# Cockatiel can't fly



## hughmerlin (Jan 25, 2015)

Has anyone had success in teaching an adult bird to fly? I think he had his wings clipped before he learned how to fly;he is 3 now and I've had him for a few weeks. His wings are currently clipped but his flight feathers are getting long. Whenever he takes off he starts flying backwards and then in a spiral towards the ground.


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## vampiric_conure (Jul 8, 2012)

Poor Fid! Good thing he's got you to care for him!

Most of the birds I've trained to fly have been chicks, but I have had an adult bird who didn't know how to fly well. I generally start off by gently tossing the bird onto my bed. Not too far and not too high. Just enough to get their wings flapping. I find this helps with their landings. As they become more proficient in flying, I increase the hight I toss them until they're flying on their own. No doubt they'll be some bumps and crash landings, but they eventually learn to fly.  

Anyone else have techniques that have worked for them?


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## Kiwi (May 12, 2013)

I kept Kiwi in my room until she could fly without crashing into things (mostly windows) because there are so many windows in the living room outside my door that I knew she would try and fly right into them if she didn't know how to avoid them first. I taught Kiwi to fly straighter by putting two chairs together and having her jump from chair to chair at first. She thought this was so much fun for some reason. Then I moved one of the chairs out of her reach so she had to fly or flap her wings a little to get to it. Eventually I would also put her on my bed and have her fly onto my hand, arm, or head. I would also place her on a chair or the stair railing and have her do the same thing. I was kind of mimicking this video, but I had the reward be seeds or petting her head. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyDLpU5eZv0

Kiwi was really stumped when she would fly up to high places though. One time she flew up 10 feet to sit on a windowsill and didn't come down for an hour. I read that birds who don't know how to fly also don't know how to fly downwards from high places. They're like cats that climbed a tree. So they have to be taught to fly down from high places too. Eventually Kiwi flew down from there and conquered her fears.


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