Crazy Story

[Sultran]

We bought our 5 week old Congo African Grey from a bird store in Northern Virginia. We weened him and he is a happy little bird. In fact we take him with us to the mall, to the park, to the gym, to friends houses, he is probably the most social bird you may ever meet (I truly believe he is so social because at an early age we started socializing him with everyone). On his 11 week birthday we noticed that he was starting to fly. The first day was only 3 or 4 feet, I wanted to cut his wings immediately but read online somewhere that we should let him learn to fly for a week or so before we clip his wings so he can build confidence. Well here is where the story gets bad. I wake up one Sunday morning and step outside of the house to make a phone call (my fiancé was still asleep). Before stepping outside I feed my two dogs (who get along great with my CAG). Once I let the dogs out and I step out after 20 seconds my Sultan starts flying out of the house, over the house and above all the trees. This was awful; see he was only 11 weeks old and still getting 1 hand feeding a day. Three days before that was the first time we ever noticed that he can fly. We formed a search party of 7 people and made 100+ flyers that we posted everywhere. Lucky 30 hours later a neighbor two neighborhoods down found him and called us. He was back in our hands and happy to be home (I could tell because the second I went to pick him up he flew straight to me onto my arm). Here is the moral of my story. 1) Clip your birds wings the second you notice they can fly 2) If your bird flies away don’t give up searching for him, it may take a lot of time but if you try hard enough you may find him. Sultan is now 15 weeks old, he is no longer being hand feed (he refuses the formula completely and eats all his seeds and pellets). I just took a shower with him and am taking him to my little cousins school tomorrow (for the second time).

 

Hope you guys liked my true story!

[Sultran]

Now here is my questions for you guys. He is 15 weeks old, we got his wings clipped professionally immediatly, the morning after we got him back. Just yesturday he started to fly again, about 4 feet and straight down, and then today he made it about 7 feet and straight down.

 

How many feet can he fly?

Should we clip his wings again?

If not when?

Any suggestions?

 

Thanks

Matt & Sultan (Sultan is my parrots name)

[Guest Monique]

I would recommend getting him an Aviator harness. If you will accustom to that he can still fly but can be safe when you are out. As far as how far can he fly based upon wing clip that varies a lot by bird and the motivation behind their flying (they can get a lot farther if they are scared!).

[CeasarsDad]

Monique, what types of these harnesses are available. I am thinking about letting ceaser's wings grow out. We take him outside and he loves it so I don't want to stop that.. hence the harness..

[Guest Monique]

Hi CD!

 

I am sure there are plenty of places that sell these but I will show you the link of where I bought mine, no ownership in the business or anything :0).

 

http://www.birdsupplies.com/The-Aviator-Bird-Harness-p/puv001xx.htm

 

A Medium is the size recommended for a Congo Grey (and that is the size I got though I have a Timneh).

 

I like this harness because it is truly made for a flying harness vs. a diaper or restraint. I feel it is made very safe. Also, the harness comes with a DVD which I found very helpful. Admittedly it is not rocket science to put on a harness however the video is very helpful to see how he introduces it, etc.

 

We have had no problems at all getting Isaac to accept the harness. I am sure with an older bird or one who is less accepting of new things, as with all things, would take a little bit longer to accustom them.

[judygram]

I am thinking of getting one of those harnesses. I think the aviator would be best.

[CeasarsDad]

Me too Judy.. I want to let ceasar fly again. If the harness works I can still take him outside.. He loves that and I wound't want to take that away from him

[Sultran]

thanks everyone for all the great advice

[MARIR]

Thank God you got him back!!! My heart dropped thinking this was another sad ending story glad to hear it had a happy ending!!!

[Talon]

What a sad story with a happy ending! I think that is every owners worst nightmare!!

 

Cd, I have the aviator harness. It is the best one I've seen or bought. ( yes, I have bought many)

 

PLEEEEASE, let Ceaser's wings grow out. They are so happy when they can fly to you. I think it makes them happy in general not to feel so handicapped.

 

Sorry to those members that disagree, but we've done both with Talon and for us, she's the happiest now that she can come to us.{Communicate-0002011B}<br><br>Post edited by: Talon, at: 2007/05/16 19:31

[Caspersmum]

I had aviator harnesses for my parakeet and my CAG - the parakeet loved it, but the Grey never liked it! And I have a funny feeling Casper would try to eat me if I tried to get one on him!

 

Julia

[RomeoANDJuliet]

Just thought I would add my bit of info hear. I buy young grey's and handfeed, wean, and fledge them from a breeder near me and in my experiance the best person you can talk to about almost anything is Bobbi Brinker. She wrote the book "For the love of Grey's" and that is one of about 2 dozen books I bought and read. From what I learned fledging is very important for a young grey and I noticed a big difference between the first dozen grey's that I clipped after only a few days of flying and the one's I allowed to fly for about 3 weeks before clipping. They are more confident and alot more nimble on there feet. They also are nowhere near as clumsy as some grey's I have seen. Also with grey's I believe that the following link is the most trouble free wing clip for the grey's who are a bit more conscious about how there feathers are clipped.

 

http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww25ev.htm

 

The most important thing to remember when you get a baby and let it fledge is to always check where your grey is when you open he door, don't leave any doors open, and in the room where you let them learn to fly cover all windows and mirrors to avoid injury. And a must is a bird diaper suit. It avoids alot of messes to clean up. And if you do like I did with my two grey's I kept I chose not to clip them and bought a suit called "The Aviater". I take my grey's outside a few times a week and have never had any problem's with it. It is the only one I was willing to take my birds outside on and I have bought 4 not counting this one so far. Plus letting them fly like that seems to have made them alot more active and playful then before I started doing this. If you have the chance I would allow your grey to learn to fly when its flight feather's grow back and you will see a big change in your grey's attitude that will last long after you clip the wings later on. Good Luck.

 

Joe

[judygram]

Yes that book "For the love of Grey's" by Bobbi Brinker is good reading. I have that book, it was the first one I read before I bought my grey. I recommend it for everyone with a grey and especially for anyone contemplating getting a grey.