Look who showed up in our yard

[Jennifer]

Skylover wrote:

I’ve had two birds. My first bird was a cockatiel that could fly extremely well even with his wings clipped. The vet even clipped a few extra feathers, but it didn’t work. He would always fly circles around the house hitting nothing and then land on the curtain rod and wait for me to get a chair and get him. The bird I have now is a Quaker who doesn’t fly very well at all. I have her wings clipped because she is a really clumsy flier.

Quakers and Cockatiels are both really good fliers, even with their wings clipped. People get a false sense of security when they clip the wings of birds… the are more careless with leaving windows, doors, and accidentally walking outside with the bird. The truth is that more clipped parrots escape than flighted ones (except for budgies, lovebirds and cockatiels- so many people have those and consider them disposable pets that many of them end up outdoors…). And the worst part is, if they are clipped and never learned how to fly properly, they often can’t navigate as well and there is less of a chance they will come back or even survive.
A flighted parrot tends to be a much happier and healthier one. They have the confidence that they can ‘escape’ predators (which is instinctual), they know that they can get where they need to be if necessary and have less anxiety, and are healthier for the exercise it gives them. Parrots evolved around their ability to fly. 🙂

Did your quaker ever learn to fledge and fly as a baby/young bird?

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[Heather]

skigod377 wrote:

Probably that only 2 doors can be open in the house so the bird cannot go too far and there is less risk of losing it. 🙂 Just a guess…

Ack, wandered off for a few days and left a question unanswered. Sorry DM! Skigod is correct. If the birds are out, then the door to their room is closed, and the exterior doors are kept closed too . . . since if they got out of their room, the living room and entry are next, and those have huge doors to outside. And a sliding-glass monstrousity that is just right for a bird to go smacko into.

We recently added another stray cockatiel, but this one started out with pneumonia so she’s being quarantined from the others. It’s a pied; I’m having a heck of a time being sure of the gender, but it’s probably female. She was darned close to death when she got picked up. 🙁 Feeling much better now. And although she’s familiar with cages, she’s NOT finger-trained. She bites. (Not that I can blame her; getting medicated twice a day for a month could make anyone crabby. :P)

[Skylover]

Nam, unfortunately I don’t know very much about my quaker’s young life. She doesn’t fly very well and gets extremely nervous when taken out of her cage. I think that she’s probably been in a cage most of her life. I got her from a pet store and really should have known better. She’s not very well trained, and I’m in the process of training her. I coax her out with treats and leave her cage door open so she can come out on her own free will. I don’t have any cats or any other animals and keep an eye on her when she’s out. I make sure that no windows or doors are open when she is out. I love her, and I would never consider her disposable. Would you recommend that I not clip her wings? She’s really flighty and flies into things or into the kitchen which can be dangerous. Please let me know if you have any other advice that might help with training. My cocatiel was relatively easy to tame and train, and my Quaker is quite a bit more stubborn.

[Jennifer]

I think that it’s important that you are always comfortable with your bird and the situations he is in! 🙂

That said, if you are up for a little challenge, I think that allowing your quaker to learn to fly properly may have a very positive impact on his life. 🙂
This is an excellent article; I encourage you to read the entire thing! There is even a paragraph specifically about the situation you have with your quaker.

http://community.livejournal.com/parrot_lovers/1332714.html

I’d start bird proofing now, so that when he grows his wings back in you’ll already have the patterns and habits down of ‘okay, what if my bird were to fly there?’ set. Some people use a bed or a padded area, but I used the cage to train my bird to fly. We started her doing ‘exercise’ on command even before she had her wing feathers grown out. This was just me holding her on my finger, gently holding her feet down, and making her flap her wings. You can do this with your quaker. Gently hold a thumb over his toes so he doesn’t go shooting to the floor. Make it a game so it’s fun! Say ‘exercise!’ in a bright voice and reward him by saying what a great bird he is when he does it. Start now and do it several times a day. Now only is this good for him, physically, but it’ll get him to start using his wings!
Next step is to find a place he LIKES to go to. For my parrots, this is the cage. When he has his flight feathers grown in, start him making short jumps to the place he likes to go- or, if he falls or freaks out, take him to a safe room, pad the floor (or use your bed) and gently start tossing him to the padded area. Start low so he is hopping more than anything. Once he is confident with this, you can start having him fly to the same area. Reward him with praise and perhaps a treat once in a while.
As he becomes more and more confident about his wings and ability to fly, you can encourage him to fly to different areas, even on command. A lot of people recall train their parrots, which is a very useful skill!

The main thing to worry about is safety. Of course, that is always a concern. You wouldn’t allow a toddler to run around in a dangerous subway station; don’t allow your bird access to dangerous areas such as kitchens or bathrooms. Always keep toilet seats down. When your cooking, it’s always a good idea to have a parrot put in their cage, away from the kitchen. Hot stovetops can be dangerous, but so can fumes. If you have a cat or dog, make one room ‘off limits’ to them, keep the door closed and that can be where your quaker is allowed to fly. It just takes a few extra steps of caution, but it does work! Hundreds of owners are starting to learn the benefits of having a flighted parrot (beneficial for the parrot, sometimes a pain in the neck for us humans that are owned by them!).

Volunteer mod- I'm here to help! Email me for the best response: nambroth at gmail.com
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[rockerbot]

I’m late in this thread…but THANK GOODNESS I’m not the only one who thinks birds smell like…well, bird feed! My whole family love to just hold our lovebird close to us and just breathe in their musty aroma, but my parents just never believe my claim that they smell like sunflower seeds.

My first lovebird that I got when I lived out in Southern California was a stray eating from our bird feeders. I wasn’t around when my parents caught her, I was at summer camp (this was a LONG time ago, *sigh*) but apparently Rhoda was following my mother around as she gardened in our tiny yard until my mom caught her in the feeder. She was feral at first, scared to death of us, but when nobody claimed her, we set forth taming her and she became the biggest sweetie ever. <3

She died after a long illness that we nursed her through and took many long trips to Kansas City for her to her vet in 2005.

We did get another lovebird shortly before she died, so while we mourned heavily, taking care of the new baby softened the blow even if just by a smidge.

I hope you catch the beautiful little budgie! The photo of him with the mourning dove made me LAUGH. So funny. The spray millet advice is a very good one. Birds love spray millet. <3

EDIT: I forgot, but SQUEE! I love your baby budgie, Melody! Poor little thing is too young to be flying around lost. 🙁

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