Thinking about crossing over to the dark side...

[entrancedbymyGCC]

I honestly see very little downside to clipping him at this point. You can always choose to let the flights grow in later. Since he is accustomed to being clipped, it seems to me that as long as you don't OVERclip him, it will give you a chance to work things out in general before adding the variable of flight. MHO, but I live on the dark side, so there you go.

[Michael]

Entranced never sees a downside to clipping...

I'm curious how long YOU have had the parrot.

First off, every bird needs to crash a few times to learn to fly. That's how they learn what not to do.

I don't think you need to clip the bird in order to tame it or to improve safety/flight skills. Start with target training in the cage (or in a small room if you have the ability to safely transport the bird over). I want you to target train that bird until it is just dying to touch that stick from anywhere. We're not talking about just turning its head. It should climb all over the cage just to touch it. This may take a few weeks or even months but will be well worth it. You can start training the parrot to climb around the outside of the cage as well and hopefully step up eventually. Next you'll want to set up a training space (I especially recommend parrot training perches in your case since you want to train flight).

Start by targeting the parrot to walk from perch to perch and progressively increase the distance a little at a time. By doing this target/flight training, not only will you be teaching your parrot where to go but you will also be giving it flight exercise. This will help it learn to control its flight in stages rather than just fly all over the place and crash. Since first it will be a 5 inch flight, then 6, etc, there won't be any crashing. Eventually you should be able to recall to your hand and do long distance recalls across the room. The parrot will always remember the training perch as a safe place to land and return to it when in doubt. I still leave my training perches out for my parrots to land on all the time.

Believe me, clipping the parrot will not solve any of the problems. It will just create an illusion that it is solved when really it's an accident waiting to happen. On the other hand if you use the positive reinforcement methods, not only can you improve your parrot's flight but also direct what you believe to be acceptable places to land, poop, etc.

[born2fly]

I'm curious how long YOU have had the parrot.

I've had him since May.

Target training was the first thing I started with but have limited success. he will touch the stick 2-3 time and then just ignore or move away.

Believe me clipping is the last thing I want to do, I think that would be even more traumatic for him than anything else. I like the idea of setting up a room to train him

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Entranced never sees a downside to clipping...

That's overstating the situation considerably! However, in this case, since the bird is already used to being clipped, it maintains more continuity. Had the bird been used to free indoor flight I would have stated things differently since it would be introducing a big change. I might still see an argument for it, but here it's maintaining the status quo through one more feather growth cycle.

Actually, if I wanted to play hard ball, I could similarly say, "Michael thinks letting the flight feathers grow out always cures everything". Normally I wouldn't be tempted, but I'm grumpy tonight... I think both statements are equally black and white and therefore equally unjust and distorted. All the interesting part of the discussion is in the grey zone, not the Always/Never.

[Michael]

I don't think there aren't some cases where clipping is recommended or even necessary. Someone on the forum mentioned disabled parrots (and not leg injury). I'm not sure, but I'll take their word that those parrots cannot handle flight. Also there are cases where the parrots were poorly raised, clipped for too long, wild caught, or have other long term issues that may make them ineligible from ever flying.

The place where I disagree completely with clipping is when the bird is perfectly suited for flight but the owner clips for their own convenience...

I don't believe that young hand raised parrots should be clipped. They like people as it is and are very well suited for indoor flight.

[born2fly]

Here is an update:

Decided not to clip, flight still a problem but I crash proofed the room as much as I could.

Concentrating on taming and target training will move on to flight eventually.

Here is a video showing Buddy's accomplishment, very excited. This was impossible not too long ago especially out of the cage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvE2FaGvQ3U