Help with flighted bird

[greymom]

When I re-homed Rita about 4 years ago she was 7 and had been clipped for her whole life. Her wings were so poorly clipped that she would just fall to the ground if she came off her perch. I let them grow back but kept them clipped until about 18 months ago. She is fully flighted now and she has just started to navigate. She can land on my shoulder or on a perch. She still is not a great navigator but she is learning and she is happy. Now here is the problem. She flies wherever she wants. She is destroying my wooden kitchen cabinets. She lands on the drawer pulls and chews on the wood. She lands on or near one of the cats when the cat is eating and the cat runs for her life. She wants to be with me or my husband and will not stay on her perch even when it is really close to us. I can always get her back wherever she has flown (a high window, a beam). She will come to me. Sometimes she will go to the floor and I will not even know she is walking around and I worry about stepping on her. Has anyone had similar issues? Any suggestions or thoughts on this will help. Thank you so much.

[Luvparrots]

I have three flighted parrots and one is a wood eating zon! He loves his wood. He can destroy a wooden toy in a flash. I am retired so my parrots are out a lot. I have boings and perches throughout my home so that they have places to sit and watch. They love to watch. I hear the flap of wings going every time I move from room to room. There are rooms where they can't go, my bathrooms and my bedroom are my sacred places. In the other rooms, the perches and boings are at places that are convenient for me and where my parrots can see the whole room. At each place there are toys and bells and things to keep them busy. In one or two places I have places for snacks for the birdies. After lots of experiments and testing places I have found the places where I can't let my parrots go or have placed "scarey" things so that my parrots don't want to go there or things big enough that there is no room for a parrot. My CAG, Sterling Gris, loves to sit on my shoulder, unfortunately, he has not learned the good manners to not use me as a potty tree! He is tossed off my shoulder the moment he lands there. Because he is flighted, this is not a problem for him. My zon is supplied with lots of pieces of safe hardwood to chew on. It saves my cabinets a lot of damages and of course I do keep a close eye on where my parrots are. This is a must, if I cannot keep them in view they are caged until I can watch them. They are, after all, animals and I am their caretaker. In all fairness, they can also remain uncaged in their bird room with the door closed. I do have to be persistent and consistent in where my parrots can go and what they can do. They are a stubborn lot and it takes a lot of patience and tenacity to keep at them and on them to stay where I want them. I am lucky in the sense that my parrots never go to the floor on purpose. It is one place they do not want to be and will immediately fly up to a perch if one of them goes to ground. Perhaps it is my blind ferocious 12-year-old pug that keeps them off the ground. To me a flighted parrot is a marvelous sight and it is well-worth the trouble to keep my birdies flighted.

[Dave007]

Making up for lost time and believe me, many birds can't do that after being clipped for so many years. Having bad clips in the past makes that situation worse. You on the other hand are lucky. Your bird hasn't been affected. Now's the time to set down a different set of rules. A clipped bird needs to depend on the owner for the simpliest to most difficult things. First off, any bird should never be allowed in a kitchen and there's many reasons why besides chewing things. Second off, as luvparrots said hard wood needs to be given ( hung in the cage). Parrots spend many hours chewing/destroying that wood.

Habits---your bird needs to be put in his cage every time something bad happens. It doesn't need to be a long period of time. As far as the cat, parrots will annoy dogs and cats when they can. Your cat's feeding area needs to be moved to somewhere peaceful.

Many people have this situations and some have gone to extreme of buiding bird rooms so the birds can stay in these large areas and do whatever they want. The poeople who do this usually have multiple amounts of birds.

***She flies wherever she wants***

You need to stop that bird's habit. Take control. It doesn't sound like you've got a good grip on things. You'll need to watch her more especially when you don't know where she is.

Of course, I may be wrong about these things because as future posts are put in by OP, more facts are mentioned that weren't mentioned before.

[Jayd]

The reply's from Janet and Dave come not only from experience but from love and devotion....

[greymom]

Thank you so much luvparrots and dave007. You were both very helpful. I will get more perches and put them in the places she likes to go. I wish I could have a bird room but that just isn't possible. I think I can work this out with Rita. She is funny and lovable and worth the trouble. I have never tried boings and will look into it. Thanks again.

[danmcq]

The others have given great advice and comments.

 

I can only imagine how good it feels for Rita to be able to go where and when she wants. I could only liken this to being confined to a wheelchair for the beginning years of ones life, then one day a doctor comes along with a "Fix". I would go every where I had always just sat and watched from a distance and inspect, feel, smell, taste etc. everything I could not previously enjoy due to the limitations.

 

Now liken this to Rita, she can now reach places when and where she wishes. One can certainly understand the joy and wonder of it all to her. She has no idea which places or things are ok and which are off limits. Thats what Dave and Janet are talking about. It does take time to figure out ways to keep them away from an item or area you do not want them in. As mentioned, stuffed toys with eyes will keep a grey away from an item or area until they get used to it, then you will need to get a different looking stuffed toy.

 

In regards her wanting to be with you or your husband when watching tv or whatever. This will continue even with a T-Stand or hanging boing in the room. They do enjoy the one on one time. We do have a T-Stand in every room or hanging boing. The T-Stand has food cups on each side and stands around 4 feet high with a tray underneath. Our birds will hang out with us on the couch and get scratches or just sit and chill or when they decide thats enough one on one time, they will fly to the stand, eat some food and just chill there.

 

All these new dynamics and experiences for both you and Rita will be a time of trial and error until you get figured out what works for you guys and her. But, I will say we have 4foot by 6 foot fleece blankets we place on the couch and us for when we are all hanging out in the living room watching tv or a movie. It keeps poop and food off the couch and you can just throw them in the wash for quick cleaning when needed or just remove them when company is over. These are all things you will figure out as you go. Good luck and as you have already seen here, there are plenty of us with flighted birds you can ask for help from.

[Jayd]

Dan is one of the most knowledgeable people I know who understands how and why our Grey's think as they do. Talon and Judy have insights into the every day lives of these great creatures, Lest we don't forget Ray P and Katana600 who bring forth real life experiences. And our members who bring all this knowledge together. Each of us contribute something to the whole of this forum, Since I have a lot of free time you see my name a lot,and Spock when she can.

Every time I read a post I learn something new or reaffirm something I may have forgot. Welcome

Edited January 12, 2013 by Jayd
Changed Maggie to Spock./spelling

[greymom]

You are all so thoughtful and helpful. We have our work cut out for us.

Thank you.

[Greywings]

Greymom we do have a section for toys that If I remember correctoy may have some homemade stands for birds that can be done cheaply and still be fun for the birds. I know folks who have made them out of walkers, tv stands, hat racks and old laundry racks. Use your imagination add some toys and busy work some little treats. I mine is made from the bottom of an old rolley (office)chair put a pipe in the center of the base stuck a crape myrtle branch in that and added ropes, measuring spoons and what ever else I had lying around it is fun for them and can be rolled from room to room.

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

greymom... install knobs for hardware in kitchen. They can't land on them. I have all new kitchen cabinets... so my kitchen plans were based on" what I know Sophie will do!" Its a pain in the butt... but I have plastic taped on the lower cabinets, the ones Nancy she is interested in. Of course when I have company, I remove the plastic, noone knows what I go thru and everything is good. Nancy

[Jayd]

Jill,[Greywings] Fantastic......

[Talon]

Greymom, your story is exactly what I went thru with my Rikki. She was 2 1/2 years old when I adopted her, I was her third and final home. She too had been clipped her entire life and couldn't fly at all when I got her. After about a year or so, she was able to fly. As Luvparrots, I was home most of the time and my 3 parrots were always out. My house is filled with boings, tree stands, perches, hanging swings everywhere. My birds wanted to be everywhere I was. I have dogs, cats and 2 smaller birds as well at that time. Rikki couldn't control herself, she would fly anywhere she wanted wherever she wanted.

Her favorite thing to do was t fly to the top of the doors every when they were closed and chew bits of the woodwork off in a blink of the eye. It got so out of hand, I had such frustration after months of this. Ths went on for a long period of time, i was at my wits end so much, that I considered clipping her, or rehoming her.....an absolute NO NO in my believes, but I would cry with frustration it was so bad......I didn't know what to do with her, I tried everything that was suggested here. I lavished her with attention and things to do, but It didn't make much of a difference.

In desperation, I went to the craft store one day and bought a variety of feathered fake birds that they sell to put in flower arrangements, they were medium in size. I taped them over all the doors of my house. It was quite the sight for decorating!!! My visitors thought I was a bit weird, but I didn't care. Rikki was so scared of them that she stopped flying to the doors and chewing the wood work. I also put empty cardboard boxes above my cabinets for her to go up and chew. After several moths, she stopped her behaviour and calmed down. I eventually took down the birds,kept the boxes and she rarely flies to the doors, and when she does, I yell at her by name and she flies off, she knows it's a no no cause when she did it in the beginning, nothing worked except my screaming at her...she didn't Like me upset.

 

Fast forward, she is 7 years old now. She is an angel, a loving well behaved bird, and very happy. In hindsight, I realize now, she was a very angry bird when I got her, I didn't know that at the time. She was very close and bonded to her second home family, her bonded owner,, the husband died, and the wife eventually gave her away. Rikki never got over that and I didn't know those facts until I looked back, saw the moodiness she had, one day, happy, the next angry, not having been allowed to fly, given to 2 more homes, she was a very angry confused bird, I wished now I had known that, I would have treated her differently and with much more patience than I did...

 

She finally after 2 years adjusted to us, got over her mourning, her anger towards not being allowed to fly early on, her 4th home, her moodiness. She is now the sweetest most loving adorable grey ever! I am so proud of her, I admire her strength, she had a difficult beginning with us not understanding her situation , but NOW I do, too little too late. I adore her.

 

So I guess I am sharing my story so you can understand when they aren't allowed to fly, I believe when they finally can, they have anger and frustration to work thru. They will act out and as Rikki did, she seemed to get out of control. I did find that putting her in her cage for about 3 hours every day in the afternoon, calmed her down. She needed a routine, n a free for all which was what it was in my house when I was home. It really seemed to help her adjust.

Edited January 12, 2013 by Talon

[greymom]

Thank you. Your story is inspirational. I have so many new ideas to try out. I have attached some small stuffed animals to some of my cabinets and it has been two days and she hasn't chewed on the wood. I guess I will be doing lots of re-decorating.

[murfchck]

Ahhh, the parrot owners "house beautiful". My guys are flighted and have their spaces and do well with them, now. LOL Bubba, who can't fly is the one into everything. He jumps off his stand, runs to the kitchen and will climb up a bank of drawers to get to my towels so he can toss them around. I have bowls and baskets everywhere for the greys to play with with safe stuff for them. Gabby loved getting into my papers, so a few months ago, i wrote her a letter while she watched me. I wrote, "dear gabby, this is your letter, you think i need this but really it is for you to play with. Enjoy it, haha." That was about 2 months ago and she still has it and will bring it out of the basket when she is in that area!

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

I have company coming tomorrow for a few days. Got the carpets cleaned ( amazing), scrubbed the house head to toe. It looks amazing! I told the birds... " don't move!". LOL Nancy

[Timbersmom]

Good luck with that Nancy! Timber can make a mess without appearing to move...