Eager to fly...

[jessdecutie18]

So I hand-fed Yoshi earlier tonight, and he gulped it down like he always does... he sure does eat a lot

 

After he was finished, I get up to put the bowl in the sink and start to leave telling Yoshi I'll be back in two seconds... when he calls to me and takes a huge leap from the floor and I'd say he got about 2 feet in the air before falling back down to the floor...

 

This sort of stuff keeps happening... I've caught him flapping his wings a couple times randomly and he keeps making 'suicide leaps' off of stuff to get to my husband and I or to his cage or play gym... I worry about him as he lands especially the last couple days because he always lands on his feet but it seems so hard. Doesn't bother him though, I think he is just eager to be able to fly!

 

We purchased him a couple days after the breeder 'trimmed' the wings... well I guess the trim wasn't too much because he is starting to gain a tiny bit of altitude... I'm excited for him and worried. The breeder trimmed his wings after only 1 or two flights, so he barely had them. I want him to be able to fly, so we are definitely leaving him alone for now, and he is such a sweet baby... but if problems start coming from allowing this, or if it turns out dangerous, or if he keeps flying away all the time... he may have to be clipped.

 

Definitely keeping an open mind Yoshi is trying so hard, I don't wanna take that chance away from him!

[dhorje]

CAG don't flying all the time. They spend most of their time on their perch or play gym. They would fly when they feel like it. CAG are smart, they don't simply fly and crash into everything.

[Mistyparrot]

Please go back to your breeder and shackle his feet. It seems to me that many breeders do this horrible thing to their babies as a matter of course.

Please let your Yoshi grow his flights back. He will be much better off and healthier.

 

Steve n Misty

[danmcq]

If your Grey can fly at atleast a 45 degree angle to the floor. he is fine. Two flights were not nearly enough for him to get any sense of how flight works other than just flapping his wings.

 

Let him continue to try out his flight abilities and even encourage it. Place him where he can try out very short "Hops" using his wings. Like place a playstand only 2 feet away and try to get him to flap over to it. Doing this will help him learn to target and land properly. After he can get 2 feet away, move it 3, 4, 6 etc. He will soon learn what he can make it to. He will also build up those breast muscles and gain greater flight capability. Of course he will not be able to do aerial acrobatics, hover, turn well etc. until those primaries molt out and grow in replacements.

[jessdecutie18]

how long will it take for the primaries to molt out then? So by the breeder trimming Yoshi's wings before we got him he is stuck at this flying ability until his feathers molt out?

[chimaysmommy]

Our breeder also trimmed Chimay's wings, but he was permitted to fully fledge before she did so. In fact in one of her email updates she made me laugh talking about how Chimay and his clutchmates had decided that her head was a very convenient landing pad. Ha ha!

 

Like you, we are also wanting to allow his flights to fully regrow and keep him unclipped. We have been encouraging him to fly to us on the couch in attempts at some beginner's "recall" training, and though he can't really maintain altitude he still gets a good amount of distance in a glide.

 

If you haven't noticed in other threads, wing clipping is a bit of a hot topic on this forum. There is a lot of greYt advice out there on the subject, but bottom line is you've got to do what YOU believe to be best for YOUR baby. Personally I am all for keeping birdies UNclipped at all costs, but not at the expense of the bird's safety.

[chimaysmommy]

jessdecutie18 wrote:

how long will it take for the primaries to molt out then? So by the breeder trimming Yoshi's wings before we got him he is stuck at this flying ability until his feathers molt out?

 

From my understanding it can take up to a year. Over the course of the last five months that we've had Chimay (noted below that he was clipped by our breeder as well...not a drastic clip at all either), he's been able to increase the amount of distance he can get out of a glide quite a bit. At first he would take off and only glide about 3 or 4 feet before landing, but now he can glid clear across the room into our kitchen or dining area (we live in a 2 bedroom apartment).

 

He's young and I'm sure he'll get his bearings and learn his limitations. Keep an eye out for him and common "crash sites"...maybe lay padding down such as a folded over towel to still allow him the freedom to explore his abilities but still keeping his safetey in mind.

[danmcq]

The Breeder demanded that Dayos feathers be trimmed before letting us bring him home. Even though we begged for them not to. They did concede to a "Long Clip" of 4 primaries on each side.

 

Dayo did not regain all his full and glorious primaries until he was 18 months old. They molted out very slowy starting in the 12 month old range.

[Luvparrots]

My Ana Grey came to me clipped and has always and still does try to fly. She flaps off her cage, off of her hanging perches, from my arm to a perch she just keeps trying. She lands on her feet every time. I stopped worrying about her long ago. After all wild birds land on much harder surfaces than my floors. I can't wait until she is flighted and neither can she.