Considering Clipping

[cdnbirdlover]

I know this has been discussed in many threads before, but I am struggling with it for my Basil. Sorry this is long.

Basil was clipped when he came to us. He had never really been handled so he was not tame at all. I kept him clipped and with a lot of work he is mostly tame (I still can't scratch his head with my hands but he will readily hop on my finger and snuggle up to my face). He is fully flighted now. Initially he only wanted to fly to me. I was his destination. But lately, he's become more adventurous and he's flying into unpredictable places. He only comes out when it's safe (no cooking, everyone aware that he's out). He flies to the top of the fridge and then acts as though he's defending the space. I can reach right into his cage but I have seen some cage aggression when I'm cleaning it and rearranging the toys hanging from the top. He has not been DNA tested but we think he's a male. He is around 2. I've been trying not to encourage any hormonal behaviour but I'm sure that's part of this adventurous behaviour. He's has also flown onto my husband a couple of times (they are not friends) for no reason I can figure out. Yesterday my husband said "let him stay there" and for a few minutes Basil sat quietly on his shoulder with my daughter watching closely to see what would happen. Then Basil bit him in the neck. So now my husband is mad, my daughter scooped Basil up and we popped him back into his cage.

I'm wondering if clipping his wings (maybe just a light clip to prevent these long flights and to control to altitude) will help. Then we can work on some better recall training. Or is it hormones and I just have to ride it out? Thanks.

 

[Wdlodge]

I know this has been discussed in many threads before, but I am struggling with it for my Basil. Sorry this is long.

Basil was clipped when he came to us. He had never really been handled so he was not tame at all. I kept him clipped and with a lot of work he is mostly tame (I still can't scratch his head with my hands but he will readily hop on my finger and snuggle up to my face). He is fully flighted now. Initially he only wanted to fly to me. I was his destination. But lately, he's become more adventurous and he's flying into unpredictable places. He only comes out when it's safe (no cooking, everyone aware that he's out). He flies to the top of the fridge and then acts as though he's defending the space. I can reach right into his cage but I have seen some cage aggression when I'm cleaning it and rearranging the toys hanging from the top. He has not been DNA tested but we think he's a male. He is around 2. I've been trying not to encourage any hormonal behaviour but I'm sure that's part of this adventurous behaviour. He's has also flown onto my husband a couple of times (they are not friends) for no reason I can figure out. Yesterday my husband said "let him stay there" and for a few minutes Basil sat quietly on his shoulder with my daughter watching closely to see what would happen. Then Basil bit him in the neck. So now my husband is mad, my daughter scooped Basil up and we popped him back into his cage.

I'm wondering if clipping his wings (maybe just a light clip to prevent these long flights and to control to altitude) will help. Then we can work on some better recall training. Or is it hormones and I just have to ride it out? Thanks.

I'm so glad someone asked this question because I have been trying to find a topic on this. I can't give any advice as I am still learning on this subject. Can't wait til someone chimes in..... Come on people! :09:

 

[MarciaLove]

I keep all my birds flighted and the Lovebirds are the hardest to handle flighted but they just love it so much and its so healthy for them its what their bodies were designed to do after all. It can be a challenge but maybe you could try flight training him, I am flight training my lovebird River Song and its going great start with some clicker training and then move to flight training it will make him more manageable. You can search google or here for some tips on starting it. Also clipping the wings wont help his attitude really it might make him a little tamer cause he will HAVE to depend on you to get him a round but it wont do much start training him to give him something fun to do and that will help his attitude! Good Luck!