New to flying and need help!

[SparkkiSparkS]

Ok so my lil plumhead randomly started flying today.. When we got him his wings were clipped so he would just softly flap to the ground when he tried, BUT he gave up trying a few months ago and has not tried again till today. He is active, playful and healthy, just didn't fly. Today at random he just took off like a rocket! He went all the way down the hall and into the bathroom the first time, then back out. My problem is, he doesn't seem to know how to slow down or go up or down. He just keeps running into things. How to I teach him to go up & down and slow down? I've had other birds that first learned to fly with me, and although they were clumsy, they still did a lot better than him and could somewhat get to a landing spot. I never had to teach them not to fly into a wall. When I said he took off like a rocket, I mean it! He flew very fast! This is a new one to me so any help would be great.

 

[MonicaMc]

What about teaching him to hop from your arm to the bed? You don't want to force the behavior, instead you want to teach it. Start low and slowly increase how far down he has to hop. You may need to lure him off you at first.

Likewise, you may want to teach him to fly to your arm by command by starting with a step up and slowly increasing the distance he has to "step up". Again, you may need to start with a lure, but once your plum head gets the idea, you can fade out the lure, then simply reward the behavior as it occurs.

 

[MikeyTN]

He will learn to control it once he mastered the flight skills. Please be sure to close all curtains and such during flight!!!! That is something he must learn on his own on how to fly.

 

[Anansi]

It was the realization that all birds learn to fly, just as human babies must learn to walk, that changed my approach to bird flight. The difference with birds in nature is that they have more room for their practice runs and they work on flying more frequently. We have to make adjustments since we're working with them in confined spaces, but so long as we take the flight instruction in baby-steps, our fids can become strong and skilled fliers. Here's what I did.

Materials: First, I bought two adjustable height training stands. (I got mine from that Parrot Wizard guy, but any two adjustable training stands without any distracting bells and whistles on them should do.)

Time and Place: Make sure to schedule his training between meals so that he will be properly treat motivated. A bird on a full stomach is not as likely to be fully focused. And start this training in an enclosed room, maybe a bedroom or study, so you can limit his ability to build up a full head of steam and hurt himself when he hits a wall. (Because he WILL fly into a few walls, initially.)

Method: Then, as Monica pointed out, you start off with small distances. Place the two training perches next to each other, set to the same height. My bird (Bixby) is an eclectus, so I started with a stepping distance of around 5 inches. If your bird is already target and clicker trained, that will make this part much easier.
I used a target stick and tapped the perch that I wanted him to step up to. When he did, I used my clicker as well as verbal praise in an excited voice and then immediately followed up with a treat.

Then, once he has repeated this action a few times and will go back and forth without hesitation, increase the distance a bit. Enough now that he needs to use his beak, first, to assist with crossing the distance. Repeat this one a few times as well. But remember your bird's attention span. Don't push him until he loses interest in the activity. 15-20 minutes is usually a good span of time, but you'll know your bird best and how long would be too long.

Next step is a distance between the two perches far enough to require a small hop to cross. Wash, rinse, repeat. Then a distance far enough that he needs a wing flap or two. This one is critical and DEFINITELY not to be rushed. Make sure he is completely comfortable with the hop before moving on to this one!

Continue increasing the distance over a span of days. Always in that enclosed room. Once he gets really good at flying back and forth between the two perches at varying distances, you can begin increasing the difficulty by offsetting them. You know, setting them up at diagonals and such.

And once he's comfortable with all of that, you can start varying the heights of the two perches. (The most important skill for him to learn here is flying from a higher level to a lower one. This is a more difficult skill for them to master than flying upward, and it can make all the difference if your bird ever flies out an open door and up into a tree.)

For the height variance exercises, the greater the distance between the stands, the lower the difficulty. (Within the confines of a room, anyway.) Smaller distance means more fine tuning adjustments in shorter spans of time when flying from a higher point to a lower one. And it takes more strength to generate the necessary lifting thrust when flying from a lower point to a higher one.

Finally, when your fid is comfortable with every possible variation and combination of the different exercises, you can take him out to practice flying in the larger rooms of the house. (*One important note. During the entire time that you are training him in the bedroom, you should take the time to walk your bird from room to room throughout your house/apartment to get him used to his surroundings in preparation for this moment. Take special care to note for him any windows and mirrors. Let him touch the windows and mirrors with his beak so that he gets it. Do this repeatedly. As Michael had said, all windows should be covered with curtains, but teaching him about what glass is and where he might find it could make all the difference one day. All it takes is a moment's carelessness, right?)

For me, the entire process took maybe 1.5 months? Or maybe even 2? Granted, I did take longer than I should've out of my own nervousness, but even so, not that long at all. Your bird might need less time. Or he might need more. No rush. It'll be worth it.

Hope all of this helps.