Chloe' is home.

[hannahwren]

Well I brought her home last Saturday, She is doing amazing!!! Red bellied parrot, still on a single feeding a day. She steps up, eats pellets and random snacks from hand. She steps up for myself and my children, after her hand feedings- she lets me put her in the kitchen sink while the water is running and I clean her face and chest with a wet toothbrush. After she snuggles in a baby blanket for 20 minutes or so. We take her out of her cage several times a day, for short periods of time. I think she is doing great!! My only concern. . . . . she likes to fly off. The breeder had barely clipped her wings before I brought her home. I tried to read up on the pros an cons on clipped wings. I am worried about her hurting herself. She has slammed into the wall, front door, and the T.V.
The QUESTION IS. . . .should I clip her wings more? I want to teach her as much as I can, while she is young.

 

[silkiechicken]

Well, with just parakeets, I let baby's fledge and fly enough to run into walls, the ceiling, crash land and figure out how to use their wings.... then clip them so all they can do is glide (flap frantically without lift) to the floor. I figure at least with tiny parakeets, best they learn to fly and land while they are still young enough to "bounce" off walls and the ceiling. A fresh fledged bird is one pathetic excuse of flight. LOL

With my cockatiel, she learned to fly while finishing hand feeding, and hit a fair number of walls and ceilings. Once she was able to take off and land in a direction rather than just flap into walls uncontrollably, she got clipped.

After their initial wing clipping which makes them pretty much completely dependent on humans, they startle at less things so by the time the feathers grow back, they take flight for fun/a reason vs taking flight in a panic. Guess it might depend on why she's flying off... if it's for fun vs for panic, it's up to you. It did take all my young birds a bit of time to learn that white walls are not to be flown through, mirrors are solid, and windows cannot be transversed. Of course though, any mirror or window without stickers or blinds over them will present a hazard to a bird who has not learned them or is flying from freight.

I've never dealt with "real" birds, just parakeets and my tiel. I enjoy them free flying and they have their own room. There are certainly more risks to a free flighted bird's life. High speed crashes, flying away, getting into trouble by falling behind things or into things....