when do the wings come in?

[patti]

Lily will be a year soon, if i have her birthday right. her molt went on forwever and she now has all new feathers on her head, back, and neck along with about 1/2 new tailfeathers. her wings have escaped the molt so far, which kinda bummed me out because those were all the spotty feathers, which i guess is typical for a baby bird. but now she is starting to lose those broken/pocky baby contour feathers on her wings too, along with her trendy sixties golf pants (she's a Jenday), and some of the larger wing feathers next to her secondaries. guess the molt wasn't over! It seems only a matter of time before she startes molting flight feathers. she came to me clipped, and my intention is to let her wings grow in whenever they decide to come in. but now i dont feel ready. i am having trouble controlling her with only one working arm.

when can i expect those wings????? when can i expect her to really take off? she can fly now if she wants. not just for emergencies (like when my neighbor put a pair of scary black pants on the clothesline), but because she wants to get over to me, find a toy. or waddle around the room. she can even fly from her cage to the large windowsill, which requires control in take off and landing. but she saves flying for things she really really wants. i am really enjoying watching her explore instead of pleading for me to pick her up. want to be prepared bc i don't want to have to clip her, but can't really prepare for a flighted bird in this moment. i am still working on getting dressed in the morning. but maybe if i still have some tijme i can do it... hence the question.

[Wolf]

I don't think that you have much to worry about as your bird already flies, so if you are waiting for her to become fully flighted, I am sorry, but you missed it and she is already there. In addition to the needed feathers, there are many other things that affect how much your bird flies. Things like their personalities, how much space they have to fly in and last but not least how much they want something. Birds are, indeed built for flight, but even so it takes a tremendous amount of energy to do it. Because of this expenditure of energy and if their space is limited they may opt to walk instead of flying. I have birds that hardly ever fly simply due to the space required for them to do so, which I rarely get to see them fly, my loss. I also have birds that fly nearly everywhere and I truly enjoy watching them fly. To me there is nothing that takes the place of a bird freely choosing to fly to me just to say hi.
I do not mean to pry or to be rude, but you mentioned that you have some problems in control with the bird due to your arm. Based on what you said, I am assuming that this is a recent injury, and I am sorry for that, wish thing were different for you. Is the control thing due to the bird flying to that side of your body? Or is it something else that we might be able to help with?

[Pajarita]

Well, if the bird still has clipped primaries, it would not be 100% fully flighted because they need the two first remiges at full length to achieve it (these are the ones that separate and rotate for maneuvering and give most of the impulse on the down flap). As to how long, it depends on how many primary feathers in the wings were clipped. They usually molt two of them at a time but they only molt half the feathers on each molt so, although he will replace some of them, if four or more were clipped, there will be a 'hole' that will only get fixed on the next molt. Having said that, in the Northern Hemisphere, we are still on the resting season and, in the Southern, it's breeding time so you might want to reconsider the light schedule to see what is screwing up its endocrine system (I doubt that diet has anything to do with it with a bird so young).

[Wolf]

You are correct on this, Pajarita, which is normal. But in so far as the bird is in a house or apt. with limited space to fly in, I don't think that its flight ability is impeded enough to make a lot of difference in how much it chooses to fly in its present environment. I do think that it would make a difference if it had a larger space to fly in. I also realize that I could be in error.

[patti]

I don't think that you have much to worry about as your bird already flies, so if you are waiting for her to become fully flighted, I am sorry, but you missed it and she is already there.

ha ha! that made me laugh.

you all made me feel better, thanks. loss of control is just due to my injury. she doesnt always step up and wont get off of me but then i cant get anything done because my one good hand always ends up with a bird on it somehow. thank goodness the days are so short!!

[Wolf]

Well, for what it's worth, my birds don't always step up either. that is normal and I just wait a few seconds and ask again, most of the time they will step up the second time. Other times it just ain't a happening thing and that is ok too. birds don't really do orders as they are wired to make their own choices and sometimes they just don't want to do the same things that we want them to do. If you insist too often then they will begin to resent you for it and start biting to get your attention. Also once I have a bird on me it can be a real comedy of errors trying to get them off, they like being on me, but with as many as I have I just can't fit them all on me at the same time, so in those cases I resort to bribery. Works for me.

[Pajarita]

I know what you are talking about, Patti. My jenday was like that, too. He would get on me and nothing or nobody could move him But, thankfully, he has a mate now so he is not a permanent ornament hanging from me. He still comes to my shoulder every day to kiss me and canoodle with old momma for a while and, even though he has a mate, he still doesn't like any other bird perching on me.... well, actually, he doesn't mind some birds, like the Senegal or the Jardine, but any other bird, like any Amazon or gray, gets the dive bombing technique to dislodge them from my hand or shoulder.

[patti]

Having said that, in the Northern Hemisphere, we are still on the resting season and, in the Southern, it's breeding time so you might want to reconsider the light schedule to see what is screwing up its endocrine system (I doubt that diet has anything to do with it with a bird so young).

i have been wondering that. i got her from petco where it was daytime until 10pm, but she has been on a solar schedule since july. i am assuming that petco was the problem. or the time change from florida to california. i know endocrine rebalance takes time. she could have experienced prolonged stress there (and the first month i had her was very stressful), which would throw off her pituitary a bit, making that rebalance take a longer maybe. just guessing.

her molt started a month after other bird owners on various boards, when she was 6-7 mo give or take. and seemed to cycle: lose, grow, lose, grow. you could see the hormones in action, actually. each wave started at the top of her head and moved downward, and the number of feathers lost in each wave increased steadily until what i thought was the last wave in early dec. how cool to watch! until last week when she lost 7-10 feathers a day all of a sudden. she hasn't lost any flight feathers yet. they are all clipped, and still there.

you make me think. coincidentally, at the same time feathers started coming out again she got a bit horny all of a sudden too. she is not yet a year old. but she is lovey lovey lovey and has offered me her lady parts a couple times (don't know the sex, but from reading the boards it is hen behavior). i was very flattered but had to decline. i have started to be more careful about where i touch her cuz of that, but thats hard since i am one handed and she knows it. i had not connected the two until just now. hormonal changes since arriving back in LA. when i get back home after being out she pumps her head, rubs and knocks her beak on me and stuff, then regurgitates in her mouth. put on the al green, folks! this one is in the mood!

btw, when i first got back from the hospital lily kept picking at my left hand to try and revive it. awww!

[Wolf]

With all due respect, it seems to me that your bird is on a human light schedule and not a solar one. I understand that I could be in error, but the molting pattern is what I am basing my opinion on. Perhaps we are experiencing a difference in what we are calling a solar light schedule.
If I may ask, what is your birds daily schedule? Perhaps we can find why she is molting in this manner if we start with a run down of her schedule.

[patti]

she wakes at dawn, which right now is about 730. sometimes she is already up when i get up, waiting quietly for me to take her out. usually it is like clockwork, after the crows caw a few times and just before the sun comes over the hill. then breakfast on the window ledge while i have my morning coffee. beans and veggies or oatmeal and fruit. i am working on gloop right now, by introducing one ingredient at a time.

then playtime. she is out of the cage all day while i work on my computer or take breaks to play with her. she grazes on cuties, bananas, and eggplant (this week at least) when i eat my breakfast and lunch. i give her sunflower seeds to get her to do stuff. she starts her dinner around 4 (zupreem natural pellets) and then goes to bed about 530. usually just after sunset when it is turning dark.

i admit, though, that i do sometimes wake her a bit early (i wake 6 or 630) when i need some birdy love. and i do whisper goodnight before i go to bed every night and if she is awake she answers, but i only disturb her otherwise at night on rare occasions.