Does anyone else's parrot just choose not to fly

[Shaz UK]

Diva my four month old quaker parrot has never had her wings clipped but she doesn't fly. She climbs up and down her play gym and her cage, uses her beak to help her climb me like a gym lol or calls for me to lift her and transport her were she wants to go. She's been taken to vet and examined and there's nothing wrong with her or her wings. She's happy and playful loves playing with her toys on floor or on gym. I know she can fly because she's taken a few short flights although they were clumsy. If I call her she comes running like a dog lol but she'll climb down from her cage or gym or back of chair and come running across floor to me. Has anyone had a parrot who just wasn't that interested in flying even though they physically could. Is there any way to encourage her to fly more I know for a fact she's never been clipped or had any accidents that could put her off flight just don't understand why she won't fly. I've set her up a on the ground indoor garden/forage area to try add more enrichment since she doesn't want to fly. It's two extra large dog crate trays filled with organic soil, some sprouted seeds, grass a few different veggies and a fountain bird bath in middle of it. She loves it and it's also been helping to encourage her to experiment with different foods as she came to me refusing everything but seeds and a tiny taste of pellets. I know Quakers can be prone to fatty liver disease and she needs to exercise how can I build her confidence and encourage her to fly

 

[SailBoat]

Young Birds WANT to fly. For some reason, she electing not too!

This all first starts with a visit to her Avian Vet with a full physical with blood chems to assess her health and over-all structural condition, muscles and bones.

If that all proves out well please reference the Amazon Forum and the Sticky Thread near the top that Starts out with: I Love Amazons ... Within that Thread please find and read: (Re-Fledging an Adult Parrot ) within this segment, you will find the steps that one takes to not just re-fledge your Parrot, but also teach a young bird how to fly!

May this help!!

 

[Owlet]

Do recall training with her. Get a T stand that she cannot climb down from (1" diameter pvc could probably provide this). Start close to her and have step up, give her a reward, set her back on the t stand. Slowly increase distance between her and your hand. So after she's successfully stepped up a few times from right infront of her, move an inch away. Then ask her to come to you. After that's successful, move another half inch. As it gets harder she will likely begin reaching for you with her beak then pulling herself over or she will jump but not fly. That is okay, keep rewarding her and keep making things steadily more difficult. If she jumps to you, I would heavily reward that as it's a step closer to flying. If she opens her wings AT ALL reward that.

Don't make things too hard too fast though, you want to make things as easy as possible and set them up for the most success. If she's successful at one step, do not immediately make it harder. you want to stay on that step for 5-10 reps to really cement it. And this will take more than 1 training session. Be patient.

 

[Shaz UK]

Do recall training with her. Get a T stand that she cannot climb down from (1" diameter pvc could probably provide this). Start close to her and have step up, give her a reward, set her back on the t stand. Slowly increase distance between her and your hand. So after she's successfully stepped up a few times from right infront of her, move an inch away. Then ask her to come to you. After that's successful, move another half inch. As it gets harder she will likely begin reaching for you with her beak then pulling herself over or she will jump but not fly. That is okay, keep rewarding her and keep making things steadily more difficult. If she jumps to you, I would heavily reward that as it's a step closer to flying.

Don't make things too hard too fast though, you want to make things as easy as possible and set them up for the most success. If she's successful at one step, do not immediately make it harder. you want to stay on that step for 5-10 reps to really cement it. And this will take more than 1 training session. Be patient.

Thank you she's both clicker snd verbal trained at a few tricks and she loves training sessions so I'll try this. I wonder if me reinforcing and praising and treating her for coming to her name even though she's been running to me instead of flying has accidently reinforced this. I'll start trying this it's worrying because when I first brought her home I was worried about all the accidents a little bird could have flying around and spent weeks bird proofing instead she's maybe flown twice and both were kind of a panicked flight because she thought I leaving room where she kind of just hoovered in front of me desperate for me to put my hand up to give her a landing spot

 

[Shaz UK]

Young Birds WANT to fly. For some reason, she electing not too!

This all first starts with a visit to her Avian Vet with a full physical with blood chems to assess her health and over-all structural condition, muscles and bones.

If that all proves out well please reference the Amazon Forum and the Sticky Thread near the top that Starts out with: I Love Amazons ... Within that Thread please find and read: (Re-Fledging an Adult Parrot ) within this segment, you will find the steps that one takes to not just re-fledge your Parrot, but also teach a young bird how to fly!

May this help!!

Thank you she's had a full check up with an avian vet who stated she healthy and no signs of problems with her wings but no blood works. I'll get on the phone straight away in the morning and book her in for blood works. Could this be something very serious?. She has flown twice but they were clumsy desperate flights were she came after me when I went to leave the room and hoovered in front of me desperate for me to put my hand up for her to land. I'm a little worried I've accidently trained her not to fly I've been reinforcing and praising her for always coming when I call her name even though she's been running to me and not flying and I've set her up a foraging play area in the living room with sprouted seeds, grasses and bits of veg hid under clean sea shells and sticks it's at ground level so probably not helping that I'm encouraging her to be on the floor. She does love climbing her gym and spends plenty of time up high too though.

 

[onamom]

I would also suggest starting recall training! Not only does it help build their flying confidence but it also exercises them and is a safety measure in an emergency situation when you need your bird to fly to you.

Here’s a clip of me and Ona when we were first beginning recall. This was after she already knew step up and would hop to my hand at a slightly shorter distance.

 

[Shaz UK]

I would also suggest starting recall training! Not only does it help build their flying confidence but it also exercises them and is a safety measure in an emergency situation when you need your bird to fly to you.

Here’s a clip of me and Ona when we were first beginning recall. This was after she already knew step up and would hop to my hand at a slightly shorter distance.

Thank you oh ona is such a smart beautiful little lady I've been lurking and reading some of your thread on you training her I was blown away at her knowing her colours I'm wondering will Diva have the same abilities she's picked up quite a few tricks in the month I've had her but not too sure of the intelligence range of a quaker compared to your little one. I can't help feeling little Ona is a little mastermind and the exception rather than the normal for small parrots and you hit the jackpot when you and her found each other. Not that Diva isn't smart she's very smart just not Ona levels smart. Today she was on my shoulder when I walked into living room as i sat down i said should we put the TV on Diva. She jumped from my shoulder onto the coffee table and pecked the remote looking at me and screeched in excitement. Maybe it's coincidence but I got really excited thinking she maybe actually understood me and understood the word TV and that the remote controls the TV she couldn't possibly? She really loves when I put the TV on in the morning as I always put the music channels on in the morning while I have my coffee and she loves music I talk to her all the time in context of what I'm doing I name objects and tell her everything I'm doing so I'm hoping it'll become apparantly over the weeks of her understanding more and more of what I say. Her breeder told me not to just randomly repeat words to her to try and get her to mimick he said talk to her in context name the activities I'm doing name objects and she'll grow up understanding a lot of what I say rather than just mimicking words. He said even if she doesn't begin speaking she'll understand things that you teach her. She's said hello not very clearly so I don't think she's going to be a big talker especially as shes definitely female but I'm hoping for maybe a word or two more from her. When I was going to collect Diva I was actually going to collect a green cheek conure but Diva was the last left of a clutch of hand raised baby quaker parrots and she was loose on a play gym at breeders home she immediately took to me and wouldn't leave my shoulder snuggling into my neck chattering and purring and I swear she picked me. I'm really concerned about the flying thing because one thing I decided when I decided to get a parrot was that I didn't want them clipped and I wanted them to be fully flighted. Quakers are prone to fatty liver disease and unfortunately Diva is a bit of a seed junkie and it's slow progress trying to convert her to pellets and veggies so her not getting enough exercise or flying while eating quite a lot of seed really worries me and I'm too scared to try the completely eliminate the seed and hope she'll eat when she's hungry because Ive heard parrots will starve themselves to death. I've managed to get her nibbling a few different veggies, she'll eat a little pellets and shes starting to take quite a shine to sprouted seed but she still not eating anywhere near enough for me to totally eliminate her seed. I'm considering removing her food dish at 6.30 and just leaving her with fresh water when she goes to bed and feeding her fresh food in the morning before she gets any seed. I get up around 7am and she's always been awake and eating some seed. She has a seperate sleep cage in my apartment hallway in a walk in closet I've removed the door and replaced with a breathable material black out curtain because I sit up late at night watching television and putting her to bed in sitting room when I was still up lead to her throwing Oscar worthy temper tantrums and screaming house down to get out to me and then her been grumpy during the day because she didn't get enough sleep. Now she only throws a mini tantrum when she goes to bed and then sleeps the whole night so I'm considering removing her food bowl and just having a few toys and fresh water in her sleep cage and it might encourage her to eat a little more of her fresh foods. She really loves eggs and I've managed to sneak some finely chopped veg in eggs but from what I've heard they can only have a small taste of eggs once a week.

 

[onamom]

Thank you oh ona is such a smart beautiful little lady I've been lurking and reading some of your thread on you training her I was blown away at her knowing her colours I'm wondering will Diva have the same abilities she's picked up quite a few tricks in the month I've had her but not too sure of the intelligence range of a quaker compared to your little one. I can't help feeling little Ona is a little mastermind and the exception rather than the normal for small parrots and you hit the jackpot when you and her found each other. Not that Diva isn't smart she's very smart just not Ona levels smart. Today she was on my shoulder when I walked into living room as i sat down i said should we put the TV on Diva. She jumped from my shoulder onto the coffee table and pecked the remote looking at me and screeched in excitement. Maybe it's coincidence but I got really excited thinking she maybe actually understood me and understood the word TV and that the remote controls the TV she couldn't possibly? She really loves when I put the TV on in the morning as I always put the music channels on in the morning while I have my coffee and she loves music I talk to her all the time in context of what I'm doing I name objects and tell her everything I'm doing so I'm hoping it'll become apparantly over the weeks of her understanding more and more of what I say. Her breeder told me not to just randomly repeat words to her to try and get her to mimick he said talk to her in context name the activities I'm doing name objects and she'll grow up understanding a lot of what I say rather than just mimicking words. He said even if she doesn't begin speaking she'll understand things that you teach her. She's said hello not very clearly so I don't think she's going to be a big talker especially as shes definitely female but I'm hoping for maybe a word or two more from her. When I was going to collect Diva I was actually going to collect a green cheek conure but Diva was the last left of a clutch of hand raised baby quaker parrots and she was loose on a play gym at breeders home she immediately took to me and wouldn't leave my shoulder snuggling into my neck chattering and purring and I swear she picked me. I'm really concerned about the flying thing because one thing I decided when I decided to get a parrot was that I didn't want them clipped and I wanted them to be fully flighted. Quakers are prone to fatty liver disease and unfortunately Diva is a bit of a seed junkie and it's slow progress trying to convert her to pellets and veggies so her not getting enough exercise or flying while eating quite a lot of seed really worries me and I'm too scared to try the completely eliminate the seed and hope she'll eat when she's hungry because Ive heard parrots will starve themselves to death. I've managed to get her nibbling a few different veggies, she'll eat a little pellets and shes starting to take quite a shine to sprouted seed but she still not eating anywhere near enough for me to totally eliminate her seed. I'm considering removing her food dish at 6.30 and just leaving her with fresh water when she goes to bed and feeding her fresh food in the morning before she gets any seed. I get up around 7am and she's always been awake and eating some seed. She has a seperate sleep cage in my apartment hallway in a walk in closet I've removed the door and replaced with a breathable material black out curtain because I sit up late at night watching television and putting her to bed in sitting room when I was still up lead to her throwing Oscar worthy temper tantrums and screaming house down to get out to me and then her been grumpy during the day because she didn't get enough sleep. Now she only throws a mini tantrum when she goes to bed and then sleeps the whole night so I'm considering removing her food bowl and just having a few toys and fresh water in her sleep cage and it might encourage her to eat a little more of her fresh foods. She really loves eggs and I've managed to sneak some finely chopped veg in eggs but from what I've heard they can only have a small taste of eggs once a week.

Awe thank you! Ona is indeed one smart cookie! It's great to tell them the names of the objects you are using and the things you are doing. I really do think they learn! And they learn our routines as well. I bet she did get on the remote because she knew it was TV time. Honestly I think a lot of it comes down to finding a way to communicate with them. Training helped me do that with Ona and as a result I can teach her all kinds of things!

Not leaving out seed in her sleep cage is a good idea, and giving chop first thing in the morning. Just monitor her to make sure she eats it. If she isn't eating it in the morning after 30 mins or so you will need to give her back her regular food.

 

[Shaz UK]

Awe thank you! Ona is indeed one smart cookie! It's great to tell them the names of the objects you are using and the things you are doing. I really do think they learn! And they learn our routines as well. I bet she did get on the remote because she knew it was TV time. Honestly I think a lot of it comes down to finding a way to communicate with them. Training helped me do that with Ona and as a result I can teach her all kinds of things!

Not leaving out seed in her sleep cage is a good idea, and giving chop first thing in the morning. Just monitor her to make sure she eats it. If she isn't eating it in the morning after 30 mins or so you will need to give her back her regular food.

So if I give her fresh and a few pellets in the morning let her have it for half an hour and see if she'll try and nibble some then if she doesn't want any or she doesn't eat enough to be sufficiently fed should I just give her a small tablespoon of seeds enough to give her a meal rather than letting her gorge herself on filled cup of seed and then not been interested in trying anything else so I can keep offering her different snacks of fresh throughout I could even do a bit of training and reward her with the seed or put it in her foraging toys so she has to work a little not just gorge herself on a big cup. Shes started enjoying sprouted seed. too which is apparantly a little better for her and I've managed to at least get her on seed without sunflower seeds. Also found out she loves cucumber and apple and pears l know too much fruit is bad because of sugar and cucumber is mostly water and not an awful lot of nutritional value but it's an improvement to her screeching and throwing a fit of even presented with food other than seed. She's also decided carrots and peas are OK for a tiny nibble but won't eat much. She's a little cannibal she almost had my lip off the other day trying to get a piece of chicken out of my sandwich she loves meat and eggs and cheese I know she can only have a tiny taste for ocassional treat.