To fly or not to fly... that is that question

LoveMyConlan

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Mar 31, 2015
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Pennsylvania, USA
Parrots
Gcc- Conlan... Sun Conure- Mouse...Jenday- Kellan... RLA- Happy...B&G Macaw- Rhage
My Sun Conure baby is being weaned as we speak at the breeders. She has left the decision up to me on whether I want him to be allowed flight before clipping him to bring him home or if I just want her to clip him earlier.

He still has a few weeks to come home but I want some opinions please.

When he comes home he will be clipped, as I personally feel it's safer. But I've heard that by allowing them time when young to fly will help build the muscle in their chest and wings as well as balance. But then I've also heard it makes no difference.

Thoughts?:orange:
 
I've always clipped my birds. It really prevents them from flying into things and getting hurt. It is definitely a personal preference but a lot of people don't realize just how many hazards they have inside their homes.
 
You most definitely want them to fully fledge before clipping them. If you ever decide in the future that you want him/her flighted it will make a huge difference.

If it were me I'd bring him/ her home flighted and see how it goes. You can always clip later, but either way they should definitely be allowed to fully fledge.
 
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Thank you both! My GCC was flighted fit a while before I got him and had him trimmed. The reason being he wasn't handled much and I want to establish his boundaries and our bond first. He's got a long way to go before I ever let him fly as of now. But his balance and strength are great. A friend got a bird that wasn't flighted and its balance was off a bit for a while after she brought him home after weaning.

Even my vet said it's a personal decision but I want him healthy and strong. As of now he's already perching on my hand with minimal wobbles but he's still not fully feathered. Wings are full feathered, tail is coming in nice, and his feathers around the face are filling in, but he's just starting to show plumage on his chest and body.
 
Let him learn to fly well before clipping him. This is a critical age. They need to be allowed to develop properly! If you want him clipped later then that's fine, but only after he has learned the skills needed.
 
This is a hot topic and really comes down to the individual parrot and its home. It's the personal choice of the owner based on what they feel is best for their situation. I personally prefer not to clip. To address your question though, it's far more beneficial physicsally and mentally to allow your young bird to learn flight prior to clipping its wings. Many of the above posters have adequately covered the reasons why.

A lot of people worry about flighted birds running into walls , windows or mirrors (it certainly happened to my sun conure). But really our birds are a lot smarter than we give them credit for. Show them what walls, windows and mirrors are by allowing them to explore it with their beaks. Those who run into them, quickly learn to navigate soon after an incident. Of course there will always be dangers but everything worthwhile involves risk. The thing with running into walls is, the risk is not as prevalent as one would think - at least IMO.

A bigger issue for me is training and discipline. When my bird was younger, hsewas way easier to handle so being flighted was not too much of a challenge. Now that he is 3.5 years of age, I'm starting to really see the raging hormones stage. He is a lot hard headed and would, when in a hormonal frenzy, not listen to me - at all!Time outs are hard because he would just fly back to me. It's like having an angsty, ADD-stricken teenager with wings. Focused training is required more with flighted birds - which I became lax on pre-puberty. Now I am re-assessing, re-learning techniques to regain control. So far, it seems to be working but I'll wait till the next surge of hormones attack before making a final statement.

However, once you get past these issues, the reward for your bird's well being is ten fold.
 
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Thank you everyone for the advice! I really appreciate it :)
 
I have read that brain formation in birds is directly related to learning to fly as a fledgling/youngster. If young birds are not allowed to fledge properly, brain development may be hindered with relation to flying, balance, and spatial perception. Then if allowed to fly when older, a bird that never fledged will likely be less adept at flying and landing than a bird that has properly fledged. I'd suggest let the bird fledge then clip for training, if clip at all. At least that way the bird can develop balance and perception whether it ever flies or not as an adult. Birds that are clipped still need to safely take off, jump, and land. Also, bc of the size, weight, and fluffier feathers, a young bird is less likely to cause injury to itself when learning to fly. Their little bodies are made to take the bumps and bad landings when young. Good luck!
 
Well, as I'm sure many will say - this is a 'touchy' subject for many parrot owners.

I think that bringing her home and allowing her to adjust and learn to fly before deciding whether or not to clip them is ideal.

If you clip her wings before she gets a chance to learn to fly, it'd be like having an infant be wheelchair prone and never learning to walk.

Personally, I'm very much against wing-clipping. But their safety should be of utmost concern. I just think if a birds wings are trimmed it should only be because it's for their own safety and not for the 'convenience' of the owner. But that's just me.

I think it is up to each parrot owner and their circumstances. Where you live, your house setup, level of activity, potential dangers etc. IF you do decide to clip her wings, please make sure she has a big enough cage to get exercise in.

I've pretty much 'bird-proofed' my house as much as I can - not everyone can do that. I also live in an apartment building, so my birds escaping out the door is not a hazard. Nor do I have regular people traffic to worry about. Like I said, it's each owners decision. But I cannot stress enough letting her learn to fly before deciding on clipping. Should something happen to you or you become unable to care for her and have to rehome her, the next owner may feel differently than you about clipping.

Just my thoughts.
 
You probably have enough info here already to make your own personal decision for your bird/your home, but I thought I'd chime in and say, since you are getting a young bird, you may even want to try harness training him when young. (Even if for no other reason than occasional use.)
My bird is flighted and goes out to fly in his harness. May not be the perfect situation for every bird but just mentioning now because I think it's easier to harness train a very young bird. I wish I had known about it when I got the bird before Gilbert. I feel her life would have been a better one.
 
@ruffledfeathers My Skittles loves to go out for walks with me, but I take him in a travel cage. I've thought about harnessing him, but he was a year old when I bought him and he's five years old now so I doubt he'd take to one even though he is VERY trusting of me.

I worry about him 'attacking' people though. As much as I love him, he is super sweet with me when its just the two of us. But if another person enters the room he goes into attack mode and will not let them near me. I had thought of harnessing him then so I didn't have to cage him when others were around.

I just think keeping a bird flighted is healthier for them, physically, mentally and socially. But I do think that the birds safety should be the primary concern. Obviously if someone lives in a home with direct access to the outdoors via door and there is a lot of traffic in and out of the house, then keeping the bird flighted poses a big risk.
 
@zuzubird bet you sometimes wish you had a cage for them. lol
 
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Thank you!! I just worry because he'll be new to my home and me. Once I know he can behave is like to let them fly, but until then they are 'grounded'. Any tips on Harness training?
 
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And I let the breeder know that I wanted him flying at least a week in the flight room before I have him clipped and brought home.
 
Thank you!! I just worry because he'll be new to my home and me. Once I know he can behave is like to let them fly, but until then they are 'grounded'. Any tips on Harness training?
Actually, a week isn't enough for full fledging. You need enough time for your bird to actually become a good flier before clipping... if clipping is then deemed necessary.

You see, the avian brain is forming new neural pathways as your bird is learning all the ins and outs of flight. It's when a bird is initially denied this developmental time during this critical stage that having them flighted becomes a greater danger. It's not that they can't learn to fly later, or even become good at it. But they'll never be the instinctual fliers they might otherwise have been.

Here's an example. Many of you know of my dearly departed Bixby. I never allowed the bird store to clip him, as I always keep my birds flighted. They complied with my wishes, with the proviso that I harnessed him whenever I visited and took him out if the cage. (An understandable rule, given the massive floor to ceiling windows at the front of the store.) He was still weaning at the time, which meant I had to force him into his harness all the way up until he was ready to go. He wasn't fond of the harness, so putting it on him was always... challenging. (Unfortunately, given the proviso, I couldn't take my time as illustrated in that video.)

Turns out all I'd done was still technically insufficient. Because the little bursts of flight that he got when I would come to visit him in the store weren't enough for him to fully fledge.

I got him home and trained him exhaustively. Trained him to the point that he became a pretty good flier. So I didn't really see the extent to which he'd been deprived of his full fledging until I got Jolly.

Jolly is also an eclectus, but he was hand-fed and weaned by Laura (labell). Laura allows her birds to fully fledge while they are being weaned, and the difference is amazing.

Flight skills that took a week of concentrated training to teach Bixby, Jolly would pick up in minutes. Bixby had learned to navigate the house fairly well, but Jolly can make effortless circuits of my home without showing a hint of fatigue. And the biggest difference? Jolly's composure during flight is unflappable. (Lol! Can't believe I found occasion to use that word with a bird! Hahaha!) If something happens unexpectedly, it doesn't break his composure in the slightest. He merely makes adjustment and moves on. He even changes his mind in mid-flight. "I think I'll go there... no, wait, over there... ooh! What's that? I'll go there instead!"

The difference is that, with Jolly, flying is second nature. With Bixby, despite how good he got through training and his own steely determination, it just wasn't. So flying is safer for Jolly than it had been for Bixby. He's just far less likely to crash into anything. He's unflappable.
 
Hi Anansi. I am not at all challenging your theory whatsoever and respect the info you provided, but I am wondering if their flight ability can be specific to the particular bird and/or species? Case in point, my tiel whom we got when she was around 3 months and heavily clipped from Petland did not fly for her first year of life. We actually kept clipping her during this year but then decided to have her flighted. When all her flights grew in I was amazed at what a skilled flyer she was. She turned on a dime and had great speed and agility, landed perfectly and gracefully on the smallest perches and to our surprise can even flap still in mid air (I didn't know birds other than humming birds could do that)! So anyway because she was a clipped bird and still became such as skilled flyer (BTW is only 2 years old now) I am asking above question. Sadly, she is clipped again now and I miss her beautiful graceful flight around our house, but that's a different story to tell.
 
There are definitely variations between individuals within a species in terms of innate flight ability. My personal belief is that a bird who was clipped before getting the chance to fledge will always have to work harder than he/she might have needed to if allowed to fledge. So a bird that was not allowed to fledge but still becomes a good flier, (such as Bixby) would likely have become a great flier.

As for differences between species, (assuming you mean ability to fly despite losing out on fledging) I couldn't say for certain. I would imagine, however, that it would generally be a bigger obstacle for a larger parrot than for a significantly smaller one... in terms of indoor flight. Basically, it's far easier for a cockatiel to navigate through a partially open doorway than an eclectus. So any lack of flying finesse would be more readily apparent in the eclectus... given the same spatial challenge.

Let me know if that didn't quite answer your question. (My answer sounds a little convoluted even to me. Hahaha!)
 
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Ah, size difference indeed. For our little tiel our house is a much bigger "world". Makes sense, thanks.
 

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