# Curious to see what other people think.



## Allisha (Aug 10, 2013)

So, I haven't really been training Kiko for the past month or two. I have been pretty busy, and of course I make time for him, but I wanted to hang out with him instead of do all the training. I had to pick between the two.
Well, he had an enormous molt and now he can fly!

I don't want to clip his wings, because it took a year for all of his flight feathers to grow back. He used to step up on my arm, but now he doesn't do that anymore, and instead he flies away. Now he knows he can just fly away if anything makes him feel mildly uncomfortable. What do you guys think I should do?


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## RhiLee (Feb 16, 2014)

If you don't want to clip his wings again, then slowly building more trust so he feels that YOU are the safe place is probably the way to go. I know that probably feels like a sucky answer, because you probably think "but I am already doing that!' because you are already spending lots of time with him and training and bonding. 

With one of my birds, it took hours and hours daily over months and months and as an aviary baby, she has still never completely trusted me. We bought a second hand tame bird to model happy human interactions, and that worked a little. My bird Stormy (hand raised baby) would fly to me when he got scared, but Squawk (aviary baby) still flies away. Even though they both got the same amount of bonding and training time. 

Both of my tiles had their wings clipped when they were little, and never learnt to fly properly. When the feathers grew out they would fly really fast into the roof if they got spooked while out of the cage. I continued to have their wings clipped because I was scared they would hurt themselves, but they could still fly pretty well (if they were out of the cage in the house, they could fly up to get back in). And if they decided they didn't want to hang out with me anymore (or they had to be given medication) they could quite easily fly away from me, wings clipped and all. 

If you feel that Kiko could do with some more intense bonding/training without the ability to fly, then clip his wings again (they will grow back). Having a strong built relationship with his owner will make him happier in the long run (in my opinion) that being able to fly for a year.


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## CaliTiels (Oct 18, 2012)

I say just keep doing what you're doing. Having flight is new and exciting.and he's getting his practice. Beaker did it too. I just let it pass and he is now completely flighted and still steps up. You may want to _lightly_ trim his wings. It still allows the bird to fly, but with less altitude gain


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## slugabed (Jul 27, 2014)

Maybe you should clip the wings again until you're sure he's completely obedient to you. I think that lapse meant he's not totally trained.

I think people underestimate what a clipped bird can do - Cassie gave me one **** of a shock by flying from the dining room to the kitchen. There certainly was enough speed to elude me, and there was height gain too. I took a look at the wings and there were no new flight feathers; the primary flights were still clipped, though the outermost wings were a bit longer than the rest.


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## Tequilagirl (Mar 4, 2013)

I think good for you for letting your bird fly, he's going to be much happier! You can arm yourself with millet and resume your training


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## Nimra (Aug 4, 2014)

I think you better not clip his wings. Start training him again. Start to feed him treats and stuff. Then he will step up. Actually they don't hurt themselves once they know who you are. They only fly away because they think you will hurt them. Cutting their wings seems sort f rude to me. Cockatiel are more likely born to fly. And I won't cut something that my pet loves.


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## Allisha (Aug 10, 2013)

Thanks for the info, guys! I appreciate it.
I didn't want to clip his wings because he loves flying. He's extremely good at it, and for the five years before I acquired him, he had fully flighted wings. Although he was never brought out of his cage, anyway. D8


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