Clipping concern

[JaydeParrot]

Before immediately saying DO NOT CLIP! Please read, my sennie Cain can fly and does so all the time, I semi-clipped my other sennie Hide because he was scaring me with his kamikaze flying. He smacked into walls, windows, mirrors, jumped off my shoulder and hit the ground, flew several perfect loops of a room (picking up speed) before slamming into a cupboard, sliding down the side of it, rolling off a set of draws and hitting the floor (he didn't move for about 10 seconds after that one, I was convinced he'd killed himself), he's also missed perches and his cage and hit the floor, headbutted a wall, causing him to lose feathers and get a minute cut on his head, the list continues.

Lots of people have said he'll learn, he flew for over six months and almost seemed to get worse, other people said try training him to fly to you, he did do that but it didn't prevent him from his kamikaze mission when he wasn't flying to me.

He can be a bit clumsy just walking along my bare arms (he's safe if his feet can grasp my t shirts). For me, it's almost become second nature to notice him stumble, move forward and grab or catch him before he hits the floor. He's been like this for over a year, he seems fine in most ways, but I do wonder whether too many hits to the head could have caused him to have problems with his motor skills/ caused him to become clumsy in his flying skills.

He's gaining his flight feathers back now, and while I do like the idea of him being able to fly with Cain, it does worry me that he could end up killing himself if I let all his flight feather grow back in.

Anyone got any thoughts or ideas on this problem?

[Wolf]

Have you ever had his eyes checked?

[JaydeParrot]

Feel bad saying it, but I never realised you could get a parrot's eyes checked, I've checked them myself: Waved my hand around his face and he's followed my hand with his eyes, I've also tried a more long distance test where I've put him on the floor in a darkish place away from his cage, he has no trouble navigating himself out of the dark area (usually behind a sofa) and finding his way back to his cage.

I don't know whether a vet eye test would show anything different but from what I can tell his eyes (just had to catch him again before he fell, ) his eyes are fine he just seems clumsy, he's currenly sat on my computer desk with his wings open like he wants to fly to his friend so I think he knows what he's aiming for, he's just dangerous when he actually tries to fly.

Are there any 'clumsiness' vet exams?

[Wolf]

I doubt that they have a clumsy test. I really don't know how they check a parrots vision, but I do know that parrots get the main visual cues from off to each side, front to the side, rear to the side and directly on each side, for their flight location and speed. Have to hunt it up but I had recently read some article on this, recently meaning within the last month.
Although I am normally against clipping a birds wings, there are times and circumstances in which it is the only good way to deal with the flight issues. In your case it would appear that this is the only humane way to deal with Hides flight problems. Perhaps doing a minimalistic type clip would allow him to retain flight, but reduce his speed to allow him to compensate for his visual or other flight control issues.
From the information that you have provided, it would be logical to assume that although
hide's flight problems may have began primarily with a visual problem that in all likelihood he has suffered a concussion, or even more than one, that has resulted in some loss of motor function both on the ground and in the air. Sometimes such injury induced damage may heal, but it is just as likely that it will be permanent.

[Harpmaker]

When my bird was learning to fly, her method of stopping was to fly into something-a person, cupboard, wall, curtain, etc. She smacked some walls hard enough to worry me, and my AV suggested a flight cage until she got better at it. If your bird can fly, but not land, AND you have space and $$$ for it, that might be the way to go.

Given that he is clumsy when not flying, it may not. (She figured out how to stall to land before I could get a flight cage, so I don't know if that would have helped her.)

[marie83]

Thats awful, after 6 months of flight any bird should have learned the crash landings arent comfortable and can be painful, a bird that has the strength to do several laps of a room should also have enough control over its flight to be able to slow down sufficiently to avoid "hard" crash landings imo.

If it were my bird I would be looking into medical causes for this with the help of my vet and second opinion if necessary. Even blind animals can appear to see as they cope much better than humans with the loss of one of their senses. It might be your parrot is partially sighted so can follow movement in certain lights but cannot see large, stationary objects so well. Other times an animal might be following a noise or smell and appear to be "looking"
Ive seen it before where a small piece of unscented cotton wool is dropped in front of an animal to see if they investigate it as it lands with virtually no noise, doesnt create too much of a shadow and is hard to smell unless directly in front of the nose. Its a very basic test and not conclusive but it can certainly help detect a potential sight issue.
I would also be researching illnesses, nuerological problems/damage etc for other potential issues. Of course there will probably little that can be done in the way of treatments but if you know what your dealing with then maybe you can find a way to manage it better. I would be concerned about clipping a bird thats already having difficulty balancing but at same time a bird thats constantly crashing is also in danger of injury. I might have to make a birdy padded cell lol!

[Wolf]

A Birdy padded cell ? What a novel idea, I like it!

Yes, that is exactly what I am proposing to JaydeParrot, that the flight problem probably has a medical reason. And since it has persisted this long, I am sure that something is not right with this bird, and it needs to be checked out.

[marie83]

A Birdy padded cell ? What a novel idea, I like it!

Yes, that is exactly what I am proposing to JaydeParrot, that the flight problem probably has a medical reason. And since it has persisted this long, I am sure that something is not right with this bird, and it needs to be checked out.

Haha, im not sure it would even be possible to cushion everything especially with the fact most parrots are chewers but I would certainly try to think of every possible possibility before deciding my bird had to live a flightless life as im sure jaydeparrot is.

I really hope you can get some answers and find a solution jaydeparrot. Keep us updated whatever decisions you reach. I do feel bad that your having to consider options that you clearly dont want to.

[Wolf]

Yeah, I am hoping that JaydeParrot can find out what the problem and also hoping that it is not so severe as to completely eliminate flight. Hopefully he will be able to do a minimalistic type clip, that while still allowing flight might slow hide down enough for him to gain some control and proficiency without hurting himself in the process. I take it from his postings that he has done this before so maybe Hide will need this type of clip indefinitely in order to retain his ability to fly.

[JaydeParrot]

I agree that finding out what's wrong would be a good ideaa, but I've got no idea where to start- I'm terified of my bird being anaethtized and have no idea if bird cat scans exist.

He shredded all his own flight feathers last year and now has two new feathers on one side and four new feathers on the other. I'd like him to be able to glide I just worry about him flying. He used to fall off his perch when he was asleep, it would only happen once/twice a week. I'd never see him fall, I'd just hear unco-ordinated wing flaps and then bang! He'd hit the floor of the cage. I ended up replacing the grate with newspapers because of this (figured I'd be a softer landing).

He has also sometimes jumped or fell off my finger when he'd been perched on it, for this reason I always hold at least two of his toes against my finger with my thumb. He of kind flew today, jumped off the sofa, landed on the bean bag, rolled off it and fell on the dog bed (no dog on it at the time). He seemed at little unco-ordinated in that, I don't really know what/if he was aiming for anything.

I've decided to let his feathers grow in and see how he does, hopefully he beasts the odds and gets better at flying, it would be nice to know he can fly out of danger, if he can't I'll clip two on each side and see if it's enough.

Thanks your thoughts and ideas, .

Really hope it doesn't have to come down to a padded cell for Hide though, .