Afraid to fly or lazy?

[Cthebird]

Thanks, everyone! We definitely have entered a new era with our current bird boy. It was as if starting this thread turned on a switch. Yesterday my husband and I were downstairs and I heard him calling from what seemed a closer location than where his cage and play area are. When I went upstairs, I found him on the other side of the house in my husband's library sitting on papers in hubby's inbox. I don't know if it was one long flight or one with a "stop over", but that's a bit of a distance. We do indeed need to be extra careful now. Not just for safety, but we don't want "surprises" on paperwork. And yes, he does chew a bit. He was clearly looking for us that time, and when he didn't see us he started to call. He's likely afraid to fly downstairs. I don't know if I want him to. He is now definitely locked in his cage when I'm cooking. I realized that now doord need to be shut immediately.

 

[EllenD]

I just stumbled upon your thread today, so I'm late to the party. I'm glad he's starting to figure the flying thing out. It will take time, and as already stated, it does sometimes have to do with the fact that they are indoors and feel like it's too cramped for them to fly in. Large parrots such as full-size Macaws, Greys, Cockatoos, Amazons, etc. hardly ever fly indoors because they know that they're too large, their wingspan is too large, etc.

Something else to consider as a possibility that I didn't see mentioned in any replies is that he may not have ever "fledged" in the first place. I don't know where you got him from, you said you "adopted" him at 6 months old when he would have been fully-weaned, but unfortunately it's not at all uncommon for some parrot breeders to clip their baby's wings before they fledge. And this is one of the biggest no-no's a bird breeder who hand-raises their babies can make. A bird who has it's wings clipped before they fully fledge has literally never learned to fly...and the other factor is that even when their wings grow back-in, unless they go to a home with other birds that are flighted in it, they've also never even seen another bird flying, so they quite literally don't understand flying, or even know that they have the capability to do so. It's the same situation that is created by bird breeders who don't put their babies into a "Weaning-Cage" or "Starter-Cage" that has different types of toys, ladders, different perches, different food and water containers, etc. These birds literally don't know how to play with toys! They don't know what toys are, what they are for, and have no understanding of what "playing" is. So they just sit in their cage at their new home with tons of toys hanging around them and they just sit there. They actually have to be shown how to play with toys by their owner. We've had a few of these on here recently.

So it sounds like you're heading in the right direction with him, you just have to keep showing him that he can fly, and what the benefits of him flying are, and that it's fun to fly. It's good that he's actually doing it already, as some birds who are clipped before they fully-fledge just never fly. It's extremely sad and a massive breeder mistake. Luckily it looks like your little guy is going to be just fine.

 

[Cthebird]

I'm afraid to say that I know relatively little about what happened to him before his adoption at 6 months. Maybe my hubby knows. He did the research. The place had stellar reviews and when we talked to other customers they said they loved going to the place (we adopted him from) so much that they drove from Connecticut. The place was in New Jersey. It is a huge warehouse, and we saw a couple of birds flying and many larger birds out on perches. I don't know if most of the birds were bred there or brought in from outside breeders. I suspect the latter. Maybe an original breeder allowed him to fledge? I don't know.

Our Hahn's macaw was in a clean cage full of toys he shared with another juvenile Hahn's macaw (a sibling?)

 

[bigfellasdad]

Flying down appears to be difficult for parrots. I try to encourage enzo to fly down stairs. If they escape and go to a high tree I believe they won't come down... they may want to but flying down is difficult for them. Hence me trying in case

 

[ChristaNL]

LOL Japie (as an only bird here at the time / oh the goood olden days... ) learned a lot from watching nat.geo. on TV.
His approach to landing was "just stop flapping these wings here and I will stop".

so...some of the time he would stop a wee bit early and miss completely or misjudge (cartoon splat and sqeeeeeeee to the ground) or overshoot and (cartoon splat again on something behind his objective).
After a few afternoons watching bird-documentaries a lightbulb went on in his head: backwinging!!!
oh.. and: stick out the feet.
(Yup- deploying the landing gear...not part of the program sofar...)

fast forward 3,5 years and I have a bird that goes on little adventures and lands in places I never guessed a bird his size could get in to.
(Yesterday he even flew in the almost dark room, from where he had been sitting under a light -> so propbably completely blinded, just to check if I was still there.)

I am so glad I did not clip his wings after the first set of accidents (yes I considered that and was advised to do so: he was not just accident prone; he was a drunk B52 with a serious crush on gravity!).

LOL now you know why I am so proud of every bird that has the chance to learn how to fly.
I've seen what is does for them, so verry happy you give yours a chance!


and yes: they are a complete and utter nuisance!
especially when they figure out they can outfly you.
Happy suffering y'all
.