|
Roberta,
I am
glad I asked around before getting back to you.
It
is so easy to be mesmerised by your own 'answer'
that
you forgot what you have seen yourself.
I
was going to say 2 weeks from the time your fid
first
fledged. Using my own experience from
Tinkerbell,
the first 3-4 days of her fledging flight
were
nightmarish to me. That was because I did not
prepare
sufficiently for that and had not know of
groups
like freeflight.
Early
flight is difficult for fid. Tink could fly
only
in straight line and meet the wall in heart
rending
crash, so much so I nearly took up a pair of
scissors
while I ran around with a pillow trying to
soften
her fall. I suspect many people took fright at
those
first flights and clipped the wings there and
then.
I so nearly did myself.
But
by the third day, Tinkerbell managed well enough
to
make clumsy landings. And by end of 2nd week, flew
quite
well from my perspective at that time.
With
my renowned hindsight, I would have prepared for
fledgling
flight with drapes around the room so the
fid
can have adequate footholds to avoid crashing to
ground.
Or fly the fid in an aviary so they can cling
on
the mesh and otherwise have enough perches to land
on.
Dean
Moser, a breeder of Eclectus, felt it is
important
that they fly past their own volitional
flight,
flight they made of own accord. He felt
clipping
them before volitional flight may hinder them
possibly
for ever any volitional flight. He clips his
babies
at 5 months prior to sending them to their new
homes
(only for those who demand them clipped).
Chris
Biro and guru emeritus of Freeflight
felt
(http://www.thepiratesparrot.com/free.htm)
"the
bird should be fully weaned and probably at least
6
months to 1 year old or older if possible. Their
personality
needs to have some
time
to "form and begin to solidify" - I know, not
very
scientific
terminology
here <grin>."
Rex
added "My take on it is that learning flight
skills
is very non-linear; just
after
fledging, every day brings noticeable
improvement,
but later
improvements
are much more gradual."
The
addition of Rex kicked in a very recent
developement
of Tinkerbell that I otherwise will not
have
noticed and added here.
Tink
have been flying about 1 year 9 months now and
you
have read of the gradual flying skills that she
showed
and I thought like Rex, improvements will be
more
gradual as she was already flying very well. The
last
three nights showed a further change. She flew
at
full speed towards the wall, then abruptly turned
on
the proverbial dime to a new direction. She did
that
consistently so I have to disagree with Rex as
Tink
demonstrated breath taking improvemment in
agility
even though I did not expect it and it wasn't
linear.
Back
to your question, and as you may have clients
breathing
down your neck and your cannot afford to
wait
one year and nine months, I do believe that if
your
babes are weaned and 2 weeks past volitional
flight,
clipping them then prior to sending them to
new
homes is far better than not letting them fledge
at
all. Best is to keep them to 6 months as advised
by
Chris. But by letting them fledge and fly, you
will
still be doing far better than breeders who may
not
even let them fledge at all.
When
I was in Wellington, I saw Dino,a free flying
Alexandrine
kept by Jennifer Randell and her lovely
daughter
Shannen. Proud as I am of Tinkerbell, the
flight
of Dino was breathtaking in grace and beauty.
It
brought to mind the swimming and leaping of
dolphins
as Dino flew down the corridor between the
living
room and her room. Dino's grace and beauty was
in
contrast to the raw power and agility of
Tinkerbell,
like comparing a ballerina to Mike Tyson.
Dino's
heart was clearly with Jen though she came to
the
bribes offered by me and my wife.
Do
have fun with your Alexandrines.
=====
With
warmest regards
Shanlung
Joy
- wife, Tinkerbell - CAG & surrogate daughter
earlier
emails and photo links on Tink -
http://www.geocities.com/shanlung9
|
