Here's a perfect example. In the thread just posted about a parrot being returned.

QUOTE:

Henry, a long-time family pet, flew the coop while the Schulte family was in the he process of moving from their West Miller Street home in Jefferson City.

IN THE PROCESS OF MOVING? Ok I just moved. My birds were part of the plan. A no brainer.

AGAIN this family was just plain old careless. And the end of the article says the poor bird now has to get CLIPPED.

HRMPH !

Gee I"m sorry you felt they would be better behaved. IME usually they are not. And flying is never the reason they are having problems and the root cause does not go away.

Sleep, too much protein and vitamin e, breeding behaviors, lighting, routine, things like this are where I would have started.

And forced bonding is really not helpful imo. I would have started from scratch then.....flighted. No offense.

Freedomoflight, was the Caique always bird aggressive?

Parrotlets are the only parrot that EVERYONE can agree do not do well in the company of other birds. Problems always come, even from falling in love with a different bird like a Budgie that cannot be permitted.

I REALLY hope Cricket continues to be ok with her housemates. He's the only exception I know of and he's still a baby. But I think he'll be ok. Until he and Benji decide one of them wants to breed.

The poor Caique was/is probably the receipient of secret bird language from your older Parrotlet and is unforgiving lol.

This is what I would call a mismatched flock, no offense. He's still going to focus on them perhaps. I'd work on desensitivity with him AND them and make sure they are getting 12 hours sleep mininum and even 14 in the dead of winter. (the P'lettes). THey are also famous for needing that. Not following the seasons light like other parrots can.

It's going to be an ongoing challenge and I hope he can be distracted and they can all be together but it's rare. Sorry.

As Cindy and others have pointed out, I absolutely stand behind the statement that flighted birds do NOT randomly crash into windows/walls/mirrors and continually hurt themselves. We know how smart they are, let's not insult their intelligence more by letting this myth live on.

There most definitely is a learning curve when learning flight skills. It is OUR responsibility to make the initial flight area safe - cover mirrors, decals on windows, make sure that the flight area is fairly small so that enough speed can't be achieved to do serious damage if a crash happens due to them incorrectly guaging speed, turning, etc. Kids fall and bump into things when learning to walk, it's a similar experience. Once a flighted bird gains the basic skills AND knows the layout of the house, crashes should be virtually nonexistent. Even when spooked. They learn flight skills FAST when they are able to practice. Winston learned how to land in about a day and a half. The first day he was all crashes in odd places (the room was a small bedroom with the window blinds down). The next day he could at least land properly even though he couldn't steer well yet. He now has the basics down pat, but he's still working on flying down and anything else fancier. But not once does he crash.

Every "accident" that I've read about a flighted bird has been pin-pointed back to the owner, IMO. Yes, we all make mistakes and can't control everything, but I believe that the physical and mental well-being that flight provides out weighs any human error mistakes. And I am and will continue to do my best to ensure that my flighted birds are not victims of my carelessness.

OH Freedomoflight! I just noticed in your sig you have TWO Caiques. THAT's the problem The dorky Parrotlets cannot be around a pair especially. It's well known that they get nuts.

The way you breed Parrotlets is by having them in hearing range of a bonded pair but not visually. Visually you get aggression especially mate aggression.

I know a guy who had a lone male in a stack cage over a pair. He noticed the male trying to peek through any space he could to see them underneath. He didnt think much of it. He also mentioned the pair were copulating. [DUH and he still left the male there]

The very first night in that cage he went in the next morning and found the poor male TOTALLY naked. Frustration.

My theory is that there is language going back and forth among the 4.

You may have an issue here.

I know of a family who called Cesar Milan the dog behaviorist in for a specific dog who was blamed to be causing all the problems among three. It WASNT. It was a female in the group who was picking on and challenging the poor accused one and the female was ALSO the favorite among the humans in the house.

This is sorta like that. It all goes back to the Parrotlets, IMO. Unless the CAique has always been bird aggressive but then why isnt he attacking the others. Nope it's the foursome deal......and we have to leave the baby P. out cuz he's a dork still and has no clue. Breeding wise...

So your home has no doors at all - is this what you mean as "open floor plan"?

Once again, that famous phrase "Where There Is A Will, There Is A Way" comes into play here. You simply buy or construct cages that have solid and/or double wire sides, bottoms, etc.... Behavior modification training can work also but that is not my forte'.

I'm sure there are even more ways but I have to run and feed babies now so I will hopefully get back to this when I have more time to think of other ways to solve your dilema. Pictures of your home inside may help if ya want to provide that?

Again, I agree with Sarah's and Cindy's comments on this completely (I'm sure there are others, but as this thread is months old I don't remember for certain). I have 4 flighted birds, the oldest has been flying for 10 years. He (Dakota) has NEVER hit anything in his life. Ollie has had a few wall/window hits before she developed her flight skills (she was clipped before she fledged). Now that she's an ol' pro- no even near accidents have happened.

To me this is common sense: A clipped bird who is spooked off of a gym (or whatever) is not able to properly control their flight. They are the ones most likely to hit a window/wall! I accidently slammed my bedroom door the other day which scared Ollie who then took off at 100 mph. She was headed directly for the sliding glass door at top speed. In the span of about 10 feet, she slowed down, veered to the right and up a little, and landed perfectly on her boing that was hanging to the right of the door. She was still spooked- she whirled around, breathing hard, eyes pinning...but she still landed perfectly on her perch. A clipped bird in her position would have smashed right into that door, unable to control where they were going.

Possibly these experienced flighted birds who knew the layout of the house had health problems that explained why they randomly ran into solid objects?

Mine birds are flighted, because that's what they were born to do.