flying

Welcome to the Grey Play Round Table African grey Question and Answer Board. Maggie Wright, author of the Barron's Grey pet manual and creator of the Grey Play Round Table African grey newsletter/magazine, and Lisa Bono, African grey behavior expert, will be the two moderators to answer your questions. Please check out the areas that have already been dealt with... and submit your new questions.


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PLEASE send me your questions... we REALLY want to help you!!! merlin@AfricanGreys.com.


Wishing you GREY'T Blessings!
Maggie Wright

Moderator: merlin

flying

Postby sidneyw » Tue Sep 12, 2006 7:05 pm

I had the baby that was born with his feet turned under, I named him Sterling Silver (Sterling). He can actually perch now, but its a little rocky.

My question is he is flying every where i go. Since he goes to work with me its dangerous if someone comes in or out the door. He has a stand up perch, and WONT go in a cage at work, he loves the guys and they dont want him in a cage. So how old does he need to be to clip his wings?
sidneyw
 

Postby Maggie- » Wed Sep 13, 2006 5:57 pm

Hi Sidney,

Most Greys are clipped at 3 months old before they go home to their new owners. Many breeders give them a window of a few weeks to fledge and become coordinated with their flying and then clip them before being sold.

It would be safer to clip Sterling, if you take him out of the house to work. When you find someone to do it, please make sure the clip is not TOO short. His wings are helping him have balance and coordination due to the foot problem. So, it is important for him.

As I describe in my book, make the clip so that he can soar down but not get any lift.

But you need to be doubly safe since you go to work with him. Is there a way to have an area in the office where the door is always closed and the staff are acutely aware of the issue?

GREY'T Blessings,
Maggie-
Maggie-
 

Postby sidneyw » Wed Sep 13, 2006 7:16 pm

the door only opens for the mailman and when the guys go to lunch, (and they go together) but it stills scares me. The problem is if im in the room hes ok, its only when im out that he flys, mainly looking for me.

I forgot about being cut too short to help for balance, THANKS!!!!!!! I dont think even the vet tech would have thought of that.
sidneyw
 

Postby Maggie- » Thu Sep 14, 2006 4:33 pm

Hi Sidney,

If you are nervous, it is for a reason. So, please DO get him clipped...but NOT too short. Glad I mentioned it and remind the vet tech of his foot issues so that he/she is even more acutely sensitive to this issue. Okay?

An example of being nervous... My Merlin has a lot of night frights (every few months or so). When it happens, she flails in the sleeping cage and when she slept in my room, I was there to instantly grab her out of the cage and calm her. When she has a fright, she usually loses all tail feathers, just from the fright and not flailing. Now, my room is away from theirs for my breathing issues. Two nights ago, I started feeling nervous about Merle getting a fright so I put an extra night light in the room. The next AM, I saw Merlin with NO tail feathers. She DID have a fright that night but I think the night light helped her see around her, so she did not panic and start flailing all over the cage. I am so thankful that something told me to put that extra light in there!

I want to talk about the issue of losing feathers. Researchers in Africa found that when Greys were caught, they got so terrified that they dropped all of their tail feathers. This is very similar to how doves eject their feathers when they are attacked. Some birds' nervous systems are set up (maybe especially ground feeders, which Greys are in Africa...partial ground feeders) so that the feathers are ejected and maybe this could help them get away. Anyway, Jane Hallander (a great avian behavior consultant who has passed on) theorized that maybe that is why so many Greys feather pick. If the feather shafts get loose in the skin when under stress, then maybe the shafts bother them under the skin and they pull the feathers out. So, this is one of the theories about what is causing so much feather picking. Just thought I would add this in since I mentioned Merlin "dropping tail feathers." Jane was going to work with someone to study the nervous system but it never happened.

GREY'T Blessings!
Maggie-
Maggie-
 


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