
Our African Brown head is like this, even with her wings growing out she doesn't know how to fly, she crashes and has no co-oridination

 

[forbey]

I would tend to think that is Skittles case. His life has been in, on and around his cage. I don't hink he has ever flown.

Then again, we got all excited the first time my daughter spoke ... now we can't shut her up. If we teach Skittles to fly will we regret it in the end?

 

[Grinder]

So much goes into their learning to a fly at an early age. I've seen birds who could gain altitude with fully clipped wings, but never knew how to change direction with their tails and they always flew straight into something. SandyBee & JerseyWendy are both correct (especially if you've had the bird over a year and know the flight feathers are all there). Getting the muscles ready for flight is easy with the flapping exercises. Many birds enjoy the exercise once they understand it. If Skittles ever decides to master flight a little help from you can go a long way.

 

[SandyBee]

I love that Bosley flies, he is really good at it though.
We suspect that he is wild caught due to his age and some of his mannerisms, he turns, banks, gains altitude, hovers and can fly from the ground up to my shoulder.
He avoids objects and windows and lands with precision(except for the time he tried to land in my big screen TV) guess he didn't know about those LOL:30:

If you help teach him to fly there will be bumps and bruises along the way, it goes with the teritory.

 

[christinereed]

Em's feathers were clipped when we got her. She didn't like to fly. Partly because Amazons like to climb, and partly because when she landed she'd go down on her beak. Her wings were unevenly clipped and she couldn't land well. We've had her a year and a half and she's a pretty good flyer now. She goes just where she wants to go. Some of her landings are a little rough, and some of them are smooth. I noticed in the last month since her fifth birthday, she's flying better and exploring more. Of course, that means I have to keep a closer eye on her because she's getting into mischief. But, I'm glad she can fly.

 

[forbey]

Skittles (aka: Crash) ventured forth from the tubular tower. I was out mowing the yard. My wife said Skittles was OK out with her. Donna sat down to watch TV and heard an odd "sqwawk" from an odd location in the kitchen so she got up to check on Skittles. She found him in the pantry, pinned down by our Yorkie, flapping his wings trying to get free. Donna chased off the dog and Skittles took the opportunity to seek refuge in one of the pantry shelving units. She came out to get me in a panic. Skittles stepped up, fluttered to my shoulder and I neatly deposited him back on his cage. Missy bouncing around excitedly the whole time.

As fast as Missy is, I'm certain she was trying to play with Skittles as he walked across the kitchen floor. If she hadn't been playing Skittles would have hurt fairly quickly. However, I'm positive Missy doesn't differntiate between playng with Skittles from playing with our other dog, which means Skittles could easily get hurt being roughed up by our litle dog.

Luckily, Skittles appears unharmed. No more free range Skittles without close supervision of him and the dogs!

 

[Grinder]

Unfortunately many times a story like this has a more somber ending and has quite a few times sparked some strong debates in this forum. We have three dogs and our birds fly to our dogs and our dogs don't care one bit, but we still don't allow it and try to stop it before it happens. I'm glad Skittles is OK.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Oh my gosh how scary!!! I am SO relieved to hear Skittles wasn't hurt by Missy!

Yorkie or Great Dane, dogs can seriously maim and even kill our beloved parrots.

Glad this one had a happy ending. Poor Skittles must have been so scared.

 

[forbey]

Oh my gosh how scary!!! I am SO relieved to hear Skittles wasn't hurt by Missy!

Yorkie or Great Dane, dogs can seriously maim and even kill our beloved parrots.

Glad this one had a happy ending. Poor Skittles must have been so scared.

I'm not sure he was as scared as I was, and I guarantee he wasn't as scared as my wife ...

When I got him out of the pantry shelves, he wasn't agitated, he didn't appear shaken and he still managed to share his cheese curl with the dogs.