How to make my birds happier?

[PenguinAndPickles]

Pickles, my sun conure/green cheek conure hybrid, has just recently learned to fly. He can land very, very well and take-off with no trouble. He has resorted to flying in circles around my room because there is no where else to fly:/? Anyone know something or somewhere to make his flying ability more enjoyable? I have tried harnesses and he HATES them. I tried to train him to like them for 2 months and he still freaks out anytime he seems it. Also, whats the best way to get him to fly on command? That would make life easier haha. Also, ever since we clipped 3 of my new quaker's flight feathers, they havnt grown back. It has been about 3 months and there is still no sign of them. He used to love to fly, but with him moving into a new house, we thought it would be safer for him to temporarily clip them. Is there any ways to make them grow back faster? Thanks!!

 

[truthfulreaction]

I could also use some advice with this My conure is 13 months old and I bought him a flightsuit which he abhors, I'd be much happier just taking him outside with me wherever I go, but I would appreciate a few opinions.

Not sure how to get him to fly on command, but his feathers should come back in with a little more time, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[MonicaMc]

One way to teach a bird to fly to you is to first teach them to target. Teach them to target to different areas, then teach them to target to your hand.

Another method is to use an extended step up method, only instead of saying step up you might use a different command such as "come here". Keep asking for the bird to go to you while at the same time slowly increasing the distance the bird must 'step up'. Encourage the bird to hop, hop with a flap, etc. If at any point the bird is too hesitant to go to you then go back a step and repeat until the bird is comfortable going forward.

Barbara Heidenreich has some great DVD's as well as videos! Here's a short one that has some tips on harness training.



[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etKRisR7vgo]Tips to Harness Train a Parrot - GoodBirdInc.com - YouTube[/ame]