Clipped Wing Help

[Aehling]

Hi all,

Yesterday Aussie had a scare and got pretty injured after flying into a window a couple of times. Took her to the vet and he clipped her wings while she recovers from the injuries. She was clipped when I got her as a baby the last august but since then she's been flying around happily. It's killing me that she can barely get off the ground so I am here looking for any tips to keep her happy until her next moult while she heals. If you have any recommendations on how to keep her entertained and or bird proofing my windows better than I already have please let me know

Thank you

 

[Scott]

Welcome to you and Aussie, thanks for joining!!

Flying leading to repeated injury begs for change. Clipping wings is most obvious yet restrictive. Some birds become expert and maneuverable flyers, others never develop skills. One technique is to hold your bird and give "walking tour" of your home, walking right up to hazards. Think of it as imprinting your bird with home layout. Window coverings of variable nature such as blinds are useful to shut out inviting outdoors. (birds may not identify glass as impenetrable) Root cause may be Aussie never learned to fly when young.

 

[SailBoat]

While your Parrot is grounded, its a great time to teach your Parrot Safe Flight Paths around your home and what are hard surfaces like mirrors, pictures, windows. After you have taught safe flight paths, then add safe landing areas. The next is to teach safe return paths.

 

[Aehling]

While your Parrot is grounded, its a great time to teach your Parrot Safe Flight Paths around your home and what are hard surfaces like mirrors, pictures, windows. After you have taught safe flight paths, then add safe landing areas. The next is to teach safe return paths.

Thank you for this, we did just move from our old place so that will be very helpful, and as we are moving around a lot for the next couple years I will continue to do that at each new place.

 

[Aehling]

Welcome to you and Aussie, thanks for joining!!

Flying leading to repeated injury begs for change. Clipping wings is most obvious yet restrictive. Some birds become expert and maneuverable flyers, others never develop skills. One technique is to hold your bird and give "walking tour" of your home, walking right up to hazards. Think of it as imprinting your bird with home layout. Window coverings of variable nature such as blinds are useful to shut out inviting outdoors. (birds may not identify glass as impenetrable) Root cause may be Aussie never learned to fly when young.

Thank you! That would be a great help as we will be moving around a lot for the next couple years as I am still in school. She is still under a year old and she was a very capable flier with this being the first injury, her first moult was last fall so she should only be grounded for a couple months. While she is grounded fully would you recommend bringing her outside with me for entertainment so she does not get bored (my biggest concern right now)?

 

[Scott]

Welcome to you and Aussie, thanks for joining!!

Flying leading to repeated injury begs for change. Clipping wings is most obvious yet restrictive. Some birds become expert and maneuverable flyers, others never develop skills. One technique is to hold your bird and give "walking tour" of your home, walking right up to hazards. Think of it as imprinting your bird with home layout. Window coverings of variable nature such as blinds are useful to shut out inviting outdoors. (birds may not identify glass as impenetrable) Root cause may be Aussie never learned to fly when young.

Thank you! That would be a great help as we will be moving around a lot for the next couple years as I am still in school. She is still under a year old and she was a very capable flier with this being the first injury, her first moult was last fall so she should only be grounded for a couple months. While she is grounded fully would you recommend bringing her outside with me for entertainment so she does not get bored (my biggest concern right now)?

Good to know she was a capable flier, that ought return. I'd definitely spend more time together, also does she enjoy playing with toys?

Taking her outside not without risk. Even though she cannot effectively fly, a gust of wind may take her a distance. Depending on location, the skies are filled with raptors and some are bold enough to pluck a bird from shoulders. A halfway technique is harness training so she tethered to you at all times.

 

[Aehling]

Welcome to you and Aussie, thanks for joining!!

Flying leading to repeated injury begs for change. Clipping wings is most obvious yet restrictive. Some birds become expert and maneuverable flyers, others never develop skills. One technique is to hold your bird and give "walking tour" of your home, walking right up to hazards. Think of it as imprinting your bird with home layout. Window coverings of variable nature such as blinds are useful to shut out inviting outdoors. (birds may not identify glass as impenetrable) Root cause may be Aussie never learned to fly when young.

Thank you! That would be a great help as we will be moving around a lot for the next couple years as I am still in school. She is still under a year old and she was a very capable flier with this being the first injury, her first moult was last fall so she should only be grounded for a couple months. While she is grounded fully would you recommend bringing her outside with me for entertainment so she does not get bored (my biggest concern right now)?

Good to know she was a capable flier, that ought return. I'd definitely spend more time together, also does she enjoy playing with toys?

Taking her outside not without risk. Even though she cannot effectively fly, a gust of wind may take her a distance. Depending on location, the skies are filled with raptors and some are bold enough to pluck a bird from shoulders. A halfway technique is harness training so she tethered to you at all times.

I will definitely spend more time with her, luckily due to covid her whole baby phase she spends most if not all of her day out of her cage with me or in closet proximity to me (in the same room or an adjacent one where I can see her). As for toys she is very picky, I have tried to give her a wide variety of toys but the only ones she goes for are the ones she can destroy, even toys not meant for destruction like puzzles and stuff she only uses to bite at. She is very very scared of balls too no matter what kind she will immediately get out whenever they are nearby. Id love any recommendations on that front. As for harness training that's a great idea that I would love to look into, I tried back in the fall but she was very annoyed at the whole concept of the harness do you have any recommendations for getting her comfortable with a harness and any good harness recommendations because since the attempt I have misplaced her original harness and cant seem to find it. Thanks

 

[bill_e]

Too late now but you may want to consider it in the future.

There are many types of clips and a lot of it has to do with the size and weight of your bird but you don't need to give a clip that grounds her.

The clip I give my 195g Hawkhead still lets her fly from perching spot to perching spot or from perch to shoulder but does not let her zoom around the room. She is slower to react when she wants to fly because I guess she's wondering if she can make it but she is strong and has only lost her ability to sneak out to a location before you know what happened, which she is able to do when fully flighted and which I consider very dangerous from an escape perspective.

If you feel that it's dangerous to allow your bird to be fully flighted then consider a mild clip and experiment from there.

This is the clip I have Nike get and it great piece of mind and really does not limit her ability to get to reasonable locations.

 

[SailBoat]

Too late now but you may want to consider it in the future.

There are many types of clips and a lot of it has to do with the size and weight of your bird but you don't need to give a clip that grounds her.

The clip I give my 195g Hawkhead still lets her fly from perching spot to perching spot or from perch to shoulder but does not let her zoom around the room. She is slower to react when she wants to fly because I guess she's wondering if she can make it but she is strong and has only lost her ability to sneak out to a location before you know what happened, which she is able to do when fully flighted and which I consider very dangerous from an escape perspective.

If you feel that it's dangerous to allow your bird to be fully flighted then consider a mild clip and experiment from there.

This is the clip I have Nike get and it great piece of mind and really does not limit her ability to get to reasonable locations.

Truly great chart good friend!