GandalfGreybird Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 Hey all, Bring my grey home sunday. He(she)'s about 4 months old. I asked the breeder to leave him flighted with the caveat of safety. After the third time he tried to fly into the closed glass door, she clipped him. Now I'd rather have him safe than flighted, and being in a pet store can cause some issues with flight. At least he got a week or two of being fully flighted before he was clipped the first time. Now that I'll have him at home it'll be a more easily controlled environment to accommodate a flighted bird. In the mean time I'm looking for advice from those of you with flighted birds. Specifically, are there any habits/behaviours for myself or my grey I should be watching out for that might not be an issue when clipped but are when flighted? I'd like to develop good habits for the long haul. Any advice will be much appreciated! Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmatrow Posted September 24, 2011 Share Posted September 24, 2011 (edited) I am also interested in letting my future grey remain flighted. Of coarse I know some of the household dangers to watch out for like opening doors, fans, mirrors, glass doors, windows, cooking or like a sink full of water or even a toilet a bird could drown in. We have one flighted bird we let buzz around the house a few hours a day. We are just sure to watch him closely and lock up our cats, one of them I'm sure would love to eat our Blue. You should never leave a bird out of the cage unattended, but in my opinion especially a flighted bird. But our Blue is no AG either so as far as any habitual things they may pick up I have no experience. Edited September 24, 2011 by bmatrow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhorje Posted September 24, 2011 Share Posted September 24, 2011 I raised Cocoa since 6 weeks of age and she was never being clipped. She is 3 years + now and is happily living with us as a flighted grey. It is perfectly normal for a fledgling to bump into walls, windows or etc. It will take a short time for them to learn not to knock into things. Greys are smart. They learn very fast. I have a FB friend who bought her 1st unclipped baby grey. All her previous greys were clipped. I advised her against clipping, or at least allow the bird an opportunity to fly before making decision to clip if she felt she could not live with a flighted grey. I taught her to show her baby all the windows and mirrors in the house. Her grey learns fast and knows how to avoid all those things. The owner is very happy with her new flighted baby and she could tell the big difference between her new flighted grey and her previous clipped greys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhorje Posted September 24, 2011 Share Posted September 24, 2011 As for fan, I bought 2 table fans instead of using the ceiling fan. I thought of removing the ceiling fan because all my tiels and my grey like to perch there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GandalfGreybird Posted September 24, 2011 Author Share Posted September 24, 2011 No need to sell me on flighted, I can't wait till the clipped feathers are replaced. The concern at the store is it's a busy place and the playgym being by the oft open door, we didn't want him to go make friends with all the Midwest raptors outside. I guess I just want to make the transition back to flighted as smooth and quality as possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talon Posted September 24, 2011 Share Posted September 24, 2011 My 3 birds are not clipped. They came to me clipped, I let their flight feathers grow out. They love flying and chasing each other throughout my house. I have ceiling fans in many rooms, but I don't allow them to,perch on them cause we use them. Glad you are not going to keep them clipped. As you may read in the many other threads regarding this issue here, I am strongly against it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judygram Posted September 26, 2011 Share Posted September 26, 2011 I can undertand that being in a pet store it was probably safer to have him clipped but hopefully the flights will be replaced soon and he will once again gain flight ability, it does make for a more confident grey to leave them unclipped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capo Posted September 27, 2011 Share Posted September 27, 2011 My Capo is fully flighted grey and never had cliped wings. He have access to all rooms in house and loves to be on pearch next to closed window. Only once he hit the window and that was when he came to us as a baby. Never again. We don't leave him in any room unattended. Every day he fly in our hall (15 meter long) up and down for 10-15 times and we go out with harness when we grab some time. Flightning makes a special bond between bird and you. I'll never clip his wings no matter what. With little attention you can remove all potential hazards, and remember to never leave bird alone in the room Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irie5447 Posted September 27, 2011 Share Posted September 27, 2011 My baby was given a light clip by the breeder which is only the first 5 flight feathers. She said they do this for the safety of the bird at the shop but before they clip they let them fly for a bit to get some confidence. Since I have brought him home he is always chewing and fussing with the clipped feathers only. He has frayed them and chews on them all the time which could not be good. The vet I took him to stated they believe in flighted birds and also pointed out that the ends of the clipped wings sometimes bother them and they can fixate on them and it can lead to feather plucking in the future. I can't wait for them to grow in. He flew across the room the other day so I guess the light clip the breeder did was not to effective anyhow. LOL. I can't wait till he is fully flighted! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capo Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 Your bird will be much healthier and selfconfident. Flying is the normal bird activity and we try to change that because is much easier for us. From my point of view, that is wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvparrots Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 My first was grey was clipped by the breeder when I first got her, asking the breeder did no good as this breeder believed in clipping, it was safer for the grey. It took about a year for the feathers to regrow and during that time I had to carry my Ana Grey around. Did this help her to bond with me and to trust me? I don't know. Any how, I knew I wanted my grey to fly. I have always loved to watch birds flying so I was determined my grey would be able to fly. I was already a member of this Greyforums The first thing I did when I found a grey was to learn all I could about them. This forum was wonderful and I was excited not afraid to finally bring my baby home. I placed ceiling swings and boings throughout my home and when Ana Grey came home these were the places I put her. I also placed toys and foraging stuff at each landing place and she became accustomed to these spots. The spots where placed in front of windows and close to where I would be sitting or watching TV. As my other parrots arrived, Louie, the zon, a re-home, has never been clipped. Sterling Gris, the CAG, was only lightly clipped by the breeder (before I found him) so has always been able to fly and these two just followed Ana Grey's lead and now sit on the perches and boings in each room. I believe if your grey can see you and has things to do at specific places in your home designated for them and if they are confident and flighted, they can enjoy themselves at places suitable to everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elvenking Posted September 28, 2011 Share Posted September 28, 2011 I came here just like you asking about keeping them flighted...and leaning more towards leaving them flighted. Isaac is a very confident little flier now. This is both amusing and trying at times.....but I would never have it another way. He follows me everywhere throughout the house. I really enjoy knowing that whenever he wants to be close, he just comes. I simply can't see taking away the birds primary form of locomotion. It really never gets old seeing them soar from perch to perch with such accuracy. Isaac had two mishaps on his first few flight attempts. Now, you would never know there was any problem at all. I haven't seen any in a long time. He seems to know what windows and mirrors are. Both choices are made for the same reasons, I guess it's just a matter of how you wrap ethics around bird companions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray P Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 (edited) All four of my birds have full flight, but it`s Corky my CAG that is queen of the air. Cricket my blue fronted amazon is my wallking and climbing queen and my tiels are good at both. They all have a choice to fly if they want to. Cricket can fly if she wants to. the choice is theirs Edited October 8, 2011 by Ray P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 I have an eight week african grey and am very scared to let him fly as I had a baby cockatiel who broke his neck on a window on his first flight. I would really appreciate any advice as I would love to let him fly around the house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elvenking Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Simply show them the concept of glass. I brought Isaac over to the sliding glass door and let him tap his beak on it a few times. He has never flown into a window yet. Same thing with mirrors. Just show them these things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmayes69 Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 i was a little nervous about the clipping as well.. wasnt sure what to do. my breeder suggested that i leave him flighted and see how that worked for my lifestyle.. IT WORKS.. we going out with the aviator but he doesnt like to fly outside but in the house its cool to see him hover and bank corners in the beginning he had to get used to the apartment but now he flies like a Navy Blue ANgel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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