Allowing clipped wings to grow out, bird's confidence issue.

Hi all! I'm sorry I didn't know which forum this should go in. Please move it if necessary.

So as some may know I got Pumpkin in January with clipped wings. He was allowed to fly at the breeders but was clipped at my request after being fully fledged. For the first few weeks at home with me he would still try to fly everywhere but soon learned that he could no longer trust his wings.

Well now Pumpkin is in his first molt and he has a few beautiful blue flight feathers grown back. I looked up a few articles on how to teach a bird to fly and followed the advice. I started asking him to make wider and wider steps to step up until he has to hop to my finger. Then I got him to where he would need a flap or two in conjunction with the hop to reach my finger. We have been stuck at this stage for a few weeks now and even regressed a little bit. I've tried millet and favorite treats when I know he's hungry. I have tried waiting until he really wants attention, but nothing is working.

We are stuck now at about an 8 inch gap aND thas on a good day. I know he can fly further than this because he could fly a few feet in the first weeks I had him before he learned not to trust his wings. I have his attention, that's not the problem. He is focused on me and talks to me and tries everything to get to his mommy (me) that he can thing of. He even bounces up and down but no matter how long I wait he won't hop unless it is under about 8 inches.

My question is how do I convince my previously clipped bird that he CAN fly now? I know I need to build his muscles and his confidence, BUT HOW?

Ann I don't really have any answers for you. Just support. I don't think Jet my tiel fully fledged. When Ifirst got him he had a terrible clip and could not glide. He just dropped like a rock. For a long time you could tell he wanted to fly but was scared to. He would watch the budgies and flap his wings but not take off.

He flew on purpose for the first time in March but was very clumsy and crashed alot. He lost so many tail feathers. After a while he stopped flying again.

When he was ready to go home I stopped about 2 feet from his house. His desire to go home overrode hisgfear of flying and I praised him every time he flew. After a while I kept increasing the distance.

He still prefers to walk but he is choosing to fly more and he hasn't crashed in weeks. His tail still has a bald spot. And he tends to drift to the right when he flies but he is getting better.

I think the budgies encourage Jet to fly.

Grace, Thank you for your support! Unfortunately I have not been able to find anything that Pumpkin wants bad enough to overovercome his fear of flight. I am out of ideas. I also only have one bird, so no one here to encourage Pumpkin to fly.

Your problem is a tough one, Ann. How do I know? Because it's one with which I've been struggling for months, now. While one of my birds (Jolly) was never clipped and can fly with consummate skill, the other (Maya) was apparently never allowed to fledge before being clipped by her breeder.

She can definitely fly. I've seen her do so. But as Grace pointed out, it usually takes something of greater significance than her fear of flying to make it happen. So far, only two things have been sufficient. If she's been badly startled startled, or if I'm in a different room and she can hear me, but I've been busy enough that I haven't had a moment to go back by her stand for over maybe 30 - 40 minutes. Then she'll come looking!

But flying to me on command? Ha! And recall training isn't the issue. She'll go anywhere I ask her to... as long as it is within walking distance. Hahaha! And I too trained her with the gradually widening training perches technique. It worked perfectly for Bixby. Not so much for her. In fact, she's stopped at the hop point! I haven't even gotten to the one flap of the wings stage, yet!

You can tell she wants to. Her wings practically vibrate with her desire to take flight. But getting her past that mental block is tough.

So you're definitely not alone, Ann. And I'll let you know if she has a breakthrough or anything.

Thank you Anansi for your sympathy! It does sound like we are having the exact same problem and it's nice to know I'm not alone or doing something wrong! I'm not even frustrated I just feel really bad. I did this to him. I wasn't confident enough to bring home a flighted bird. I had the choice... I think I made the wrong one. Thank you both for your support I will keep trying and keep you updated if anything changes.

Ann333 said:

Thank you Anansi for your sympathy! It does sound like we are having the exact same problem and it's nice to know I'm not alone or doing something wrong! I'm not even frustrated I just feel really bad. I did this to him. I wasn't confident enough to bring home a flighted bird. I had the choice... I think I made the wrong one. Thank you both for your support I will keep trying and keep you updated if anything changes.

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Don't feel bad. You did what you felt was best for your bird at the time. That's really all any of us can do.

I'll be looking forward to your updates, Ann!

We kept both birds clipped for their own safely because 1. they hated each other and 2. kiwi (parrotlet) was constantly wanting to instigate fights between her and Rio (Senegal). Dispute her efforts, Kiwi lost everytime. Since re-homing Rio, we are allowing Kiwi's flight feathers to grow back in. She has about 3 on each side to go. For her it is a confidence issue. I know that she can fly. We started practicing about two weeks ago, starting with a small gap and gradually increasing the gap. Now she is at about 6 ft.

Don't worry too much, the past is just that, the past. Continue to let the feathers grow in and work within his limits. His confidence will deepen... I make it a really big deal everytime Kiwi makes it to her destination, she gets all excited too.

Edited: have you tried to start hm with you with a destination in mind? Like a play stand or even his cage? That's how we began, and now we are flying her between two people.

BREAKTHROUGH!! I took SoCalWendy's advice and reversed the way we were doing it. Instead of having Pumpkin jump from his gym to me I started having him jump FROM me TO his gym. We are at about 2 feet now! That's double where we were stuck last week.

My fiance thinks Pumpkin knows that I move around and was worried he'd miss me and that him jumping to a fixed perch will help him feel more secure. I don't know if this logic is true, but it is working! We have doubled our distance over the last few days simply by reversing what he's aiming at when jumping!!

Ann333 said:

BREAKTHROUGH!! I took SoCalWendy's advice and reversed the way we were doing it. Instead of having Pumpkin jump from his gym to me I started having him jump FROM me TO his gym. We are at about 2 feet now! That's double where we were stuck last week.

My fiance thinks Pumpkin knows that I move around and was worried he'd miss me and that him jumping to a fixed perch will help him feel more secure. I don't know if this logic is true, but it is working! We have doubled our distance over the last few days simply by reversing what he's aiming at when jumping!!

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That is absolutely AWESOME!!!! (Clap, clap, clap) I am so happy for you and him... The more he does it, the more confident he will become. Kiwi is at about 12' now. I didn't know she could do 12 feet, but today she saw me with the spray bottle (her enemy) in my hand and took off towards me this time. She made it and I then sent her back and she made it back to her cage. We've done it about 6 more times today. I am so happy for you, keep us updated...

That's awesome that Kiwi is making such tremendous progress! Haha I'M SO HAPPY FOR PUMPKIN! I hope we maintain progress without anymore setbacks.

Pumpkin has a mortal enemy in the form of a spray bottle as well!

Ann333 said:

That's awesome that Kiwi is making such tremendous progress! Haha I'M SO HAPPY FOR PUMPKIN! I hope we maintain progress without anymore setbacks.

Pumpkin has a mortal enemy in the form of a spray bottle as well!

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Really! well then... When your/he is ready, use the bottle to your benefit. Just make sure at the moment he sees it and takes off... hide it quickly... And act like nothing happened. That's what I did :09: Hahaha.. She was like "where'd it go?" Haha crazy bird seeing things. :22::54:

You will have to let me know what happens if you try it. :54:

Haha that's just too funny!! Ill have to remember to try this!

Yaaayyyy Pumpkin!!! Brilliant advice from SoCalWendy, I'm so glad it did the trick for Pumpkin! Great news and great progress.

I'm so glad Pumpkin is making progress! Excellent advice from SoCalWendy!

That's what I love so much about being a part of this forum - getting great advice and insight from other parronts!!

I agree. I would never have thought such a seemingly small change could make such a big difference!

So I am having the same problem. My White Capped Pionus was clipped when I got him. I'm not sure if he ever learned to fly. When I try to get him to fly or even hop to something close, it is a no go.... But he will randomly get spooked and fly all over the place and usually crash into a window or wall. I have covered most windows now. I almost want to clip him for fear of him killing himself until he really learns how to fly. Not sure what to do. I want the best for my little guy.

Lynsey said:

So I am having the same problem. My White Capped Pionus was clipped when I got him. I'm not sure if he ever learned to fly. When I try to get him to fly or even hop to something close, it is a no go.... But he will randomly get spooked and fly all over the place and usually crash into a window or wall. I have covered most windows now. I almost want to clip him for fear of him killing himself until he really learns how to fly. Not sure what to do. I want the best for my little guy.

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Clipping him "until he really learns how to fly" is not a workable strategy, unfortunately. If he is clipped, how would he learn to fly? It is likely because he was clipped when he should have been fledging that he cannot fly. So you cannot choose to clip with the intention of teaching him to fly while clipped. Just not going to happen.

Now, if you clip because you decide that is what is safest for your bird, that is of course your decision. I'm just saying that, in terms of learning to fly, clipping is not really a viable option.

All that said, my advice in this kind of situation is always to work on flight training with your bird in a smaller, more manageable environment. Somewhere where he can't really build up a good head of steam before flying headlong into a wall. A small bedroom is usually best.

It sounds like he never had the chance to fledge. So you need to get him flying within the smaller confines of a room where you will have minimal distractions and you can work on his skill set. Two adjustable height training perches will work best for this.

As you might have seen from this thread, getting him to fly on command might present a bit of a challenge. Is your little guy target trained? If so, that makes the rest a little easier. Work with him using the 2 training stands, gradually widening the distance between them as you target him from one to the other. (Remember to keep the sessions relatively short. No more than 15-20 minutes at a time. Possibly shorter, depending on his attention span.) Always give him a special treat and lots of praise each time he does as you ask. Start off with the perches just far enough apart for him to step comfortably. Once he's pulling that off consistently, increase the distance just enough to require a bigger step. Wash, rinse, repeat. Eventually, he'll need to hop across. Then flap once or twice. And then fly.

By that time, he will have developed a strong association between going to your indicated target and receiving a tasty treat. So you can start having him do more complex maneuvers to earn said treats. Flying from a higher point to a lower one (vitally important. Many birds never learn this skill and find themselves up in a tree and unable to fly back down to their parront.), a lower point to a higher one, flying over to something situated at an angle, flying to you, flying from you to an indicated place, etc...

And once he's mastered the room, you can take him out to the larger space of the rest of your house/apartment. Just remember at that point to reintroduce him (thoroughly) to every window and mirror in your home.