Macaw free flight

[Rescued]

I don't do free flight outside, but my Red fronted macaw is working on his flight skills. When he came to us his wings were clipped and he had fallen repeatedly and broken all his tail feathers. Everything has grown out now and so I began to work on flying in the house. At first he would just fall straight down like a rock, he had never flown before, he is young and has always been clipped. Since then he has gained a lot of skill and i work on him flying to me as much as possible. He still gets tired, but his endurance is much better. Mare I hope this expands the free flight section a bit. ;-)

[Mare]

Yay!! So happy to hear Jax is making progress! I would think it very sad to see your bird hurt himself and break feathers due to falling. :(. When we first allowed Sassy's feathers to grow back, she came to us flapping like wild woman and got from point A to point B and we could tell she was SO proud! Before we knew it she was rounding corners, hovering and now, there is no stopping her! Much luck with Jax, that is great!

[Turquoise]

Oh how I wished I had a large enough house to allow my feathered kids to fly! Roscoe started this year flying in the house, but I had to clip him. He was crashing into & grabbing anything that he connected with and that was too dangerous for his sake.

That is great that Jax is learning to fly inside & you have room for him to do so. Macaws wings spread out so far it just takes a lot of room in the house. I know someone on another forum who has a huge room added on to her house just for free flying her U2 in. He is a rescue with lots of baggage of prior abuse & his exercises are helping with his plucking issues.


I caught Roscoe in mid flight one day, but his claws slid off my arm & he grabbed my thumb with his beak. He left a nice punture from his beak tip whn he held on trying to climb up.

I envy you Mare for being able to free flight Amigo. He looks so natural & happy when I see photos of him flying. :th_hug8:

[Rescued]

Lol, yeah, I could never fly my B and G in the house, but Jax is small enough we can do a few long runs down hallways and such. Red fronts have amazing flight skills, I am amazed by his ability, especially since he had never flown before.He still stays where I put him but I am waiting for the day that when he flies wherever he pleases.

[Blancaej]

That is great Elizabeth. I am trying to work on Savannah just flapping. We believe she has muscle atrophy in her wings from lack of using them with her old owner. She was cage bound a lot. I am hoping to exercise her today now that I'm back from my mini vaca and continue daily with exercise!

[Rescued]

Blanca,
Keep working on it, it takes a lot of time, its taken him months to gain the strength to be able to fly. He gets winded easily, though he seems to enjoy it and is much more confident in everything he does. When we first got him he was much more beaky, he would pinch and pull a lot, he lacked the balance to perch confidently, especially on hands or arms. Now Jax is still beaky but with more gentleness and confidence. I hope Savannah learns that flapping is FUN! She is so big, I bet it will be impressive.