Benefits (or not) of having wings clipped?

[MikeyTN]

if the bird already has wings and can fly and manage to get from point a to b do not clip the wings. what can happen if you do is that the bird can get depressed . I've seen it happen to birds that can fly and had their wings clipped, its very sad. its almost like taking away their arms if u know what i mean.

After having so many birds, this can happen with certain birds but doesn't apply to all. I've seen certain birds that don't cope well with wing clipping but it's on a minor scale as most do fine.

 

[jenphilly]

For Ivory, right now as things stand, I don't think I'll clip her wings when they grow back in

Just to clarify, she can fly around your house with clipped wings? Is that right?

When Ivory came home she could not fly, she had all flight feathers clipped and had been so cage bound she did not have the strength or ability to even break her fall. I've worked with her, won't say taught, but exercised her with wing flapping and such, that she is now a very capable pilot She is able to leave wherever she is and follow you to another room or such. She still does not have the greatest lift from the floor, but she never really tries, she more chases after you (and have to admit its funny as heck when she comes waddling along). Ivory is only a month into the ability to fly and she is a velcro bird, she is a great example of only getting a cockatoo when you have 90% of your time to devote to them and/or want to have a perpetual 3 year old

She does not fly about the house for the fun of it, she only flies when she wants to be where you are and she's not. She is such a sweet, affectionate and very easy bird to work with, unless that behavior changes I see no reason to clip again. If she becomes more accomplished at flying and pulls the type of bratty behavior the conures and cockatiels do sometimes, I might rethink it, but honestly, think she will learn to drive a car before she runs away from her people!

My thought for not clipping is that I see no reason to clip her, there is no behavior we've seen that would make me think clipping wings would make anything easier to deal with. I have no clue why the previous family clipped her, especially since she was cage bound, she doesn't even try to fly away when its bath time and girlfriend hates bath or shower!

 

[jenphilly]

if the bird already has wings and can fly and manage to get from point a to b do not clip the wings. what can happen if you do is that the bird can get depressed . I've seen it happen to birds that can fly and had their wings clipped, its very sad. its almost like taking away their arms if u know what i mean.

After having so many birds, this can happen with certain birds but doesn't apply to all. I've seen certain birds that don't cope well with wing clipping but it's on a minor scale as most do fine.

I agree with Mikey on this one too... apologies for anyone who gets upset by this, but... sometimes its downright funny when the conures get their wings clipped for being bratty, when they try flying from stand to sofa and end up in the middle of the floor, they will walk towards you kinda sounding like they are cursing you out, but they walk over and hop right up, never depressed, but just giving the whatfor about the indignity of hiking across the floor.

 

[MonicaMc]

I lost my first budgie to a cat. He was clipped. House was being sprayed with RAID (insect killer), so the animals (2 birds, 1 hamster) went to live with my grandmother who had a dog and a cat at her house. I wasn't there. Cat knocked over the cage and grabbed the first bird she could.... I can only hope he died instantly. I have wondered if he was flighted, would he have been able to escape the cat? Would he have lived a longer life if he wasn't clipped?



I've also lost another budgie when I was stupid enough to have him out on my shoulder as I was walking around. He got startled and flew up into a tree. Couldn't reach him, couldn't get him down. He was clipped, although had enough flights to still fly some.


I'm still pro-flight, even after my experiences. There are pros and cons to each side of the argument.
Should you clip your parrot



I agree with Mayden's post about people being "clip happy" for *ANY* reason. I feel the same way. Bird bites? Clip it. Bird is afraid? Clip it. Bird isn't taught to come down from above? Clip it. Bird attacks others? Clip it. Bird follows you around? Clip it. Bird gets into everything? Clip it.

Whatever happened to *training* the bird? Why can't the bird be trained while flighted? Sure, a bird may be easier to train when clipped, but on the flip side, if you don't train the bird correctly, the issue will just reappear once the bird is flighted again. So what do you do? What most owners do.... clip the bird! (a cycle that either repeats itself, or often leads to the bird remaining clipped for the rest of the birds life as the person wont do the training required to teach the bird how to behave)

If you didn't want an animal that couldn't fly, why'd you buy a bird? (rhetorical question)



Even if a bird doesn't get to fly outside, flight is still healthy for them. My own birds I have noticed less biting and less screaming when they get enough exercise. The more exercise they get, the less likely they are to perform undesired behaviors. If one of them decides to fly and attack people, then I'll train the bird *NOT* to do that rather than clipping them!

With the cockatiels, my hen that flies the most has good chest muscle and she feels "thick". She actually feels heavier than another hen that weighs more than she does! My overweight hen feels spongy like and isn't as keen to flying for the joy of it. Obesity is a concern for some species... and with obesity comes the potential for fatty liver disease. Flight can help overweight birds lose fat and burn calories. Likewise, flight can help some underweight birds to gain weight as they'll require more calories to maintain weight... and the more they exercise, the more muscle they'll build up.


I find clipped birds on the ground more often than flighted birds are - unless you have ground foragers who enjoy being on the ground. Birds who are on the ground are more likely to get stepped on, attacked by a predator (cat, dog, ferret, rat...), have something fallen on them, chew on cords on the ground or any other number of things.



I find Pamela Clark's comments about fledling african greys to be interesting. African greys are often known as neurotic, nervous and clumsy birds. She found this information was true for african greys that were clipped at a young age, but false in greys that were allowed flight and not clipped at all.
Ethical, Moral & Spiritual Considerations of Companion Parrot Care By Pamela Clark, CVT

Greg Glendell mentions that more phobic fear in birds is seen in birds that are clipped or mutilated. In the second link, he goes into some details about dangers of clipping.
Behavioural Problems in Companion parrots by Greg Glendell
SHOULD MY PARROT’S WINGS BE CLIPPED? by Greg Glendell

Steve Martin has a good article that may be worth a read.
To fly or not to fly? - that is the question!



Additional links and information can be found here (among other places). This page has links to other pages in regards to flight (although some are dead).
Flying



If you are going to clip, you should full well know the pros and cons to both sides. Far too many people clip because they only know the cons of flight and the pros of clipping. This means that there are also pros to flight just as there are also cons to clipping. (which should go unsaid)



Regardless of the choice, please do the research! And just because you allow flight *DOES NOT* mean you have to allow free-flight out doors. People have rented warehouses, gyms or other large buildings for flying parrots safely indoors. There's also the option of building an aviary to allow flight.



[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzyZGdMp9kM]Parrot Training - Indoor Free Flying - DUCK!! Pet Parrot Free flight Skills and Myths - YouTube[/ame]

 

[MikeyTN]

I've lost several flighted birds to dogs in the past. They escaped the room I was in and flew out into the rest of the house and the dog caught them in mid air while they were flying through the house. Having them flighted does not mean they would be safe either. By controlling how you keep your animals is what protects them. Neither clipped or unclipped is going to protect them. You are their protector!!!

 

[MonicaMc]

And cats are better jumpers than dogs... still, if that budgie had had his flights, would he have had a chance to escape??? I don't know.


It is about taking safety precautions and knowing where your animals are at all times. Accidents can and do still occur. Steps should be taken to prevent them to the best of your ability.


I hear about flighted birds flying full tilt into windows and walls after a "fight or flight" response, and the birds die. I also hear of clipped birds constantly flying into walls, furniture, trash cans and other objects. People think their birds can't fly when in reality the birds have little control of where they can fly except straight ahead.


Casey, my best flighted cockatiel (and she's been clipped in the past!) will fly circles around the room when she freaks out. She doesn't fly into walls or windows but she does fly pretty fast! It's a somewhat small room as well, so during flight at two ends of the room it's mostly turning.