IndianRingNeck.com

Hi All

Janey and Charlie's wings have grown out and they are flying really well. It is my wish to be able to keep them flighted and not trim their wings. However, every season there behaviour gets so bird that I go back on this wish and get their wings trimmed again and vow to give it a go again next year.

So... I'm wondering if those with flighted IRNs can give me some strategies for keeping a flighted bird? Charlie, our male is ok but Janey, our female is extremely headstrong and curious. She is intent on flying and landing in the dirtiest and most inappropriate places (eg. tops of cupboards we can't reach). When she can fly, she will jump straight from my hand onto my shoulder. Occasionally she bites ears so I try not to let her up there... and once she's on my shoulder, I can have a devil of a job trying to get her off. She'll fly to high places and won't come back, she'll launch at you. I've been working on the recall (getting her to come to fly to me on command) and she'll do it when she wants to...

Any words of wisdom appreciated!

Ellie.

My Jibby boy has been flighted most of his life now and I find him easy to handle.. with FOOD. Lola was also flighted and like Janey, headstrong. They are so smart and take advantage of it when they can fly! They definately get an attitude when they can fly and get to places we cant reach. I have the same issues getting them down from places. Jibs fave hang outs are the curtain rails and top of the kitchen cupboards, Lola was the same. I often take down the curtains to clean them, so I take down the rails too. They really hate that and tell me about it! 'Hey! You took our perch away!' lol
With the top of cupboards are you able to put things up there they dont like or if you collect things eg. teapots etc. You could try covering the top of the cupboards with stuff so they can't land on it?
Also making it fun to be down lower can help. Perhaps with a fun play stand with lots of toys, that is still tall enough to make them happy to be up high but not high enough that you cant reach. I find when I put their toys and a plate of munchies ontop of their cage they love to sit and hang out at the cage top rather than the curtains. Window sills are also a great hang out for my birds. (I have half height windows).
Jibby knows exactly how to give me the 'run' around if hes in the mood and out of reach. Even Cookie (who is clipped!) gets out of reach by climbing.
With clipping, I liked to clip them the 1st year or 2 for taming and training but I do love to see them confident and flying! Just have to get in a routine of making sure its safe and looking behind you or above when you open a door. Although my birds have never tried to follow me outside, having said that, dont risk an open door without knowing where they are 1st. I like to think i have eyes in the back of my head.
Jibby knows his name and 'come on' or 'come here' and often flys to me without the need of a treat. The commands are so important. So keep that up. But if Im desperate or hes being stubborn and refuses to come down, a treat works well. Even just a piece of fruit or grape. I have used sultanas in the past but hes gone off 'tarnies' now. He seems to go through fazes of fave foods. Think its boredom of the same treat, so switch it up a little. I have also taught Jibby to fly to me, then give a kiss for a treat. Just keep up the training with the command and reward. Know that they will not always do as they are told 100% of the time. The confidence they get when fully flighted can be a bit of an adjustment from having birds rely on you to get them around when they are clipped.
I too have real problems getting Cookie off my shoulder. Cookie is a biter of ears (actually its more of an annoying nibble) so I do not let her sit on my shoulder. But s/he goes straight for the shoulder when s/he steps up. I just have to keep taking her off and placing her back on my hand or back on a perch or cage. Ive also covered my head a few times just with my jumper or hoodie. Cookie hates it and will try and take it off or peek down infront of my face as if to say 'Peekaboo I see you! Cant hide from me' haha. S/he's slowly getting the point with continuely taking her off no matter how much of an effort it is. S/he grabs on with all claws and bites if i dare take her off. Im still working on that.

Thanks for the tips Lauren. The only windows with window sills we have in the living area of the house are over the sink. Our other windows go right down to the floor and we have four sets of sliding doors and two regular doors in our living area... so not much on offer there!

I'll try putting some foreign items around the place on top of cupboards. They're scared of new things so I think if I keep rotating the items, that might keep them in their place!

We've got a gym area but I could probably do a better job with rotating toys through so I'll give that a go too. We have a problem with toys though... no matter what toy Charlie has, he always thinks Janey's is better... so he'll steal it off her... then when she picks something else up, he steals that too. Janey has taken to dropping her toys on the floor the minute he approaches her!

My mum stayed the night last night and having someone new in the household stirred Janey up a bit. She flung herself at my hubby Peter, rang to his shoulder and bit his ear before I could get her off. At least it didn't draw blood this time. I grabbed her to get her off him. I think I've only ever done that once before when she was in danger of injuring herself but it needed to be done. Food treats to get her off Peter were unsuccessful because we'd been feeding them tidbits from the table throughout the morning and she simply wasn't hungry. She was just soooo worked up! Later I had to trick her to get back in her cage... and she really didn't like that... didn't do good things for long term training today... but I guess sometimes you have those days.

We were out all day and interestingly, when I got them out this afternoon she was really placid. She must have been exhausted from the morning goings on! She didn't fly anywhere, just sat on her gym. I brought them into the lounge to watch some teli with me but she wasn't too interested in that either. Normally I stroke her whist we watch tv.

Charlie was his usual self today so he was no problem to handle.

Thanks again for the tips!

Ellie.