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Can an adult bird be taught to fly?

Macawnutz

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We lost Pistachio to a hawk last October. :sad4: I don't plan on taking any of our birds outside again without a travel cage, harness or no. :sad1:

I am sorry Karen. I would completely understand your decision.

A giant outdoor aviary then!
 

faislaq

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Erithacus

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Lhakyi had not been flying for a few years. He was a plucker. Ever since I got him back, he had been flapping a lot. This is a good sign as he was strengthening the breast muscles. As the flight feathers had almost grown back, I started to train him to fly by tossing him from my forearm to his perch from a short distance.
After a couple of training sessions, he began to understand what I wanted him to do. I increased the distance gradually. Now he flies from my arm to his play tree on his own from 20ft away.
 

faislaq

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@Erithacus What a great video! Hopefully we can post one of Buzzy one day, even if it ended with him attacking the camera. :hehe: Lhakyi is beautiful to watch. Is the other grey yours, too? If so, did it help Lhakyi to see him/her fly?
 

Erithacus

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@Erithacus What a great video! Hopefully we can post one of Buzzy one day, even if it ended with him attacking the camera. :hehe: Lhakyi is beautiful to watch. Is the other grey yours, too? If so, did it help Lhakyi to see him/her fly?
Too bad, the other grey didn't help Lhakyi to fly.
 

peppermint

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i'm so happy to read Buzzy flew! woohoo! happy dance! @faislaq
he definitely flew before if he knew what he was doing or supposed to do.
i've been away for some weeks, but just caught up with the events. <3
 

faislaq

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Thank you @peppermint! He is starting to molt again, so when I picked him up I noticed he lost another tail feather. Not broken, just loose, so I bet his flapping worked it the rest of the way out. So far we've only been keeping his prettiest feathers and giving the rest of the best away. Most of this batch are a little banged up because he's been playing so hard, but I have that ol' beat up feather on my desk at work & I'm so proud of him every time I look at it! :heart2:I even wrote the date of his "flight" on the shaft in fine point Sharpie.
 

clawnz

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This is Alex in flight. It has taken around 2yrs to get his confidence up to this level.
I am fairly confident due to muscle atrophy he will never fully recover the damage constant clipping has done.
This is so very sad, and why I am so upset with those who still promote handicapping.
 

faislaq

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Beautiful! The slow motion is really neat, too. You can even hear his wings flap at the end. :)
 

Dartman

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Clive, that bird is now happy and WANTS to fly to you. Lurch was clipped when I got him and considering his extremely scared and aggressive attitude it probably saved us many kamikaze attacks. As his flights grew back he startled one day and went straight up then plopped down like how did that happen. He was also extremely outa shape and once he started flying he'd be completely done in and panting then sit and nap for a hour. Towards the end some 5 years later he was flying very well and zipping around everywhere quite happily with out getting winded at all. So your guy might very well get stronger and better better with time and he loves you enough to do something he's not great at yet to get to be with you. Nerd bird never could fly well, he had missing and deformed flights on one wing. But he made short hops well and emergency escape flights. His solution was to walk wherever he wanted to go and he had huge thighs for such a skinny Maxi Pionus.
 
G

Genie

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i really dont understand why people put birds in cages, other than protection. it's like a prison :( i'm not going to judge [or try not to]
but, using a cage that is even too small, that's even more cruel
it makes me really happy to read about people taking animals [and other people] out of really bad environments and giving them a chance at a 'normal' life.
that woman was a monster for keeping the cuddle bug locked in there for such a long time. i'm really crying now.. [animal cruelty makes me cry more than cruelty against people, because animals simply cannot defend themselves, or talk, or anything like that]
Being new to this forum, I am going thru as many topics as possible, to get a feel of everything.
This subject is important to me & I absolutely agree with you.
Our Genie was mistreated by, of all people, an avian vet. He was kept in a small cage & put in front of a tv. He is a tv junkie :banghead:
He does not fly as a matter of course, but he has gotten up into trees a couple of times & he wants down to us, as bad as we want him down.
He seems to enjoy walking, he has every opportunity in the world to fly & chooses not to. We have decided that we will leave it up to him.
He has his special tree in the front yard & enjoys it very much. When he is ready to come down, he will call for us or just come down and into the house.
He is our "child" as is treated as such.
082 (Medium).JPG


084 (Medium).JPG


085 (Medium).JPG

GENIE PLAYING IN TREE.jpg
 

shanlung

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Buzzard just flew! Not far, but he did it! :shocking:He was on my arm and we were sitting on the sofa. My husband's friend laughed rather abruptly about something on tv & Buzzard lifted straight up from my arm about a foot and then flew about 4 feet before descending quickly, but not what I would call falling. He seemed as surprised as we were, but not scared.

I feel bad that he was startled but so glad he was able to land safely! :) He flapped a handful of times this week. Once when I brought him in the shower with me I got about 2 flaps before he started to enjoy getting soaked, and again when I offered him a 2nd shower he flapped a couple more times to keep his balance when he ran up my arm and onto my head to avoid getting wet and then he has started to fully extend both wings more often during his spray baths without flapping. I don't think that was enough exercise to have built up any kind of muscle tone yet, but from how good his short flight looked, I think this may not have been the first time he has flown? :yes: He appeared to know what he was doing, and even turned to try and land on the end table, but didn't quite have enough strength and fell just short.
:starshower: I was so surprised and excited. I talked to him in a happy voice using his excited words as he stepped up and immediately walked him to the nut bowl on the counter and gave him a pistachio and an almond and let him regroup and enjoy them on the perch on the front of his cage. You could knock me over with a big blue and yellow feather right now!
:faint:
:fairy2::fairy2::fairy2:
:dance4::dance4::dance4:

Any more reports on Buzzard?
 

faislaq

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Nothing new to report yet. At least no more flights. He is flapping more and more frequently with the occasional, indignant squawk at me for being "careless" and letting him get off balance as we do chores. I'm hoping that increasing his flapping will be enough to build up his muscles so he has a better second attempt when the time comes.
I can't ask him to fly to me until he understands what I want him to do. If I ask him now, he'd try to climb to me. Then if I discouraged that he'd end up frustrated that I'm stopping him from doing what I just asked. And I don't want him to have to be startled to fly; that would be cruel if it were intentional. Good news is, my husband's friend has been over several times since then and his laugh hasn't spooked my blue baby boy since. So that's a plus at least. :D
So while we're not back to square one as his flapping is much more frequent, we have plateaued for now. But I'm okay with that because now I know he is at least physically capable of flying (no injuries from his past keeping him from it) and I know he will learn one day if we just keep practicing. It's been easier to work towards because now that I know for sure that it's possible I don't feel guilty about it now. And while Luv Bug is a fast and acrobatic white blur, I hope watching her will help. :) And y'all better believe that the next time he flies I'll be on here posting about it again while I'm still shaking from excitement just like last time! I think everyone here gets more excited than my own family about birdie news and it's so amazing to feel that kind of understanding, that support. :fairy2:
 
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shanlung

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Nothing new to report yet. At least no more flights. He is flapping more and more frequently with the occasional, indignant squawk at me for being "careless" and letting him get off balance as we do chores. I'm hoping that increasing his flapping will be enough to build up his muscles so he has a better second attempt when the time comes.
I can't ask him to fly to me until he understands what I want him to do. If I ask him now, he'd try to climb to me. Then if I discouraged that he'd end up frustrated that I'm stopping him from doing what I just asked. And I don't want him to have to be startled to fly; that would be cruel if it were intentional. Good news is, my husband's friend has been over several times since then and his laugh hasn't spooked my blue baby boy since. So that's a plus at least. :D
So while we're not back to square one as his flapping is much more frequent, we have plateaued for now. But I'm okay with that because now I know he is at least physically capable of flying (no injuries from his past keeping him from it) and I know he will learn one day if we just keep practicing. It's been easier to work towards because now that I know for sure that it's possible I don't feel guilty about it now. And while Luv Bug is a fast and acrobatic white blur, I hope watching her will help. :) And y'all better believe that the next time he flies I'll be on here posting about it again while I'm still shaking from excitement just like last time! I think everyone here gets more excited than my own family about birdie news and it's so amazing to feel that kind of understanding, that support. :fairy2:
Do recalls with him. He need not to fly to you. He can walk and waddle over to you.
But get him into the habit of coming to you when you call him.

Do not just make it fun as if fun is hard work. Play with him is fun and get him into enjoying those interactions.
Believe me. When he can fly and fly, recall is so important.

For others do those recalls even if you little bird is not yet fledge and not flying as yet.
Make it that you a nice person and it is so pleasurable of them to come over to you when you invite them to come over.

MUST ALWAYS BE FUN IN YOUR HEART AND SOUL.
PARROTS ARE EMPATHS , SO MAKE USE OF THAT.
 

faislaq

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I love it! I will start trying that when we play! He will probably like our new "game". :dance4:
 

CallieCadmoor

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I've met a bird that was cage bound about 15 years. Flew once and scared the child owner on the first day and stayed in cage since. He has been well looked after, just never had the opportunity to fly. Now the owner is all grown up and is trying to fix things and slowly taming the bird and took the bird out... Lo and behold! The bird flies. A little awkwardly and isn't sure how to land but fly decently none the less. So there is hope?
 

shanlung

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I've met a bird that was cage bound about 15 years. Flew once and scared the child owner on the first day and stayed in cage since. He has been well looked after, just never had the opportunity to fly. Now the owner is all grown up and is trying to fix things and slowly taming the bird and took the bird out... Lo and behold! The bird flies. A little awkwardly and isn't sure how to land but fly decently none the less. So there is hope?
Perhaps you can pass on to that owner this so he/she might have some idea what to do.

Tinkerbell Legacy - - Rant 03 (a flighted parrot mentality) & Understanding the mind of your grey - Tinkerbell Legacy - Living with a flying parrot


Even if his bird is not a grey, it will work.
Even if his bird is a softbill and not a hookbill he will find it still will work.
Will work on cats and dogs and any kind of beasties too.

Only groups of creatures where this will not work on will be wifes and SOs.
Do feel free to chastise me if you find it works on your SOs as well.
 

CallieCadmoor

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Perhaps you can pass on to that owner this so he/she might have some idea what to do.

Tinkerbell Legacy - - Rant 03 (a flighted parrot mentality) & Understanding the mind of your grey - Tinkerbell Legacy - Living with a flying parrot

Even if his bird is not a grey, it will work.
Even if his bird is a softbill and not a hookbill he will find it still will work.
Will work on cats and dogs and any kind of beasties too.

Only groups of creatures where this will not work on will be wifes and SOs.
Do feel free to chastise me if you find it works on your SOs as well.


I will be sure to pass it on:laugh::fairy:
 

Chantilly Lace

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We have had Paco, a muloccan, for almost 10 years and I don’t think he ever flew. He’s been flighted the whole entire time and only would fly if he got really startled and he would typically crash right into the wall. However, very recently after we moved into a much bigger house where there’s a master bedroom that’s about 20x 40 feet wide, he will fly from the bed to his climbing net when he has to go to the bathroom, with a little encouragement that is. He still screams like he’s scared when he flies but he will do it. I guess we are slowly breaking ground? It hasn’t been easy though and I doubt he will ever be anything like the other birds who were properly fledged. It’s sad too, they have this amazing gift of flight and can’t had it :-(
 

faislaq

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That's so exciting that he's flying more! I hope Buzzy does the same when we get a house. But you're right, I doubt he'll ever be able to make the tight turns and loops like Luv Bug does.
 
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