23 Year old African Grey

hardbouw

New member
Nov 16, 2021
3
8
Parrots
African Grey
Hi,

Just some advice. I got this bird which has a long history. He was a pet in a cage the first 17 years of his life, never got handled, then 6 years a breeding bird, then when he saw me he immediately bonded to me. I have been with him about 2-3 months now and I am trying to get him to fly more in the house. I think he is afraid of flying and only flies when pushed to it, when he falls from somewhere (He scrambles all around up and down in my flat) or gets a fright. Im trying to lure him with some treats but he just hovers on his perch and stays put. I know this is going to take some time, I just need to know if I am using the correct method, I keep telling him "Come, Come" and shows him the treat, just before I did give him a taste of the treats so he knows I have something nice for him. I saw other videos of people first teaching the parrots some tricks and then moving on to some other stuff.

He will climb up immediately if he sees my hand, I tell him to come anyway but it's not even necessary.

I recently, the beginning of the month of December took him home with me from my parents' house where they tried to breed him with no success. I let him roam free in my small flat which he loves. I set him up 3 empty wine boxes which he had almost already destroyed in a corner in my flat as a play area, with the boxes he leaves my furniture alone. He is like a small child, I have to lock him in his cage now and then to get him to eat enough, else he will just eat the absolute minimum and go play again.

My eventual goal is to get him free flighted, but I know its still far away and lots of work. My question is what is my timeline, whats the correct steps?
 

Laurasea

Well-known member
Aug 2, 2018
12,593
10,702
USA
Parrots
Full house
For a bird that has flown for a long time or never had the chance to learn well in the normal timeline of youth, it takes awhile.

An older quaker i rescued, who had always been clipped. It took 2 years to learn to kinda fly. And took another year to get decent at it. She Finally can choose to fly places and to me and enjoying the choice. But she still isn't a great flyer.

The hardest part fir them is the fear of falling , and all the learned helplessness, and how to stick a landing.

Give it time, keep up the praise. And allow to keep developing.
 

Emeral

Well-known member
Sep 16, 2021
209
628
Parrots
Hanhs Macaw
I have been with him about 2-3 months now and I am trying to get him to fly more in the house. I think he is afraid of flying and only flies when pushed to it, when he falls from somewhere (He scrambles all around up and down in my flat) or gets a fright. Im trying to lure him with some treats but he just hovers on his perch and stays put. I know this is going to take some time, I just need to know if I am using the correct method, I keep telling him "Come, Come" and shows him the treat, just before I did give him a taste of the treats so he knows I have something nice for him. I saw other videos of people first teaching the parrots some tricks and then moving on to some other stuff.

He will climb up immediately if he sees my hand, I tell him to come anyway but it's not even necessary.

I recently, the beginning of the month of December took him home with me from my parents' house where they tried to breed him with no success. I let him roam free in my small flat which he loves. I set him up 3 empty wine boxes which he had almost already destroyed in a corner in my flat as a play area, with the boxes he leaves my furniture alone. He is like a small child, I have to lock him in his cage now and then to get him to eat enough, else he will just eat the absolute minimum and go play again.

My eventual goal is to get him free flighted, but I know its still far away and lots of work. My question is what is my timeline, whats the correct steps?

I am so happy to read your questions. He certainly has a long road of happy recovery ahead of him. What is his name?

May I suggest a way to prevent landing accident and boost his confidence with zero accident record?

How about asking him, to fly to a big soft landing spot.......a sofa or a bed. This way it will never hurt to land, and hence, he will know it is safe to fly. Also make a mental note of each landing. So you can tract his progress. (If all landing are scattered, then his control of accurate landing can not be good.)

Ideally, he will enjoy learning to fly, but such flying lessons will have to follow his own pace. So any reluctant on his part would means he doesn't feel comfortable enough to do it.

I mean, picture these scenarios......

1) what if he is afraid of dropping like a rock?

Then his lessons should....be in short distance....be on soft cushion in case he fall.....

2) what if his muscles are too weak?

Then wing flapping excercise may be needed to develop proper muscle strength. Well before any actual flight lessons....

3) what if he is not skilled with his wings, but fly too fast in excitement.....? Ouchhhh..........?

Then let's divide skills into levels.

Lesson one fly in straight line.

Lesson two fly in line but at various heights.

Lesson three, he has to be tought to learn to turn......

Lesson four, different flight speed

I hope he has no accident, none whatsoever. So that there is no set back. Also, perching on hand is not as stable as on shoulder, I learned this from Emerald. I guess bird's mind from reading body language. This article is my go to and it is very fun to read.


He seems to have difficulty in flying similar to our Miky......details is in this thread.

Post in thread 'Questions on training a clipped fledgling Eclectus.' https://www.parrotforums.com/thread...-clipped-fledgling-eclectus.91387/post-941470

Bird's confidence in mobility, and the long term effects of wing clipping on bird's psychologically, is also discussed more in this link....

parrotvolancy.com

Wing Trimming - How Does It Affect a Bird's Physical Health?

Parrots do a lot of flying in the wild. If we prevent them from flying or greatly limit their flight via wing trimming, insidious health issues can arise.
parrotvolancy.com
parrotvolancy.com


I hope you will have as much fun teaching him to fly, as our family had when we train our Emerald. Details of her in door flight training is here....

Post in thread 'Long-Distance (Indoor) Flight' https://www.parrotforums.com/threads/long-distance-indoor-flight.91602/post-945883
 

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