Up, up and not away, luckily. What now?

My adopted galah came to me with her wings clipped. The previous owner said they were very short so that she could not leave where she was staying temporarily. I've been participating in threads about wing clipping trying to learn more about "flying" things.

Anyway, today I took her out of her cage to "help me" with some gardening and all of a sudden she took off, flying. Luckily she didn't go over the fence, she didn't get that high, she looped around and came down and I went and got her. She scared the life out of me.

I have a harness but thought I'd have heaps of time before she could/would fly (most of her wing feathers still look cut off to me) so we haven't made much progress putting it on (we'll need to work on that now). I know from the other threads that they can still fly with clipped wings, but I thought it was more that they could glide down rather than actually take off from the ground.

Inside, and normally when we are just sitting around she just sits and she walks about in her cage and climbs along, I've never seen her flying or trying to. She's never tried to fly down from her stand thingy which is up on the filing cabinet. I fetch her down and put her up there.

I don't know whether she got a fright or just decided to take to the sky. I'm terrified I'll lose her.

What now? Hurry up to get the harness on her, and keep her in it all the time she's out? Try to do some "flying" training? If so, how? Am I panicking unnecessarily?

Some birds can still fly with clipped wings. My former Umbrella Cockatoo was a great flyer despite clipped wings. We never brought him outside except in a carrier or a harness (which he chewed up, LOL!).

You would be surprised how well some birds can fly with clipped wings. I think clipped wings are more for not allowing birds to get to those huge speeds, and super high, so as to avoid injuring themselves indoors, but they do not always eliminate all flight.

I would recommend harness training asap. It's better to be safe than sorry.

Skyler My blue n gold has clipped wings but she flys all over the house. And loves flying at the park in the summer time. We keep her in her harness always when out side..

Galahs are AMAZING fliers! They can lean to fly even with clipped wings. They are very light bodied and have those huge wings so even with a clip they will generally lean to fly. I would train with the harness and then always use it when going outside. I always make wearing the harness a fun event for Nigel, I bring out the much loved shelled sunflower seeds and train him with those. I have him flying (with harness) from myself to someone else and then give him the seeds. He doesn't love the harness while I put it on but loves to go outside so he puts up with the harness.

Thanks for the replies. Yes, I'm definitely going to step up the harness training. I just hope she'll let me stick it on her. If she ever did just fly a little bit, but went over the fence, would she be able to come home? Would she return if I call out to her?

EDIT: Missed your post, brianlinkles, must have been typing this. The thing is that she lives outside and I spend a lot of time out there, it's not like we are indoors and just go out there. I like to fetch her out of her cage "whenever", I'll bring her inside, or take her with me when I'm hanging the washing, or just for a walk about, I just cart her about. If I have to put the harness on her all the time, it'll reduce the short timeouts. Maybe I need to train a recall. How hard is that to achieve?

With a proper clip job, unless it's windy and they are up high, they shouldn't be able to gain altitude.

If any of the primary flight feathers have grown back (outer four) then this bird is flighted again, and that is why. My guess is that some of the primaries have grown back. Or it's what they call a "show clip" which is not effective at all...

And no, you are not over reacting. This is scarey stuff. You could lose your bird, and if he is captive bred, and has no flock or wild foraging skills, he would most likely die if not found promptly by someone...

Yes, she's got a couple of long ones back, but most of them are still the cut ones. She didn't get that high, but the fence isn't that high and she could have gone over I reckon, if she hadn't done the loop but headed straight and kept going up.

I know they can easily get lost if they fly off startled, they don't have to go far to be unable to find their way home again, but if she just went into next door's backyard, would she try to fly back over if I called her? (My cat went over the fence and couldn't get back, that's my mostly indoor cat, the others wouldn't have any trouble with it)

Chili has her primaries clipped but it doesn't stop her from trying to fly anywhere and everywhere (inside though)... It's because of this that I dare not take her outside without a harness or cage (too cold now anyways...)

Even if your galah happened to fly over the fence and you called her back, she may or not be able to or figure out how to get back over...a fence is a large obstacle! Lol so it might result in you having to go next door to retrieve her.

I would definitely step up the harness training, but don't rush it- you don't want her to become afraid of it. You can also start some flight training...I do this with chili (indoors). Start with her on the back of a chair or tstand, and offer your arm only a few inches away, call her (I say "chili, come!") and reward upon landing. Slowly increase the distance each session.... Chili will currently fly to anything within a 3-4 foot radius confidently.

At a later point you can change things up a bit, and teach her to fly UP to you from the floor, or DOWN to you from a perch....these use different muscles and abilities, but will teach her how to maneuver in the event she needs to do so.

getwozzy said:

and teach her to fly UP to you from the floor,

Click to expand...

seems she's already pretty good at that one

Thanks, I'll have to work on "flying". I had tried to start with it, but she really won't bother trying to jump over if your hand isn't right there for a step up. Time to get CASHEWS involved, I think. Cashews should help getting her to Top Gun status.

strudel said:

getwozzy said:

and teach her to fly UP to you from the floor,

Click to expand...

seems she's already pretty good at that one

Thanks, I'll have to work on "flying". I had tried to start with it, but she really won't bother trying to jump over if your hand isn't right there for a step up. Time to get CASHEWS involved, I think. Cashews should help getting her to Top Gun status.

Click to expand...

Haha!

Having a motivator (cashews...I use pine nuts) will probably do the trick

And even if she does tiny hops or steps over at first, that's fine...just increase the distance an inch or two every session....and try to do a session at least once a day, and always end your sessions in a positive way.

Here's my thread http://www.parrotforums.com/training/36979-training-chili.html on page 1 there's a short video of her flying over to me.

Thanks, I'll check out your training thread. I don't really want to encourage flying until I get her into her harness.

getwozzy said:

Having a motivator (cashews...I use pine nuts) will probably do the trick

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, she'll probably be too fat to get off the ground. Just had a session. Lots of nuts, not so much with the harness

I think she's quite clever/obstinate/both. I was holding up the harness with the nut on my side so she had to put her head through to eat the nut. Instead of just coming forward, she tries going around the entire harness. Yes, you CAN reach that way, but no, I'm not letting you have it unless you do it the way I'm trying to teach you.

Can you get galahs microchipped?

Update, if anyone's interested. Today, I bought her a new indoor cage (I've got one for refurbishment, but I sent off a part for repair and haven't heard back so I may never see it again). It's got a perch on the top so she can sit up there, but she can also come in when it's hot and I'll be able to keep her with me even when I have to do something.

Yesterday, she "flew" down from the footstool where she was sitting. She's obviously got some feathers back, or confidence or both.

She let me leave the harness resting on her today. Before she'd just let it stay long enough to grab the treat or get the head scratch. Today, she sat there and got a head scratch without trying to get it off. Progress. I hope.

Sounds like progress to me!! keep it up!

Caesar doesn't fly inside but in the little time he has been harness trained he knows as soon as we step on that open oval its time to fly.
Gets his wings ready and off he goes. I'm going to do some return training with him today. Just going over COME and reinforcing Step up.
He has gotten more confident now so he is testing my boundary's and authority,:32:

strudel said:

Can you get galahs microchipped?

Click to expand...

Yes! Probably have to be done by an avian vet though.

Thanks, I asked about getting my rabbits done, but didn't bother because the vet said that it isn't usual so nobody will look for it the way they do with lost cats and dogs. If it's not common, it probably wouldn't occur to anyone to run a scanner over a bird if she got lost, but if she ever got lost or stolen, I'd be able to rely on the chip identify her or to prove who she is if somebody identified her as their bird. I'd be worried about the effect of introducing a foreign body into a bird, but I'd only pursue it if an avian vet said it was ok.