• Welcome to Avian Avenue! To view our forum with less advertisments please register with us.
    Memberships are free and it will just take a moment. Click here

Flight Training

QuakerCraz

Sprinting down the street
Joined
5/14/20
Messages
335
Real Name
Tricia AKA Kitti
My little baby JoJo is becoming a bird and I'm such a proud mama. But then again, I'm a bit of a worried one, too. JoJo has started to fly.

I would like to do some flight training to teach JoJo how to fly and do it safely. I was told getting a harness and doing flight training with the harness was a good way to do it. I really don't want to clip JoJo's wings but everyone I've talked to at the pet shop I go JoJo from keeps telling me it's better for the bird. I've read that it's actually the opposite, specially when they are as young as JoJo is and just starting to learn to fly. So I'm against clipping until they have full ability to fly without any issues.

If I'm correct on this, a good way to teach stable flight is 'come to me' training and using a harness when they are out and can take off when they want. With the harness, I would at least have control over the distance they could go and prevent any wall and ceiling whumps and still have enough length to reach a chair, cage top, end of the bed or other safe landing spot. Do I have the right idea on this? Correct me if I got something wrong. I want to do this right. Any advice is welcome.
 

Mizzely

Lil Monsters Bird Toys
Super Moderator
Vendor
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Avenue Concierge
Joined
8/9/11
Messages
39,967
Location
Northern Mitten Michigan
Real Name
Shawna [she/her]
They don't need a harness to fly in your house anymore than a baby needs a leash to learn to walk :) Cover windows and mirrors to keep them from colliding, make sure there are plenty of bird friendly perching spots (cages, playstands, boings from the ceiling, etc), and let them explore! Having them come to you is great practice, otherwise setting up multiple food bowls around the house next to the perching spots is a good incentive too!

And yes, even as an adult. They should stay flighted IMO :)
 

QuakerCraz

Sprinting down the street
Joined
5/14/20
Messages
335
Real Name
Tricia AKA Kitti
I'd like to harness train anyway so I can take JoJo outside and have them be safe while enjoying the sunshine. I'll have to do quite a bit of cleaning up in my room as I'm not exactly the neatest person in the world(organizational skills of a dead gnat on top of being OCD about where everything is). I don't have mirrors and my windows are usually always covered except for the one by Sweeties cage since she loves looking outside and now, for some reason, climbing on the window itself(there's a ledge that separates the top and bottom halves of the window and she figure out how to get on that).

I think a combination of free flight in my room, harness training and come to me training would be acceptable. Do a bit of everything and alternate it so JoJo gets used to it all but not all at once.
 

Shezbug

ASK ME FOR PICTURES OF MY MACAW!
Super Moderator
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
4/28/18
Messages
25,823
Location
Vic, Australia
Real Name
Shez
I think it is best for her if you let her learn to fly first on her own- this is an instinct and she will learn to avoid the things she needs to like the walls and ceilings after maybe bumping into them a few times and learning what she needs to do different to correct and perfect her flying skills...... she can not do that if you have the harness on her trying to help.
Like what Shawna said about a baby with a harness- if you do not let them experience using their feet, legs, muscles and brain to coordinate it all on their own they take longer to learn and sometimes miss out on learning really important things and milestones for mental development.
Once she is competently flying (safely inside) then maybe start with letting her do some flights in the harness in a pre chosen safely set up area so that she can have somewhere to land or circle back to you.

I will be honest and tell you that I cried a horrible cry after the first time I actually let Burt fly more than a few feet just to land on something (usually the fruit tree, fence railing or seat) while on his harness, we were all calm and enjoying being outside in the nice clear open area so I encouraged and told him to go fly and he took off and just as he was about to get to the end of his leash he saw another bird flying a few houses over and he fully panicked then hit the end of the leash length and with the lack of choice of where he was able to go he really freaked out and crashed worse than he ever had unharnessed, he pretty much dropped in a fluttering mess. I felt so bad for him and guilty- then I got to watch him be so unsure of his flying skills that he did not want to fly anywhere for about two days and he was miserable. It really knocked his confidence and it was torture to watch, he wanted to fly to me when he could not climb off something but he was too unsure of himself.

He is fine now and has never wanted to take off for a fly while on the harness again (my fault for not setting him up well for the first big full length time probably) and he also became less agreeable to having the harness on. He will reluctantly let me put it on him but he hates it and would rather go outside caged than harnessed.

It sounds like you would prefer to not clip right now which is great and I hope you choose never to clip. I think it is just as important for them to fly their whole life as it is for them to learn how to do it as a baby- it is part of keeping them physically and mentally healthy. Plus there really is nothing better in this world than having a bird choose to fly to you!! :)
 

Gribouille

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
Mayor of the Avenue
Joined
7/10/17
Messages
2,399
Location
Norway
As said before, birds don't need a human to teach them to fly, they do so naturally the way we learn to walk. Trying to teach your bird with a harness on in order to "control and protect" will have the opposite effect, because although the harness is small and insignificant to you, its weight is quite considerable for a little bird, considering they weigh about 10% of the bird's weight. As a comparison, if your own weight is 60kg, your harness would be 6kg, that's quite heavy. It is certainly not making it easier to learn such a balance-depending skill as flight, especially considering that it lies on the back and chest muscles, the ones he needs to learn to control under flight and the harness will disturb his balance and sensations.

So I would recommend to let him learn how to fly by himself, and have training sessions with the harness at the same time but just to train your bird to put the harness on. That alone might take some time for your bird to accept and feel confident with. Once you have both flight and harness training under control, you might try to go outside, but as Burt experienced, flying on a harness is not necessarily a good experience... There is the leash, there a trees where they can tangle the leash, there are other birds, prey birds maybe.
I've always considered the harness as a security to take my bird outside for a ride on my shoulder or hand, so that I'll have him under control should he try to fly away, but flying outside is not the reason you want a harness on your bird. If that is your goal, you'll be much better off and safer building a big aviary in your back yard! :)
 

QuakerCraz

Sprinting down the street
Joined
5/14/20
Messages
335
Real Name
Tricia AKA Kitti
All I'm using the harness for is just so I can sit with JoJo outside or ride with me on my shoulder or hand, not to let him fly around. SO if they do fly off, I can at least keep track of them and gently control how far they go. I can't build an aviary since the place I'm renting won't allow anything like that on the property(mobile home and part of the rules is no pens or dog runs and i think aviaries count towards that).

I think I have a solid idea on what to do with JoJo now. I'll do some come to me training since I'm doing that with Sweetie and I believe it would be beneficial for JoJo as they learn to be stable. But I'll let them free fly in my room as they want a couple times a day and just be there as the rescue team if they get stuck somewhere and make sure they know it's all okay. I'll work on harness training after they move into their official cage and they are settled in there.
 
Top