Tinkerbelle is growing in her flight feathers

[cat1hi]

Hi In December I adopted a sun conure named Tinkerbelle and have spent the last 6 months bonding and gaining her trust. She is a juvenile who is now growing her flight feathers and obviously was never flighted. She seems like she is going to be a good flyer, right now we are targeting with a clicker.
I have never had a bird that didnt have previous flying experience, any suggestions on how to get her flying with as little trauma as possible? She has only flown when she was startled off her perch so far.
Tink was clipped severely when I adopted her and now she has the outermost 3 flight feathers in!
Thanks in advance!

[seagoatdeb]

There is really no tip to give, they just learn to fly well with practice, and they do bump and bang into things while learning, it does take them some time to get confident in their flying ability too.

[Wolf]

Oh, I don't know, if she only tries to fly when startled it might be a good idea to put some sheer curtains on windows and in front of mirrors. Parrots may not actually see glass and think that the window or mirror is a way out of the room and could hurt themselves by flying into them at speed. The sheers would help to prevent this from happening. How are her landings? if she crash lands then it might be helpful to pad possible landing areas with blanket or whatever is on hand.

Those are the only hints that I have other than to sit down and try to relax while she learns to control herself in the air.

[liz]

I don't remember how old Tinkerbelle is. Rambo was an adult Amazon when I got him and he did not fly. He seemed healthy but was a pedestrian. When Wolf and Pajarita got me on track with diet and lighting he had a good molt and grew flight feathers. He had never flown except to do a controlled crash from the top of his cage. Because he did not fly he was not able to fly. He just does not have the muscle. I have been working with him by holding him on my hand and counting to three while lifting him up and down for him to flap. Then while aiming him at the bed or couch I say fly. It is going slow but his crashes are more controlled now.

Myrtle came to me with clipped wings as well as in a really bad condition. She was a year old but must have had flight at one time. She kept testing her wings by jumping off the top of her cage and flapping on the way down. Once she had her feathers I had to compare her to a fighter jet. She can even fly sideways.

While Myrtle is a fighter jet Rambo is a cargo plain.

How fast she learns to fly is how much she was able to fly before clipped.

[cat1hi]

Thanks everyone! I will be patient and maybe try some landing on a soft surface!

[Pajarita]

I am a bit confused. You adopted a sun conure in December and she is now just a juvenile? You mean you bought a baby bird in December and it's now a juvenile or you adopted a juvenile or a young adult from somebody who no longer wanted it? The reason I am asking is that whether the bird was a clipped baby which is now a juvenile or a bird that is a young adult and was clipped all its life makes a difference in the advice.

If the bird was a baby and is now growing the primaries the breeder clipped, you should just let it fly as much as possible on its own BUT if the bird is an adult that was clipped all its life, you would have to exercise it.

[seagoatdeb]

Tinkerbelle is a one year old sun conure, and they usually learn to fly very easy when they get their feathers back. They are a small parrot and dont need much space to fly in. Wolf makes a good point about putting something on windows and mirrors. You can also introduce them to window and mirrors and let them touch with their beak too.

[Pajarita]

Actually, Seagoatdeb, going by the only experience I have with a sun (jenday and/or sunday) conure, they don't seem to learn to fly on their own so easily after been prevented from doing it. Granted that I've only had the one experience (so one could easily say that one experience doesn't qualify and I would agree!) and that Sunny is 10 years old (so the damage to the muscles and tendons would be greater) but, if I go by her, they don't seem to WANT to learn on their own and I think that this is entirely due to the lack of the neural paths they form when they do fly regularly.

Sunny was actually never clipped but, apparently, she was kept in her cage for too long periods of time and/or never encouraged to fly so she doesn't. It's not that she can't, she is perfectly able from a physical perspective and I know because I have seen her. It's that she only does it when she is startled and for a too short a distance (just as far as the nearest 'perch'). She doesn't seem to enjoy flying like my other birds do... I have been working with her every day since I got her and have now achieved her complete trust - she steps up for me not only without a single hesitation (she would either bite or bluff to before) but even with eagerness, she loves to ride my shoulder for as long as I would allow it, gives me kisses for hours, etc. so I have only recently gotten to the point in our relationship where she would be willing to let me exercise her and I am planning on starting soon. I am hoping that the exercise would 'open up' something in her brain that would allow her to utilize flight not only as a last resort way of getting out of danger but as something to be enjoyed. That's why I was asking whether she had always been deprived of flight or not, because, for what I can see, it makes a difference in the way they regard it.

[seagoatdeb]

I agree that parrots that have been clipped for many years or cagebound for many years, would be more likely to be like yours Pajarita,but a young Conure like Tinkerbelle will most likely have no problem flying at that age. It is the length of time and the continued weakness of body parts needed for flying that causes most of the problems. Also continued overclipping can cause irreparable damage.

For many years breeders have clipped their parrots before selling, and when they moulted they were able to fly again at roughly around the year old mark. They just have to gain expertise through practice. in this case the OP clipped a young flying parrot and it is getting back its feathers now, so there should be no probelms.

Also about your Sunny, it might be a possibility that when a parrot was not able to fly for so long that it may even physically hurt to be using muscles that were dormant and it may take time to build up strength to the point where it is enjoyable. What do you think?

[Pajarita]

I don't think that it hurts her to fly. She doesn't look as if she was in pain which, of course, means nothing as we can't really tell if a bird is in a bit of pain or not. But, in humans, muscle pain only happens when you overwork them (the muscle tissue 'rips' or 'tears') and it takes a couple of minutes to appear - her flights are so short (just a couple of seconds, usually) that I doubt there is time for her muscles to actually start hurting or that much damage done to the tissue. I have no doubt that her flight muscles and tendons are atrophied but not completely. She can spread out as well as lift and lower her wings all the way so the range of movement is, apparently, normal which leads me to believe that there is still functionality there. I really think it has to do with her brain and the kind of life she became used to more than anything else. And, yes, you are right that younger birds do 'catch up' much faster and easier than older birds but I still think that a bit of 'forced' exercise would help a lot.