how well do they fly

[sofie2meg]

hi

i am thinking of getting a caique and i am learning as much as possible about them, i read somewhere that they are not good fliers, but then i have read that people will clip there wings to stop them flying.
so how well do they fly, there wings look quite small on lots of pictures i have seen but that could be that they have been clipped, i would like to have the bird free around the house each day so they can interact with the family, could anyone give me some more information please.

[conure4]

I have one that can fly good and one not so good.
Mitzi

[jenseits]

Just because a particular species isn't "great" at flying, doesn't mean they can't fly.

I actually don't know much about how strong caiques are at flying (unlike, for example, conures and 'tiels which tend to be very strong flyers), but here's a cute video of a caique doing flighted retrieve/put away: YouTube - Flighted Put-Away

If you do grow out his flights, you should invest time into training flighted recall and stay, but you'll have a lot of fun. Good luck with your research.

[sofie2meg]

thank you for the video link we all had fun watching those lovely birds, i won't be clipping his wings as i love to see them flying free and would love to learn to take them out side and learn to do a recall, i don't want to inhibate them in any way, i want them to be safe and free as possible, i don't like cages but that is my own personal feelings i know lots keep very happy birds in them.

[Freedomoflight]

As far as grace and strength in flight in comparison to other birds.... caiques aren't great. They are loud when they fly (seriously, their wings make almost helicopter-esque noises), have a bit difficult with landing, and are generally kinda clutzy. However they can and will fly- and its up to you if you want to clip the wings or not. I clip with mine, cuz with all my other birds in the house, the caiques are too prone to get into trouble when they are flighted.