Grey flight

[merlin]

Hi,
Young Grey chicks can learn to fly when they are 9-16 weeks old. Many breeders will give them a 10-day to two week window in that period to allow them to learn to fly. Then they clip their wings before they are sold, unless the new owners want to allow them to continue to fly. It is a good thing to have breeders do this because learning to fly tends to give young chicks confidence and better coordination.

None of my three greys were allowed to fly when they were chicks (many breeders did not do this many years ago). As a result, they tended to be clumsy for a while. (For anyone with a clumsy Grey, please check out my article on handling clumsiness in the article section of this site... at bottom of contents under "other.") When you are interviewing breeders, or going to stores looking for a Grey, it is important to ask them whether or not the bird was allowed to fly.

If you have a fully flighted parrot in the house, you have a lot of responsibility. You must bird-proof the home. That probably is as complicated as child-proofing. Also, fully-flighted birds can be more difficult to work with behavior-wise because they can fly away. For this reason, you need to make sure that you have good rapport and good control over the behavior, before allowing the bird to fly.

If you have a Grey that did not learn to fly as a chick, you would need to work with your bird to teach him how to fly. They don't just jump out of their cages and fly. You would need a lot of space to work with them. Don't EVER do this outside. Even if your bird does not know how to fly, a sudden sound or anything that is sudden, could scare your Grey. Then adrenalin could empower a bird to fly away, even if it never learned how to fly. Birds with clipped wings have even flown, when they were frightened enough. For that reason, it is extremely important to be extremely careful with having your bird outside. I recommend that you put him in a travel case or or a harnass. If you use a harnass (which you must teach the bird to like), ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS have it attached to your body. A friend had her Grey on a harnass but was not holding onto the leash. Her bird got frightened and flew away. Then he got stuck in a tree because the harnass leash got tangled in the tree. She got him out of the tree many hours later. But a lost bird that is stuck somewhere with a tangled harnass leash is a FREE DINNER for a hawk. It is the owner's reponsibility to be VERY careful with their birds.

I'll stop now. Lisa may have lots to add here because I think she has had a flighted parrot companion.

Blessings,
Maggie-

[Lisa A. Bono]

I have 4 greys. Three are flighted, one has chosen to clip herself. Hopefullly she will let them grow in.
Of the three that are flighted, one is disabled, one was always clipped and one is amazing when he flies.
However with the ages of your children, I am not sure it would be in your best interest.
In my home, I have complete control. No doors open, toilet seats down, fans off...etc.
I do not have young children in and out and I trained my husband(via positive reinforcement ) to be aware of the parrots and not use certain doors in the house.