Up High

[Jerry]

I'm sure this may have been discussed before; but I am a new owner....>o

My bird likes to sit with me but depending on his mood (quite frequently) he will fly up to top of a door if I leave it open or to the supply grill up high.

Should I let him stay high like that ? Am I inviting agressive behavior later? He is only 4 months and just come home with me.

TIA

- Jerry

[kimsbirds]

The higher a bird is, the safer they feel. While you aren't promoting aggressiveness by allowing birdie on that doorway, you may be promoting bossiness. Each time he sits there up over your head, he feels dominant. A dominant birdie is a fiesty birdie.
How about a partial wingclip? Your avian vet will do one for you..this involves clipping 4-5 flight feathers from each wing. This limits height, but not flight. Your bird will be able to maintain a level flight for a few seconds before gliding to the ground. No more doorway Bossy birdies !!

Kimmie

[Janie]

How about a partial wingclip?

hehe.....his bird has had a partial wingclip, courtesy of Rubygem! :D My birds also had one and were still just a little too flighted for me to have a lot of control over them. I did have them clipped again, a few weeks later.

Jerry, once your bird gets used to you and you to him, flight might be OK. Mine are all three fully flighted right now and sometimes that works and sometimes it does not. I have a bird room, just for the three of them, but otherwise, flighted birdies would not work for me. I am going to have two of them clipped soon, for their safety. They are very curious and into everything, unlike my older, laid back birdie. Jeanette does a "mini" clip which still allows them to go up (in my case, about 5 to 6 feet) and until they had time to adjust to their new home and to me, that was too much flight. If you have a second wing clip, you want to make sure they can still flight straight out and glide down w/o dropping to the floor.

BTW, I did see and hold your bird! :D A beauty!

[Jerry]

Thanks...yes he is a beauty.

Thanks for the response.

[Janie]

Jerry, if you don't have an avian vet, I do have a good one, Dr. Mimi Shepherd at "For Pets Sake." I know that Dr. Wilson in Athens is also supposed to be very good but N. Druid Hills is much closer for me. I've had my birds clipped by my vet and also at the "Aviarium" outside of Gwinnett Place mall. They do a great job and charge $4.00 (last time I checked) for a clip. My vet charges $12. Then again, my breeder does make house calls sometimes and that's even better! :D

[Rubygem]

Janie - ummm errrr I make house calls for you cuz I am normally bringing you an order too ;)...LOL

I guess I should clip them a little more, but I just like them being able to get away from my cats (even though my cats leave them alone, I just never know when the cats will want birdie on the lunch menu):x The babies are so used to my daughter and family, that a small clip is all they need, because they normally are easy enough to get when their flight time is over. I need to work on teaching them all step up as well....auuuugh so much to teach and do, and so little time.:rolleyes:

I need at least 3 more hours in the day:D

psssst, I gave Jerry the addy and # for Mimi...since she is in the same area of town he is in. :p

Rubygem

[Jerry]

Rubygem:

He steps up on request even from those high spots...so far no terrible twos although he does nibble my ears too hard sometimes...lol.

[BarbieH]

That's great that he will step up. :) I think that's probably the single most important thing for a bird owner (or breeder ;)) to teach the birdie.

My birds got partial clips last time, but some of them (like Didjit and Georgie) are still very strong fliers. In fact, Didjit was able to fly in circles after his wing clip.

Others in our flock (Sam and Gracie) just want to stay on me anyway, though Sam just got a partial clip so that he wouldn't go visit the other birds quite so much as he was starting to do.

[Janie]

Jerry, I have an ear nibbler, too! If I get really honest about it, he's my little biter. He does but his brother (same clutch) doesn't. I know that some bite for a reason but I think it's also true that some just bite cause they love using their beaks and can get a little carried away. :D In every other way he is the perfect little lovie so.....I just deal with it and don't take it personally and keep the band-aids handy. :whistle:

[butterfly1061]

Olivia loves to preen my ears. I let her cause she never bites too hard when she does this. Anyother time she can ripe you to pieces if you do something she doesn't like :eek: For the most part she's calmed down her biting. Piper nibbles (chews) on my fingers ALL the time. Molly can bite pretty hard and Daisy usually doesn't bite. Molly only tries to preen my ears when he's nervous about something and he preens a little too hard - ouch!