Some great news!

[lalalittlelovebird]

At least I find it to be great news... But, I had Echo out today, and he was flying! :happy:

Since his stroke, he has been just a completely crooked bird unable to keep his head straight or fly practically at all for that matter.

But, I had him out a couple times today and to my suprise he flew, all around my room and very well might I add. It was definitely a sight to see.

I'm sure it makes him feel well too to be able to finally fly right again.

Now just comes the decision of if I want to get him clipped or not... I probably won't.

[linda040899]

That IS wonderful news!!!! Normally, after a stroke, damage is permanent but it sounds like Echo is the exception to that. Thank you so much for the wonderful news!!!!! :clap

[lalalittlelovebird]

I had figured the damage was permanent, until today that is. It's been about six months since I had first noticed he'd gone crooked, yet it doesn't seem like it's been that long.

[linda040899]

Has it been that long???? I agree. Seems like it was just yesterday. Hooray for Echo! I don't think I'd have the heart to clip flight feathers, either. Just be careful about all exits leading out of the house!

[Enko_chan]

That's wonderful news! How happy for you both!

[Mary in Florida]

At least I find it to be great news... But, I had Echo out today, and he was flying! :happy:

Since his stroke, he has been just a completely crooked bird unable to keep his head straight or fly practically at all for that matter.

But, I had him out a couple times today and to my suprise he flew, all around my room and very well might I add. It was definitely a sight to see.

I'm sure it makes him feel well too to be able to finally fly right again.

Now just comes the decision of if I want to get him clipped or not... I probably won't.

That's great news! Just my opinion, but if it were me I'd probably wait a bit to see how much and how well he actually flies before I clipped his wings, if he's all over and gets in harm's way somehow I'd consider it, but otherwise no. The reason I say that is that after it seemed obvious to us that our Sweetpea ( our 17 yr old lovie who died this summer) was going down hill and it was getting harder for her to get around, she still flew for some time, but it seemed she only used her flying for transportation- to get to a human from her cage, back to her cage when she wanted to eat, or if she specifically wanted to go somewhere to check something out. She seemed to have some balance problems at times and I didn't want to take away any ability for her to fly when she could possibly use that to regain some balance or fly back up to a perch, or something. Eventually she did lose her ability to fly altogether, approximately 6 months before her death. .

Our 24 yr old tiel's wings aren't clipped either, and haven't been for maybe 7-8 yrs or so now. We stopped clipping his wings ( I always had folks at our local aviary clip our birds' wings, I never did) when he would get so upset he acted like he was having a seizure when someone (not us) handled him. It's said a bird can have a heart attack under such conditions, and we didn't want that. Coconut flies very well, but he gets winded so he flies a few laps around our great room when he feels like it, and then goes back to the playground at the top of his cage, and of course he uses his flight for transportation to our other birds' cages, or to where they are playing, or to a favorite human. I think may have a tad of arthritis in his feet, which may affect his perching at times ( can't say I've seen much of that, though) he occasionally seems to have a few balancing issues- not often, but he's got a variety of perching surfaces so he picks his favorites. We can't clip his wings anyway ( I'd screw it up, I'm sure), but I guess I figure that at 24 yrs old an old guy deserves his flying privileges!

And I bet anything it makes Echo feel really good to be able to fly after all his stroke-related mobility problems!

[lalalittlelovebird]

I decided on not getting him clipped, I'd have to take him somewhere and that'd be incredibly stressful on him and I'd rather just not deal with it. Plus it seems to be a confidence booster for him. I guess I could understand when people do it for more aggressive birds but Echo is not.

[linda040899]

You'll not hear any of us, at least not me, say anything negative about your choice. Each bird is an individual and no one knows Echo better than you do! :) What you might want to work on is coming to you on command.

[lalalittlelovebird]

I definitely will once he trusts me more. Currently I'm working on trust building with him, I'm posting the experience in the behavior and taming thread.

Here:

http://www.lovebirdsplus.com/community/showthread.php?21960-My-taming-trust-gaining-diary.

[linda040899]

Echo sure is one lucky lovebird, that's for sure! :)

[Z28Taxman]

Go Echo!!!!!

Ditto hasn't had a wing clip since he was a year old and that was almost 9 years ago. I decided not to clip him as long as he behaves himself and isn't in danger of crashing into things. Of course I live alone so I can control the doors and windows. And since he's a velcro birdy the extent of his flying is usually to get from where he is to where I am then he's done other than to fly back to the cage to grab a snack and bring it back.