MrsPapiga
Moving in
- Joined
- 10/19/21
- Messages
- 9
- Real Name
- Jojo
For reference - My flock:
Main bird of interest: Merlin (10yo.)
The rest of the flock: Hera (7yo.), Ruto (1yo.), and Callisto (3 mo.).
Hello there!
I’m wanting to get some advice on convincing Merlin to hop with the end goal of getting him some experience with recall training, so when he does fly, he’ll do it intentionally and with good control. I’ve had him since he was a baby. He was recently in for a vet exam and he has a clean bill of health, and is 62 grams, so definitely not overweight. The vet also said he’s got really good muscles.
He steps up without using his beak (he leads with his feet), shakes “hands”, spins, understands “touch” (the target stick), “be calm,” and “gives kisses,” all very consistently. I’ve tried using both my hand and a second T perch to get him to the point of hopping, but if he deems my hand or the perch too far, he just gives up. He tries to reach out to them with his beak, or he’ll turn around and try to step up backwards. After those both fail, he’ll usually hunker down and flutter his shoulders (not his whole wings) but that’s as far as he’ll go. I’ve considered the possibility of clicking and rewarding when he gets into flying position, because it could be a gateway action to hopping or flying, but I haven’t managed to convince myself to do that in case it could be detrimental in the long run.
I have three other green cheeks who all fly very well and frequently, but he’s never shown any desire to fly with them. I’ve tried gently raising and lowering him on almost like a really slow and steady roller coaster ride around the room, and he just enjoys sitting contentedly on my finger and doesn’t flap at all. The same motions generally lead to my other birds doing a few laps around the room, and lets them know they don’t need to stay with/on me at this time. They generally wait for permission to know they’re allowed to flap about for fun.
He’s usually on my person for two or three hours a day, and during that time he’ll fly around the room a time or two for fun, and sometimes has “fright flights,” too. My reasoning behind wanting to work with him on hopping and flying intentionally is so that he’ll better understand how and what to land on. About 40% of the time, the flights he takes conclude with him flying into a wall and falling to the ground. I keep the curtains over the windows while he’s out, because they’re a soft and illuminated place he could land, but he generally crashes into the wall anyway. He’s managed to land on a door frame a couple of times as well, which is still a crash landing, but it’s at least not him falling onto the ground. The times he lands somewhere intentionally, it’s usually one of their cages.
Are there any other techniques or methods I should be utilizing with him? Is this something I shouldn’t even worry about? Hearing him thud into the wall isn’t a fun time. He seems to get discouraged whenever he can’t perform the action I request of him while we’re training, and I don’t want his “failure” to be a detriment to our bond. He clearly understands what I’m asking of him, because he gets in flying position and doesn’t put out any of the “I’m confused and don’t understand what you want from me” mannerisms. Thoughts or suggestions?
TIA for taking the time to read this!!
Main bird of interest: Merlin (10yo.)
The rest of the flock: Hera (7yo.), Ruto (1yo.), and Callisto (3 mo.).
Hello there!
I’m wanting to get some advice on convincing Merlin to hop with the end goal of getting him some experience with recall training, so when he does fly, he’ll do it intentionally and with good control. I’ve had him since he was a baby. He was recently in for a vet exam and he has a clean bill of health, and is 62 grams, so definitely not overweight. The vet also said he’s got really good muscles.
He steps up without using his beak (he leads with his feet), shakes “hands”, spins, understands “touch” (the target stick), “be calm,” and “gives kisses,” all very consistently. I’ve tried using both my hand and a second T perch to get him to the point of hopping, but if he deems my hand or the perch too far, he just gives up. He tries to reach out to them with his beak, or he’ll turn around and try to step up backwards. After those both fail, he’ll usually hunker down and flutter his shoulders (not his whole wings) but that’s as far as he’ll go. I’ve considered the possibility of clicking and rewarding when he gets into flying position, because it could be a gateway action to hopping or flying, but I haven’t managed to convince myself to do that in case it could be detrimental in the long run.
I have three other green cheeks who all fly very well and frequently, but he’s never shown any desire to fly with them. I’ve tried gently raising and lowering him on almost like a really slow and steady roller coaster ride around the room, and he just enjoys sitting contentedly on my finger and doesn’t flap at all. The same motions generally lead to my other birds doing a few laps around the room, and lets them know they don’t need to stay with/on me at this time. They generally wait for permission to know they’re allowed to flap about for fun.
He’s usually on my person for two or three hours a day, and during that time he’ll fly around the room a time or two for fun, and sometimes has “fright flights,” too. My reasoning behind wanting to work with him on hopping and flying intentionally is so that he’ll better understand how and what to land on. About 40% of the time, the flights he takes conclude with him flying into a wall and falling to the ground. I keep the curtains over the windows while he’s out, because they’re a soft and illuminated place he could land, but he generally crashes into the wall anyway. He’s managed to land on a door frame a couple of times as well, which is still a crash landing, but it’s at least not him falling onto the ground. The times he lands somewhere intentionally, it’s usually one of their cages.
Are there any other techniques or methods I should be utilizing with him? Is this something I shouldn’t even worry about? Hearing him thud into the wall isn’t a fun time. He seems to get discouraged whenever he can’t perform the action I request of him while we’re training, and I don’t want his “failure” to be a detriment to our bond. He clearly understands what I’m asking of him, because he gets in flying position and doesn’t put out any of the “I’m confused and don’t understand what you want from me” mannerisms. Thoughts or suggestions?
TIA for taking the time to read this!!