Should pet birds be wing clipped???

[Parrotlover83]

Just a little topic on wing clipping, should pet birds be clipped in summertime etc? Just would love to hear other owners input on this. I'm 50/50 on the fence it can be good & bad.


Parrot Power...........:-)

[Honesty]

This can often be a touchy subject, but, I do think it is down to personal choice. I always have Codie's wings lightly clipped. I lost a bird through flying into a window :(

[Parrotlover83]

That's my fear I've nearly lost my Galah & and my ducorps cockatoo through them getting spooked & flying out the patio door luckily I got both back although a seagull attacked the ducorps & I was screaming & had to climb 16ft up a ladder to get her back & I'm scared of heights but adrenaline kicked in. Both are flighted but wondering if I should clip for safety as next time I might not be so lucky.


Parrot Power...........:-)

[Wayne361]

This is a topic I am not going to wade to deep in as I am a passionate anti-clipping person. Just bird proof surroundings i.e. dont leave windows, doors open. I have two young children and they know the rules. Oscar is simply caged or put in another room if anyone is entering/leaving. Not to offend but it is the equivelent of saying should we tie the dogs back legs together so he cant run away.....
Also makes for a very good argument for recall training in the event of parrot getting out.
If there are behavioural issues, the issues should be addressed....not to hobble bird.
OK....thats as far as Im going to wade in :)

Wayne

[mrgoogls]

i think it depends on the situation. in my house, with our front and back doors, there are also glass doors that close by themselves, so we dont have to worry about leaving doors open, and all of ours windows have screens. it is never 100% safe. but, clipped birds can still fly if spooked and there are risks in everything with birds, just giving them a toy is a risk(although that is a risk we all MUST take obviously)

[Pinkbirdy]

Owen ,My Rb2 [that came flying ] has taught me a lot [and how to relax]. I wont clip unless I feel they might hurt themselves [like my male caique] gets scared and goes into windows. Harlows the only one I take outside with a harness.

[kendrafitz]

I clip Rosie, but it is due to her wingspan really.

When we brought her home she was clipped. When her feathers molted and her new ones came in we thought we would try to have her learn to fly. The problem was there are very few places she could fly without hitting her wings in our house. So she kept crashing and eventually chipped her beak fairly badly. So for her safety we clipped her again.

It is not an optimal situation, but I feel it is safest for Rosie. If we had more open space it would be different. I wish we did. I can't have her fly outside even on a harness as we have hawks circling our area constantly. My vet advised us not to have her outside unless she is in a cage or under a roofed area. It is fairly common for hawks to take pet birds off their owners arm/shoulders in our area.

So Rosie is clipped. Not the situation I wished we had, but for us I believe the safest.

[Turquoise]

This will by my own personal opinion and exeriences and just that as I believe everyone's situation is different with their birds and only that person can say if it is better to clip or not. We all know the pros and cons of clipping. There are good reasons for both and there again it is dependent upon your individual situation.

I clip my birds wings for safety purposes. My home is not large enough for a fully flighted macaw to safely fly without possibly getting tangled or hurt on something. Also I share my home with a two legged creature~~a husband~who has 'tunnel vision' when he is doing anything at all. This means he does not think 'safety first' and is not to be trusted to close doors when he is busy going in and out working on his projects. It wasn't a bird, but this past summer he left not one but two gates open outside while building something and my sulcata tortoise who had been living in the inner front yard all summer long politely walked away & I have never seen her since. He simply did not think about closing the gates each time he went through them.

Now I have read the cons about clipping birds wings concerning their need to know they can fly to be a happy well adjusted parrot. I'm not saying there are not birds out there who are depressed because they never got to fledge. I can personally say that I have two macaws who have never fledged and are very well adjusted and happy. These two birds will never be able to fly and it is not due to wing clipping. One, my Catalina boy Angel is handicapped and has been since birth. He can't stand up on his legs either like his brother Roscoe, but he is a very happy, energetic, all macaw boy! The other is my Green Wing girl, Ruby Jewel. She was born with both wings in perfect condition and a day later her GW father bit the folded wing part of her left wing off. Therefore she has been unable to fly since she was a tiny fabie. She is very sensitive about that wing being touched understandably, but in every other way she is all macaw and loves life to the fullest.

My ekkie girl Leyla Belle gets her wings clipped since she is capable of flying very well when they grow out. She rarely tries to fly, but when she does she could be out an open door in a hurry. And with her 'Diva' attitude she would not be one to come right down out of a tree if she were outside. So she definitely stays clipped as I do not want to lose my haughty red girl! :th_hug8: The parakeets are not tame, so they stay in a large flight cage together fully flighted. Loose in the house is an all day chase to catch the last one, so that rarely happens.

My Catalina Roscoe, Angel's brother can fly quite well and his breeder allowed him to fledge before clipping his wings for safety reasons before he came home to live with me. He is a very happy bird and when his wings grow out he definitely tries to take flight~~straight for me. He never has a problem with my clipping his wings and goes on as nothing has been changed until they grow out again. My Green Cheek Conure Peta was kept flighted in her previous home and allowed to fly all over the house. In my home I keep her clipped for the same reasons of not wanting to find she has flown out the door in a flash. She was 5 1/2 yrs old when she came to live with me and she accepts it with no problems. She is just happy to share her life with us and is a very well adjusted sweet little girl. So of my 'capable of flight birds' I see no change in them from being flighted or clipped other than piece of mind for myself that I won't one day find they have 'Flown The Coup'. :)

[Mare]

I'm a 'no' vote. I totally understand why we all feel the way we do about our birds. We all live differently, have different schedules, different environments for our birds and ourselves. I feel fortunate to be able to allow my birds to be flighted, although this gets them into predicaments, whether in the home or outside, it allows them to be what they were born to be, kind of :(.

[ShellyBorg]

It depends on the owner, the bird, the environment, the people who share the house and other pets in the house. There is no wrong or right. It depends.

[tonkatiel]

I'm in the camp of I don't really believe it should be done. Of course there are some situations where it is a must, but some people have strange ideas of what is classed as a 'must'.
My birds are all flighted, except for my 'tiel Tonks - we bought him from a pet shop and they clipped (hacked!) his wing without asking us if we wanted it done. We've had him for 9 months now and although he has molted twice, his flight feathers haven't grown back :(
The others I won't ever consider clipping, you can see the joy they get from flying, and it gives me joy to watch them... Yes there is a chance they will escape and not come back or god forbid get killed - but as others have said, clipped birds still have some flight ability so there is never any guarantee that they'll be safe.

[Feathers First Aviary]

As I'm sure you've realized, this is one of the most debated topics in the bird care community. I personally keep all of our pet birds and breeders flighted, we have huge ceilings in our house which is a pretty open floor plan, we have no big windows that aren't clearly marked so the birds can see them and none of our birds are the type to freak out and go careening into a wall. With our babies I try to teach them all basic recalls. If they recall to us and come when we hold our hand up, which most do, then I don't clip them. If they are more independent and adventurous and constantly flying around making it hard to retrieve them, they get a LIGHT baby clip. now, when someone adopts one of our babies we have a discussion about whether they should clip or not. If they have kids or other family members that have a habit of leaving doors or windows open, I suggest clipping. If they have a smaller house or one with big windows that can't be covered, I suggest clipping. If they want to take their bird out with them to places, I suggest clipping and harness training, once the bird is comfortable with the harness, if they want to allow their flights to grow out that is fine. I also tell everyone that if they are going to keep their birds clipped then the burden of making sure the bird is properly exercised falls on them. I show them how you can hold the bird while gently dropping your hand so they can flap, this allows them to exercise their wings and breast muscles the same as they would from flying and I believe it is very important. I also believe that the level of exercise a bird gets should indicate their diet to an extent. A bird that spends a lot of time flying is going to be burning a lot more calories than a bird that sits on a perch all day. The amount of fat that could cause health issues for a clipped bird can be necessary for a bird that is flighted. In the end there are just too many factors to say that there is one right answer. In a perfect world all birds would be flighted and allowed to fly as much as possible everyday but that just isn't the world we live in. There are a lot of birds that get lost, attacked or simply fly into walls or windows killing them instantly, if you can't prevent those things from happening then clipping is an option, just make sure that you are providing your bird with ways to exercise to compensate. :)

[Debra]

I used to clip my tiels, but decided to let them grow their wings out. Like others have stated, there's just something about birds in flight. They are happier. In fact, all of my birds are flighted -- even the ones who don't want to fly. I want them to be secure in their means of escape.

[Casper's 2nd best friend]

Thread revival shock!
An interesting article has just arrived in my inbox and I thought it would be good to share.
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My analysis is that it is best to wait until birds are accomplished flyers if you do, for whatever reason, decide to clip their wings.
Casper does occasionally pluck up courage and take to the air, but likes somewhere soft to land as he is not very good at that.