Update on Cash & Tequilla

[Heatherina]

When i got Cash he was already clipped, now he is fully feathered and i think he is trying to learn how to fly. I was told he was fledged but i can clearly see he wasn't. He will grab onto the bars of his cage and flap his little wings really fast, lifts up, won't let go and then SMACK into the side of the cage beak first. He just won't let go. I am pretty much for clipping as a safety thing, but i do want Cash to learn how to fly before i ever clip him again. He sure is trying but just can't let go. Silly boy. He's learning so many words it is shocking to me. He told me he was a pretty bird yesterday. I had to laugh because this is one of the first things i was trying to teach him when he was a baby and always went back to MAMA. He has mastered climbing stairs and i couldn't be happier. I take him out in the morning and put him on the stairs and he makes the climb up to my area of the house to watch me and follow me around, and then gets bored now (shocking) and climbs up his playstand to play. Tequilla and him are now having screaming contests from different ends of the house. It's weird because she knows when he is out and following me around and she will just scream her head off.
Tequilla, my poor baby, she is coming out of her cage on her own now 100% of the time and putting herself away, she loves to be sung to and will do this weird thing with her mouth like she is silently singing along, she flips her head upside down and her eyes will pin and sometimes she will dance. She is left alone usually and not stepped up unless it is shower time as it really seems to stress her out. When you do come with the stick to step her up she always SCREAMS but always lifts her foot and gets on. Her wing feathers look bad...you can see the middle part and no feathers on it in one certain spot. I havn't found any feathers on the bottom of the cage since the last time and they were tail feathers. I'm not sure what to do with those feathers but they look really strange. I am going to start training with her this next week....pretty much just the same as i did with cash with working with a pointing stick and getting her to go there. She is pretty aggressive and lunges at everything and means business when she does but somethings just have to be done like food and water and there is noway around it. Whatever side of the room i am on she will move on her cage to that side. When i walk around picking up all the toys she threw out of her bucket she will follow me and Whine. Has anyone ever heard a parrot whine before? I'm not sure what to make out of this behavior as i have never faced it before. She sounds just like a puppy and it really breaks my heart. Out of everyone she seems to like me and HATES men. Matter fact as soon as my husband comes into the room she runs so fast that she falls, or trips over her own feet. He doesn't go into her room anymore but she can still his his voice from afar and it scares her. She is starting to talk or learn to talk and practices all night long...oh man. She can say hello and very well but this new chatter can get quite annoying and fast. especially when i was up at 1 am with her still talking away and she is in total dark and still is talking away.
She is still eatting well, actually they both eat very well.
Well there is my little update on my two big babies. We are moving along slow and steady. Wish me luck with training tomorrow with Tequilla.....everyone calls her princess in the house but anywho

 

[Grammy]

Cash may never learn to fly. My grey and eclectus must have been clipped before they fledged and neither one can fly - they just kind of flutter. Otherwise, he sounds as though he is really happy and doing well.

I can only imagine how those guys that had Tequilla treated her. No wonder she's afraid of men. Hopefully, she'll learn not to be afraid of your husband. My big red scarebaby falls off his perch and screams if a leaf flutters to the ground. I swear he's afraid of the cockatiel!

As much of a pain as it can be to have her talk at night, she's probably trying to make up for lost time when she was afraid to vocalize -so at least she knows she's safe now. Maybe she's imitating a dog she has known when when she's whining. Have you tried covering her cage at night, or is that what you mean by total darkness? I only cover my cockatiel and that's because he was always covered at night and I didn't want to upset him, but he really seems to need it.

 

[Heatherina]

I have thought about covering her, because i don't. The birds have an entire floor of my house and use to cover but got away from it and when i shut the lights off it is totally pitch black. Maybe i will try and cover her and see how that goes.
Funny you say that about a leaf because my Oscar one time was so funny. A feather was floating down and that bird freaked out so bad over that feather and was karate kicking the air. He still is scared over feathers or anything floating in the air. He cracks me up anyways. He's a Zon.
Cash doesn't seem to be scared of a thing and he cracks me up with his fake outs. I will get down on my hands and knees and walk around the floor behind him, and then when he turns i will turn as well and flip around and say peek a boo and he will go hahahaha in his Macaw voice and then do Mr roboto movements, jump at me and say come mere. Yeah Cash i am stupid enough to fall for that...NOT! If i sit on the floor, he will come running as fast as he can and he has this amazingly HUGE feet and trips over then all the time and he will have his wings out and be screaming MAMA as he is running, he always runs over and bites onto my pants leg, puts one foot up to flip over and starts making these dinosaur noises. He's funny.
I wish i knew everything that happened to Tequilla to make her so darn scared of the world around her. She's a good bird just has a lot of problems right now that we will have to work on. It's going to be a very slow process with her....i will give updates and of course videos as we go along.

 

[Nìmwey]

That's so sad that he was clipped as just a baby.
I know a breeder or CAG's here in Sweden who does that, with the words "if they are ever clipped later in life, they will be so shocked, so this is for the better."

But they don't count in the self-esteem, feeling of security and accomplishment that goes with a young bird learning how to fly. It is so important for their mental well-being, especially sensitive birds like greys. I know several people who have gotten their birds from that breeder, and the birds have always had a very hard time learning how to fly anything at all, and have had problems with fear.

Their minds can't mature properly without learning how to do what they are meant to do. And how does a bird save itself if it falls? It flies, so without that possibility, some birds get scared of heights.
One of the people who got a bird from that breeder said "Now, when my grey is five years old, she can finally turn when she's flying!"
Five years old... they should know that before five months old...

Sorry for my rant... I just get so passionate when it's about birds and flying, they are after all supposed to fly, every fiber in their body. Clipping a baby bird is like hindering a human toddler from ever learning to walk.

 

[Heatherina]

I was told that he flew before he was clipped, maybe so but one time isn't enough. He has no clue how to fly at all. He is trying though and gets some wind going and usually cleans the house with it LOL. I am worried about him getting hurt while he is trying. He is already clumsy can you imagine him soaring through the house? Oh boy