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Wanting Chance to fly

Discuss indoor freeflight and managing freeflighted birds around the house. How to live with a flighted parrot.

Wanting Chance to fly

Postby GreenWing » Sat Jul 12, 2014 3:53 pm

Chance is between 6 to 9 years old. Since she is a rehome with an uncertain past, I don't know if she's ever been flighted, but I doubt it. She came to me with broken feathers (when I took her into the clinic, immediately after purchasing her, the Avian vet frowned at this as she clearly wasn't cared for enough); but now eight months later, when fanning out her wing, there are feathers still missing.

She IS flying short distances around the house, though (such as from the bed and turned the corner).

My questions are:

Will her wings have eventually full feathers -- will it take a few molts? Or are those missing feathers gone forever?

Will Chance learn to fly, even at her age?
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GreenWing
African Grey
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Location: Portlandia, United States
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Flight: Yes

Re: Wanting Chance to fly

Postby Wolf » Sat Jul 12, 2014 7:25 pm

how many molts it will take to restore all of her wing feathers depends on which feathers are missing and how many are missing, however I would think that within the space of a couple of times they should be replaced. If she is flying even short distances now then she will still be able to learn to fly. And as time goes on her abilities in flying will improve as she flies more.
Wolf
Macaw
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is male
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Flight: Yes

Re: Wanting Chance to fly

Postby GreenWing » Wed Jul 16, 2014 1:40 am

Thank you so much, Wolf!


:gray:
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GreenWing
African Grey
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 1165
Location: Portlandia, United States
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Congo African Grey ♥
Flight: Yes

Re: Wanting Chance to fly

Postby Pajarita » Wed Jul 16, 2014 11:23 am

She will, most likely, regain all her feathers within one year and, if she is already flying short distances, all she needs is to strengthen her muscles and acquire better maneuvering skills.
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Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Flight: Yes

Re: Wanting Chance to fly

Postby Harpmaker » Wed Jul 16, 2014 2:48 pm

Remember that The Parrot Wizard says Kili had a very bad clip and some of her primaries have not grown back, but she still flies quite handily. She just has to work harder at it.

On the other hand, one of my books says that heavy bodied African parrots will sometimes decide flying to a particular place is too much trouble and that it is easier to walk. Despite that, Corsair hardly walks anywhere.

Chance will decide for herself what ratio of walk to fly she likes. But you knew that.
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Amazon
 
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Flight: Yes


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