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Flight progress but need some help

Fritzgerald16

Rollerblading along the road
Mayor of the Avenue
Joined
11/13/16
Messages
1,076
Location
Michigan
Real Name
Jenelle
Fritz has been flying! (sort of...)

Someone a month or so ago gave me a kick in the rear on here about clipping his wings. Fritz is a VERY poor flier, has poor muscle tone, doesn't have full range of motion in his left wing, and has injured himself landing jumping off the couch arm to the floor. The last time I let his wings grow out is when he injured himself. Luckily it was nothing horrible but he did favor his right leg for a few days. I decided then to have him clipped for his own safety and he stopped trying altogether but instead climbs and walks everywhere.

Well, now he has his distal primary feathers in (9 and 10 I believe... the big ones!) and I decided to try and help him again. I have been clicker training Fritz and he LOVES yogurt drops. I am so scared of him injuring himself so I had my husband hold Fritz on his arm, then put the treats on my bed, then point and click. It took him a while to work up the courage but eventually he hopped off my husbands arm (about 1 ft away and above the bed). There was a lot of angry squawking involved and he landed wings out but then gobbled up the treats. We have now progressed to flying from the top of my dresser on to the bed about 4-5 ft up and away. He still lands terribly but makes it to roughly the same spot as the treats (which I move around to different spots on my bed).

But now I'm stumped. He is too scared to fly to my arm, the one time he did he didn't grab on with his feet and ended up face diving onto my floor (luckily there was a pile of dirty laundry there :p) Now he won't even try, he just angry squawks because he wants the treats but is too scared to try it.
I am 99% he can only fly down, I don't know if he will ever be able to go up.

Any ideas about what to do next?
 

shanlung

Sprinting down the street
Avenue Veteran
Joined
10/17/09
Messages
372
Real Name
shanlung
Fritz has been flying! (sort of...)


I am 99% he can only fly down, I don't know if he will ever be able to go up.

Any ideas about what to do next?
Contrary to most beliefs, flying down is about the most difficult thing to do for a birdie, even fully flighted.
Flying down turned out to be a skill I really had to put my birdies through their paces. And a key criteria before I go outdoors and
removed their harness (after a very very very very long process) to let them free fly.
Try to find the time to read this to understand why I felt flying down is so difficult and why I made sure my birdies can confidently flying down.

You never know that one day you be so glad to have read this.
And your friends who seeked your help in getting their birdies back so happy you read this and know what to do.

// Search & recovery of your lost birdie
 
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