A thought has just occured to me. Molly is going on 3 1/2 months old. She doesn't use her wings as she can't fly without her flight feathers. For the past months she hasn't been able to fly and I was wondering if her not being able to fly would effect the way the bones formed in her wings also because she hasn't been able to fly would her wings take extra time to re-develope the strength in those bones for her to be able to fly???

Does she do what I call take off? Basically they hold onto a perch and flap their wings like mad this simulates flying and helps develop their wings.

 

What happened to her flight feathers? If you clipped them did you do it after she learnt to fly? it's important that babies get some flight time before they are clipped.

 

It should not effect her, if you are really worried make sure she has lots of gliding time

Does she do what I call take off? Basically they hold onto a perch and flap their wings like mad this simulates flying and helps develop their wings.

 

What happened to her flight feathers? If you clipped them did you do it after she learnt to fly? it's important that babies get some flight time before they are clipped.

 

It should not effect her, if you are really worried make sure she has lots of gliding time

 

 

No she doesn't only Blue does it. I didn't clip them when we found her huddled in the corner on the cage floor she had had her wings clipped back way too far and a few months on there only just growing back.

Can she glide? If so then this is the best excise for them. Get them about a foot off the ground and left them glide to the ground with a little splat, this will get her use to using her wings and hopefully get her flapping a bit more. If you want her flighted then keep this up untill you start seeing her flying again.

 

It takes alot of muscle energy to fly and they need to build these up. As her wings grow in you will see that she goes better and better and hopefully with time and paratice she will get the hang of it. Just be careful not to give her to much hight to start with as she could damage herself when she hits the ground.

 

There is hope, one of my guys lost all his flight feathers and could not fly for years but with practise and time I have managed to get him where he can fly once around a small room before it get to much for him. Hopefully come spring in the avairy he will want to chase his girlfriend around and the more excersie and practise he will be able to fly like a pro. Keep us updated.

I let my guys fly for a week or two when their flight feathers grow back after a moult - then i re clip their wings - this seems to keep them in tone. Some birds who have always been clipped from a very young age, will never fly as they are so use to us moving them around instead. AV gave you great advice on how to teach her to fly again - keep us posted

 

Also a really short wing clip will prevent any lift when she flaps her wings. Let all her flights grow back and see how she goes

Hmmm, so this one was found in a cage< Were????

Have you got a picture?

I posted before about this many single budgies find no need to fly vs those who are in an aviary setting, also if they are clipped and their wings are just growing back you can start to test them by having them fly from one finger to another, she should be just fine so start working with that flying back and forth from one finger to the next or take her away from her cage and then have her fly back .

Hmmm, so this one was found in a cage< Were????Have you got a picture?

We got Molly from a pet shop in Slacks creek, she has her own forum called 'Life of Molly' which I have just updated with new pics. Her whole life story is thier from when we found her.

I posted before about this many single budgies find no need to fly vs those who are in an aviary setting, also if they are clipped and their wings are just growing back you can start to test them by having them fly from one finger to another, she should be just fine so start working with that flying back and forth from one finger to the next or take her away from her cage and then have her fly back :hap: .

I don't cut my birds wings as I think it's unfair and not natural for them, also I've heard that 20 mins of flying time a day can help prevent cancer when thier older.

A good way to get them to fly is to hold on to their legs with one hand and move your arm up and down. This is better than throwing/launching them from your hands. This is because if they can't fly they re not able to slow their descent and can result in bruising of their keel bone and beaks as they hit the ground.

The wildlife ward here rehabilitates birds by the method I proposed.

Yes, if they don't fly often enough their muscles become weaker and atrophy. This is what happened with my runner Saffy. She used to be able to fly when I first got her but over time and not flying she slowly lost the strength in those muscles and was not able to fly and her keel bone was quite prominent. So if they have a prominent keel bone, because they don't fly, then using the launch method is even worse as they will be more prone to injury to their keel.

You can however launch them onto soft stuff and that is fine.

That's a really smart idea thanks

Flying is good but to get them to fly for 20 mins a day and being a single budgie needs to be initated by you or they will sit, Sailor as giving good suggestions too. . As for wing clipping, it is a personal choice and it really depends on where they live some people clip for safety because they have ceiling fans.

Flying is good but to get them to fly for 20 mins a day and being a single budgie needs to be initated by you or they will sit, Sailor as giving good suggestions too. . As for wing clipping, it is a personal choice and it really depends on where they live some people clip for safety because they have ceiling fans.

 

 

Well Molly isn't by herself she has a male friend too with her. I didn't mean to sound as if I was getting angry about the clipping thing, I have ceiling fans also but I always double check to make sure there not on in any of the rooms. But I will try Sailor's suggestion.

They seem to fly better in a flock Cara like 5 or more and the reason why is when 1 flies the other one does too. I had 2 budgies and they only flew if I made them fly so if I initiated Pretty to fly Merlin would fly . You have to enrich them it is like animals in the zoo if they have nothing to go after they will just lay there. Having a 1 or 2 budgies or even 10 is unnatural for them they fly in flocks of 200 in the wild so we have to learn how to enrich them .

I will pick up my fatties and throw them in the air. They can already fly so that is fine, but because they are fat they don't want to. I don't know if they like it, but being fat they have no choice lol.

I do do a launch where they are sitting on my hands, i will announce that I am launching them, so if they don't like it they can get off before I do it, then I just fling them into the air. Some like it, some don't. Some come back for more. lol

Can she glide? If so then this is the best excise for them. Get them about a foot off the ground and left them glide to the ground with a little splat, this will get her use to using her wings and hopefully get her flapping a bit more. If you want her flighted then keep this up untill you start seeing her flying again.

 

 

A good way to get them to fly is to hold on to their legs with one hand and move your arm up and down. This is better than throwing/launching them from your hands. This is because if they can't fly they re not able to slow their descent and can result in bruising of their keel bone and beaks as they hit the ground.

You can however launch them onto soft stuff and that is fine.

 

Amuch kinder option is to stand at the foot of your bed, and gently let them glide onto it. Start only a few inches up at first until she has the hang of what you are trying to teach her. You do not want to just toss her, or worse yet, hold her toes while you swing her and then let go of her toes. That teaches her scary things (loss of safety, equilibrium) sometimes happen when she is on your hand. Place a favorite toy or small bit of treat about 2 feet in front of her on the bed and see if you can't entice her to jump off on her own at first. When she does and even opens her wings slightly for balance give her lots of praise and another treat. You want this to be a positive experience for her. You can eventually place the lure further out on the bed and raise her higher once she 'gets it'. Good luck.

Yes It's all very good information but I'm still in the process of hand taming her so she would try to fly away from my hand as it is.

Isn't that what you want, is for her to fly? You can use that to your advantage. At 4 months old, it shouldn't take long before she is hand tame, especially if she is already clipped. Training with food treats is one way to teach her good things happen when you are around. Good luck, and keep us posted on your progress.