Getting my (unfortunately) clipped GCC to excercise?

[Cal]

I have a 5-7 year old GCC that came to me clipped. He spends lots of time out of his cage, on a play stand, on top of the cage (there is a perch), and on my shoulder, arm, and bed. While he has lots of opertunities to play and excercise his legs (and I guess his wings)... He doesn't. If I put him on the play stand he immediately goes to the highest perch and stays there. No matter where I place treats or toys. I try to do as much as I can, but I'm kind of running out of ideas.

I've heard a couple of people on this forum suggest getting the parrot to step up and then making a quick movement with your arm to get them to flap their wings, but Monkey is already not a fan of stepping up and I'm concerned this might scare him.

If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be so grateful.

*EDIT: Just to let you all know, Monkey was clipped before I got him and I fully intend to let his flight feathers grow out. I feel horrible that this was done to him. Every bird I've ever had has been flighted. That's how they're meant to be.

[Michael]

I've heard a couple of people on this forum suggest getting the parrot to step up and then making a quick movement with your arm to get them to flap their wings, but Monkey is already not a fan of stepping up and I'm concerned this might scare him.

That is terrible advice! Don't do that or you will ruin your relationship. It's a mean and pretty much useless practice. I suggest targeting around to get the bird moving/climbing and hanging play gyms to work on balance. If the bird is good at short flights, hopping, flapping, then setting stands with just enough distance for the bird to go between is good too.

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[CSLFiero]

I agree, the dropping advice I've heard around here before and I don't like it.. Especially since I trained a very fiesty and rambunctious baby jardine's to target in less than a week. It's super super easy to learn and once they know how to do it, it's really easy to get them to do all sorts of activities like climb, duck, step up, and should your bird re-learn to fly, target training will open the door to shorter and then longer flights to you. My jardine has only been home a mere week and getting her to fly to me is a breeze with the targetting stick. Getting her to fly back is a problem though xD I have to walk her back and target her to climb back up to the play gym I train her on.

But yeah, definitely target train, it's super easy. Look it up on how to do it. I like to "double down" on the conditioning, giving a click not only when my birdie grabs the stick, but the setting down a treat and covering it with the stick so she has to move the stick out of the way to get it. When she does and the moment she gets the pellet, she gets another click. The way I see it, this way you can not only reinforce that stick = click and click = treat, but also inextricably link the click to her happiness/satiation/desire to train.in this way, she may feel rewarded and happy for merely receiving a click and will be more motivated to train even when she isn't all that hungry. This is adding classical conditioning to operant conditioning, thus "doubling down" on a good thing.

[Cal]

Thank you both so much. I'll definitely start with target training. I was planning on starting in a few weeks anyways, but I guess sooner would be better. I hope he can eventually regrow flight feathers and learn/relearn how to fly. That's obviously the best excercise, both physically and mentally. But for now we start target training. Thanks again!

[marie83]

Yep, I don't agree with the forcing them to flap thing either. I can see how its better exercise that climbing and walking but there's so much potential for an already vulnerable bird to feel even more insecure thus losing trust. Moving branches is a natural thing in the wild of course but those birds are flighted and usually have much better muscle strength and balance than captive birds.

[Cal]

Yes, I suspected that it could scare him and make him extremely distrustful and/or nervous. I'm so glad I stuck with my gut feeling and didn't do it. I'm also glad to find out I'm not the only one that feels that way. It just seems like a bad idea all around.

I went and got a clicker from my local pet store this afternoon, so in the morning we'll start our "clicker = yummy treat" conditioning. I'm actually pretty excited! I think training will open up a whole new world of activity and interaction for Monkey.