Hello from Canada

[seagoatdeb]

Hello from BC Canada, I currently have a 17 year old Red Belly Poi and a 4 month old Meyers Poi. I dont agree either way completley with clipping or not clipping your bird. it depends on the home and the safety present. I clip myself and do a very modest clip. They cant fly high or far enough to escape out a door or window, or startle and fly too far when they go for rides in the car, like all Pois seem to love. They enjoy the flight they have and can fly from hanging play gym to hanging play gym and back to their cage if they want. What they cant do is fly well enough to end up in an open toilet my grand daughter left open or a hot pot of water when somone is cooking. My 17 year old has always had a modest clip, except for short time that she was staying with relatives when I was unable to have her for a short time. She flew out an open window, while she was with them and luckily flew back in herself before coming to harm. The 4 month old is only mildly clipped, so he can be faster than my Red Belly in case she gets mad at him. This is what works for me and I have always had happy birds. I only do clips myself and have taught the birds to lay on their back and are not afraid of their clips. I never do a drastic clip suddenly that would let the birds feel like they were missing something. My birds are very different in personality even though they are both Pois. The red belly has always been the pickiest eater, and I have to always be inovative to get her to try new foods, she has a big personality and mind of her own, is a really good talker and is a very loving, sweet bird who trusts me completely. The Meyers is still so young that he may change a lot but he is a nice steady guy, taking everything in his stride. He is a good eater and trys everything and plays and eats with great relish. It has been really good for my red belly to introuduce the Meyers to our home, as she has a tendency to get too overbonded to me and is always better with another bird around to think about.

[Pajarita]

Welcome to the forum, seagoat and friends! I am afraid that you are mistaken in your belief that a mild clip and safety have any type of relationship but I hope you never find out for sure.

[seagoatdeb]

Thanks for the welcome. I know I am not mistaken for my situation, and I have over 25 years of having parrot experience and helping so many with their birds when they have problems socializing them. I own no dogs or cats or any other animals, only parrots so they never need to escape another pet. My red belly is a character and a half and although she still has a lot of flight left, has always prefered to climb and walk everywhere. She wont take the easiest route either, she will stubbornly try a new way until she masters it, so I change up ropes for her challenges she loves. She loves to perch on a home made atom, and flap her wings while hanging on and make it swing in different directions, but will fly down when she is ready to go somewhere else. The Meyers so far likes to fly from hanging toy to toy and has enough flight to easily do that, as well as fly back to the playground on top of his cage. They are very happy birds, but like all my birds I have ever had, prefer to be out of the cage, because of the jungles I make out of my living space for them. I like living with a jungle look. I make my own smaller orbits and they both like to sleep in them in their cages. I have worked at home for most of my life, so my birds have lots of time out of cage. They always watch me make their toys and hanging toys and those toys are their favorite, the ones that are store bought are hardly ever played with. If they dont play with them in a month time I take them apart and recombine them in a toy I make and then it becomes a favorite toy. My redbelly loves to watch me make a new toy and is always running all over me and chewing on the wood toy parts as I make it and is so appreciative she peppers me with tiny kisses. It was when I got her I went into full jungle mode...lol

[Pajarita]

Well, your position is very common, people who've had parrots for a long time are used to clipping. It was the 'thing' to do many years ago when we did not know any better. I never did but that's because I come from a country where we have wild parrots and people back home never even heard of this practice. I got my first rescue back in 1992, I ran a rescue for 6 years when I moved to Pennsylvania and have been giving advice in birdsites since they started (this comment is not about the 'quality' or the fact that I give advice but about the huge number of parrots and parrot owners I have gotten to know about in them) and, if there is one thing I have learned about parrots is that you can never be 100% sure of anything and, most especially, of the so-called safety of clipping. I am very glad it has worked for you and, like I said, I hope you never find out any different but lots of other people have and, if it happened to one person, that's good enough for me to question and consider.

[flyingsowm]

Thanks everyone! Very happy parrot noises now. So much better than unhappy calls. Elmo (maxi) still calls for my husband but he will get used to the routine that he works in the day and come home at 5 and I am home. The contact calling is getting quieter and we are all working on it.

[Wolf]

I find that sometimes using a short whistle in return for when they start calling will sometimes get them to use the whistle instead and it is less nerve wracking than the call.

[flyingsowm]

We will try that. My husband is getting tired of saying Hello constantly and I keep having to remind him to respond so we have 3 way contact calling going on! Elmo likes whistling so we will try this.

[Wolf]

I find that a simple two tone whistle seems to work best for my birds. It may take a little time and you have to be consistent in using it every time the bird calls for you. I always answer and then come to see what they want soon after the whistle.

[seagoatdeb]

Whistling works well, as many have said, and with a couple of the rescue birds I had years ago, I never responded to their loud calls and if it was too loud went to another room, so the noise would be less bothersome and then as soon as they were quiet would take them out of the cage. I would only give them attention when they made pleasant noises and ignored the bad ones. My red belly liked to jingle a bell, so I talked to her when she jingled the bell and she alway jingles for attention or says peek a boo when she wants out.

[liz]

"ring a bell" is so cute. Rambo has one in his nite nite cage. It is not often but when he rings it it is almost like an attack. He does it to let me know that he is bored.

I can't whistle so it is either "hello" or "yoohoo" followed by the bird's name so they know they are getting a response.