My Story.... (In response to the Clipping thread)

[MissyMe83]

I saw the thread posted by dclarkdad tonight in regards to opinions on whether or not to clip your birds wings.

I used to think that clipping a bird was just plain cruel. That it was bad enough that I kept them in cages....that to then take away their flight was as bad as taking away my ability to walk. Around nine years ago I got my first cockatiel. From then I fell in love and got one after another. I also rescued a green cheek conure from a hoarding situation. I loved them dearly. I always let them all out to fly around the house and get their exercise. They were all extremely tame and great flyers so ignorantly I never worried about them getting hurt or flying away.


Then one day I had a terrible accident and my favorite tiel saw an opening through a window in the house and right out he went. To make it worse all of my birds followed right after him. It all happened so fast. I immediantly ran outside and called for them. All I could do was watch them fly up higher, and higher, farther and further away until they were out of sight. I drove around my neighborhood for hours. I never spotted them that day or the following days as I continued to look for them. Hoping and praying that I would spot at least one of them perching in a tree. I never saw them again. : (


It literaly broke my heart and only just recently I realized how much I missed having a bird around and decided that I could go through with letting another bird in my heart. I'm not really a cat or dog person, but I had watched my boyfriend with his dog and it made me miss the relationship I had with my birds. That's when I found and decided to get Tate.

I haven't shared this story with anyone on the forum, but I decided that maybe sharing my experience could save someone else from going through something like this....

I hate to think of what happened to my babies and if they suffered and for how long...it tears me up inside.

I thought I'd go ahead and share their pictures as well. RIP my babies. I'm so sorry that my ignorance and over confidence that you would never want to fly away cost you your lives.

If you do decide to let your bird be flighted just make sure that you never leave a window open, even just a few inches...that you are extremely careful with opening doors, etc. It can happen in the blink of an eye.

Ashen (albino cockatiel)
Chief (Whiteface cockatiel)
Cricket (Cinnamin whiteface cockatiel)
Sammy (Green cheek conure)
Tweety (Cinn/Lutino)

 

[mnkeastman]

It took a lot of courage and heart to post this, I won't pretend to understand what you went through but I appreciate your words of wisdom especially for those of us who have never had Parrots before and could very easily have the same thing happen to us.

I am so sorry for your losses and happy you and Tate found each other.

Thank you.

 

[Rio Mom]

I'm so very sorry for your loss.

 

[lene1949]

I think we all have different stories...

I lost a bird who was clipped, Cory... The wind took him and he ended up high in the sky.. He was on my shoulder, while I was saying goodbye to some guests, who had been here for a few weeks... I thought it was safe...

I did get him back after a whole week of anguish.. I never thought he would have survived with the very limited flight that he had...

After that I vowed that I would never clip another bird... If they were going to escape they had to be able to fly.

I have a theory that after the bird has learned the parameters of their house, there's not much chance of them flying into the unknown, unless they're following you out the door.

I don't have double doors to my aviary, where Cory and Echo are kept... They will come to the door, as I get close, but I'll target them away from the door, before I open it.. As soon as I get inside, they fly to my shoulder... They know how big their aviary is, and don't fly into the mesh...

 

[wenz2712]

Sorry for your loss Missyme.... I too had a really bad experience with my first bird, years ago... I had a Jenday Conure who always flew everywhere... she was a very strong flier... one fateful day, she flew into the window so hard she dropped to the floor instantly... I thought she had just stunned herself, but no, she had died instantly This is something, I have never forgotton and my Children as you can imagine were distraught over it!! So as you can imagine I have had Codies wings clipped!! If anything like this happened to her, it would break my heart!!

I have a Pic of Mango, my Jenday, I will put one on here later..

 

[wenz2712]

Here is a pic of Mango

 

[MissyMe83]

Lene, I'm so glad you got your bird back after a whole week of being outside in the elements. I understand how your situation could happen quite easily.

Wenz, I'm sorry to hear about Mango. That would be very traumatic to witness.

Thank you for your kind words everyone. I beat myself up over the loss of my birds for 4 years before I forgave myself enough to try again....

I'm so happy that I did.... Life just isn't as fulfilling to me without the presence of a tamed loving parrot.

 

[kc_y0]

I am so sorry for your loss. I lost two of my birds the same way, so I will be clipping Audrey's wings. Its such a sad thing to lose a bird and know that it wont be able to survive out in the world on its own. Thank you for sharing your story.

 

[Doris48]

Thats such a sad story, all your birds in one go like that.
Over my lifetime Ive lost two birds.One was my middle sons cockatiel that was "clipped" and flew away and she was just newly weaned too, just a baby and soo sweet...And my little sweetie, a green cheek that flew out a door I forgot I had cracked open for airflow(he was looking for me and thought Id gone out when I was actually bent over looking for something).That killed me, he was out on the power line and I called to him but a huge vulture flew over and scared him away.

I always worry I will forget that my little diva will be on my shoulder and Ill walk outside..

 

[mtdoramike]

Yep, I know the feeling all too well. I lost a Cockatiel and a Mitred Conure the same way. Both times, my mother and my wife were sweeping the living room and opened the door to continue sweeping and both times the birds flew and lit on their shoulder and as soon as they saw the outside, there they went never to be seen again.

I also lost a Cockatiel because it got startled and flew off my shoulder straight into a wall breaking it's neck.

First off, I NOW am a firm believer in wing clipping if I fancy myself as a responsible pet owner. I also NEVER take either of my CLIPPED birds outside without being secured in a travel cage or flight harness, which I haven't tried yet.

In Florida, irresponsible pet owners have caused non-native species of birds, snakes and god knows what else to begin to flourish here when they shouldn't be.

 

[roxynoodle]

Your story breaks my heart. I'm so sorry that happened to you.

 

[MissyMe83]

It does help to know that I'm not the only one that has had something like this happen to them. I actually still have dreams in which the whole scene plays out over again. I think it's just the guilt eating away at my subconscience, so your replies definately help.

 

[roxynoodle]

I probably would, too. Again, I feel so sorry for you.

 

[Doris48]

I still feel bad about my Beanie.He was my first conure, I got him from a petstore and it took time to tame him but we became super attached.I still miss the heck out of him.I love my current conure but she doesnt "replace" my Beanieboy..

And with that baby tiel I was the one that told my son he could take her outside because she was clipped and couldnt fly(talk about guilt).That was my fault completely.This was after my son helped me hand feed the little thing for weeks(the lady that sold her to us lived across the street so let us take her and handfeed her ourselves since we could get help any time we needed it)

My youngest is getting a baby cockatiel the end of March.It will be completely weaned but I wont make the same mistake this time.