Flying?

[kq_fan]

So I herd that your bird has to fly in order to live. But I don't want my bird to fly. I like her wings clipped. She does fly every like once or twice a week in the house but if my birds wings aren't clipped then if she has the chance she might fly away! I don't want to risk that. So If I don't haft to then why would I risk? I already tried to harness her and she will have nothing to do with it!

 

[kellie]

You have to find what works best and is safest for you and your bird. There are many people on here who will tell you it is a horrible idea to clip your birds wings and many who will swear by it.

Lukah came to me with his wings clipped and he hasn't yet gone through a molt. Once he does, I likely will clip them again. I live in a small apartment. Lukah's cage is two feet away from the front door and twenty from the kitchen. My roommate is not very conscientious and I don't trust her to always keep fans off, watch boiling pots of water, the door, etc. and can't really ask all of that of her. Therefore, Lukah could easily end up in a situation that would be harmful to him. I also don't have enough time right now to practice free-flight with him and therefore would never be able to take him outside if they weren't clipped.

That being said, there are plenty of times when I wish he could fly. I had a cocatiel when I was in seventh grade that was fully flighted and I loved that he could CHOOSE to come to me and that he could fly wherever he wanted. However, that did mean poop all over the furniture, lots more time spent training him and, eventually, he did fly out the door and I lost him... And he also had to be kept in my room, away from all the family activity because doors, fans, etc. I couldn't keep my Sun in my room all the time... he would hate it. He wants to be a part of everything!

The decision is yours. If you have the time and energy to dedicate to a fully flighted bird as well as the proper environment and responsible people living in your home with you, I definitely think it is a great idea... I loved having a flighted bird. But if that's not a possibility, like with Lukah right now, then birds do not HAVE to fly in order to live. Provide plenty of perches and ways for your bird to get around and still experience things. She will flap his wings like crazy a few times a day in order to exercise them and will get lots of exercise climbing around her cage, playing with toys etc. if you have a big enough cage and encourage it.

Do what's best for you and her.

 

[baron1282]

I agree with Kellie!

You got to find what works best for you! A lot of debate on this issue as well. Some people think it's horrible to clip and some people think it's horrible and irresponsible not to clip.

I have cats so my wife and I made the choice of letting our bird fly. The reason is so he could get away if needed. I taught my bird how to fly myself which has made me bound with him even more.

Like I said in an older post I could have maybe found a better way to train my bird but I just looked at nature. What does a parent bird do? They drop them until they fly.

That's what I did but in a controlled environment. Controlled being I didn't drop him on a hard floor but on a soft pillow.

He was able to flap his wings until one day he flew! It was important to drop him because he needed to build the muscles for flight. Dropping him so he would flap was important to that building of muscles.

Now having him flighted does not mean I let him fly outside! NO!! He is only an indoor flier and ONLY when I let him so I can watch him. He really does not fly that often at all. The only way to get him to fly now is to let him get on the top of the cage and walk into another room. He will tweet until he finally realize I am not coming back. So he flies too me. I think he has it programed to fly to one place (My computer chair) because I was showing my brother that I got him to fly. He was sitting in the chair and I thought he would fly to me but he flew to the chair and scared my brother out of it. LOL

We have no fans where we are at so that is one thing to consider and like I said when you let the bird fly make sure you KNOW where your bird is at, at all times!!! You don't want a bird to fly into an open toilet or a running fan or worse an open door. So if you let your bird fly make sure every fan is off and every door is closed when he is out of the cage!

 

[WannaBeAParrot]

Pritti is 32 years old and hasn't done much flying in about 15 years because his wings have mostly been clipped for that time. When they do grow out a bit, he'll do a little "hop" flying where he might go from top of cage to my shoulder a couple feet away. Also, he'll do some little glides down to the floor every once in a while. So the moral of this story is, a bird does not need to fly to live.

In fact, if your living situation would make it unsafe for your bird to have full flight, then clipped is the sensible option. With that said, I personally think it is very important to make sure that my clipped fid gets the chance to have tons of exercise since he doesn't fly. He is down on the ground getting to run around around in a safe room with toys, boxes, play gym, food, water, hideaway place for hours and hours most days. He has play gyms too. Anoterh thing he LOVES is to climb up and down open ladders - big human ladders. So please try to give him adequate opportunity to exercise.

 

[baron1282]

Like I said before, it's a debate! It's a heavily debated topic in fact! Some people are really against it and some people are really for it.

My take is this.

It's a BIRD! Birds fly! It's a shame to keep something that is suppose to fly on the ground. Its like taking a fish out of water. Now having said that a pet bird needs supervision because there is a lot of dangers in your home for your flighted pet! They also make flight harnesses with long leashes so they can fly outside but not get away from you.

 

[Annesosilly]

Cal is flighted and I HATE it! We are working on training right now (because his former owners (who, in a last act of responsibility, threw him out on the street where our friends found him, along with his cage at the dumpster), and anytime he gets bored with training and doesn't want to do anymore, he just flies away! Flies to my shoulder, flies to his cage, flies to his dad (my boyfriend) - its giving him a great means to escape when he gets uncomfortable.

He has a vet appointment Tuesday morning - needless to say, he will be flightless soon. We may give it back to him one day, but for now not having his wings is best.

Just make sure they get plenty of out of cage time, tons of enrichment and lots of love and encouragement

Anne (and Cal )

 

[Annesosilly]

Just read my response and it sounds like errrr removing his wings all together!! Whoops haha. Just woke up from a nap.

 

[kellie]

Just be careful with flighted birds and flight harnesses! I didn't put mine on my cocatiel tight enough and that's how he flew away!

 

[kq_fan]

Thanks guys!! Im glad I don't haft to clip them, I don't want to because I just don't want to take any chances. Iv heard so many stories and seen lots of lost bird posters and sometimes they end out great and some times not so great. So I think I don't want to risk it. Thanks for the reply's!

 

[MikeyTN]

It's a individual choice ofnto clip or not to clip. I prefer not to but I will if I must! Whatever works for yoi best and what you feel in your heart, go with it!!!

 

[khaiqha]

Er, if you want a pet that can't fly, why get a bird?

 

[MikeyTN]

There's many things we may do that don't make much sense but the wing clipping is a individual choice to make. You don't have to agree with it but be kind with your replies please! Otherwise its best to just leave it be. Thanks!

 

[Featheredsamurai]

Rosie is fully flighted, she lives up in my room and I keep my door closed an I use caution when I have her down stairs were there are doors.

Clipping is your choice to make

 

[khaiqha]

I wasn't trying to be mean. When people select dog breeds they look at breed stereotypes that suit their living situation. As much as I want a dalmatian, I know I will never be active enough or have enough space for it to run around. If the OP hates that birds can fly, I just don't understand the reasoning behind getting a bird then.

 

[kq_fan]

Im not going to clip her because my family goes in and out of the door and they don't tend to shut the door so I don't want to take chances with the cats outside buuutttt flying did save her life one day when she fell into the cone on my cat! I was so scared! It had gunk all over in there so I rushed her to the sink and washed her. She's fine now, that was like three months ago!

khaiqha: Don't worry, I didn't find that as rude. I know why get a bird if they don't fly but their are so many reasons why I love parrots then if they can fly or not. The reason I don't like it is because the teil I use to have, got out of the carrying cage and tried to fly away! My hart stopped, It was bad but I did eventually catch him! Then off he went to his old home. But I understand what you mean.

 

[kellie]

There's a lot more to birds than their flying abilities. Dogs are natural borne hunters but most people don't get excited and praise their dog when it brings in a dead pigeon. Or let it roam around the neighborhood hunting for pleasure.

Clipping is sometimes necessary for the bird's safety and happiness.

 

[weco]

Kq, don't become complacent in thinking a clipped bird cannot fly away.....you would be surprised at the number of people with the same thought who watched their bird(s) fly out of sight.....

 

[JerseyWendy]

Let's keep this topic civil, please! No hurtful, insulting or belittling remarks, they WILL be removed.

Thank you.

 

[riaria]

Many people advocate clipping "for the bird's safety", but it's very important to remember that a clipped bird can (unless the wings ware completely butchered) still fly. So, a clipped bird can still fly (or walk, for that matter) through an open door; they can still fly into the toilet and drown; they can still fly into a pan of boiling water. So many people become complacent and think that because their bird is clipped, they don't have to supervise or keep them away from dangers. It is also my impression that a significant majority of escaped parrots in the UK were, in fact, clipped.

Then, of course, there are the health implications of not allowing a bird to fly (whether that's by clipping its wings, or by keeping it in a cage all the time).

Every case is individual and needs to be assessed on an individual basis, but I'll never understand why someone who doesn't want a pet that flies, would get a bird... And it really isn't all that hard to make it safe for your parrot to fly. And if you feel that you can't have a flying parrot because of other parrots, other pets, etc, then why in the world did you get the parrot (or the other pets, whichever came second)? Just doesn't make sense to me. If you have a parrot and get another, and find that they fly and attack each other, why can't you give them out of cage time separately? And if you haven't got time to give them separate out of cage times, why on earth did you get a second parrot?

(This isn't aimed at anyone in particular - many people turn to wing clipping because of unwanted flying behaviours or aggression - but it really bugs me when people clip by default because they simply don't want a pet that flies...)

I'm sorry, I'm really trying to be objective, but it's so hard when it comes to wing clipping. So few people that clip have a "good" reason for doing it. The above is NOT aimed at the OP, it's just me ranting about one of my pet peeves.

 

[kq_fan]

Ok hmmm. Well I don't worry about her running away because Im usually with her and in my house their are a lot of walls and she is really never in the kitchen because of all the fumes. When my dad was a kid, he had a teil and when a boy was taking care of her when they were on a vacation, the boy left the door of the cage open and the bird flew out but its wings were clipped so it fell in a bucket of cleaning water! So Im careful about buckets of water and the toilet!