Hello parrot community!
Frist off, i would like to say that i'm new to the forum, and i hope this topic is in the right thread.
This is the first bird i own, and i might just be worried for no reason, but i would still like to hear some feedback from this community.
About a week ago, i got an 8 month old barraband parakeet.
As far as training goes i think we're getting along fine. in a week he learned to step up/down, turn around, fly from my hand to the top of his cage on command - to keep it short i think he's cooperating nicely.
Every day since i got him we have 1 hour reserved for trick and flight training. Today i noticed a problem during flight training. I started a repetition excercise for him to fly from my hand to the top of his cage, while increasing the distance from the hand to the cage. I started at 3m, and gradualy moved up to about 8 meters. now after 10 or so repetitions, he didn't want to fly anymore. I assumed he was tired and put him in his cage, the second he was in the cage he went straight for his food and kept eating for over 15 mins. keep in mind that everytime he flew from my hand to the cage he got a treat. before i got the bird i did some research on parrots in general and read that young birds eat about 10% of their weight in a meal. after this session he ate that amount of seeds alone, nevermind the chopped apples, carrots and oranges he gets with his seeds.
So my question here is a two parter:
1. is the flight training intensity just too much for a bird his age?
2. should i mesure the ammount of food i'm giving him, or just let him eat as much as he wants, since he's still growing?
i would really like to train this bird into a good flyer, not a chubby, lazy parrot