Teaching to fly?

[GCChris]

My GCC Pete almost has all his flight feathers back. He is 2, and was severely clipped by a previous owner. He is unwilling to even jump short distances, and seems completely clueless as to what his wings are for. I believe this lack of confidence is why he is so, well, dull, he doesn't play or be active in a way other GCC's seem to. I want to help him. SOoooo is it OK to gently toss your bird onto a bed or couch to get him to flap and realize his wings work now? I want to try so bad but afraid it will go badly, and make him upset. Even if I hold my finger a few inches away from him when he is on top of the cage, and he desperately wants on, he won't try to jump or fly there, he just screeches and bobs til I put my finger closer. I think he must have had some bad falls before.

 

[jh81]

I would try it with treats!
First a fee cm for him to get to his treat, and when hes comfortable with that, move it a bit further, and repeat it untill he flys little ends

 

[GCChris]

Oh tried that, many times, no dice. He just gets frustrated and turns his back, like "well if you're not gonna give it then get lost!" Even sunflower seeds. He stretches himself out as far as he can to try and reach, but won't jump or attempt to fly.

 

[jh81]

Hmmz, what if hes on your finger and you move it up and down? Make him instictivly move his wings to keep ballance??

 

[JLcribber]

The most likely reason he doesn't fly is because he was not properly fledged (more likely not at all). Then he was clipped way to early and too often.

The vital neural pathways that needed to form during those early days did not happen.

There's a good chance he won't fly because of it. Never stop trying though

Give this a read

Thinking on the Wing | The Parrot University, llc

 

[GCChris]

Thank you I will read that right now. Yes, I suspect Pete had a poor start at life . He is small side weighing 64g, with teeny little feet like a budgies, and still doesn't chew or play with anything very often. Even balsa wood, he will only pluck whatever treats I stuff in it out, then ignore it.

 

[SandraK]

If you perch him on your finger and then move your hand up and down fairly quickly, does he flap his wings at all?

 

[GCChris]

Yes he does, but not very much, just quick flits, if you know what I mean? For instance if I do that with Coco, he extends his wings fully and flaps, Pete just kinda flutters them.

 

[SandraK]

Maybe consider doing that with Pete more often. My line of thinking is that if you keep doing this "exercise" say a couple of times a day (or when you can) he will (hopefully) start extending his wings or flapping more. Maybe I'm looking at this through rose tinted glasses, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. Even if he doesn't fly, it will be a strengthening exercise for his chest and wing muscles and it won't be detrimental to his health.

 

[jh81]

Yes! I like @SandraK 's reasoning! That was what i was thinking / trying to suggest as well!

 

[Begone]

Hmmz, what if hes on your finger and you move it up and down? Make him instictivly move his wings to keep ballance??

Maybe consider doing that with Pete more often. My line of thinking is that if you keep doing this "exercise" say a couple of times a day (or when you can) he will (hopefully) start extending his wings or flapping more. Maybe I'm looking at this through rose tinted glasses, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. Even if he doesn't fly, it will be a strengthening exercise for his chest and wing muscles and it won't be detrimental to his health.

Great advice!

When you have strengthening his muscles for a week or two, train him in a place that he can be safe. I would have done it on a couch. He must land soft and not hurting himself. That is the only way to get his self confidence back. And when he makes his first little jump, give him the best thing he knows and be very happy and tell him that he is the best boy in the world. And then stop training for that day. He will remember that to the next training, and be happy and positive about it.
I believe that he can learn to fly, but it can take a long time, so don't give up!

 

[jh81]

Indeed! Getting him confident is the first step

I currently have the same "problem" with a new Senny i recently got, the poor fella got abused and wont fly also, he prefers walking, so we do this wing flapping thing untill he does fly

 

[Morrigyn]

One of my green cheeks is a baby that came to me with severely clipped wings (when I say severely, I mean that there was still blood covering his feathers from someone sheering way to close). He's been with me now a few months and when he first got here, he wouldn't move his wings at ALL. Possibly due to pain, I'm not sure. But even after they healed up, he still seemed quite content to walk. THEN he met my other green cheeks and they've adopted him into their group. The other two can fly, so they'll frequently take flight and leave him behind. Poor little baby flaps his wings but never really tries to alight. I have a feeling this will change shortly, though. The others make him want to fly.

It was a similar story with my gray. She came to me from a previous owner who informed me that she had never learned to fly. Never had been allowed to grow out her feathers. So, that's the first thing that I let happen. No more clipping. She's been with me a lot longer and at first I was certain that she would never fly (she's easily an older bird although I'm not certain of her age). But then, little by little, she saw the other birds flying around. She'd start by flapping randomly. She'd try to glide. Now she's at the point that she can soar across a room with no hassle. She thinks she can perch on my face, though, which is heart-stoppingly terrifying, but I'm proud of her progress!

I think, since you seem to have other birds, give Pete some time and let him watch the others. It may take a while, though. I know it did for mine. But they'll eventually want to copy.

 

[GCChris]

Thank you all so much for the advice! We're gonna train hard! *cue Rocky theme*
But not too hard . He has seen Coco fly...coming right for him....and just freezes in place. I keep them 100% apart now, but would sure be nice if that could change one day, cause I can't really see Coco the Meyer's putting much effort into flying around chasing Pete, I think he would get tired of it if Pete could fly away, and would learn to tolerate/ignore Pete (which is best I can hope for.) Most of all I just want Pete to be more confident and enjoy life more, he is a real 'perch potato'.

 

[Monica]

Oh tried that, many times, no dice. He just gets frustrated and turns his back, like "well if you're not gonna give it then get lost!" Even sunflower seeds. He stretches himself out as far as he can to try and reach, but won't jump or attempt to fly.

The reason is because you are asking too much too soon. You need to set him up for success by figuring out what he is willing to do and go from there. If he knows how to step up, then start from there!


Here's something I wrote up for someone else.


If he knows step-up, and he'll step up reliably, then you can teach him to fly on command! The first command is step up, using a different command.

1. "Come" - have Kiwi step up. Repeat 10 to 100 times
2. "Come" - have Kiwi stretch just a little to step up. Repeat 10 to 100 times
3. "Come" - have Kiwi use his beak to step up. Repeat 10-100 times
4. "Come" - Have Kiwi hop to your hand. Repeat 10-100 times
5. "Come" - Have Kiwi hop to your hand with a wing flap. Repeat 10-100 times
6. "Come" - Have Kiwi fly to your hand in a short distance. Repeat 10-100 times.
7. "Come" - Have Kiwi fly to your hand in a somewhat longer distance. Repeat 10-100 times.
8. etc....

More or less, break down the command into small steps, and repeat each step until Kiwi accomplishes the step at least 9 times out of 10. If Kiwi is reluctant to go onto the next step, then go back a step and repeat until Kiwi is comfortable with that step before proceeding further.

 

[SueA555]

I let Joey grow his wings out when he was 15 -- that was a couple of years ago. It took him quite a while to get confident at flying, but now he flies instad of walking a lot.

 

[GCChris]

I did the up/down flappy exercises today and he bit me real good. I guess he had enough of tht activity. I think he was just trying to help keep his balance. I'm not giving up, gonna stop for a few days though.

 

[Monica]

Forcing him to flap when he doesn't want to can be a negative experience for him and break the trust he has in you. Please be careful.

You want the experience to be fun for him! If he doesn't find it fun, you'll get a chomp!

 

[RocketBo]

When I got my new tiel, she couldn't fly at all and very thin (65g as well). After morning feed, I put her somewhere she can't get away without flying, and put her food somewhere she can't get to without flying. I left her there for the entire time until her next feed, about 6 hours sitting on a wall shelf. Only took two days for her to get flying and exploring the whole room. You surely don't get bitten this way. The bird decides when it wants to fly, and is motivated by food and boredom to do so. if it doesn't want to fly the first few days thats fine. It still gets a free feed in the cage at the end of the day. Once your bird is flying, you can make yourself the food source and start recall training. It's been a month and my tiel is not even clumsy anymore.

 

[Wolf]

You could also try running with your bird to try and get him to flapping