We have flight!

[Duckie]

YAY! Today, both Screech and Ollie flew! Screech was the first, and flew from my dining room into my kitchen and landed not to horribly on the counter. And Ollie flew twice, once up in a circle, and landed on the floor, and the second time up in a circle, and landed on the birds "playpen" (it is on old wooden laundry drying rack which I added toys too).
:D :D :D

[Matt]

Congrats! My Tiel Beans used to fly all the time...but into the Wall lol

But her wings are now clipped for Training Purposes.

[Duckie]

I am going to clip their wings tonight. Now that they know how to fly, I want to make sure they don't hurt themselves. They are still to fragile to take any chances. I'm not in the financial situation to have to deal with broken bones :(

[xxxSpikexxx]

Wow they are learning to fly already :) I would not clip their wings yet I think it is too soon as they still need practise and time to build thier flight muscles.

[tielfan]

I agree that they need more practice before you clip them. Flying is instinctive but steering and landing have to be learned, plus they do need to build their muscles. Just cover up the extra-hazardous stuff like windows and mirrors, and try to limit the flying to a part of the house that they're familiar with.

Here's an article about fledgling cockatiels: http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww65e.htm Midway down the page it recommends progressive wing clips for babies - two feathers per wing at first, then two more, etc. I did this with my chicks.

It seems like unclipped babies instinctively head upward and land on anything that remotely resembles a branch. All my chicks liked to land on top of a high picture frame or the turned-off ceiling fan. I had to use a ladder to get them down.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j24/ch_tielfan/0372Jun08-44.jpg

[Solace.]

Wait a teeny bit longer Duckie. Like tielfan said, they need to gain their steering and landing yet. ;) But it's GREAT they did for the first time! shows how fast they grow up huh?

I've only clipped Theo & Charlie once since they started flying by themselves, I have to clip them again, but I remember when they started flying by themselves the first time, it was so exciting yet scary as heck at the same time, Charlie had a few incedents where he'd love flying into the window, but we had that fixed and it took not long at all for them to get used to landing and steering.

[Matt]

My beans still can NOT steer or Land properly. And shes somewhere around 6 years old.

[Aly]

I would NOT clip them for another month. Besides the fact that they need more confidence in flying, it's VERY important to their health that they fully develop their chest and wing muscles. It also helps them with their breathing.

Baby must have been clipped early and since I didn't know any better, when I got her around six month and only later when I let them get flighted I realized she did not know how to fly at all. She had full wings and would hold on to my finger for dear life-no confidence and no skill in flight. I had to take months to teach her how and she's finnally good at it now and likes it.

[atvchick95]

I agree I don't clip my babies til they're 2 months old I like to wait til 2 1/2 to 3 months old but if worse comes to worse(as in getting themselves in to trouble getting up on high curtain rods, or at the time when i had them ceiling fans (never on when the birds were out) door jams of opened doors etc.) then its 2 months at the very earliest