Does anyone use little jackets or vest to prevent their quakers from flying off their cages, or playscapes? Picasso flew on top of the fridge the first day, and then he did fly off the cage top and went into the window yesterday....thank god the distance was short and he was not hurt.
His wings are clipped, I was surprised that he flew as well as he did, not the second time, but the first time when he flew on top of the fridge, he flew well with clipped wings.

Also , how often do the wings need clipping? I never clipped my other parrots wings, so I don't know these things.

I don't clip, so I'll leave the "how often" question to someone who knows, but for keeping him safe if he's flying around, get miniblinds or curtains and keep windows covered when he's out of his cage, and you should also keep him out of the kitchen in case of a hot pot on the stove or any one of a dozen hazards the kitchen can pose for a bird. If you can't shut off the kitchen with a door, you can buy bead curtains online and hang them over the opening and he won't go through.

Yeah, I did close the blinds right away after that happened. He's in a "great" room, (design of the house), and really can't be petitioned off from the kitchen, but , I would never leave an uncovered pot on the stove with him out . I'm very cautious about those kind of things. I was just curious about the jackets as I've seen them online, but just don't know how effective they are. I don't like leaving the room anyway when he's out, there are several ways he could get himself in trouble. Just having a banded leg makes me a little nervous. I did make him a apple tree branch / 1/2 cage to hang in my studio, so when I work , he can come up to the studio with me and just hang out on the tree branches. It's really ugly, but it has a swing and a few other essentials...food dishes, water....so ...he should enjoy it.. Eventually we'll hang sewing supplies off it and he'll have a good time....but, I don't want to overwhelm him at this point.

If he's flying that well he probably doesn't have enough feathers cut; how nany are clipped on each side? ==== As far as the vests or jackets they're designed to clip a leash of sorts to so that he can't fly away and you have sone control as to where he flies they aren't nade to teather hin to any certain place other than your hand+++ I think if you don't want hin to be flying around that you check into having his wings clipped a little nore (additional flights clipped on each side) ideally they shouldn't be able to get any lift but should be able to glide gently to the ground+++With a few birds it takes all 10 prinary flights being clipped but generally 7 or 8 on each side should be enough

MoJo is a horrible flyer so i can get away with clipping 4 on each side i usually do 5 tho just to safe. he seems in a perpetual molt latley so ive been clipping every 6 weeks or so!! he most be a super molter i swear!!

The main thing I'd worry about with tying a bird to anything would be what would happen when they hit the end of the line.... Ever seen what happens to a kite when it catches a bad air current? When it hits the end of the line it causes a "whiplash" effect which increases speed rapidly until it impacts. *blinks* Little hollow boned featherdusters don't do impact well and even if by some stroke of luck there was no injury the bird would be left hanging by a rope on an odd angle which would probably make him panic.

There are people who have taught flighted birds to stay on their cage or go to their cage... I'm not one of them at this point so I'm not sure exactly how you'd shape that behaviour but I can guess that it wouldn't be necessarily fast. Kiko came from the rescue society clipped and with her territorial attitude she's probably going to remain clipped because I don't think I'm going to be able to talk her out of dive bombing a couple family members she's jealous of. I'd also never get her off ME. *chuckles*

Good luck and if you come across anything let us know!

WEll, what I am talking about is not a tether, I would not tie or anchor my Picasso to his cage, I'm talkimg about a jacket that you just put on him in which he cannot use his wings to fly. Or to discourage flight. I'll have to look it up again......I remember looking at them when I had my last quaker who had full flight. But he was good at flying, and generally only flew to where I was.
I brought picasso to work with me yesterday in the studio above my garage, and it's a smaller area, and made him a makeshift apple tree from branches from a tree, and extends into a top of a old bird cage, and there is a good area in which he can move around and play...I suspect he won't try to fly in this room so much as there isn't the open space in there.

i get marleys wings cut usually right aroung molt time one thing you should definitly watch out for is ceiling fans we had a close call around here and i'll tell you what after that i'm nervous just to turn the thing on anymore wings clipped or not...
every couple monthes its good to check their wings out and see if they need shortening

Um no, I wouldn't use anything to prevent flight. Clipping of the wings is good enough and then basic training to keep him on the cage is the only thing necessary. Every time he flies off, say "no flying off the cage" and then put him back on his cage. It's definitely repetitive and could take forever, but if you're patient it will work

And if he's flying on top of the fridge then he could probably use a bit of a trim..

Oh good. I've seen people do that before and it was SCARY! As for restricting his wings... what if he were to slip? How would he catch himself before he hit the ground? I'd assume it would be a lot like when you were a kid and had your hands stuffed in your pockets while running... and tripped. I know I did that once and learned really quickly that hands are helpfel when the sidewalk is coming towards your face. *chuckles* Training wise you'd have to go through a couple of sessions so that the bird realized that while it was wearing its jacket that jumping is a bad idea and to associate the wing restriction with an external article of clothing. Which I'm sure could be done

If there is a product out there I'd be curious to see how it's set up. I'm sure that for every single need out there someone has thought of SOMETHING and I'd never thought beyond wing clipping because a) it's such a common thing to do I've never owned a bird that I could trust flighted to stay out of trouble. Mind you, my first two rehabs were four times the size of Kiko...

yeah...good points....
I had seen it in some bird fancy magazine a while ago. I always wondered about it. I guess I'm better off just clipping the wings...it seems that the corner of my cage seems to promote flight. as my Pete also would get into the same corner and then off he would go.

I only clip 6 flight feathers on each side. That way Bowie can effectively get away from any danger, but he is not able to, for example, fly "up" into the trees when we go outside. From the floor he can get upto about 2 feet high, and he can get as far as 6-7 feet laterally. From a high perch he can fly about 10-12 feet.

I bought an over-priced "flight suit" that Bowie hates. Every time he sees it, he flys away. I bought it so I would feel more comfortable bringing Bowie outside with me. It protects his crop and abdomen, has an optional tether, lets him fly if needed, and it catches poop. Unfortunately, like I said, he absolutely hates it. I'm told with training he'll learn to accept it, but we'll see.

It's probably been said a hundred times but just in case.... be careful with even a fully clipped bird outside. The slightest bit of wind and something as built for agility as a quaker can be off and soaring. I had a female eclectus (which are NOT known for their acrobatic aerial maneuvers like the quakers are) pick up enough of a slight breeze to land in a tree a block away while we were walking from the car to the front door. She didn't really go UP very far without a good gust, but she sure didn't come DOWN either.