How to Live Safely with a Flighted Parrot
March 23rd, 2009Jamieleigh
Congo African Grey Parrot
I have just adopted an 18 month old Congo Grey names Ashye. It has taken her several weeks to be comfortable and happy in her new environment. Her owner hand raised her and has now left her to go back to Paris. She started plucking feathers, but I seem to have diminished that behavior by giving her lots of love and toys. I can pet her int he cage, but when she is out of the cage it gets tricky. Her previous owner apparently taught her to fly by having her on his hand and throwing her int he air. This means that the only time I can get her to step up is if she has flown and hard landed somewher. As soon as she steps up, she takes off again. My questions are: should I have her clipped? and how do I get her to step up and not fly off. Thanks.
- Peg
Obviously, there are health risks if you decide to clip or if you decide not to. If you’re going to keep your bird fully flighted, you need to take on the responsibility to teach it how to fly.
I am a big fan of using touch training as a method of teaching flight. Especially with a bird who is weary of stepping up at all. If he goes into “training mode” the focus will be on the task at hand and not on the fact that he has to touch you during it.
Here is how to implement touch training and use it with flight training:
It’s very important to work on ascending (building muscle), descending (building accuracy and learning how to slow down/land), and turning corners (building skills) with your bird during this process. The better flyer your bird is, the safer he will be inside flighted as he will be able to avoid hazards and make safe and accurate landings.
Make sure all hazards in the house are turned off during flight training; cieling fans, toilet seats (put them down), hot items, windows closed, etc.
When I adopted Parker, my African Grey, she had severely clipped wings. I have many animals in the house and I needed her to be able to fly out of danger. Her first attempts were heart beating time of terror as she bashed into things.(I waited for her feathers to grow back first) I also did lots of wing flapping training holding on to her feet so she stayed on my hand to strengthen her wings, and using the command,”Fly” She loved this game
I did this for months, while her wings were growing back, perhaps six to eight months, and I would walk across the room while she flapped away.( I am not a quick trainer, I take months do do things with my bird, so it comes naturally, like in the wild)
Since she liked to be with me, I just placed her a few feet away from me and encouraged her to come to me. Her flying simply started like that until, I was able to be farther and farther away, and then I just told her to come like a dog, I am a dog trainer, and she trains just like a dog. She has never been treat orientated, as some dogs are not interested in food treats, her treat is simply to be with me.
I worked on precision training. At first she just landed where she could on me, now I say come Parker, and she lands on my finger from anywhere she has taken off, but her first attempts at flying around where she chose a spot to land, were pretty bad. She is very confident now, and she just lands with ease on my finger.
Parker still prefers to walk if she is not in a hurry. All the dogs are terrified of her so she is not in any danger even from the two cats as they have all had a good bite from her, and they keep their distance, even the 80 pound German Shepherd. She has often shared the bed with one of the cats and my demonstration dog.
I have a 8 month old African grey hand raised he is very attached to me but so are the rest of my pets 3 dogs 1cat I have been undecided whether to have his wings clipped or not the doges could careless and the cat has had his shared of nips he is just starting to try to fly(it’s so cute run two steps flap flap flap run two step) I wouldn’t want him to fly away we spend alot of time out side and I do take him outside everyday(weather permitting) I put him on a lease Do you think safety says clip the wings or just make sure you always have the lease on He and I ae very attached although his vocabulary is very limited right now.
Personally, I wont tell anyone to clip their birds’ wings in most situations. Their respiratory systems don’t even work at full capacity unless the bird is in flight. It’s a huge thing for exercise and health for the bird to be able to fly. Not to mention, avoids many behavioral issues in the future especially with socialization.
Vitamin D from the natural sunlight is essential for all parrots’ plumage so I love that you take him outside as it is.
A leash or some kind of harness is necessary if you aren’t doing any sort of recall flight training. Just be careful you’re always on your game with that leash as it would be terrible for the bird to get scared, fly off and you not have a hold of the leash (accidents happen) as the leash will make it very hard for the bird to avoid predators or avoid getting tangled.
And always remember, a clipped bird can still fly. Especially with a little wind on its side.