Clipping my Sun Conures wings

[Heather Weis]

Behavior change after attempt at clipping my Sun Conures wings

I have a one year old female Sun Conure. The breeder clipped her wings right when I got her. After a year, obviously, she's full flight now. We've done her nails before by ourselves (prob back in Oct/Nov). We had everything ready, Styptic powder, q-tips, etc... I was able to get her with a towel, got it over her head and held her while my husband did her nails. Everything went fine. She was a little ticked at first, but it only lasted about 1/2 an hour.
Now that she's full flight she's become quite the bossy one. It takes us 15-20 minutes just to catch her to get her in her cage at night. That's just one of many right now. She's ruling the roost! I also think I've been a little too generous with treats (papaya, pistachios, and occasionally some sunflower seeds). I read that her being full flight could very well be a big contributing factor to her attitude (I'm thinking the change in season, too). My husband and I had read enough that we felt we could handle the wing clipping. We know which are the primaries, close to the coverts, blood feathers, etc... So we decided to do her wings and we failed miserably (we did not hurt her, though). This was about a week ago. I got her with the towel and my husband had the scissors in hand. She's a bit stronger now and I got a little nervous and probably didn't hold her well enough. My husband got only a minor bit of her first primaries before I gave up and told him to stop because I was scared I was going to hurt her while trying to hold her. I just got nervous, I don't know why. She's still full flight, that's how little we got clipped. But let me tell you...she is a little brat 10 times now! I'm hoping this is temporary and she's just pissed at us, but she won't step up anymore when I go to get her out of her cage...she barely plays with her toys on her cage anymore. She mainly heads to a shoulder as soon as she gets out of the cage and does everything possible so that you can't remove her from that shoulder, lol. It's like she's on high alert when she's out, just waiting for us to catch her with the towel again. In an effort to help fix this, I've backed off on treats and only give them to her when she does what she's supposed to. It's kind of working, but she's still isn't the same little Sun I had 2 weeks ago. This little girl would put herself to bed in her little hut every night without problem from day one. Now I have to practically kiss this little birds butt to get her to step up to come out of the cage.
I moved her yearly appt up to next week, so we're just gonna have the vet do her wings and nails all in one shot. I probably should've had the vet do her wing clipping to begin with...lesson learned.
So does anybody think her attitude is due to us attempting the wings and she's just mad? When I originally took her to the vet when I first got her last year, the vet told me how she had to take the band off of one of her birds one time, for whatever reason, but she said her bird wouldn't come out from the back of the cage for 2 weeks. So I'm hoping she's just mad, but this is very frustrating. Any advice or opinions are welcome!

 

[Mike]

I have read that it is better to have someone else clip your bird's wings and to file your bird's nails, so as to not be associated with the "violation."

As I understand it, it is not the filing and clipping that is the problem, it is the forced restraint that is taken as a violation of trust by the bird.

 

[Heather Weis]

Yeah, that makes pretty good sense. Hopefully the vet will take over the bad memory and we'll come out the good guys, lol. Thanks!

 

[MikeyTN]

I took my macaw Willie to have his nails trimmed at the vet. He went to her at first, but after clipping, he screamed at her and tries to attack her if she tries to get close. So yes have it done by someone else.... BUT at the same time I have done my own bird's nail trim, the smaller ones....The bigger ones holds grudge against me if I try....I have done my too's nails and she was fine. But with this new vet, I'm taking all my birds to her, I like her.....

 

[Heather Weis]

Thx MikeyTN! Yeah, I think I'm going to let the vet handle this...she's just really holding a grudge! Willie is adorable!!

 

[singnsista]

I recently got a sun conure I named Phoenix, he/she is about 8 or 10 weeks old. My husband and I have had a blue front Amazon, finches, used to breed cockatiels and hand raised a blue and gold, and we did the wings and nails ourselves. But it has been many years since we've owned birds so I feel pretty new. Phoenix was clipped right after his first flight, below I knew him, by the breeder but he is still constantly attempting to fly. I'm open to advice but I spend a good few minutes opening and closing his wings while kissing him and talking to him. Last week he hated it, but I decided he didn't have a choice and everytime I take him out to play the wings get attention first. Today he doesn't seem to care at all. We did this with our cockatiels so clipping their wings would be uneventful, hopefully Phoenix will be the same. We also play a lot of games with towels. I continue wing play and toenail rubbing. He now looks for the towel and will burrow under it playing sort of a peek-a-boo game. Yesterday I attempted to gently file his toenails, got one foot done and decided he needed a break. This may not be helpful for you since my Sun is still very much a baby.

 

[TexDot33]

I agree with the have someone else do it.

I, normally, have both my Sun and my GCC clipped by someone else but this time around, being stretched for time I did it myself.

My GCC wasn't bad at all - but that is probably because she's trained to lay on her back in my hand so I just clipped her toes while I was playing with her one day ... easy-pease.

HOWEVER

My sunny isn't as playful with going on her back, and while trying to clip her toes I was able to only get one side done, and she was mad at me for about two days ... so we aren't going to do that again anytime soon!

Get someone to clip them, and be the one that comforts them after that completely "horrible" experience.

 

[SoCalWendy]

I have to admit, you got a lil chuckle out of me as I was reading your question. Rio still holds a grudge against my husband when we put her harness on her too soon. He got a nasty bite (she drew blood) and so did I (no blood, but it hurt like...) Anyway cutting the harness off of her was just as traumatic (more so for me) than putting it on. I was so scared, and it took 3 cuts to get that stupid thing off.

Personally... if you can get your bird to submit willingly to anything (ie. nail trim) without restraint by you, all the better for you and the birds relationship. As far as wing clip, I don't know if any bird would willingly submit to such a thing. Better to have someone else do it.

If you have a small stand for your bird, use it and start doing some training. A little bit each day will help improve tremendously your relationship. That's the best time to offer treats, let her earn them.

 

[mybabylo]

We've had Lo since she was barely weaned so she is used to being handled. My sister clips mine's wings & I clip her toenails. I give her lots of kisses & pet her while I clip them usually with tiny baby nail clippers. She gets really lovey at night & cuddly so I clip them around then lol I think yours is holding a grudge just give her lots of attention to re-build trust & love