tips for a flighted zon keeping his wings?

[debbielabella]

Tiki has been fully flighted for about a month. He will come with my son calls him and there are many pleasures watching him enjoy flight. However, when I have my WC Pi on my shoulder he will fly over and try to oust her. He occasionally flies to where other birds are perched on their cages or playstands and starts beaking with them. He's been over-all very domineering and pushy, trying to make everyone and everything in the house his property. I've been intervening but it can be a little dangerous breaking scuffles between an amazon and a grey or an alexandrine. I lock him up in his cage for time outs if he is persistant.

My thought is this new power of flight has gone to his head and he is having fun with it. I don't want to clilp him yet, I just had his nails done and held off on the wings. My son is teaching him recall training and he is doing well.

Will he settle down in time once the power hasn't gone to his head? Any tips or suggestions for teaching him to behave other than keeping a close eye out and intervening as necessary? I think I should keep a towel handy in case of any serious scuffles.

please share your experiences when your zon first learned flight and how you dealt with it. thanks in advance!

[Newticus]

My rose crown conure Sushi is fully flighted. We chose to let him keep his wing feathers because he is a plucker and we are hoping that being able to maintain those feathers (which he does) will help him do so with his others, as well as the confidence that comes with being able to fly. However he will persistantly attack my two amazons if he is out with them. They are so non aggressive that they get very upset about the attacks. Sushi is no longer aloud out with the other birds.
I don't want to compromise by clipping him because we have seen some improvement with his plucking, it just means that we need to rotate our birds.
You may need to employ something like that if you don't want to clip yours either.

It most likely won't go away and it's hard to train out because it's very natural behaviour.

Melanie

[debbielabella]

thanks Melanie. He has not been getting better, time outs don't seem to help. He actively pursues conflict with all my other birds!! Yet I love having him able to fly. I just need to decide if it's better for him to have less out of cage time or be clipped. His cage is enormous and full of toys, and he really enjoys flying so that may be the way to go.

[ThreeX]

Just a couple of hours ago my male Sennie was all over the Blue headed Pionus cage and bit him in the foot. My mistake for not supervising them.
I cannot be upset with the bird. He is a bird, birds fly and don't necessarily get along with every other creature their stupid owner (that would be me) drags home. Clipping his wings is not even on my to-do list. I don't have it in me to punish/cripple a bird for doing what they do ;)

[debbielabella]

My other birds don't get into squabbles because they all respect each others space. They all have claims on their particular stands and cages and no one encroaches. But Tiki, wow I can't believe what a monster he became now that he is flighted! He will go so far as to try to pick a bird off my shoulder. He goes into other bird cages and plays with their toys and will pick a fight with the bird while in their own cage!! He had a squable going with both Sophie and Cokie at the same time, he's like a sailor in a bar room brawl! I want him to stay flighted but I just don't know this situation may be more than I can handle.

[jenseits]

Originally Posted by debbielabella

My other birds don't get into squabbles because they all respect each others space. They all have claims on their particular stands and cages and no one encroaches. But Tiki, wow I can't believe what a monster he became now that he is flighted! He will go so far as to try to pick a bird off my shoulder. He goes into other bird cages and plays with their toys and will pick a fight with the bird while in their own cage!! He had a squable going with both Sophie and Cokie at the same time, he's like a sailor in a bar room brawl! I want him to stay flighted but I just don't know this situation may be more than I can handle.

It's also not fair to the other birds if he's injuring them.

I feel for you. I've been in your position and it's a tough decision. Do what you think is best. It's not just about your convenience, but the health and safety of everyone in your flock.

[debbielabella]

Oh no, he's not injuring them, I intervene, he's injuring me

I will make an appointment for 3 weeks. Unless his behavior changes I will need to get him clipped. I can handle a little altercation but he is way overboard. So much for the more docile Panama species! If this is docile I can't imagine a hot 3 male. But still I love the little devil.

[debbielabella]

sorry for the double post, Tiki's background explains his behavior. He was an 08 baby that was not sold. He wasn't handled and kept isolated in a cage until I purchased him Feb 09 semi-tame. He was not good with my other birds, so I kept him separated. Now that he has flight, he is interacting with them. I'm going to give him the chance to learn some social skills. No one is getting hurt and I'll continue to supervise closely and intervene as needed, but I need to give him the opportunity to learn.