my irn cant fly

[tomer35]

Hi,
my irn cant fly.
did anybody know how can i help him and make him fly?

what could be the reason for this problem?

he is almost 1.8 year old and when he fledged from the nest he was normal but when i put him with a flock of cocktails, this problem started

please help

[MissK]

Hi. Your problem is either physical (needs a vet) or motivational. To check motivation, try and take your IRN to a safe room with no cockatiels. Put him or you someplace where he must fly to get to you. Sit there eating his very favourite food in the world. If you don't get flight in a few days, there may be a real problem.

[tomer35]

my irn is not a hand fed
when he tries to fly he just fall

[MissK]

When you said

when he fledged from the nest he was normal

I took that to mean he learned to fly when he was young and did so properly. Is this not the case?

I did assume your bird was a pet, and would follow the treats. Sorry about that!

Please give a complete and detailed description of the bird and his living situation. Also, did he ever fly? What is the history of wing clipping or not? Does he have room to fly if he chooses? Have you brought him into the house to fly? Sometimes bird who will not fly in the cage, however large, will fly free in the house.

[tomer35]

he knew how to fly when he was young.
today he lives in a cage that he can spread his wing and fly 2x1x1 meter.

he has never had is wings clipped and he is a wild animal and not a hand reard parrot.

[ellieelectrons]

Hi Tomer

My birds don't fly very much in their cage at all and I think my cage is just a bit bigger than yours. They mostly fly around the house when I let them out. Is there any way you can provide a bigger flight area for him out of his cage and see how he handles it?

Does he do the bird hoppy thing when getting from perch to perch - it's sort of like a mini-fly.

Ellie.

[tomer35]

he was in a cage size 2X2X2 with a flock of cockateil and then he stopped flying.
he tries to fly sometimes but not for a distance

[MissK]

I suggest you bring the bird out of the cage and into a safe area of the house. Present him some motivation and see what he can do. It is not unusual for a bird to choose to not fly in the cage. At 2 meters square, he really doesn't have much room to get a good fly going.

[tomer35]

I tried to let him fly in a room sized 2X2X6 meter but he couldn't fly.

[ellieelectrons]

Might be time for a vet? I suggest you find an avian vet in your area.

Ellie.

[tomer35]

i believe you are right.
i will take him for the vet.

[tomer35]

the vet said that i need to give him a large cage as possible and have a lot of patient.
i must say that after almost 2-3 weeks at a big cage i can see an improvment and i also belive that in a time of 2 month to 3 month he will get is ability of flight back.

[zentoucan]

about 2 years ago I visited a pet shop and was given a wild rainbow lorikeet that had been hit by a car. The person who gave me the lorikeet said she had taken the bird to a vet. the bird had the works, X-rays and full visual body check and there was nothing wrong physically with this bird. yet it refused to fly. she couldn't continue to look after this lorikeet. When I got home I put the bird on a T-perch around 20 cm from the table and with a couple sunflowers on the table. I went and sat down and watch the bird. it just sat there. well at least until we had dinner then the bird hop/flew to the table and started to eat the sunflower seeds. food is a great motivator. I put the lorikeet into a spare cage I had along with some water and millet. the next day I put the Lorikeet back on the T-Perch but this time I put it around 1.5 metres away from the table. again some sunflower seed on the table. within 10 minutes the lorikeet flew to the table and started to eat the sunflower seeds. I put the bird back into the cage and put the cage outside with food and water. during the day the lorikeet called out to other wild lorikeets which landed on the cage. just after 15:00 hrs. I brought the lorikeet in and opened the cage door. the lorikeet flew to the screen door. this was a 3 metre flight. the next day I release the bird back into the wild. and watch it fly away.
I have not idea why the lorikeet wouldn't fly nor why it did. during my whole encounter with this lorikeet it was never aggressive and didn't mind having it's head scratched. maybe it just need a reminder on how to fly.