I always wanted a bird. Not anymore, it would be irresponsible of me. I`ve now spent the better part of 3 days watching your videos nonstop, learning a fraction of what it takes. Making me realize not everybody should own one of these many amazing creatures. Thankfully this will not be stopping me from enjoying your bird =) Thank you for your friendly and informational videos. Have a nice day Sir. And please keep posting this amazing content! =)
I have a 25 yo female Grey. We have just let her wings grow out in the last year. Today she flew, in the house, for the first time. I just watched your flight video and know I will start to work with her the way you showed us. Smoky looks so healthy and happy and I would like our bird to emulate her! Thank you for posting these videos!
Thank you for showing me! I’m getting an African grey soon and I really needed this! I know the technique for small birds, but not big birds. So this really helped thank you!
I'm planning on re-homing an Amazon next month. Have not had a bird in the last 20 years, your videos is helping getting me back in the game so to speak. Thank you it is helping a lot, my new bird will be lucky that I saw your videos!
I have an CAG, african grey, that is about 18 months old. Her feathers came in quickly, and nearly all at once. There was almost no trouble with breakage and no serious crashes. She had all but one pair in by 14 months. She learned to fly quickly too. I spend about 45 minutes a day with "come" and "go back" from different parts of the room. She has to go around corners to get to me. Ongoing challenges... - She tends to get fixated on certain perch locations (sometimes including places I don't want her), so her "go back" is pretty limited to going back to one spot on the cage, for example. I don't feel like her recall understanding is very general. - Getting experience flying up and down is a problem. I'm thinking of using the stairwell but have not tried it. She isn't used to going down stairs so that has to be overcome first. - My bird, Harlan, is *extremely* active. She doesn't not fit the african grey stereotypes at all. When she's "on" she can't sit still. She does laps around the room chattering about all sorts of stuff. Keeping her attention is hard, even with treats. - Shes a one-person bird, and can be stubborn. I worry that she'd be hard to handle in an emergency. Thanks for sharing your experience.
I have a blue quaker, named penny, shes 2 years old and fully flighted. Shes not trained yet, im glad you posted that video, cuz. Now i can start training her. I just love smoky, what a beautiful african gray.
I have a 21-year-old male African Grey. We've been buddies since he was weaned. I named him Socrates, but he renamed himself Socrabird, LOL. At the time I got him, it was the norm to clip wings and I did so because I thought it was the safest and best for him. When he was about 5 years old, I decided to stop clipping him. Everything you said about the slow and delicate process of fledging out the flight feathers is correct. I honestly don’t remember how long it took before his wings were in the natural process of dropping only a couple flight feathers at a time. It does happen though. Also, as you said, the learning process of flying means a lot of crash landings. Most of the homes we lived in were pretty small. Each room being a small space to learn how to fly. His first attempts were just straight-line flights to come to me or to a place he wanted to go and many of those had some scary crash landings. Then one day he flew from the top of his cage and made a tight circle of about 3 feet diameter and land on top of his cage again. It was a huge confidence booster for him too. He would do this many times and then expand his circle. Each time, I could see his skills growing. He then began to fly around the room but not always in a circle. It was more like flying up to a place and doing a sudden turn and flying back in another direction and then either back to his cage or land someplace else. It was so exciting to watch his progress as he learned. About 4 years ago we moved into a larger home with a very open space floor plan. He has his own room as his aviary. Socrabird now has great flight skills. He has learned how to negotiate the door openings and fly down the hall and fly through each room. He loves to fly large circles in the living room. It’s huge with vaulted ceilings so he has lots of room to fly. He has learned the skills to gain altitude as well as descend to land. Exterior doors are NEVER left open since he knows how to negotiate those openings. The biggest reward of his learning to fly is his temperament. There is a huge difference in him. He is happier and more confident and content and the relationship between us is stronger. Most of the time we just talk to each other from across the house and he is content with that. Yet he knows he has the skills and freedom to fly to me when he wants to be with me. The only time he doesn’t have that freedom is when I close his door at night or when I need to leave home or when I need to cook or clean. I honestly think it was one of the best decisions I ever made to stop clipping him and let him learn to fly. I want to thank you for your video’s. I love the way you approach teaching not only Smokey but also your viewing audience. I have learned a lot to help me with my own training and improving my relationship with Socrabird. And one of my favorite tips I got from you is the Pumpkin carving, LOL. Never thought of it before and trying it for the first time. While you haven’t produced a video in 9 months. I enjoyed all you have produced. I do hope all is well with you, Smokey and Snuggles and I hope you can make more video's in the future. Thanks again to you, Smokey and Snuggles.
I don't make a lot of comments BUT your video's are really well done. Put together with other well done owner's and trainers, a little common sense about a particular breed or bird; you all can really help a lot of people and birds. Thanks jh
I have a blue fronted amazon, and I always wanted him to be able to fly but when I got him he was already clipped. Everyone always told me that if I let his wings grow he would fly off and get hurt...Thank you so much for your videos with Smokey! I am teaching him recall with your techniques and he is learning incredibly fast! Even though he is 10 years old. 😱❤️
Makes me feel so good that i spent the time and resources and take the commitment to free flight train my female voesmari eclectus. Seeing her fly free everyday and cone back to me after shes done is so refreshing ❤️
This is great. I have a roughly 9 y/o rescued Grey who, I'm pretty sure, never fledged. We've had him for 5 years and stopped clipping wings about 2 years ago. He flies well when he doesn't think about it (when something scares him) but does not know that he can fly. I've tried going from perch to perch but he never had the confidence to "hop". Your tip about going from a flat surface is perhaps what he needs. We're going to give it a try and will report back in a few weeks. First step is to get a flat surface that's confident enough to stand on...
Excellent training video. My grey is 10 years old and has been fully flighted from one year old. I had to argue with the vet to not clip his wings! He is a strong flyer and enjoys swooping into whatever room I am in. I do need to train him in flight recall. My two cockatiels are like fighter jets! Very fast and manuverable. They too need training...
Those that do not die having accidentally flown away, or into a window pane, you should have added. Pet parrots are helpless creatures in the wild. If a pet parrot fly's away it will likely die of starvation sitting quietly as it is terrified in some tree somewhere waiting to be rescued. Or worse, it'll be eaten by some predator. Accidents do happen, don't let your beloved pet perish because you have failed to clip its wings! Having to euthanize your parrot because it has broke its neck flying into a window pane is no fun and will leave you very remorseful. If you must have a flighted bird get a Falcon. At lest it'll survive in the wild if it fly's away.
A pleasure to view your video. I have a flighted 38 year old Amazon that had a number of homes. Some things I don't think he'll ever do. I've had him about 2 years, and it's taken that long for him to step up (in his own time), and I have to watch his body language for him being agitated. He would bite if I offered a treat. He won't fly to me so my solution is that I've stick-trained him for safety and/or his aggressive moods. He will sit on my arm for head scratches so I accept his limitations. No worries about open windows here. When out, he'll scream if I go out of his sight to do something. He'll fly off in the house if I wear this certain shirt he doesn't like lol. Oh well, I love him, warts and all.
Your videos have helped me so much and it's so nice to see the bond between you and Smokey. As I was watching Smokey fly to your hand I noticed that just before Smokey lands you sort of drop your hand lower and I was just wondering why.
I just want to comment that I think you have some of the most eloquent and informative videos. I plan on sharing them with other bird groups that I am in because they provide such valuable information (as you have given permission for). I have a CAG, 10 months old that is not fully flighted yet. She is able to recall from a small distance from a perch. I have a 5 year old Blue Front Amazon that does not have flight feathers on one of her wings. I'm not sure if this is a physical defect or from a bad clipping job? She is very afraid to to jump from the perch to my hand. I will be trying it from a flat surface like you have suggested. I also have 2 green cheek conures. One is fully flighted, and the other is still clipped from when I purchased him. I will be doing recall training with them.
I have a cag that is flighted. I’m the second human this bird has adopted. It was clipped real hard by the previous human. It took years to get the flight feathers back. Recall trading isn’t going well but I haven’t been consistent. Consistency is key.
I have a 20 year old African grey (I believe she’s a girl!). She’s a wonderful friend, and she unfortunately has never learned to fly. She was clipped when she was about 6, but I think she’s still had trouble growing in feathers on one side. These videos are great! Smokey has a beautiful coat
Very interesting. I enjoyed this video very much. I have 7 flighted birds: 2 male budgies, 4 Indian silverbill finches, and 1 canary. The budgies can do simple recalls (see, e.g., "Highly Composed Budgies in Training"), but the others are not "tame" enough to step up. I had trained a finch at recall (and you have viewed that exercise), but the time and dedication needed to train the finches and canary are too much work in my present situation. They are easy to manipulate in our everyday lives so there is less motivation to "officially" train them.
I have 1 tiel 2 lovebirds n 2 budgies. None have ever been clipped. But their first times out of the cage involved lots of crashing anyway. Also they couldn't fly for long without loosing breath. Not to mention the bad landings and misjudging surfaces they would land on. Now their flying is better. But none have been trained in flight recall yet. I'm still working on getting bonded better with them all which seems to be harder with a "flock" of 5 even if diff species and in separate cages
Hi...I really like the way you teach about birds....esp the fact that you treat them as they should be ...but could you please suggest or may be show how to put the bird back in the cage
I’m planning on getting a Lovebird in a few years and I’ve got some questions about flighting it (I’m not sure what gender they will be). I don’t think I’m going to take them anywhere to outside that I would need to have them flighted, but I would like to not clip them. Do you that I should flight them just in case, and do Lovebirds fledge easily? (I think fledge is the word). Thank you so much for your time and effort to educate people about birds!
Hi 👋 thank you for the great video. ❤️Remington is a three-year-old African gray. I have been trying to get him to come to me but he wouldn't leave the perch, now I know why thanks to your video. I will try off a flat surface . He's become quite good at flying, he has lots of corners to maneuver. As I live in the north he has his own room with an aviary. He chose my partner (who doesn't participate with him ) over me but I have worked hard, building a relationship. We've come along way and he now trust me to pet him a little, he loves riding on my shoulder, kissing and dancing. I am hoping in time he will trust me enough that I will be able to harness him. I have a backpack for him and take him everywhere but it would be wonderful for him to have more freedom.
I love your videos. I'm a new parent to a 5 yr old goffin cockatoo. He's a good flyer but hasn't been trained to return. I assume I would still start close to him and reward him with a treat when he comes. He also loves to get on top of my tv. How do I train him where he's allowed to land and play and where he is not?
free flight tutorial? i have a young sun conure thats clipped, had it for a week now it begs for me to pick it up and do tricks iwht it but refuses to go near hands.. i think this is from being in a petstore and jsut not being with me long enough i seen you video on the fear of hands and i have hopes for this.. can you tell me any body signs or ques i can look out for when its time to finally try to touch head with out it being more of a annoyance? it seems to like the head sratch when i did it one time while it was groomign my finger then it freaked out all of a sudden and then would bite me itried not to react at all and it stormed off in a circle :/ i felt like we made so good progress i wanna know if im rushing it? or if theres a body sign i can look out for
Yes, love the idea, to give you tailoring info. I have a Quaker parrot named Paulie. She is flighted, her wings were freshly cut when I got her 2011 it took about 2 years for her to start flying again. So now I don’t want to cut her wings. There are a lot of dangers having her flighted but there is also a lot of dangers having them clipped. I would be interested in clipping them if it will help with training, since she can fly away when she get scared, I don’t know what is the best way to build up confidence and trust? She really only flys to come be with me, she is pretty good at landing on my finger, I lift it high for her. I haven’t know how to train her to come to me on command, until now, thank you for this very informative video.
Your welcome! Once she gets this down, you could start to gradually increase the distance. Once she gets that down, you can then gradually to increase the angle of ascend/descend. I use treats to reward her but you mentioned that "she only flies to come be with me". This is even BETTER! If she finds YOU reinforcing, you could use that to your advantage. If you want her to build confidence, definitely build her skill in flight. Clipping her would have the opposite effect.
No parrot yet, but I've been doing research like crazy and hope to get a hahn's macaw in a few years once I'm more financially stable (just got out of high school, will definitely be awhile lol). I'll be keeping the bird flighted from chickhood, as I found a very nice and trustworthy bird breeder/store nearby that allows new owners to request an unclipped baby. Hoping to free fly indoors and harness fly outdoors!
Also! i have a cockatiel. she’s 8 or 9 months old, and starting her first adult molt. her wings are clipped, but i’m planning on letting her grow them out. she enjoys being pet and snuggling, but i struggle with rewarding her. she shys away from my hand if something unfamiliar is in it and won’t take any treats i give her. i think i’m gonna start working with her and trusting me once i’m home!
I don't have a bird right now, but I'm getting prepared for a blue headed pionus. I had a pair of budgies several years ago but they both died after a long life. However, I never felt like I was providing them all of the interaction that they needed so I want to learn all I can about training, keeping, etc. before taking the plunge on a pionus. We have a breeder already lined up and waiting. I want to train them properly right from the start.
I got a gray he is just great very loveing only 16 weeks old ,my question is when my grandson out granddoughter come over he will not let them around we have them for 2 days slowly introduceing them slowly with treats also but he will not have anything to do with them he screams at them and bits them what do you suggest
What should I do when I first bring my African Grey home? This will be my 1st bird and I’m new to the Avia team. This is all new to me and I’m super nervous as crap because I want to love my bird have fun with my bird and my 3 children and dog.
I have a two-year-old African gray that has a little disability, he’s missing his nails and some of his toes. He’s still learning that he can fully fly. He learned how to climb on smaller perches and is able to climb on my shoulders and keep his balance. But I’ve noticed that he doesn’t know how to land well. Would it be too early to teach him to come to me since he’s still learning how to fly on his own?
I have a 36 year old Double Yellow Headed Amazon named Jayne. He is a great guy. However, he came to me as a second (at least) owner rescue. I've had a Blue-and-Yellow macaw as well as a Military macaw. I have a year experience at the zoo where I have first hand knowledge working with many birds including Grays and Hyacinth's. I've never had issues with working with birds, but since he wasn't handled at his previous home (at least 10 years), and maybe because his age, he will not step up on me or even an extended perch. He will come to me for neck scratches and to pet him, but he won't make the step of faith. We have a good relationship. We dance and "sing" together, but again, we just can't make that step. He will test my hand with his beak and check it for stability, he will even occasionally put one foot on me. Sadly, he'll always pull away and eventually kind of "toss" my hand away with his beak. My avian veterinarian says there is a good chance he will just be my roommate and just to enjoy our time together (because we do), I just want to evaluate different ways you think might help him feel more comfortable.
Here's a tip: rest your entire arm on his perch away from him, making sure your arm is steady. Use his favorite treats to entice him to come over, closer and closer. Day by day, he may eventually lift one and then both feet onto your hand. Once he gets to this stage, don't lift him up right away, let his confidence build before you lift your arm a few inches, reward. Then, set him back down on his perch. The fact that he trusts you with head scratches is already a huge step!
in my experience smaller birds learn to fly and maneuver quicker than larger birds especially so if they used to fly as a juvenile before they were clipped. I suppose it's like comparing a biplane to a 747.
I have a seven year old African Grey. She is affectionate and talks very well, but I have never trained her to do anything. I recently decided to let her wings grow as I have a large screened patio where she could fly and there are many wild birds around my house for her to emulate. However, she was sent home with me not only with pellets, but with a fruit and nut mix which is always available in her cage. She loves head rubs, but I these she also gets regularly without performance. What do I use as motivation in flight training?
I have a cockatiel that’s about 6 months old and she’s just starting to take flight more now that her feathers are growing in (she was previously clipped but she’s been molting for about 2 months). We have no experience with recall and I’m struggling with the decision as to whether I should clip her again or allow her the opportunity to learn to fly. She scares me because she crashes into walls and furniture. However my windows and mirror are covered and the door is always shut so I try to make the environment as safe as possible. She also flies out of her carrier a lot now but when she was clipped she always went in just fine. I didn’t realize she needed to be trained to go in the carrier for that reason so we have a lot to work on and it feels a bit overwhelming. I’m also concerned about her safety. My gut feeling is to clip at least one more time now that I know what we need to work on but numerous sources are saying not to clip so I’m really confused about what to do. My concern is she will never learn to fly properly if I clip her again (I’m hoping she’s still young enough to learn like Smokey has and I’m sure the outdoor aviary helped greatly).
I have two flighted budgies who are not recall trained but are quite talented at flying. One is more confident than the other (she’s younger than he is) but I really do need to train them. The female is still scared of hands though so have to work on that first (she was found outside)
Thanks for sharing Katherine! Budgies are excellent fliers; they are actually capable of some of the most acrobatic aerial maneuvers of any birds on Earth.
4 green cheek conures 3 fully flighted all their lives and 1 flighted after store clipping they recall on their own time and not completely reliable unless they would like to do what I am doing or go where I am going. I would like to gain the upper hand on directing the activities and have reliable/desirable recall... Plus the 3 siblings have grown up together and get distressed when separated...
We have a cockatiel (he's 1 year old and has been flighted for about 4 months) and a goffin's cockatoo (wild caught, at least 30 years old. Has spent the last year clipped because of his last owners and at least the 7 years leading up to that flighted. He's molting now but is still badly clipped and not at all confident.) Our cockatiel is comfortable flying about 6 feet to us on cue. He can fly level quite easily and fly upwards quite easily but we need to work on his descent. He will fly around the room and land on a high shelf and be too nervous to come down on cue. Eventually he will fly down on his own but he winds up circling the room several times and landing back on the shelf because he isn't sure how to land safely when flying downward. He can also be a little reluctant to fly to us on cue (we'll have to ask a couple times and continually adjust the distance we're standing away from him) but I think that may be due to sloppy cuing or bridging combined with his lack of confidence. When we got him he was clipped almost to the bone and his secondaries were clipped as fell. He flew about as well as a hamster and couldn't even drift to break a fall so we had to be extra careful not to let him be more than a few inches off the (padded) floor. It would be great to get tips/exercises on practicing a descent and teaching him to make turns in flight as well. Sometimes he will HAVE to turn in flight to reach me and he won't do it. I have to adjust myself to where he can fly a straight line.
That sounds like a horrible clip! Thank you for letting him grow out his feathers and allowing him to fly. It's totally understandable why he is reluctant to descend. My advice would be to start training him recall (use spray millet as a treat). Gradually increase the distance and then gradually increase the angle of descent. If your bird does get "stuck", I would advise not to immediately go and retrieve him. Instead, recall him back to you (this can be a long waiting game). But, if he does it on his own, it teaches him that he could get out of situations by himself instead of relying on you to go get him and it builds his confidence.
Wonderful advice! Thank you so much for the reply :) Yes, it was a really terrible clip. I spent weeks making sure Taki couldn't climb up too high in his cage, padding any area he was in with pillows and towels in case he fell, and generally being very nervous for him. Our vet was very clear that his clip was SO bad that if he fell more than a few inches he'd likely break bones. He fell a couple times in spite of my best efforts (luckily with no serious injury) and developed a severe fear of flying/falling as a result. It took us weeks of flight training to get him to even hop and even longer to get him to flutter and eventually fly. Poor baby. He's doing much better now thank goodness and he's shed a lot of his fear about flying in general, but he's still scared to descend for the most part. Taki has been experimenting recently with flying laps around the room and usually lands in the highest point in the room. I almost never retrieve him because I know he *can* fly down, he's just afraid to. I get far enough away so that the angle isn't so steep and I wait on top of a step ladder to decrease the amount he has to go down. Only just recently has he started to fly down relatively confidently. Before it would take 20-30 minutes before he would even attempt, now he tries to come down in just a few minutes. I always make sure to give him lots of millet and attention when he comes down. At first I felt really guilty about not retrieving him, but then I thought about what might happen if he somehow gets up high enough that I can't reach him with our step ladder. I want him to be prepared for as many situations as possible so I figured it's best not to always "rescue" him. Do you have any suggestions for equipment I can use to change the angle of his recalls during training? We have a practice perch but its height doesn't adjust at all and I'd love to have something that I can raise and lower by a couple inches at a time. I'm almost wondering if there's a way to retrofit a camera tripod to be a training perch. We also just agreed about a week ago to foster a second cockatiel for our avian vet. Three days in we decided to adopt her. She was found in a parking lot behind the dumpster and a couple grown men were pulling her tail feathers out. She's taking treats from my hand and steps up well most of the time but we're still building trust- she is very understandably afraid of hands (unless they contain sunflower seeds lol). Whoever lost her must have really loved her and gotten her well socialized because she'll stand on anyone's shoulder. She is obsessed with my husband's beard which is adorable. She is molting so her wings are starting to grow back very quickly and we'll be doing flight training with her as well. I think she'll be a lot more confident with her flight training because she already "flies" to get to me sometimes. My work desk is right next to her play area and sometimes she'll attempt to fly in my direction. She lands very well so I think she's had some practice in the past. I'm doing a lot of trust building training exercises with her (like target training and teaching the concept of "yes" and "no") and as always my goal is to never upset her so I'm sure she'll come around soon. Our goffin's just recently started allowing me to pet his head (although he will still only step up if hes on the floor and wants to be higher up) so I'm hoping he'll start wanting to do step up training soon because his wing are growing back, too. If not, I can always flight train with two training perches instead of jumping right into recalling. Thank you so much for the lovely videos you make. I've been so excited for this series and I recommend your channel to every bird owner I can! You're such an asset to the bird community and your advice and philosophies have greatly improved the lives of many birds out there! Thank you for helping so actively to dispel the myths of dominance based training and for advocating for a gentle and loving approach toward our birds. You are wonderful!
Hi, first of all I bought a african grey 2 weeks ago, hes about 8 years old (that's what the old owner told me) and he knows about 10 different whistles.. My question is, how long it takes to learn one word and till what age he learn new things, thanks
#wingsNpaws Hi, first of all I bought a african grey 2 weeks ago, hes about 8 years old (that's what the old owner told me) and he knows about 10 different whistles.. My question is, how long it takes to learn one word and till what age he learn new things, thanks
My red headed Amazon is clipped, but he (I think it is a he) can get some lift. He's also a daredevil. He tries to fly to us. He's new for us. I haven't figured out his treat yet.
By the way, I stumbled across your channel by searching for red headed Amazon. I was hoping to find neat things to do with them. One of the videos that I saw before I found you was where a falcon had gotten a parrot. We have hawks around here. I've seen one try to go after a turkey decoy that I had set up. My bird isn't going to be flying outside. The predator birds could kill it before I even saw it coming. Not worth the risk. He can fly in the house.
I have a lovebird and a green cheek conure both were clipped when i got them. They now have all their flight feathers and love to fly. None of them are trained and I am inexperienced with training. Both of my birds are young
My African Grey is about 40 years old and has flown at least a couple meters in her life, from what I hear. But that might've been decades ago and she was clipped for a very long time. As a result, she is scared of falling, although her wings have grown back in completely. They've been this way for several years now, but she doesn't seem to be aware of it. She never jumps in any way and she only gets around by walking, climbing and stepping up when she feels like it. I've been building up her flight muscles for several months by walking around with her on my hand and taking advantage of the fact that she loves to flap and kind of pretend that she's flying. She hasn't had any training apart from what I've done with her and I'm still trying to find an approach that really works for her in general. She is extremely picky about what she'll work for and doesn't step up for treats that she would normally go nuts for in other training situations. I've been taking care of her for almost 2 years now and she is bonded to me, but very stubborn. She knows that she is safe with me and always steps up when she's scared. Most of the time, though, she'll only step up on my hand when it's time for bed and she wants scratches. So I'm still trying to figure out how to motivate her to jump, let alone fly to me. I think before I can start flight training, I need to be able to get her to step up consistently, but I honestly don't know how. We're complete beginners, basically.
What you described, sounds exactly like an african grey. Smokey loves food, but is very picky about who gives them to her. There are some people she just will not take food from. From my experience, amazons, cockatoos, conures, and macaws, even those that are untamed, will approach even strangers for high value treats. I would advise that you transition her to a pelleted diet and use her favorite treats only during training. She will be healthier this way too. Also, if you place her on the ground, you will more likely be able to entice her to fly up to you.
Thank you for your reply! I've always kind of figured that greys are shyer than other parrots; what you're saying sounds like that really is the case. Unfortunately, she won't touch pellets (she was on an all-seed diet with a couple veggies sprinkled in for most if not all of her life until I got her, as far as I can tell). So I trick her into eating them by grinding them into a powder and mixing them in with what she does like. After experimenting for a while, I have found that she loves my curry more than anything else in the world and will eat it every single day. So, over time, I started adding more and more ingredients. She won't eat it, unless the vegetables are chopped up into a course paste in a blender, but at least she still gets tons of fiber this way. The pellets usually thicken the whole thing up more. And then I also add rice and quinoa, beans and tofu (she simply adores the texture of tofu, haha). Outside of that, I also give her veggies and fruits that she likes. I'm pretty happy with the amount of nutrients she gets this way every day. When it comes to treats, she still loves her seeds (sunflower in particular). So far, she will not work for them when I try to train her, though. Probably because she thinks she shouldn't have to. However, she will forage for them (her favorite toy is her foraging wheel). I have only found very unhealthy things to motivate her to train with me (and none of them work for stepping up): tiny pieces of chips and cheereos, which I'm not too happy with, of course. I will try to train her on the floor more. Maybe that will help with stepping up. Like I said, I don't think she's aware of the fact that her wings can carry her at this point. Have you ever had trouble with teaching a bird to step up?
My year-old parrotlet has never been clipped and is free-flighted in my home. She has even trained herself to fly back to the top of her cage (onto paper toweling) to relieve herself. I could never keep her from being a true bird and experience the freedom of flying. I think a bird is healthier when they are allowed to fly at will.
Hi I just brought home my baby. She was at the pet store ever since she hatched and she came home three days ago and she is 4 months now. Three days ago was when I was able to bring her home and she is very nippy, how can I stop her from being nippy.
Hi! I have a 6 month old blue and gold macaw - George - he was clipped when we got him, so we are slowly growing the wings back.... what sort of tips would you recommend for now in preparation for flight recall? Cheers Skye
Start ur training now with clicker conditioning then go to target training then you can start doing recall even now. You also want to start the desensitization now. Get your bird used to being outdoors & going public places. Good luck!
Jessica Martorano hey i saw the comment above and i am in the same situation with my amazon... she is clipped but i want to grow her wings out. She steps up when i put my finger out even if i make her walk across the entire cage... what type of training should i do right now?
My grey wont stop regurgitating on me. How do I get him to stop? I know that's the biggest honor but every single moment he is near me he is doing it. Please help.
I have a 9 month cocktail that has been clipped. I had him for 7 days now but I can tell he wants to fly so bad. I will let his wings grow back in and flight train him when that time comes. He does jump and flap his wings in his cage sometimes to get to other perches. But right now I’m still trying to tame him to my hand
Tim Stradley Have you considered target training him? Once target trained you can use the target stick (in small approximations) to lead him onto your arm/hand. You can also flight train a clipped bird and even one who isn't hand tame yet :)! For a clipped bird I would only teach them to hop and would train very close. For a bird that isn't hand tame you can train them to hop onto a perch or another flat surface. You can entice them onto the new surface with a target stick or treats. To teach our cockatiel to fly we also starting giving him a "jackpot" treat any time he twitched his wings while hopping. Eventually we stopped rewarding him for hops that didn't involve him moving his wings and we started rewarding only when he twitched or flapped them. Then we twitching became the "normal" size treat and a full on flap became his "jackpot" size treats. Eventually that led to him actually flying very short distances. Getting an animal to go "stand" in a particular spot is called "stationing". Recall is when they come back to you, stationing us when you ask them to go perch on a particular spot. I knew a lady whose bird was scared of hands and she taught him to station inside of his carrier on cue by flying there. She fed him treats off the lid of a Tupperware container and followed exactly the same process as above. If you want tips on how to gently hand tame let me know! I have several different positive reinforcement training methods to do it. The "hardest" part is getting them to take a treat from your hand- after that everything else is pretty natural. We got our cockatiel used to taking treats from my husband's hand and then we would "retract" the millet spray further and further back into his hand so that our cockatiel had to decide whether to eat the treat and brush against his hand or to not eat the treat and not touch his hand. He always chose to eat the treat and brush against his hand. A few weeks of that later my husband can now pet our cockatiel and our cockatiel will fly to him and beg for scritches
I would defiantly want more tips when you are free! I just started this target training after you mentioned it. Did about 5 or 10 minutes of it. She is still a little wary of my hands but still will eat millet out of my hands after she bites the stick and I click the clicker. She got way better towards the end. Ima see how she does tomorrow
I just got a Miligold Macaw and her wings were clipped when I got her. My parakeets are fully flighted but they are not recall trained at all. They’re bonded strongly to each other so taming and training has been really slow. I let them fly in a room. They will step up and down but they will not target. They fly off as soon as anything besides me comes close to them. I have had the macaw for four days and she immediately picked up on the target training but I can’t touch her no one can. We will get there.
I have 2 CAG 8 yrs old. 5 cockatiels : 4months-5yrs old. My 4 month old cockatiel come to me when i calle her. Just have to lift my hand up and day come here. Im gonna try it with my cags next.
I’ve had a green cheeked conure for about 4 months. Her flight feathers are growing back in though she does not yet fly. But she is curious, so I think she will at some point. And she sees my 10 budgies, who are being kept as aviary birds rather than companion birds, flying around. She goes to the floor sometimes but she cannot yet fly back up to her cage. I am very conflicted whether to have the flight feathers re-clipped or to let nature take its course. They are all indoors in one room that has a magnetic self closing hanging screen. They have plenty of space, but cannot get out into the rest of the house.
I definitely would advise you NOT to clip! At 4 months, if her feathers come back in 100%, she will be an expert flier because she is still so young. If she misses this chance, she will never reach this potential in the future, no matter how much training you do.
I have a 10 month lovebird that was never clipped and learnd super fast to fly to me on my command. But he have one problem, he bites me a lot. But he hates when i leave him alone... I dont understand what is his deal. If somebody could help me i would like! Ty
I have a african grey parrot or like they are caled in dutch "grijze roodstaart" (litarly translation: grey redtail). Me and my family have her for already I think 14 years. Sicnse she was a baby. completly fed by hand in the beginning. She is never clipped btw. but at a serten age she began to reject me and now tho only one who can easaly pic het up is my dad. in the past we could do this all btw (me, my mother and my father, my sister was to young before she began to reject us from picking her up). Still she will always come when i feed her and when i am watching tv she willl be colse to me. her cage stands in the living room diractly after the coach. So she is not afraid of us. Only she doesnt alows us much to touch her or pick her up. but i am more then thrilled to try to train her this summer
My experience has been with starlings and mynah birds and all three were full-flight. I did hand rear them, though, and was with them pretty much 24-7 growing up so they were very bonded so I was very comfortable going anywhere outside with them. Here's a sample video: ruclips.net/video/rrZ12r1cCc0/видео.html
Hi ! We are considering on getting an African Grey from a per store she is a plugger they don’t know how old she is maybe 10 or 13 she was used for breeding .we feel bad they say no one wants her she shakes in that cage so scared we want to give her another chance for a better life is it possible she can change even if she’s older? Do you recommend ? We have a cockatiel and two parakeets but we know she will be a big challenge
10, 13, or 15 doesn't matter, a bird given good care and lots of patience can change, recover. If you feel the bird likes or tolerates you go for it. Just listen to what it says, tries to tell you and be armed with plenty of patience. I understand this is not a wild-caught bird, right?
I think the bird may be stressed out from two very simple reasons. One because it has been separated from its mate, the other because as a breeder it has lived in a cage that in all likelihood had a private nesting area, perhaps a small enclosure, box, etc. where it could feel comfortable for breeding, and now it is lacking such feature and is stressed. I think if you were to recreate in its cage some private area, perhaps a curtain, maybe a small wooden box mounted inside the cage, where the bird could find privacy, hide in, or behind it, it would be very very helpful in transitioning it to a pet parrot.
One more thing, at night I recommend covering the birds cage with a large piece of dark cloth, say tablecloth or such. Sleeping under a cover helps calm the bird, creates a feeling of privacy and security. This is a must for any bird in my opinion.
You can reinforce staying on the perch by giving your bird head scratches and treats periodically for flying to there and staying there. However, when Smokey does fly to me (and she still does this quite a lot), I simply send her back. You should never punish your bird, though, for flying to you. In case of an accident and your bird flies outside or encounters some danger, you don't want them to think twice about landing on you. You should always be a suitable landing spot.
Haha...glad this cheered you up! I don't upload as often anymore but I will when I can. It just takes a heck a lot of time filming, editing, and uploading. So, I will continue to upload, but just when I can.
My two African Greys have never been and will never be clipped. Fortunately here in Germany it's not allowed to clipp a bird's flight feathers. Sure they had chrash-landings when they started flying but it's like with every child that falls when it learns to walk. Birds are born to fly and to take away that ability is simply unfair. My birds are very talented flyers because they learned it naturally when they were very young and I supported them with trainings to improve their skills faster. To take them safely outside I trained them to wear the Aviator harness. And with the help of elastic leash extensions they are now able to improve their flying skills in the wind on sports fields. It's such an amazing feeling when your bird plays with the wind and flys to you on command over a longer distance :-)
Agreed on all points made! In the US, it is still common practice to clip a bird's wings (unfortunately). In fact, those who don't clip are often seen as "irresponsible" bird owners. However, I have seen that over the past few years, more and more people are beginning to see that birds can be kept flighted and still remain safe in the home. Thanks for sharing!
It doesn't work that way. I fully support those who free fly, but do it responsibly. Smokey is never going to free fly; she's just not a good candidate for free flight. For me to close my eyes and blindly take that risk with a bird that I know is not ready to show off to the internet is purely selfish and irresponsible. I will probably add to my flock within the next few years and will probably free fly my next bird, but not Smokey.
Doubled yellow headed Amazon. I can’t get her to fly at all. She is fully flighted but won’t fly unless something scares her and she is afraid she will get hurt. I need to find a way to get her to actually fly. I know it sounds stupid but that is the facts. Thank you for the videos,.
It does not sound stupid at all! Have you tried what I showed in this video? Adult birds become VERY reluctant to fly if they've been previously clipped. If you slowly work to build up his confidence, he'll soon learn why he has wings and will embrace them.
I have a Grey , hè is 24 and was clipped at one wing for a long time. I have a rosé kaketoe, hè is 11, was in a cage for 9 years i clipped hun. I also have a Grey age 3, they clipped hun when i bought hun with 5 months and i have a rose, she is 1,5 i clipped her myself. Now i want Them to learn how to fligh. The only one who does that, from high to the grownd is the Grey from 3 years. Thanks for your movie. I go and practice
I have a Male Blue fronted Amazon (Oscar The Grouch on Facebook, @Oscar_Amazon on Instagram) I take him outside to fly whenever we have nice weather and he loves meeting new people (Harnessed) I also run a group on Facebook called Bird Jungle and another for harness and flight training.
A very interesting video and I want to tell you something: I have adopted an African Grey when he? was 10 years old and lived in a to small cage when the owner died and is 27 now. Directly I bought a big cage but never let him? clip. A lovely bird and a good talker and now again 3 month ago I adopted an African Grey of 40 years from a neighbour who is in a nursing home, and may not go with her. Also a lovely bird a very good talker and whistler haha but a plucker. Now I know the story from the children of this lady why her parrot did it for more than 20 years. He is doing very well with me and get new feathers because he get the good food he never have got. He knew my parrot from a time he was staying for a holiday and they remember each other and both have their own cage near to each other but I saw love in the air between the bars and ohhh, what a surprise, my parrot who supposed to be a male has layed 2 eggs so he is after 27 years a female ♥♥ and my question is: is it possible to put them together in 1 space or cage for more social contact without breeding :-))))) I hope you can give Dodo, Moppy and me an answer.............
8:55 lmao mine runs away from me but he loves me soo much when I hold him or play with him I can tell u how happy this bird is and he also loves him cage... what a weird bird that is
i have a 2yr old almost 3yrs old black headed caique. he is recall trained he will fly to me from around corners uphigh across the house some times. i had to teach him to stay so i could call him other wise he just follow me the second i leave the room. we also go to a bird club twice a month called flight club where he can fly around a gym. everyone told me caiques are awful flyers but everyone sees him is amazed at how good of a flyer he is. here is a video ruclips.net/video/rYUxAZFqvPE/видео.html
Mine is shy he doesn’t talk in front of human Edit: he is ## and I had him since he was 2 months old :) (I don’t want to say his age cuz people will envy my lil birdy)
I am trying to teach penny to come to me, its terrible at bed time, she runs around the cage and wont let me catch her, screaming, almost like shes saying, no mommy, i dont want to go to bed. At first i thought it was cute, but now its awful. I wont give up on trying.
Oh. And I had a cockatiel before him. She was clipped when I got her. I let hers grow out. All her feathers came in at once. Not sure if that’s normal for teils. But she did come to me. She was my baby. 😁
Hi, first of all I bought a african grey 2 weeks ago, hes about 8 years old (that's what the old owner told me) and he knows about 10 different whistles.. My question is, how long it takes to learn one word and till what age he learn new things, thanks
My TAG is 20y and can still pick-up a new word if he wants to. He's not much of a talker though, never was, and I never trained him to talk. I just don't believe in training parrots to talk. What's the point?
Животные
Never give up making vids ,they always light up my day,learning new things.
Thank you for such an inspiring comment! I'm glad you're enjoying them :)
win
I always wanted a bird. Not anymore, it would be irresponsible of me. I`ve now spent the better part of 3 days watching your videos nonstop, learning a fraction of what it takes.
Making me realize not everybody should own one of these many amazing creatures. Thankfully this will not be stopping me from enjoying your bird =) Thank you for your friendly and informational videos.
Have a nice day Sir. And please keep posting this amazing content! =)
Its great that your responsible
I have a 25 yo female Grey. We have just let her wings grow out in the last year. Today she flew, in the house, for the first time. I just watched your flight video and know I will start to work with her the way you showed us. Smoky looks so healthy and happy and I would like our bird to emulate her! Thank you for posting these videos!
You were NOT talking a lot in this video. You were saying everything that I needed help with. Thank you for this video.
Thank you for showing me! I’m getting an African grey soon and I really needed this! I know the technique for small birds, but not big birds. So this really helped thank you!
I'm planning on re-homing an Amazon next month. Have not had a bird in the last 20 years, your videos is helping getting me back in the game so to speak. Thank you it is helping a lot, my new bird will be lucky that I saw your videos!
I'm glad you enjoy them!
I have an CAG, african grey, that is about 18 months old. Her feathers came in quickly, and nearly all at once. There was almost no trouble with breakage and no serious crashes. She had all but one pair in by 14 months. She learned to fly quickly too. I spend about 45 minutes a day with "come" and "go back" from different parts of the room. She has to go around corners to get to me.
Ongoing challenges...
- She tends to get fixated on certain perch locations (sometimes including places I don't want her), so her "go back" is pretty limited to going back to one spot on the cage, for example. I don't feel like her recall understanding is very general.
- Getting experience flying up and down is a problem. I'm thinking of using the stairwell but have not tried it. She isn't used to going down stairs so that has to be overcome first.
- My bird, Harlan, is *extremely* active. She doesn't not fit the african grey stereotypes at all. When she's "on" she can't sit still. She does laps around the room chattering about all sorts of stuff. Keeping her attention is hard, even with treats.
- Shes a one-person bird, and can be stubborn. I worry that she'd be hard to handle in an emergency.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
And you thank YOU for sharing yours! I'll keep what you said in mind for future videos!
I have a blue quaker, named penny, shes 2 years old and fully flighted. Shes not trained yet, im glad you posted that video, cuz. Now i can start training her. I just love smoky, what a beautiful african gray.
Thank you!
wingsNpaws your very welcome.
Thank you. This is very helpful. I'm training 2 tiels to come when call right now. They are both less than a year old.
thank you so much! i love your videos and tutorials. i love to see smokey be a little stinker and interrupt you too
LOL! I'm glad you enjoyed it! She does that a lot.
I have a 21-year-old male African Grey. We've been buddies since he was weaned. I named him Socrates, but he renamed himself Socrabird, LOL.
At the time I got him, it was the norm to clip wings and I did so because I thought it was the safest and best for him.
When he was about 5 years old, I decided to stop clipping him. Everything you said about the slow and delicate process of fledging out the flight feathers is correct. I honestly don’t remember how long it took before his wings were in the natural process of dropping only a couple flight feathers at a time. It does happen though.
Also, as you said, the learning process of flying means a lot of crash landings.
Most of the homes we lived in were pretty small. Each room being a small space to learn how to fly.
His first attempts were just straight-line flights to come to me or to a place he wanted to go and many of those had some scary crash landings.
Then one day he flew from the top of his cage and made a tight circle of about 3 feet diameter and land on top of his cage again. It was a huge confidence booster for him too. He would do this many times and then expand his circle. Each time, I could see his skills growing. He then began to fly around the room but not always in a circle. It was more like flying up to a place and doing a sudden turn and flying back in another direction and then either back to his cage or land someplace else. It was so exciting to watch his progress as he learned.
About 4 years ago we moved into a larger home with a very open space floor plan. He has his own room as his aviary.
Socrabird now has great flight skills. He has learned how to negotiate the door openings and fly down the hall and fly through each room. He loves to fly large circles in the living room. It’s huge with vaulted ceilings so he has lots of room to fly. He has learned the skills to gain altitude as well as descend to land. Exterior doors are NEVER left open since he knows how to negotiate those openings.
The biggest reward of his learning to fly is his temperament. There is a huge difference in him. He is happier and more confident and content and the relationship between us is stronger. Most of the time we just talk to each other from across the house and he is content with that. Yet he knows he has the skills and freedom to fly to me when he wants to be with me. The only time he doesn’t have that freedom is when I close his door at night or when I need to leave home or when I need to cook or clean.
I honestly think it was one of the best decisions I ever made to stop clipping him and let him learn to fly.
I want to thank you for your video’s. I love the way you approach teaching not only Smokey but also your viewing audience. I have learned a lot to help me with my own training and improving my relationship with Socrabird. And one of my favorite tips I got from you is the Pumpkin carving, LOL. Never thought of it before and trying it for the first time. While you haven’t produced a video in 9 months. I enjoyed all you have produced. I do hope all is well with you, Smokey and Snuggles and I hope you can make more video's in the future. Thanks again to you, Smokey and Snuggles.
I don't make a lot of comments BUT your video's are really well done. Put together with other well done owner's and trainers, a little common sense about a particular breed or bird; you all can really help a lot of people and birds. Thanks jh
I am planning a head. Getting an African grey (adult) next year. I am watching all the videos I can find. Yours are my favorite. Thank You, jo
I'm liking your videos. It's not a race. It's more like play time
Thank you so mich for giving this specific on point discussion on flight training.
Your welcome!
I have a blue fronted amazon, and I always wanted him to be able to fly but when I got him he was already clipped. Everyone always told me that if I let his wings grow he would fly off and get hurt...Thank you so much for your videos with Smokey! I am teaching him recall with your techniques and he is learning incredibly fast! Even though he is 10 years old. 😱❤️
Makes me feel so good that i spent the time and resources and take the commitment to free flight train my female voesmari eclectus. Seeing her fly free everyday and cone back to me after shes done is so refreshing ❤️
I bet it is! I applaud you for taking the time to do that and for having the commitment to take her out everyday!
Yes, you talk a lot and it's enjoyable. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience.
I wish he posted more often, very educational videos
We missed you!!
I had missed this video but when I saw you do part 2 I went back and found part 1. I don’t know how I missed it but I am anxious to try part one.
I’m so sorry you lost smokey . I think of you both often and pray that she comes home to you soon .
This is great. I have a roughly 9 y/o rescued Grey who, I'm pretty sure, never fledged. We've had him for 5 years and stopped clipping wings about 2 years ago. He flies well when he doesn't think about it (when something scares him) but does not know that he can fly. I've tried going from perch to perch but he never had the confidence to "hop". Your tip about going from a flat surface is perhaps what he needs. We're going to give it a try and will report back in a few weeks. First step is to get a flat surface that's confident enough to stand on...
Excellent training video. My grey is 10 years old and has been fully flighted from one year old. I had to argue with the vet to not clip his wings! He is a strong flyer and enjoys swooping into whatever room I am in. I do need to train him in flight recall. My two cockatiels are like fighter jets! Very fast and manuverable. They too need training...
Thanks for sharing Katherine! I'm glad you made the decision early on to keep him flighted. They are so much happier that way.
Those that do not die having accidentally flown away, or into a window pane, you should have added. Pet parrots are helpless creatures in the wild. If a pet parrot fly's away it will likely die of starvation sitting quietly as it is terrified in some tree somewhere waiting to be rescued. Or worse, it'll be eaten by some predator. Accidents do happen, don't let your beloved pet perish because you have failed to clip its wings! Having to euthanize your parrot because it has broke its neck flying into a window pane is no fun and will leave you very remorseful. If you must have a flighted bird get a Falcon. At lest it'll survive in the wild if it fly's away.
very helpful thank you...
A pleasure to view your video. I have a flighted 38 year old Amazon that had a number of homes. Some things I don't think he'll ever do. I've had him about 2 years, and it's taken that long for him to step up (in his own time), and I have to watch his body language for him being agitated. He would bite if I offered a treat. He won't fly to me so my solution is that I've stick-trained him for safety and/or his aggressive moods. He will sit on my arm for head scratches so I accept his limitations. No worries about open windows here. When out, he'll scream if I go out of his sight to do something. He'll fly off in the house if I wear this certain shirt he doesn't like lol. Oh well, I love him, warts and all.
Thanks for sharing! They each definitely have their own personalities.
Great video training my bird that way every day
Thanks and thank you for supporting my channel!
I have a 5 month old flighted green cheek conure. We are working with his recall. He has just learned to fly up and down the stairs.
Your videos have helped me so much and it's so nice to see the bond between you and Smokey. As I was watching Smokey fly to your hand I noticed that just before Smokey lands you sort of drop your hand lower and I was just wondering why.
I just want to comment that I think you have some of the most eloquent and informative videos. I plan on sharing them with other bird groups that I am in because they provide such valuable information (as you have given permission for). I have a CAG, 10 months old that is not fully flighted yet. She is able to recall from a small distance from a perch. I have a 5 year old Blue Front Amazon that does not have flight feathers on one of her wings. I'm not sure if this is a physical defect or from a bad clipping job? She is very afraid to to jump from the perch to my hand. I will be trying it from a flat surface like you have suggested. I also have 2 green cheek conures. One is fully flighted, and the other is still clipped from when I purchased him. I will be doing recall training with them.
I have a cag that is flighted. I’m the second human this bird has adopted. It was clipped real hard by the previous human. It took years to get the flight feathers back.
Recall trading isn’t going well but I haven’t been consistent. Consistency is key.
I have a 20 year old African grey (I believe she’s a girl!). She’s a wonderful friend, and she unfortunately has never learned to fly. She was clipped when she was about 6, but I think she’s still had trouble growing in feathers on one side.
These videos are great! Smokey has a beautiful coat
Awesome had white cockatoo long time a go .
Very interesting. I enjoyed this video very much. I have 7 flighted birds: 2 male budgies, 4 Indian silverbill finches, and 1 canary. The budgies can do simple recalls (see, e.g., "Highly Composed Budgies in Training"), but the others are not "tame" enough to step up. I had trained a finch at recall (and you have viewed that exercise), but the time and dedication needed to train the finches and canary are too much work in my present situation. They are easy to manipulate in our everyday lives so there is less motivation to "officially" train them.
Agreed!
I have 1 tiel 2 lovebirds n 2 budgies. None have ever been clipped. But their first times out of the cage involved lots of crashing anyway. Also they couldn't fly for long without loosing breath. Not to mention the bad landings and misjudging surfaces they would land on. Now their flying is better. But none have been trained in flight recall yet. I'm still working on getting bonded better with them all which seems to be harder with a "flock" of 5 even if diff species and in separate cages
Hi...I really like the way you teach about birds....esp the fact that you treat them as they should be ...but could you please suggest or may be show how to put the bird back in the cage
I’m planning on getting a Lovebird in a few years and I’ve got some questions about flighting it (I’m not sure what gender they will be). I don’t think I’m going to take them anywhere to outside that I would need to have them flighted, but I would like to not clip them. Do you that I should flight them just in case, and do Lovebirds fledge easily? (I think fledge is the word). Thank you so much for your time and effort to educate people about birds!
Hi 👋 thank you for the great video. ❤️Remington is a three-year-old African gray. I have been trying to get him to come to me but he wouldn't leave the perch, now I know why thanks to your video. I will try off a flat surface . He's become quite good at flying, he has lots of corners to maneuver. As I live in the north he has his own room with an aviary. He chose my partner (who doesn't participate with him ) over me but I have worked hard, building a relationship. We've come along way and he now trust me to pet him a little, he loves riding on my shoulder, kissing and dancing. I am hoping in time he will trust me enough that I will be able to harness him. I have a backpack for him and take him everywhere but it would be wonderful for him to have more freedom.
Thanks for sharing!
I love your videos. I'm a new parent to a 5 yr old goffin cockatoo. He's a good flyer but hasn't been trained to return. I assume I would still start close to him and reward him with a treat when he comes. He also loves to get on top of my tv. How do I train him where he's allowed to land and play and where he is not?
free flight tutorial? i have a young sun conure thats clipped, had it for a week now it begs for me to pick it up and do tricks iwht it but refuses to go near hands.. i think this is from being in a petstore and jsut not being with me long enough i seen you video on the fear of hands and i have hopes for this.. can you tell me any body signs or ques i can look out for when its time to finally try to touch head with out it being more of a annoyance? it seems to like the head sratch when i did it one time while it was groomign my finger then it freaked out all of a sudden and then would bite me itried not to react at all and it stormed off in a circle :/ i felt like we made so good progress i wanna know if im rushing it? or if theres a body sign i can look out for
Yes,
love the idea, to give you tailoring info.
I have a Quaker parrot named Paulie. She is flighted, her wings were freshly cut when I got her 2011 it took about 2 years for her to start flying again. So now I don’t want to cut her wings. There are a lot of dangers having her flighted but there is also a lot of dangers having them clipped. I would be interested in clipping them if it will help with training, since she can fly away when she get scared, I don’t know what is the best way to build up confidence and trust? She really only flys to come be with me, she is pretty good at landing on my finger, I lift it high for her. I haven’t know how to train her to come to me on command, until now, thank you for this very informative video.
Your welcome! Once she gets this down, you could start to gradually increase the distance. Once she gets that down, you can then gradually to increase the angle of ascend/descend. I use treats to reward her but you mentioned that "she only flies to come be with me". This is even BETTER! If she finds YOU reinforcing, you could use that to your advantage. If you want her to build confidence, definitely build her skill in flight. Clipping her would have the opposite effect.
wingsNpaws that’s great, thank you, so glad I found you.
No parrot yet, but I've been doing research like crazy and hope to get a hahn's macaw in a few years once I'm more financially stable (just got out of high school, will definitely be awhile lol). I'll be keeping the bird flighted from chickhood, as I found a very nice and trustworthy bird breeder/store nearby that allows new owners to request an unclipped baby. Hoping to free fly indoors and harness fly outdoors!
Also! i have a cockatiel. she’s 8 or 9 months old, and starting her first adult molt. her wings are clipped, but i’m planning on letting her grow them out. she enjoys being pet and snuggling, but i struggle with rewarding her. she shys away from my hand if something unfamiliar is in it and won’t take any treats i give her. i think i’m gonna start working with her and trusting me once i’m home!
Buy spray millet and pull off small pieces of it to use as training treats.
I don't have a bird right now, but I'm getting prepared for a blue headed pionus. I had a pair of budgies several years ago but they both died after a long life. However, I never felt like I was providing them all of the interaction that they needed so I want to learn all I can about training, keeping, etc. before taking the plunge on a pionus. We have a breeder already lined up and waiting. I want to train them properly right from the start.
I got a gray he is just great very loveing only 16 weeks old ,my question is when my grandson out granddoughter come over he will not let them around we have them for 2 days slowly introduceing them slowly with treats also but he will not have anything to do with them he screams at them and bits them what do you suggest
What should I do when I first bring my African Grey home? This will be my 1st bird and I’m new to the Avia team. This is all new to me and I’m super nervous as crap because I want to love my bird have fun with my bird and my 3 children and dog.
I have a two-year-old African gray that has a little disability, he’s missing his nails and some of his toes. He’s still learning that he can fully fly. He learned how to climb on smaller perches and is able to climb on my shoulders and keep his balance. But I’ve noticed that he doesn’t know how to land well. Would it be too early to teach him to come to me since he’s still learning how to fly on his own?
I have a 36 year old Double Yellow Headed Amazon named Jayne. He is a great guy. However, he came to me as a second (at least) owner rescue. I've had a Blue-and-Yellow macaw as well as a Military macaw. I have a year experience at the zoo where I have first hand knowledge working with many birds including Grays and Hyacinth's. I've never had issues with working with birds, but since he wasn't handled at his previous home (at least 10 years), and maybe because his age, he will not step up on me or even an extended perch. He will come to me for neck scratches and to pet him, but he won't make the step of faith. We have a good relationship. We dance and "sing" together, but again, we just can't make that step. He will test my hand with his beak and check it for stability, he will even occasionally put one foot on me. Sadly, he'll always pull away and eventually kind of "toss" my hand away with his beak. My avian veterinarian says there is a good chance he will just be my roommate and just to enjoy our time together (because we do), I just want to evaluate different ways you think might help him feel more comfortable.
Here's a tip: rest your entire arm on his perch away from him, making sure your arm is steady. Use his favorite treats to entice him to come over, closer and closer. Day by day, he may eventually lift one and then both feet onto your hand. Once he gets to this stage, don't lift him up right away, let his confidence build before you lift your arm a few inches, reward. Then, set him back down on his perch. The fact that he trusts you with head scratches is already a huge step!
in my experience smaller birds learn to fly and maneuver quicker than larger birds especially so if they used to fly as a juvenile before they were clipped. I suppose it's like comparing a biplane to a 747.
I have a seven year old African Grey. She is affectionate and talks very well, but I have never trained her to do anything. I recently decided to let her wings grow as I have a large screened patio where she could fly and there are many wild birds around my house for her to emulate. However, she was sent home with me not only with pellets, but with a fruit and nut mix which is always available in her cage. She loves head rubs, but I these she also gets regularly without performance. What do I use as motivation in flight training?
I have a cockatiel that’s about 6 months old and she’s just starting to take flight more now that her feathers are growing in (she was previously clipped but she’s been molting for about 2 months). We have no experience with recall and I’m struggling with the decision as to whether I should clip her again or allow her the opportunity to learn to fly. She scares me because she crashes into walls and furniture. However my windows and mirror are covered and the door is always shut so I try to make the environment as safe as possible. She also flies out of her carrier a lot now but when she was clipped she always went in just fine. I didn’t realize she needed to be trained to go in the carrier for that reason so we have a lot to work on and it feels a bit overwhelming. I’m also concerned about her safety. My gut feeling is to clip at least one more time now that I know what we need to work on but numerous sources are saying not to clip so I’m really confused about what to do. My concern is she will never learn to fly properly if I clip her again (I’m hoping she’s still young enough to learn like Smokey has and I’m sure the outdoor aviary helped greatly).
I have 4 conures... mine fly freely to me. Do you think it's ok for them to do that or is it best for me to train them to only come on comand?
I have two flighted budgies who are not recall trained but are quite talented at flying. One is more confident than the other (she’s younger than he is) but I really do need to train them. The female is still scared of hands though so have to work on that first (she was found outside)
Thanks for sharing Katherine! Budgies are excellent fliers; they are actually capable of some of the most acrobatic aerial maneuvers of any birds on Earth.
4 green cheek conures
3 fully flighted all their lives and 1 flighted after store clipping
they recall on their own time and not completely reliable unless they would like to do what I am doing or go where I am going. I would like to gain the upper hand on directing the activities and have reliable/desirable recall...
Plus the 3 siblings have grown up together and get distressed when separated...
We have a cockatiel (he's 1 year old and has been flighted for about 4 months) and a goffin's cockatoo (wild caught, at least 30 years old. Has spent the last year clipped because of his last owners and at least the 7 years leading up to that flighted. He's molting now but is still badly clipped and not at all confident.)
Our cockatiel is comfortable flying about 6 feet to us on cue. He can fly level quite easily and fly upwards quite easily but we need to work on his descent. He will fly around the room and land on a high shelf and be too nervous to come down on cue. Eventually he will fly down on his own but he winds up circling the room several times and landing back on the shelf because he isn't sure how to land safely when flying downward. He can also be a little reluctant to fly to us on cue (we'll have to ask a couple times and continually adjust the distance we're standing away from him) but I think that may be due to sloppy cuing or bridging combined with his lack of confidence. When we got him he was clipped almost to the bone and his secondaries were clipped as fell. He flew about as well as a hamster and couldn't even drift to break a fall so we had to be extra careful not to let him be more than a few inches off the (padded) floor. It would be great to get tips/exercises on practicing a descent and teaching him to make turns in flight as well. Sometimes he will HAVE to turn in flight to reach me and he won't do it. I have to adjust myself to where he can fly a straight line.
That sounds like a horrible clip! Thank you for letting him grow out his feathers and allowing him to fly. It's totally understandable why he is reluctant to descend. My advice would be to start training him recall (use spray millet as a treat). Gradually increase the distance and then gradually increase the angle of descent. If your bird does get "stuck", I would advise not to immediately go and retrieve him. Instead, recall him back to you (this can be a long waiting game). But, if he does it on his own, it teaches him that he could get out of situations by himself instead of relying on you to go get him and it builds his confidence.
Wonderful advice! Thank you so much for the reply :) Yes, it was a really terrible clip. I spent weeks making sure Taki couldn't climb up too high in his cage, padding any area he was in with pillows and towels in case he fell, and generally being very nervous for him. Our vet was very clear that his clip was SO bad that if he fell more than a few inches he'd likely break bones. He fell a couple times in spite of my best efforts (luckily with no serious injury) and developed a severe fear of flying/falling as a result. It took us weeks of flight training to get him to even hop and even longer to get him to flutter and eventually fly. Poor baby. He's doing much better now thank goodness and he's shed a lot of his fear about flying in general, but he's still scared to descend for the most part.
Taki has been experimenting recently with flying laps around the room and usually lands in the highest point in the room. I almost never retrieve him because I know he *can* fly down, he's just afraid to. I get far enough away so that the angle isn't so steep and I wait on top of a step ladder to decrease the amount he has to go down. Only just recently has he started to fly down relatively confidently. Before it would take 20-30 minutes before he would even attempt, now he tries to come down in just a few minutes. I always make sure to give him lots of millet and attention when he comes down. At first I felt really guilty about not retrieving him, but then I thought about what might happen if he somehow gets up high enough that I can't reach him with our step ladder. I want him to be prepared for as many situations as possible so I figured it's best not to always "rescue" him. Do you have any suggestions for equipment I can use to change the angle of his recalls during training? We have a practice perch but its height doesn't adjust at all and I'd love to have something that I can raise and lower by a couple inches at a time. I'm almost wondering if there's a way to retrofit a camera tripod to be a training perch.
We also just agreed about a week ago to foster a second cockatiel for our avian vet. Three days in we decided to adopt her. She was found in a parking lot behind the dumpster and a couple grown men were pulling her tail feathers out. She's taking treats from my hand and steps up well most of the time but we're still building trust- she is very understandably afraid of hands (unless they contain sunflower seeds lol). Whoever lost her must have really loved her and gotten her well socialized because she'll stand on anyone's shoulder. She is obsessed with my husband's beard which is adorable. She is molting so her wings are starting to grow back very quickly and we'll be doing flight training with her as well. I think she'll be a lot more confident with her flight training because she already "flies" to get to me sometimes. My work desk is right next to her play area and sometimes she'll attempt to fly in my direction. She lands very well so I think she's had some practice in the past. I'm doing a lot of trust building training exercises with her (like target training and teaching the concept of "yes" and "no") and as always my goal is to never upset her so I'm sure she'll come around soon. Our goffin's just recently started allowing me to pet his head (although he will still only step up if hes on the floor and wants to be higher up) so I'm hoping he'll start wanting to do step up training soon because his wing are growing back, too. If not, I can always flight train with two training perches instead of jumping right into recalling.
Thank you so much for the lovely videos you make. I've been so excited for this series and I recommend your channel to every bird owner I can! You're such an asset to the bird community and your advice and philosophies have greatly improved the lives of many birds out there! Thank you for helping so actively to dispel the myths of dominance based training and for advocating for a gentle and loving approach toward our birds. You are wonderful!
Hi, first of all I bought a african grey 2 weeks ago, hes about 8 years old (that's what the old owner told me) and he knows about 10 different whistles..
My question is, how long it takes to learn one word and till what age he learn new things, thanks
#wingsNpaws
Hi, first of all I bought a african grey 2 weeks ago, hes about 8 years old (that's what the old owner told me) and he knows about 10 different whistles..
My question is, how long it takes to learn one word and till what age he learn new things, thanks
My red headed Amazon is clipped, but he (I think it is a he) can get some lift. He's also a daredevil. He tries to fly to us. He's new for us. I haven't figured out his treat yet.
please make more video about African Grey.
By the way, I stumbled across your channel by searching for red headed Amazon. I was hoping to find neat things to do with them. One of the videos that I saw before I found you was where a falcon had gotten a parrot. We have hawks around here. I've seen one try to go after a turkey decoy that I had set up. My bird isn't going to be flying outside. The predator birds could kill it before I even saw it coming. Not worth the risk. He can fly in the house.
I have a lovebird and a green cheek conure both were clipped when i got them. They now have all their flight feathers and love to fly. None of them are trained and I am inexperienced with training. Both of my birds are young
My African Grey is about 40 years old and has flown at least a couple meters in her life, from what I hear. But that might've been decades ago and she was clipped for a very long time. As a result, she is scared of falling, although her wings have grown back in completely. They've been this way for several years now, but she doesn't seem to be aware of it.
She never jumps in any way and she only gets around by walking, climbing and stepping up when she feels like it. I've been building up her flight muscles for several months by walking around with her on my hand and taking advantage of the fact that she loves to flap and kind of pretend that she's flying.
She hasn't had any training apart from what I've done with her and I'm still trying to find an approach that really works for her in general. She is extremely picky about what she'll work for and doesn't step up for treats that she would normally go nuts for in other training situations. I've been taking care of her for almost 2 years now and she is bonded to me, but very stubborn. She knows that she is safe with me and always steps up when she's scared. Most of the time, though, she'll only step up on my hand when it's time for bed and she wants scratches. So I'm still trying to figure out how to motivate her to jump, let alone fly to me. I think before I can start flight training, I need to be able to get her to step up consistently, but I honestly don't know how.
We're complete beginners, basically.
What you described, sounds exactly like an african grey. Smokey loves food, but is very picky about who gives them to her. There are some people she just will not take food from. From my experience, amazons, cockatoos, conures, and macaws, even those that are untamed, will approach even strangers for high value treats. I would advise that you transition her to a pelleted diet and use her favorite treats only during training. She will be healthier this way too. Also, if you place her on the ground, you will more likely be able to entice her to fly up to you.
Thank you for your reply!
I've always kind of figured that greys are shyer than other parrots; what you're saying sounds like that really is the case.
Unfortunately, she won't touch pellets (she was on an all-seed diet with a couple veggies sprinkled in for most if not all of her life until I got her, as far as I can tell). So I trick her into eating them by grinding them into a powder and mixing them in with what she does like. After experimenting for a while, I have found that she loves my curry more than anything else in the world and will eat it every single day. So, over time, I started adding more and more ingredients. She won't eat it, unless the vegetables are chopped up into a course paste in a blender, but at least she still gets tons of fiber this way. The pellets usually thicken the whole thing up more. And then I also add rice and quinoa, beans and tofu (she simply adores the texture of tofu, haha). Outside of that, I also give her veggies and fruits that she likes. I'm pretty happy with the amount of nutrients she gets this way every day.
When it comes to treats, she still loves her seeds (sunflower in particular). So far, she will not work for them when I try to train her, though. Probably because she thinks she shouldn't have to. However, she will forage for them (her favorite toy is her foraging wheel). I have only found very unhealthy things to motivate her to train with me (and none of them work for stepping up): tiny pieces of chips and cheereos, which I'm not too happy with, of course.
I will try to train her on the floor more. Maybe that will help with stepping up. Like I said, I don't think she's aware of the fact that her wings can carry her at this point.
Have you ever had trouble with teaching a bird to step up?
They been flying that way
My year-old parrotlet has never been clipped and is free-flighted in my home. She has even trained herself to fly back to the top of her cage (onto paper toweling) to relieve herself. I could never keep her from being a true bird and experience the freedom of flying. I think a bird is healthier when they are allowed to fly at will.
I definitely agree!
Hi I just brought home my baby. She was at the pet store ever since she hatched and she came home three days ago and she is 4 months now. Three days ago was when I was able to bring her home and she is very nippy, how can I stop her from being nippy.
Do you think free flight outside is ok
Hi! I have a 6 month old blue and gold macaw - George - he was clipped when we got him, so we are slowly growing the wings back.... what sort of tips would you recommend for now in preparation for flight recall?
Cheers
Skye
Start ur training now with clicker conditioning then go to target training then you can start doing recall even now. You also want to start the desensitization now. Get your bird used to being outdoors & going public places. Good luck!
Jessica Martorano hey i saw the comment above and i am in the same situation with my amazon... she is clipped but i want to grow her wings out. She steps up when i put my finger out even if i make her walk across the entire cage... what type of training should i do right now?
My grey wont stop regurgitating on me. How do I get him to stop? I know that's the biggest honor but every single moment he is near me he is doing it. Please help.
Do you know where I can get a cockatiel
I have a 9 month cocktail that has been clipped. I had him for 7 days now but I can tell he wants to fly so bad. I will let his wings grow back in and flight train him when that time comes. He does jump and flap his wings in his cage sometimes to get to other perches. But right now I’m still trying to tame him to my hand
Tim Stradley Have you considered target training him? Once target trained you can use the target stick (in small approximations) to lead him onto your arm/hand.
You can also flight train a clipped bird and even one who isn't hand tame yet :)! For a clipped bird I would only teach them to hop and would train very close. For a bird that isn't hand tame you can train them to hop onto a perch or another flat surface. You can entice them onto the new surface with a target stick or treats.
To teach our cockatiel to fly we also starting giving him a "jackpot" treat any time he twitched his wings while hopping. Eventually we stopped rewarding him for hops that didn't involve him moving his wings and we started rewarding only when he twitched or flapped them. Then we twitching became the "normal" size treat and a full on flap became his "jackpot" size treats. Eventually that led to him actually flying very short distances.
Getting an animal to go "stand" in a particular spot is called "stationing". Recall is when they come back to you, stationing us when you ask them to go perch on a particular spot. I knew a lady whose bird was scared of hands and she taught him to station inside of his carrier on cue by flying there. She fed him treats off the lid of a Tupperware container and followed exactly the same process as above.
If you want tips on how to gently hand tame let me know! I have several different positive reinforcement training methods to do it. The "hardest" part is getting them to take a treat from your hand- after that everything else is pretty natural. We got our cockatiel used to taking treats from my husband's hand and then we would "retract" the millet spray further and further back into his hand so that our cockatiel had to decide whether to eat the treat and brush against his hand or to not eat the treat and not touch his hand. He always chose to eat the treat and brush against his hand. A few weeks of that later my husband can now pet our cockatiel and our cockatiel will fly to him and beg for scritches
Molly Jane I have not tried this yet. I will have to look it up and try it
I would defiantly want more tips when you are free! I just started this target training after you mentioned it. Did about 5 or 10 minutes of it. She is still a little wary of my hands but still will eat millet out of my hands after she bites the stick and I click the clicker. She got way better towards the end. Ima see how she does tomorrow
If you want more help you can join the Facebook group Bird Jungle
Thanks for sharing! I would target train him first. This will make everything else much easier once his wings grow back in.
I just got a Miligold Macaw and her wings were clipped when I got her. My parakeets are fully flighted but they are not recall trained at all. They’re bonded strongly to each other so taming and training has been really slow. I let them fly in a room. They will step up and down but they will not target. They fly off as soon as anything besides me comes close to them. I have had the macaw for four days and she immediately picked up on the target training but I can’t touch her no one can. We will get there.
I have 2 CAG 8 yrs old.
5 cockatiels : 4months-5yrs old. My 4 month old cockatiel come to me when i calle her. Just have to lift my hand up and day come here. Im gonna try it with my cags next.
I’ve had a green cheeked conure for about 4 months. Her flight feathers are growing back in though she does not yet fly. But she is curious, so I think she will at some point. And she sees my 10 budgies, who are being kept as aviary birds rather than companion birds, flying around. She goes to the floor sometimes but she cannot yet fly back up to her cage. I am very conflicted whether to have the flight feathers re-clipped or to let nature take its course. They are all indoors in one room that has a magnetic self closing hanging screen. They have plenty of space, but cannot get out into the rest of the house.
I definitely would advise you NOT to clip! At 4 months, if her feathers come back in 100%, she will be an expert flier because she is still so young. If she misses this chance, she will never reach this potential in the future, no matter how much training you do.
I have a 10 month lovebird that was never clipped and learnd super fast to fly to me on my command. But he have one problem, he bites me a lot. But he hates when i leave him alone... I dont understand what is his deal. If somebody could help me i would like! Ty
I have a african grey parrot or like they are caled in dutch "grijze roodstaart" (litarly translation: grey redtail). Me and my family have her for already I think 14 years. Sicnse she was a baby. completly fed by hand in the beginning. She is never clipped btw. but at a serten age she began to reject me and now tho only one who can easaly pic het up is my dad. in the past we could do this all btw (me, my mother and my father, my sister was to young before she began to reject us from picking her up). Still she will always come when i feed her and when i am watching tv she willl be colse to me. her cage stands in the living room diractly after the coach. So she is not afraid of us. Only she doesnt alows us much to touch her or pick her up. but i am more then thrilled to try to train her this summer
My experience has been with starlings and mynah birds and all three were full-flight. I did hand rear them, though, and was with them pretty much 24-7 growing up so they were very bonded so I was very comfortable going anywhere outside with them. Here's a sample video: ruclips.net/video/rrZ12r1cCc0/видео.html
Hi ! We are considering on getting an African Grey from a per store she is a plugger they don’t know how old she is maybe 10 or 13 she was used for breeding .we feel bad they say no one wants her she shakes in that cage so scared we want to give her another chance for a better life is it possible she can change even if she’s older? Do you recommend ? We have a cockatiel and two parakeets but we know she will be a big challenge
10, 13, or 15 doesn't matter, a bird given good care and lots of patience can change, recover. If you feel the bird likes or tolerates you go for it. Just listen to what it says, tries to tell you and be armed with plenty of patience. I understand this is not a wild-caught bird, right?
Se Zwo not it is not I believe she was used to breed but stopped so they have her up and had been in the store since
Se Zwo thank you for taking the time to reply !
I think the bird may be stressed out from two very simple reasons. One because it has been separated from its mate, the other because as a breeder it has lived in a cage that in all likelihood had a private nesting area, perhaps a small enclosure, box, etc. where it could feel comfortable for breeding, and now it is lacking such feature and is stressed. I think if you were to recreate in its cage some private area, perhaps a curtain, maybe a small wooden box mounted inside the cage, where the bird could find privacy, hide in, or behind it, it would be very very helpful in transitioning it to a pet parrot.
One more thing, at night I recommend covering the birds cage with a large piece of dark cloth, say tablecloth or such. Sleeping under a cover helps calm the bird, creates a feeling of privacy and security. This is a must for any bird in my opinion.
When you teach your bird this, how do you then stop them from always flying to you? aren't they just going to fly to you when you enter the room?
You can reinforce staying on the perch by giving your bird head scratches and treats periodically for flying to there and staying there. However, when Smokey does fly to me (and she still does this quite a lot), I simply send her back. You should never punish your bird, though, for flying to you. In case of an accident and your bird flies outside or encounters some danger, you don't want them to think twice about landing on you. You should always be a suitable landing spot.
How old is she is it ur only bird?
I thought you wasn’t going to upload any more videos. I were getting sad there for a bit.
Haha...glad this cheered you up! I don't upload as often anymore but I will when I can. It just takes a heck a lot of time filming, editing, and uploading. So, I will continue to upload, but just when I can.
My two African Greys have never been and will never be clipped. Fortunately here in Germany it's not allowed to clipp a bird's flight feathers. Sure they had chrash-landings when they started flying but it's like with every child that falls when it learns to walk. Birds are born to fly and to take away that ability is simply unfair. My birds are very talented flyers because they learned it naturally when they were very young and I supported them with trainings to improve their skills faster. To take them safely outside I trained them to wear the Aviator harness. And with the help of elastic leash extensions they are now able to improve their flying skills in the wind on sports fields. It's such an amazing feeling when your bird plays with the wind and flys to you on command over a longer distance :-)
Agreed on all points made! In the US, it is still common practice to clip a bird's wings (unfortunately). In fact, those who don't clip are often seen as "irresponsible" bird owners. However, I have seen that over the past few years, more and more people are beginning to see that birds can be kept flighted and still remain safe in the home. Thanks for sharing!
Time to take the risk "free flight" smokey...
It doesn't work that way. I fully support those who free fly, but do it responsibly. Smokey is never going to free fly; she's just not a good candidate for free flight. For me to close my eyes and blindly take that risk with a bird that I know is not ready to show off to the internet is purely selfish and irresponsible. I will probably add to my flock within the next few years and will probably free fly my next bird, but not Smokey.
Cool bro. What Parrot are you getting next? An Eclectus Parrot?
Doubled yellow headed Amazon. I can’t get her to fly at all. She is fully flighted but won’t fly unless something scares her and she is afraid she will get hurt. I need to find a way to get her to actually fly. I know it sounds stupid but that is the facts. Thank you for the videos,.
It does not sound stupid at all! Have you tried what I showed in this video? Adult birds become VERY reluctant to fly if they've been previously clipped. If you slowly work to build up his confidence, he'll soon learn why he has wings and will embrace them.
I have a Grey , hè is 24 and was clipped at one wing for a long time.
I have a rosé kaketoe, hè is 11, was in a cage for 9 years i clipped hun.
I also have a Grey age 3, they clipped hun when i bought hun with 5 months and i have a rose, she is 1,5 i clipped her myself.
Now i want Them to learn how to fligh.
The only one who does that, from high to the grownd is the Grey from 3 years.
Thanks for your movie.
I go and practice
I have a Male Blue fronted Amazon (Oscar The Grouch on Facebook, @Oscar_Amazon on Instagram) I take him outside to fly whenever we have nice weather and he loves meeting new people (Harnessed) I also run a group on Facebook called Bird Jungle and another for harness and flight training.
Awesome! Just followed! Smokey's IG is wingsnpaws_
A very interesting video and I want to tell you something: I have adopted an African Grey when he? was 10 years old and lived in a to small cage when the owner died and is 27 now. Directly I bought a big cage but never let him? clip. A lovely bird and a good talker and now again 3 month ago I adopted an African Grey of 40 years from a neighbour who is in a nursing home, and may not go with her. Also a lovely bird a very good talker and whistler haha but a plucker. Now I know the story from the children of this lady why her parrot did it for more than 20 years. He is doing very well with me and get new feathers because he get the good food he never have got. He knew my parrot from a time he was staying for a holiday and they remember each other and both have their own cage near to each other but I saw love in the air between the bars and ohhh, what a surprise, my parrot who supposed to be a male has layed 2 eggs so he is after 27 years a female ♥♥ and my question is: is it possible to put them together in 1 space or cage for more social contact without breeding :-))))) I hope you can give Dodo, Moppy and me an answer.............
If you don't put a nestbox in the cage, they are unlikely to breed.
8:55 lmao mine runs away from me but he loves me soo much when I hold him or play with him I can tell u how happy this bird is and he also loves him cage... what a weird bird that is
i have a 2yr old almost 3yrs old black headed caique. he is recall trained he will fly to me from around corners uphigh across the house some times. i had to teach him to stay so i could call him other wise he just follow me the second i leave the room. we also go to a bird club twice a month called flight club where he can fly around a gym. everyone told me caiques are awful flyers but everyone sees him is amazed at how good of a flyer he is. here is a video ruclips.net/video/rYUxAZFqvPE/видео.html
Galah(rose breasted cockatoo) aka pink chicken he is not flighted because he was clipped he is around 2 yearsold
Mine is shy he doesn’t talk in front of human
Edit: he is ## and I had him since he was 2 months old :)
(I don’t want to say his age cuz people will envy my lil birdy)
My bird does not want to hop 😤
I am trying to teach penny to come to me, its terrible at bed time, she runs around the cage and wont let me catch her, screaming, almost like shes saying, no mommy, i dont want to go to bed. At first i thought it was cute, but now its awful. I wont give up on trying.
My AG hates me
1st
Mustache parakeet. He’s flighted. Not very good at coming to me. But he’s great at going to my hubby..🙄 He thinks he hubbys bird. Go figure.
Oh. And I had a cockatiel before him. She was clipped when I got her. I let hers grow out. All her feathers came in at once. Not sure if that’s normal for teils. But she did come to me. She was my baby. 😁
Hi, first of all I bought a african grey 2 weeks ago, hes about 8 years old (that's what the old owner told me) and he knows about 10 different whistles..
My question is, how long it takes to learn one word and till what age he learn new things, thanks
My TAG is 20y and can still pick-up a new word if he wants to. He's not much of a talker though, never was, and I never trained him to talk. I just don't believe in training parrots to talk. What's the point?