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any creative solutions?

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any creative solutions?

Postby Giantmoa » Sun Jul 11, 2010 11:47 pm

I would love to allow my green cheek to be flighted but I am unsure if that would be possible for her while still keeping her safe. My last bird, a cockatiel, was flighted and we never had trouble with her (she did escape once while bringing her home from a housesitters and the travel cage literally fell apart, but luckily we were able to retrieve her). Honestly though, when taking in their personalities my 'tiel was much more independant than my conure is. I know my conure would follow me everywhere if should could instead of staying on her playstand some of the time. This probably would not be a problem for me if my house didn't have such an open layout. There is little to no barriers between the living room and the kitchen, and the stove has open burners with the pilot lights always burning. Even with my gcc's wings clipped she still gets startles easily by sudden loud noises (like a particularly loud sneeze in a quiet room) and flutters down or attempts to follow us at times. I know if she was flighted she probably would not be out as much as she is now. Plus there is always the worry that she would get startled and fly onto one of the open burners. (I might just be worrying too much about the dangers, I tend to do that)
So basically, with those factors in mind, I'm wondering if anyone has solutions that would allow us to have her flighted and safe? =/
much thanks!
:gcc: Rainbow
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Giantmoa
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Re: any creative solutions?

Postby Michael » Mon Jul 12, 2010 12:00 am

So you're not worried about the bird flying into the burners when startled if clipped but you are worried if the bird were fully flighted??? My do you have this all backwards. I think it mostly works the other way around. From everything I see, it's the clipped birds that get into the most flight related accidents. I'm not advocating leaving a flighted parrot around hot burners but you definitely shouldn't think it's safe with a clipped parrot either. Even a clipped parrot, if startled can get enough of an adrenalin rush to fly right into that stove.
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Michael
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Re: any creative solutions?

Postby Kim S » Mon Jul 12, 2010 4:33 am

The clipped bird probably is clipped so he wont even be able to reach the burners. I understand your concern moa, but I agree on Michael with this. Guus has been flighted from the day I have him and he flew into the window only once, and not even that hard. After that he never flew into it again.
He never sits down on the stove and he instinctively flies away from anything that he can perceive as dangerous.
Kika, and some of the birds for customers that are flighted are totally different. They will let themself fall wherever they are, not concerned in the least about where they land becaurse we will pick them up eventueally. They are conditioned to be dependent on us and will be so untill they know they can fend for themself.
Kika: Senegal Parrot.
Guus: Cockatiel, Yellowcheek, cinnamon, pearl, pied.
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Re: any creative solutions?

Postby Giantmoa » Mon Jul 12, 2010 4:13 pm

Michael wrote:So you're not worried about the bird flying into the burners when startled if clipped but you are worried if the bird were fully flighted???


luckily for me the dining room seperates the living room (where her cage is) from the kitchen. From what I've seen she can't even get near the burners when her wings are clipped. I am more concerned that she will try to follow me or my parents into the kitchen. She includes my parents in her "flock" and has at times tried to follow them when I have her out. I'm not so sure how well she would respond to training in that area since she is more people-motivated than food motivated and the reward of following us places would probably be greater than a treat. I could be completely wrong about that though... my training experience with her does not go past "step up", a few tricks, and "be gentle". I've been meaning to check out some of the training concerning flighted birds... in the meantime it will be a while until her next moult and I have time to decide or start a new training regime.

Kim S wrote:He never sits down on the stove and he instinctively flies away from anything that he can perceive as dangerous.
Kika, and some of the birds for customers that are flighted are totally different. They will let themself fall wherever they are, not concerned in the least about where they land becaurse we will pick them up eventueally. They are conditioned to be dependent on us and will be so untill they know they can fend for themself.


I think I see your point, my previous bird never had any trouble inside the house when she was flighted. my tiel was much more independant than my conure is, and I'm not sure if that would change if she ever did become flighted. I just tend to err on the side of safety when I am unsure of the results... though now that I've been looking around this forum I see a lot of great info on flight recall and that area of training which leads me to wonder if I could be successful in training her to stay out of the kitchen all together?
:gcc: Rainbow
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Re: any creative solutions?

Postby Kim S » Tue Jul 13, 2010 2:52 am

Just dont decide to 'clip her only a little bit'. That way she can fly but has no controll over it. Which is, in my opinion, even more dangerous dan clipping completely.
Clip her, or dont. Make up your mind ;)
Kika: Senegal Parrot.
Guus: Cockatiel, Yellowcheek, cinnamon, pearl, pied.
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Re: any creative solutions?

Postby Giantmoa » Tue Jul 13, 2010 3:50 pm

don't worry =) I haven't even heard of clipping only a "little bit" before (it sounds like a silly idea)
thanks :swaying:
:gcc: Rainbow
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Giantmoa
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Re: any creative solutions?

Postby Michael » Tue Jul 13, 2010 3:54 pm

Personally I think a parrot benefits more from limited time flight but I don't think there is any way to prove one way or another what is better. Even with a clipped parrot though I wouldn't prefer to have it out while cooking cause attention should be focused on kitchen safety rather than bird but yet it's bad to leave even clipped parrot unsupervised. So I say don't clip and put away while kitchen is hot.
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Re: any creative solutions?

Postby Giantmoa » Tue Jul 13, 2010 6:36 pm

mmm, I think I'll give her a chance and see how well I can handle her flighted. I suppose I can always take her into my room with me while my parents cook, ect. plus she learns so fast I know I can train her with flight recall, the only question being how reliable she'll be =) (she can be more than a bit stubborn when the incentive isn't enough ;) )
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Re: any creative solutions?

Postby nogrules » Fri Aug 20, 2010 11:14 pm

I sympathize with your concern.

My cockatiel is fully flighted and while I was at work a friend came over to surprise me with dinner and let herself in. She had been over a hundred times before and knows that when I'm home beaker is out of the cage so she let him out while she was making dinner. When I got home my friend was in tears. As she was preparing the salad Beaker jumped on the counter because she had fresh spinach she offered Beaker a piece and as he turned to grab it his tail feathers hit the hot element on the stove and he ignited. She screamed and the bird took off putting out the flame on the end of his tail.
She phoned the vet and he asked about the condition of the bird and she said he was singing.

When I got home beaker happily greeted me then I was hit with the story. I checked out Beaker and just the end of his longest tail feather was singed and melted. He was 100% ok and just had a feather that looked like and old treasure map for a while. when he molted I gave my friend the feather to remind her not to let the bird out when I'm not around.

Needless to say I'm sure beaker flying away put out the fire and the experience keeps him far away from the stove. It happened like a year ago and all his feathers are perfect again.

PS my friend doesn't come and make dinner for me any more lol
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Re: any creative solutions?

Postby Azure Hanyo » Sat Aug 21, 2010 10:49 pm

nogrules wrote: When I got home beaker happily greeted me then I was hit with the story. I checked out Beaker and just the end of his longest tail feather was singed and melted. He was 100% ok and just had a feather that looked like and old treasure map for a while. when he molted I gave my friend the feather to remind her not to let the bird out when I'm not around.

Needless to say I'm sure beaker flying away put out the fire and the experience keeps him far away from the stove. It happened like a year ago and all his feathers are perfect again.

PS my friend doesn't come and make dinner for me any more lol


Scary story, and since I know he is OK...this part is hilariously awesome. :lol:
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