• 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

Preparing clipped bird to fly

jermajay

Meeting neighbors
Joined
5/9/22
Messages
26
So one of my lorikeets is moulting and will be growing his feathers soon I hope, I was wondering how I should be helping him learn to fly. Also, any more ways to prevent mental issues regarding clipped. He was clipped as a baby which I have heard is the worst time, so I want to start now helping him learn. I've put some small 'hops' between 'high value' areas in the room, with food and the like, so he flaps his wings a bit going there, I also do a bit of recall getting him to hop and flap his wings. Also, I have tried to not make him reliant on me, if he flies to the ground (it's carpet and he can kind of glide so he won't get hurt) I don't pick him up, he has to climb back up on his own, and I've tried to connect all the places Bo (the other one who can fly) goes, and also where I am, so if he wants to go to us he can climb himself, I don't pick him up and carry him over. Because I've heard clipped birds can become overly lazy and clingy.

I was thinking now that I should be carrying around treats, and every time he flaps his wings, I give him a treat to get him to do that more, would that work and is there anything else I can do? Also, when he first grows back the flight feathers, how should I make sure he doesn't fly into walls and hurt himself? I'll put the blinds down, but the breeder clipped him because he was doing that a lot, flying into walls and windows so I'd like to do something else to help with that. THanks in advance!
 

Zara

♥❀Livin´ in Lovebird Land❀☼
Super Moderator
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Avenue Concierge
Joined
1/8/18
Messages
31,366
Location
Reino de España
:bump4:
 

fashionfobie

Biking along the boulevard
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
1/4/19
Messages
5,246
Location
Qld, Australia
Real Name
Natalie
I do not have experiences with lorikeets, but my little plumhead parrot was clipped when I got him too. I was so disappointed :( I didn't need to help him learn to fly again, exactly. I simply left lots of play stands with natural branches and bark on, which were easy to grip. As he regrew his wings, he regrew confidence, and would start jumping and fluttering between things. Today he is an incredible flyer and very agile in the air.

I think you are doing the right thing by letting your bird navigate on their own. I don't think it is laziness, it is confidence. A bird who can't fly is very vulnerable and may lack the personal self assurance that more confident flighted birds have. Allowing your bird to safely succeed on their own will likely help them find confidence in themselves. Keep boosting confidence by setting up hops that are achievable and allow your bird to have a sense of accomplishment. There is no need to rush. Take it as slow as possible. One bad fall can destroy any confidence built.

When my plummie was learning he did make mistakes, onetime he was overly excited and flew smack into a closed door. He ended up with a gnarly beak bruise, but he did recover. If I was in the same position again, I may try to be more careful about keeping some surfaces covered or hang some towels off interior doors to help as best as possible.
 

jermajay

Meeting neighbors
Joined
5/9/22
Messages
26
I do not have experiences with lorikeets, but my little plumhead parrot was clipped when I got him too. I was so disappointed :( I didn't need to help him learn to fly again, exactly. I simply left lots of play stands with natural branches and bark on, which were easy to grip. As he regrew his wings, he regrew confidence, and would start jumping and fluttering between things. Today he is an incredible flyer and very agile in the air.

I think you are doing the right thing by letting your bird navigate on their own. I don't think it is laziness, it is confidence. A bird who can't fly is very vulnerable and may lack the personal self assurance that more confident flighted birds have. Allowing your bird to safely succeed on their own will likely help them find confidence in themselves. Keep boosting confidence by setting up hops that are achievable and allow your bird to have a sense of accomplishment. There is no need to rush. Take it as slow as possible. One bad fall can destroy any confidence built.

When my plummie was learning he did make mistakes, onetime he was overly excited and flew smack into a closed door. He ended up with a gnarly beak bruise, but he did recover. If I was in the same position again, I may try to be more careful about keeping some surfaces covered or hang some towels off interior doors to help as best as possible.
That's a good point about the confidence, he is always at the very tallest point in my room, and he's more defensive of 'his stuff', he bites me when I'm trying to refill foragers or move perches or whatever a lot, so he probably does that out of anxiousness. I didn't think he was very nervous since he does seem pretty confident navigating, I made him a big ladder and he hops from rung to rung very quickly, it makes me a bit anxious sometimes haha. I'll hang up some towels on the walls once he gets closer to flying, thank you!
 
Top