The Importance Of Flight In Young Greys
It is so very important for your grey to master the art of flight before you clip their wings. Flight in young greys not only strengthings muscles and helps to give young bodies the excercise they need (hee hee does this sound like a bad drink camercial) but it builds confidence.
A grey without confindence can turn into a nervous bundle of feathers. My grey, Chico never had the oppertunity to learn flight. After his first leap across the living room, the breeder clipped his wings. She cut the first seven primary feathers off of each wing. Chico came home with me when he was five months old.
Once his flight feathers began to grow in, I took him into a vet to have them trimmed....mind you this was NOT an avain vet. The man butchured his wings, leaving only the first two flight feathers on each wing......(if you EVER feel that a vet is doing something the wrong way with your bird...step in!!! ) I thought to myself "Well he is a vet..certainly he knows what he's doing." Wrong. I can't tell you how many broken beak tips, and little splits on the keel bone that we have traveled to our AVIAN vet for. All to do with a wing trim.
It has taken all of two and a half years for Chico's wings to grow back in, the left is beautiful, the right, we are still working on.....I plan on letting him master flight (and trust me, it's much more difficult at four years old, then to have done it right the first time) and we practice daily.
Practice includes Chico holding tight to my finger as we soar thruout the house, his wings beat the air so hard that sometimes I think he might actually take off with me holding on. (Hee Hee) We also do the "drop" and that's simply him holding on tight as he is perched on my hand, lifted hight, and I bring my hand down in a quick swipe, his wings beating madly all the while. He chatters, eyes pinpointing the entire time. I have also started, (now that his confidence is building) gently tossing him on the bed, he's not so sure what to think of that one yet.
This may sound funny to those that don't truly understand the grey, but I know Chico has a fear of falling. I have noticed, after every hard fall, he sharpens his little tallons, and holds tighter to everything as well. I use to go back and trim the tips before I made the connection....(hee hee no wonder he would give me this look like "But, Why!!??")
I am thankful, that now he is gaining confidence, he is more apt to hang from his toys and gleefully rip them to shreds. No longer does he jump at every little thing, and I have also seen his curiosity (or maybe is just nosey) build as well.
Once my boy does mater the art of flight, (including landing) I will do a progressive wing clip from the first outer most primary to the fifth...and no further than that. I do not recomend that anyone take the same route with wing trimming as we did. It is so much easier to find a breeder who knows what they are doing, and to get it right from the start.