letting marty fly again?

[coral]

i was thinking of letting martys wings grow back in because i got them clipped when i first adopted him to try to train him more easily so he wouldnt fly away from me. i think hes tame enough to let him fly again and hed be happier any thoughts?

[zazanomore]

I love it when birds are flighted. My budgies are less skidish with their flight feathers, I think it gives them a sense of security.

[Kim S]

For me the pro's outway the cons anyday when it comes to having flighted birds!

[kaylayuh]

I won't ever clip a bird. To me, it doesn't feel right to deny them the ability to fly. I love to see Pigpen do laps around the room and dive at me and the other birds. Cheney Bird flies from his cage to me when he wants to be loved and I'm not paying attention to him. Little No Name is getting his flight feathers in now and he looks so excited when he can lift off the ground a little bit.

I say, let him fly. It's fun to watch!

[coral]

Well I have a 2 cats and one is an indoor out door so sadly he does hunt, when I got my first finches for my birthday from my brother my cat did get them.. it was so sad.. I have taken precautions now to not let that happen again but I worry that with him sitting on me or on his gym that he might get curious and start flying around and I might now be fast enough to get him if the cat happens to be inside at that time. I guess I could lock the cat downstairs while he's out. Oh and marty flew and attacked my Grandma and my mom when I first got him so I hope he doesn't do that again.

[Michael]

Well I have a 2 cats and one is an indoor out door so sadly he does hunt, when I got my first finches for my birthday from my brother my cat did get them.. it was so sad..

Great idea, that will make the hunt all the more natural and entertaining

[coral]

Well that was unnecessary thank you michael for your rude input it was an accident it wasn't my fault I was 10 years old. Its devastating to loose a pet and I would not write on your post and say something rude if one of your pets died.

[kaylayuh]

If you want to let the bird fly and have cats, you could always have the cat in another room while the bird is out. I really don't think it's impossible to have flighted birds and cats, but I seem to be in the minority with that.

When my boyfriend and I move in together, we'll have a multitude of pets. He has two cats, a snake, a tarantula, two scorpions, and two dogs. I have three birds and would love to add more in the future. Clearly, we're not going to get rid of his pets because I'm moving in and have birds. We'll be taking certain precautions, though.

What we plan on doing is housing the birds in a separate room of the house. He'd like to remove the wooden door from that room and replace it with a glass door, which I'd be okay with. The cats (or any other non-human) won't have access to that room. My birds will remain flighted and remain out of their cages for the majority of their day.

[coral]

Sounds like a good idea to me kaylayuh I put a screen door on the door my birds were housed in after the accident. I think ill only let marty fly around when the cat is outside. Thanks for the advice

[kaylayuh]

Always happy to help.

For what it's worth, my birds are already confined to a pretty small area. I have a 400 sq. ft. apartment, half of which is kitchen and bathroom space. They are only allowed access to the living/bedroom space. All three seem happy with it and fly around a couple of times a day. Not a single one of them seem like they need more space.

With proper supervision and an area where the cats don't have access to the bird, you should be fine. I don't think you should let Marty fly around the cats willy nilly, but I'm sure you already know that.