Pondering whether or not to clip Sparky

[Sparky04]

Sparky has a lot of problems..the list goes on. Anyway, her left wing started growing in a few months ago (after never growing for the 5 years we've had her). And I've noticed she flies more now. She's not a good flier but has improved. Today she got scard, flew around the whole house and crashed into a wall which gave me a scare but she was fine. So now I'm starting to wonder if I shuld clip her wings. I worry that Sparky will get hurt...This is just something I'm tinkingabout, not gonna just clip her wings without thinking it through. I think the best thing about flight to Sparky is excerise, she doesn't get much exercise besides flying.


I'm sorry if this post is jumbled, I'm using the crappy old laptop with a horrible keyboard.

 

[Sharpie]

The only way she's going to get better at flying (and not crashing) is practice, so you'll be right back here every time her wings start growing back in. Can you help her learn by providing a relatively safe environment?

 

[Leza]

I agree, practice makes perfect. maybe you can limit her out of cage time to a smaller room, and do activities to help her learn flight a little better? like holding her facing towards something to land on about 4 of 5 feet away from it and coaxing her off your hand etc.

 

[suncoast]

I'm sorry she crashed, I know I worry about it with the Littles. Once she learns the lay out of the house she'll be fine. Try to minimize the scary sounds if you can. What spooked her? I don't let the Little's out until I'm sure nobody's mowing/barking/banging/yelling/building...etc. I try to gauge as much as possible how quiet it will be. Of course it's impossible to predict stuff like that but I try.

Ginger

 

[JLcribber]

On top of what has already been mentioned, provide some sturdy landing stations up high where she does fly so there are targets she can learn, become familiar with and land on. Set them up for success by providing the things they need in their environment.

 

[CeddysMum]

I agree with all of the above. I don't know if Sparky knows the layout of the house well? If not, it might also be useful to carry her around the house in a controlled manner often while talking to her calmly and showing her around so she does get familiar with it so that IF she gets spooked again she knows where she's going and doesn't panic even more because she's in unfamiliar territory.

The way I look at it is: We don't prevent kids to start walking because initially they're wobbly and often fall and might hurt themselves. What we do is try to prevent serious injury (e.g. place gates at staircases until they've mastered the stairs with our assistance) and it's pretty much the same with the fids learning or re-learning to fly

I'm sure with practice she will become a good flyer. Let's hope she doesn't have another serious crash in the mean time.

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

For nine years, my Diva Tiel was fully flighted and she flew everywhere all the time. She was handicapped, missing several toes and her entire upper beak and she had a good life. Recently, she panicked after getting out of the birdroom and flew full speed into a tiny four inch square window and gave herself a brain injury which paralyzed her feet. I had to have her euthanized when she would not eat or drink. My heart is broken and I miss her terribly.

Does that mean I regret allowing her to be fully flighted? ABSOLUTELY NOT! I would not change a thing about Diva's life; she was a happy and healthy tiel who loved flying. And, no. I will not be clipping the rest of my flock to prevent them crashing somewhere; I have just beefed up my safety measures to keep the birds from escaping the birdroom.

Please do not clip Sparky. It is inherent for birds to fly.

 

[Cupcake]

In my personal opinion when it's a matter of their safety - I would clip. Meaning if they just aren't good at flying or tend to head towards glass panes and really injure themselves.

If they are just figuring out how to fly - I'd leave them flighted and give them ample opportunities to succeed - such as lots of places to land and being around so you can help prevent harder falls.

Good luck!

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

A bird just learning to fly will not have the speed necessary to really injure them when they crash land. Diva was an extremely fast flyer and she panicked to find herself in a cat filled environment. I will always blame myself or her escape from the safety of the birdroom, but I cannot regret allowing her to fly when she loved it so very much.

 

[suileeka]

Agreeing with Lois's post, at least where it concerns cockatiels. I have one amazing, confident speed-demon in the air - Clementine. She is incredibly skilled and manages some seriously incredible aerial acrobatics in a very small room. And she is so very, very fast. If she ran headlong into something, well. I don't think she would survive. My less confident flyers - Pogi and Cookie - are slowpokes in the air by comparison, and *do* run into things sometimes when they panic. It's almost like they use the 'crash into solid object' method of deceleration.

That isn't to say that there is no chance of injury, but she'll never get the chance to learn without practice. If there's any way you can practice *controlled* flights rather than her just taking off when she panics, she'll learn more quickly and with less risk. An enticing landing station up high that she can focus on flying towards will help. Cookie and Pogi have actually gotten much better since I got them, and when they panic now they almost always fly right over to the Atom rather than crashing into something. If Sparky is just getting used to having flight feathers on her left wing, she has more to adjust to... but cockatiels are naturally wonderful, graceful flyers. I think it would great for her to have the chance (and get some exercise while she's at it).

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

Bump! Wheeeeeee......

 

[Sparky04]

Sorry it took me so long to reply.
Thank you to everyone. Sparky could fly when we got her, but she would fly very infrequently. She was a crazy, lopsided flier because of her left wing and she wouldn’t land nicely- she'd crash land almost every time. For some unknown reason, her left wing started growing out. I've noticed she now flies to get where she wants to go. She isn't zooming around like Junior, but if she wants to go somewhere she'll fly there. She loves Afie's cage, when she's out and not on a person, she's on Afie's cage (as long as Afie's not there). And Afie's cage is in the living room, so Afie's cage is like a playstand to her. Most of her flying she does if she wants to go to Afie's cage and I don't take her there. She occasionally will fly to a person, but it's not a common occurrence. I noticed when her left wing first starting growing out, she'd flap and just somehow land on Afie's cage. Now she makes a half loop to get a good angle to land. So she is definitely learning, but she doesn't like to fly anywhere but there, meaning she isn't so good about flying through the rest of the house. It was actually my fault she got scared. I was in the dining room with her and Yoshi was on the table, Yoshi came too close to her because he was curious (he isn't aggressive torwards other birds. just curious), but Sparky is terrified of him. So she saw him and took off. I'm not used to having flighted birds, especially not a flighted bird who is still an unsteady flier. Junior is also fully flighted, but she's old and doesn't fly that much. Also she knows the lay out very well and is an excellent flier, she darts around with ease. Afie is lightly clipped, but she doesn't fly. Yoshi wasn't allowed to fledge, so he's not a good flier, but he's growing out his wings. What are some other tips on keeping her safe. I know windows are an issue, so I'm going to cover all the windows in the rooms she has access to. But the kitchen window can't be covered and the wingdow is there. I'll lock her up when we're cooking, but there's no door to the kitchen meaning she could go in there if she's out. I heard putting post-it notes on the window shatters the illusion that it's open space. Is that true? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm just trying to keep her safe. There's no standing water, (bathroom doors are closed and toliet seats are down), and no fans for her to get injured in.

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

There are purpose made stickers for windows to prevent bird strikes by wild birds. Myself, I use lattice on the outside of the sliding glass doors and the inside of the windows to discourage birds trying to fly though the windows of the birdroom.