I have an 8 week weaned green quaker named Sprout. Sprout is doing well, he is officially eating like a horse and exploring his cage more. We've had him for 4 days now.

I do have a few behavior questions though. He seems to like to come out of the cage and snuggle, but he consistantly tries to run as 'high' as possible, my shoulder, the top of the couch etc...and then he flys across the room. I try to keep him close to me, but he's a little sprinter and sometimes makes it up to my shoulder before I can stop him. I can tell when he is about to fly off because of the little 'excited' noise that he makes. I get the feeling that he is trying to fly away fom me. Once was toward a window in the daylight, and a couple of times just across the room. Is this ok? I dont want him to get hurt. The breeder told me that his wings are clipped, and they seem to be, but he is flying a good 7-10 feet across the room. All of the flying episodes have been out of sight and in a different room from his cage.

Is it normal to try to get away from me? and rather sit in his cage?

I got my quaker at 5/6 weeks and he soon learnt to fly.he isnt clipped.however he doesnt seem to like perching on hands anymore but will constantly fly onto peoples heads! including strangers! and he does like to be high up i.e curtain pole etc.trying to get him trained to sit on playstand instead which isnt much lower than the curtain pole but filing miserably!he is now 11 weeks and getting to be a little horror lol but they r just testy beggers i spose!! just stick in there and let him know what you will and wont allow.he will take it on eventually

Ok, he did it again this afternoon. A quick sprint to the shoulder and fly fly away. What do I do? I don't know how to clip his wings shorter-- he is my first bird.

Advice for the bird owner that is disliked ???

theres many sites on the internet tht show you how to clip if you are confident enough to do this! but you will need 2 people! if you are not confident enough do you think maybe you could go back to the breeder and ask them? if not then an avian vet should do this for you and show you how to do it! it is very easy to do but can easlily go wrong so be very careful!

Joey has learned to fly good even with his wings clipped.

Its a power thing. With birds the one that is the highest is the boss Make sure to hold him lower, chest level to tell him that You are the head of the flock. Quakers are very stubborn little things, you have to keep at the training. Even my 4 yr old still has to do his step ups on a regular basis and isn't allowed on my shoulder except at the computer. They are very smart and sometimes will try to outsmart you. Get his wings clipped again, a more aggressive trim maybe will help, a vet will do it and some of the better pet stores offer grooming. You don't want him to accidently fly out of a door or into someone who may swat at him! Good luck and welcome to the forum. Lots of good people here and tons of advice.

I wish my boys would fly away sometimes ..they seem to want to ne with ME all the time ..and I am the target of flying too..can`t even get up and go to the loo by myself ..I have had them on me all morning and just locked them in the bird room for a bit of rest .. ..I`ll get them out soon and have a coffee watch a bit of telly while they sit on me and preen ..
My birds are happy flying I have no trouble getting them to come to me ....if they know I am going to put them to bed and don`t want to come I either just wait till they settle down on my knee and start to sleep then I pick them up OR I will shake the cashew jar and they come flying to their cage for a treat ..I think the thing is not to try to dominate your birds but win them over with love..O.K just my opinion but it works for me...Good Luck ...

Majj, that pic is GORGEOUS!!! I so need a new camera lol Mine is going all grainy and cloudy from the right hand bottom corner! As far as the bird flying away if for now you want to TRY and stop it then I would clip flight feathers, teach the bird "right from wrong" then the feathers can grow in after he molts! And I love the name Sprout by the way

Yep I agree clip and train then see what happens when the new feathers grow in maybe the fids will Learn.......... be naughty get grounded ..lol..BUT always allow enough flight to flutter to the ground (with out falling in a heap and getting injured) and to lift off so if your bird is in danger he can fly up to safety this is especially good if you have fur critters ....

Lindsey, I completely understand where you are coming from! I was just about to make a post myself with basically the same question. My Skittles loves to be out of his cage and on his playgym, but lately he wants to fly to the floor all the time! Even when we are holding him, he will fly to the floor. He is clipped, so he can't go up, but I was wondering too how to make him stop. We do allow him on the floor on occasion, when we are all in the same room and everyone is participating. He and my Sheltie love to play a sort of chase game. (No one panick, the whole family is right there! It's actually REALLY funny! I'm sure you can guess who is doing the chasing! )

But the question is, how to let them know that it's not ok to just go to the floor whenever they want to? I've tried putting him back on his playgym, that doesn't work. I've tried putting him back in his cage and closing it, but that doesn't seem to matter either. He'll either just start playing in his cage or he will squawk and let me know he's not happy. Then after a while, we try again. He will come out to his playgym for a while, then it's back down to the floor. He doesn't care if everyone is there, including all the pups, or if it's just the two of us.

If anyone knows how to stop this problem, please help Lindsey and I. Sprout and Skittles too.

my partner cant go anywhere alone either! oatis my green flys after him and lands on his head and goes with him! today has been great for my partner cos having a new bird has taken oatis' attention lol he's fine with him just isnt happy about sharing a food bowl (one on playgym!) sure he will come round! will try get the most cutest pic uploaded later off my phone! so prooud of my fids!!

I also just had a recent scare w/my little boy....he was going through his flying fits, always, always, flying...it didn't matter where i was, or where he was, he would just go...well one day, my partner had opened the door one morning to get the mail and he was on top of his cage (which is fairly far away from the front door) but off he went, right out the dang on door and up into the trees (high up)....i was SCARED to death that i would never get him back, but LUCKLY my partner was able to spot him and not loose sight of him and was able to retrieve him and off to the vet he went to get a GOOD wing trim, and since then, he doesn't even care about flying....so my opinion, will always be TRIM TRIM TRIM!!!! i can't afford to lose him again!! that was DEVASTING