She's Flying!!!!!

[MaraWentz]

....Well sorta. After trying to teach her to fly for months and doing the flappies and launching her on the count of three (one,two, three, fly!!!! oh dear), she is finally learning to fly! We have a pvc stand we are taking outside and whenever we launch her (that sounds terrible). We just launched her in the grass because she refused to land on a stand.

Well, well, I got about 4 inches from the stand and she did a little lean and jump onto it and that gave me a great idea. So I kept moving her farther and farther from the stand until she had to flap her wings once or twice to get there and then started praising her when she landed.

She refuses to eat or drink outside, unless we're in the car. So she refuses treats and loves the head scratches instead, which is quicker and more bonding. She flies now up to 6.5 ft away from my arm to the stand- no launching and all I do is hold my arm out and tap on the perch (when we're warming up and I can reach) then give the command fly and she does.

Sometimes she hesitates a bit and I just tell her she can do it and wait for her to get in her flying stance (crouched down, wings slightly away from the body) and ba-boom!!!! She is off! Wahoo! So excited, she has it down pack. Sometimes she misses and sometimes she slips, but she has 95% accuracy which is great. next Im going to teach her to fly person to person and then I will increase the distance. 6.5 ft doesnt sound far but it's a major step and looking form her point of view it's scary. It's amazing.

I thought this day would never come lol. She's mastered stairs and climbing like a pro, I thought she was going to be a ground bird. Thankfully, I was wrong!

Her wings aren't grown out, so I know there is much room for improvement. She seems to land better, much better when she puts her feet way out n front of her when she goes to land- it also looks really pretty too.

 

[MaraWentz]

OH! And of course, as usual I'm always welcome to advice to help her train and fly better. Just please don't give me the whole free flight is dangerous speech. I've heard it and have done my research before I decided to let her learn to fly.

 

[horsesculpter]

Good ideas. We are trying to teach Sunny to fly,
which she can do sorta, but she doesn't let go of the perch or arm most of the time. I'm going to try a big enough piece of PVC that she won't be able to grip it so tightly. I was told lanching is the hardest part for them to learn.

 

[WharfRat]

Funny, never thought about teaching any of mine, figured they'd start flying when they were ready, not to mention how many years they be flying as opposed to NOT flying. Oh, and as a side note....having a GW perch on your shoulder and "exercise" it's wings I would expect feels like being attacked by a ceiling fan...:30::32:

 

[luvmytooo]

Very cool Mara !!! Take video so we can see ?
She must look really great
Take your time and don't rush it.

 

[MaraWentz]

I would slowly move my arm up and down to get used to the flappies and then I would start counting to three and move her up adn then down with every count and then after saying three I would say fly and move my arm out and up so she'd be forced to fly. After doing that a couple of times she knew it was coming and would fly by herself and then the issue was flying before she was told so we'd keep the free hand on her til we said fly and she'd get praised fro doing it. Then eventually she loved the praise so much she'd just wait.

As far the perch problem you dont want to get it too big or she wont get a grip for landing. We make her step up. We just dont take no for an answer. What I mean is if she doesnt want to step up she can protest and bite of she wants but she is gong to step up. If she bites or yells or stands her ground I go on as if she's not misbehaving and she gives up really fast, seeing she is being ignored. now theres almost no arguing at all and if she does I just tell her "go ahead" and she might try to bite once more (which is getting rarer) and then will immediately step up.

 

[MaraWentz]

Funny, never thought about teaching any of mine, figured they'd start flying when they were ready, not to mention how many years they be flying as opposed to NOT flying. Oh, and as a side note....having a GW perch on your shoulder and "exercise" it's wings I would expect feels like being attacked by a ceiling fan...:30::32:

Oh yes but when they're on their stand doing it it's free a/c lol

 

[MaraWentz]

I have to get a new camera But I will get it up when I can I have a little flip phone so maybe I can get a picture of her in flight- probably not but worth a try lol

 

[WharfRat]

Rea practiced a lot on the floor on her own, it's how I knew she was getting ready

Keep in mind, this is the one that prefers to walk LOL

 

[MaraWentz]

Did you clip their wings? it's blurred., but doesn't look like it.

 

[Mare Miller]

Hi Mara! Are you flying one of your macaws or your goffins?

 

[MaraWentz]

My Macaw. My Goffin was rehomed last year , but she knew how to fly- chased her from tree to tree in the woods once, when we naively thought clipping wings stopped them from flying lol. What an evening that was.

 

[WharfRat]

Did you clip their wings? it's blurred., but doesn't look like it.

Nope never on the GW's or the Zon's, did originally on the Hahn's but stopped well over a year ago

 

[MaraWentz]

How's the difference in flight, if your hahns flies too, from when his wings were clipped to full feathered now? Erin is starting a molt, so hopefully this year she will have full feathers.

 

[WharfRat]

The main difference really is in "style" for lack of a better word due to wing size, the Hahn's kinda of "flits" around very quickly (but accurately) around, but her main target is most always human. As stated before, Rea (GW) prefers to walk everywhere, this includes crawling down her cage, walking down a short hallway & "knocking" at the office door. (This is a regular habit of hers). Miri (GW) flies everywhere, but mainly from cage, top of kitchen cabinets or Orb or couch/person in living room. If one of us is on the couch & Miri is on her cage it's as simple as holding out your arm & calling her name. Obviously she has a pretty good wing spread so she is more precise in her flying, she covers a LOT of ground quickly. The Zons are good fliers as well, kinda in between the others, once in the office they will fly between my chair, 2 stands and a shelf in here repeatedly, unless the wife is in here, and then the one Zon will hardly leave her alone the entire time.

Orb in corner of living room

 

[MaraWentz]

ohhh thanks, so I should be expecting a nit more grace

 

[Molcan2]

Happy to hear you guys are flying! Rome's lessons are still stalled as she only has four flight feathers that have come in on her right wing. Rocco is recovering from a horrible wing clip that he had from a previous home but is still able to flly a little, more like jump and land. He cant quite fly yet but hes got a very bold personality and extremely food motivated. So I've been standing near his stand with some pine nuts and he started jumping (while flapping his wings) with command to my shoulder. Then I've just started increasing the distance. I think I'm at my max distance until more feathers come in but hes advancing very fast. So thats the start of my recall, once he can fly, I plan on advancing the distance and start doing person to person. I've noticed since we've started these exercises that he has been working on strengthening his wings. Its cute to see him preparing for the return of his feathers as well. Apparently he never attempted to fly in the previous home and the one before that had his severe clip done. So I don't really know what hes been able to do in the past. I'm excited for whats to come though.

 

[MaraWentz]

That's so exciting! Yeah, Erin has to grow out her flight feathers, is going through a molt, and we're having preening issues- poor things preens them til they are just ragged Funny how when they have the odds stacked against them they try anyway. Such determined birds! Do you do it outside, inside or both?

 

[Molcan2]

I've started just inside, I really want to get a solid recall down pat before doing it outside. I worry that if I don't have a good recall on him that it could end up in a chase around the neighborhood. I do take them outside to garden and just hang out on the porch. That way they are at least exposed to outdoors. My ultimate goal is to be able to do it outside as well. My plan is to recall in the house and also get the person to person down pat as well, then take him outside and see how he does. I'll only advance outside if I feel like hes ready, I really want to try to prevent loosing my bird. We also have plans for an aviary. I want one that is 25' by 20' and about 10' high. I'm hoping that we'll have that done within the next month. I will probably start my recall outdoors in the aviary first, then advance to fully outside. Right now I'm just taking baby steps and advancing as far as he determines, which is a lot quicker than Rome's progress. I've really just gotten Rocco, even though he fits so well that he feels like hes been here his whole life, so were still working on the bonding thing. Im envious of where you are, I cant wait to get to that stage and actually see them fly. In due time I know it'll happen

 

[MaraWentz]

Erin wont fly inside- I cant get her too lol so dont be too envious. She only flies inside at her will- like up stairs or to her stand. I don't understand it. ugh I wish I could build an aviary, but she i just so cage aggressive that I'm sure she would cling to the sides and roof and never be able to get her down.