Clipped baby wants to fly - how can I help her now?

[Zilga]

Hi! We recently acquired a blue-headed pionus parrot, and not only is she the largest parrot we have, she's also the only one who is clipped. Our other two birds, a cockatiel and rosy Bourke's, have never been clipped and are expert fliers, so this is new for us. She is (imo, but what do I know) pretty severely clipped, but she seems to think she should be able to fly, and we're worried about her landing badly and wondering what we can do to help her until her wings grow back. Does anyone have experience with how to keep her safe while ensuring she has time out and about with us? So far, we've confined her to the living room because she's new and it has a rug that takes up most of the room, but we have tile in other parts of the house.

Any advice would be welcome!

 

[Zara]

Hi Jill,

Having blankets or yoga mats around the play area and cage can help, as well as boings or ropes to connect places for her to get around. Supervising while out of the cage can reduce falls.

Hopefully others will have some more tips...

 

[Spearmint]

If you feel like the hustle, pad the bottom of her cage with foraging paper to soften any falls. You can also do small jump recall training, just to get her wings moving with 1-2 flaps (no more, as she could fall, crash, or over-flap and hurt herself). Hoping for a speedy regrow!

 

[Zilga]

Thanks guys! She's in a relatively short spare cage right now, but her big one comes on Monday - I hadn't even thought about an in-cage fall, so we'll be crumpling up paper to make that easier for her. I also moved out the big tree stand away and gave her a smaller table top one with a ladder to help her get up and down, so as long as she stays in the living room, I'm optimistic. I just feel bad for her because she's trying so hard.

Teaching her to jump to us gradually will help a ton, I think, thank you! We're already getting better at reading when she wants to be somewhere else so we can take her, but she still surprises us now and then, usually when someone new comes into the room and she wants to see them. I'm really surprised by how friendly she is to all of us - our cockatiel was more moody and less outgoing even when she was a baby!