Hi,
I just joined this forum to get some help as we raise and train our 11-week Jenday Conure "Turtle".
Turtle is doing great so far. He (if it is a he, we don't really know that yet) is hand-fed and we got him less than 2 weeks ago when he was about 10 weeks old. He is totally comfortable around people, all people, takes treats from anyone's hand, steps up for a treat, and often eats the treat while staying on the hand. He never bites, only chews to explore. He happily plays all day in his large cage (big enough for an African Grey), which has various toys that he seems to enjoy. He eats well, drinks well, sleeps well. Altogether, Turtle is the perfect bird so far.
The only thing I am concerned about is that his wings are clipped. I am not quite sure when they were clipped, but I think it must have been about one month ago, maybe a bit less. When I came across Michael's article on why clipping is wrong (which intuitively is how I felt anyway), and then read that not being able to learn how to fly at a young age is particularly bad, I began to wonder what the best course of action is from hereon.
Do we wait until the flight feathers have regrown? Or do we try to let Turtle fly the best he can right now? He has actually tried to fly a few times from the top of his cage. His record so far is about 5 airborne seconds over a distance of 12 feet or so. Not too bad. Outdoors, I suspect, he could probably manage to gain a lot more altitude. So, he's not flightless, just handicapped. I don't know what kind of a clipping he received, but it looks to me like not all of the long flight feathers were clipped. There appear to be two left on each wing, but I might be wrong.
I am worried that if we Iet him fly indoors in tour living/dining room, a large rectangular area with a total length of about 35 feet long, he may crash to the floor or bump into wooden furniture, etc. But maybe, that worry is misplaced. Maybe, it's worse for him not to fly at all for at least another month or so. I just don't know.
So, please, let me know what you think is the best way to proceed. I realize that the answer may depend on just how risky the flight training area is for him. If so, I'll try to describe our living/dining room in more detail.
Thanks a lot for your help.
Robert
PS. I have ordered Michael's book and can't wait to read it. This is the third book on parrots I am buying, and the other two weren't too helpful at a practical level. We plan to do clicker and target training with Turtle exactly as recommended by Michael.