Parrots opinion on clipped wings
- Thread starter Christinenc2000
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Notdumasilook
New member
- Jul 28, 2015
- 539
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- Blue Fronted Amazon, Cookie..Sun Conure..lil Booger (RIP) Have owned Parakeets, lovebirds, cockatiels, cockatoos, pocket parrot, and quakers.
Love that cartoon. It breaks my heart to see birds wings butchered for their "owners" convenience. As a training aid perhaps at first I can deal with trimmed secondaries. If you have to have a flightless bird then by all means, get an ostrich!!!!!!!!!!!
Birdman666
Well-known member
- Sep 18, 2013
- 9,904
- 264
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- Presently have six Greenwing Macaw (17 yo), Red Fronted Macaw (12 yo), Red Lored Amazon (17 y.o.), Lilac Crowned Amazon (about 43 y.o.) and a Congo African Grey (11 y.o.)
Panama Amazon (1 Y.O.)
AND THIS IS EXACTLY WHY I USE A GROOMER... 
SO THEY CAN BE MAD AT SOMEBODY ELSE...
Sally and Maggie are kept fully flighted.
I've got some work to do with Sweepea before I let hers grow out again.
Tusk and Lila spook too easily.
The new bird? We'll see once I've trained her up some.
SO THEY CAN BE MAD AT SOMEBODY ELSE... Sally and Maggie are kept fully flighted.
I've got some work to do with Sweepea before I let hers grow out again.
Tusk and Lila spook too easily.
The new bird? We'll see once I've trained her up some.
Our DYH Amazon's first home kept him flighted. When the husband died seven years ago and with the wife's health failing, Julio was not handle very much. About 20+ months ago the wife died. The 'kids' decided to have Julio's wings trimmed at Pet (not so) Smart. His primary's were between 3/4" to and 1-1/2" in length and the secondary's were cut much the same. Julio went from a flighted Amazon to a flight ability of a dropped rock. After all, it would be easier to find a home for a non-flighted parrot.
Long story short, we were called by a group in Northern Michigan that knew that I rehomed aging, ill, and handicapped Amazons. By the time we got Julio, his rump had split open fully across and his upper and lower secondary tail feathers where pretty much gone and what few tail feathers were a mess (all due to crash landings). He was plucking heavy under his wings due to the secondary and primary feathers cutting into his body.
His rump has been switched three different times, but is now stable. Today, his wings are nearly 100% and what few short feathers are no longer cutting into his body - plucking as stopped. Still working on the rump and tail feathers.
Point is: If you are going to clip wings, have a 'Pro' do it. Not a Big Box store. And, as Birdman666 states, Let them be Pissed at Someone Else, not you.
We keep our Amazons fully flighed, they have enough problems.
Love OP's post - says it all!
Long story short, we were called by a group in Northern Michigan that knew that I rehomed aging, ill, and handicapped Amazons. By the time we got Julio, his rump had split open fully across and his upper and lower secondary tail feathers where pretty much gone and what few tail feathers were a mess (all due to crash landings). He was plucking heavy under his wings due to the secondary and primary feathers cutting into his body.
His rump has been switched three different times, but is now stable. Today, his wings are nearly 100% and what few short feathers are no longer cutting into his body - plucking as stopped. Still working on the rump and tail feathers.
Point is: If you are going to clip wings, have a 'Pro' do it. Not a Big Box store. And, as Birdman666 states, Let them be Pissed at Someone Else, not you.
We keep our Amazons fully flighed, they have enough problems.
Love OP's post - says it all!
Last edited:
Birdman666
Well-known member
- Sep 18, 2013
- 9,904
- 264
- Parrots
- Presently have six Greenwing Macaw (17 yo), Red Fronted Macaw (12 yo), Red Lored Amazon (17 y.o.), Lilac Crowned Amazon (about 43 y.o.) and a Congo African Grey (11 y.o.)
Panama Amazon (1 Y.O.)
Well, I never trim anyone's wings any further than semi-flighted.
They can still fly down to the floor or across the room to the playstand...
They can still fly down to the floor or across the room to the playstand...
Notdumasilook
New member
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- Blue Fronted Amazon, Cookie..Sun Conure..lil Booger (RIP) Have owned Parakeets, lovebirds, cockatiels, cockatoos, pocket parrot, and quakers.
I ran across a woman that was a nutcase over wacking wings. One of her friends got a parrotlet...and first thing this woman did was ran over and wacked her primaries off. I asked her why.. and her reply was "to keep the bird from taking over the house". ???? HOW THE HECK can a 3 inch bird take over a house?? Boggles the mind.. and breaks my heart
Birdman666
Well-known member
- Sep 18, 2013
- 9,904
- 264
- Parrots
- Presently have six Greenwing Macaw (17 yo), Red Fronted Macaw (12 yo), Red Lored Amazon (17 y.o.), Lilac Crowned Amazon (about 43 y.o.) and a Congo African Grey (11 y.o.)
Panama Amazon (1 Y.O.)
EMPHASIS ON THE WORD NUTCASE!!!
Because common sense and making an effort to actually train the bird to behave would be - I don't know - what's the word I am looking for here... ?!
Intelligent? Rational? Reasonable?
TRUE, IF YOU HAVE A DIVE BOMBER/TERRITORIAL ATTACKY BIRD, CLIPPING WINGS IS A SAFETY ISSUE...
But, really, how often is a bird that much of a biter?! It's fairly rare.
Notdumasilook
New member
- Jul 28, 2015
- 539
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- Blue Fronted Amazon, Cookie..Sun Conure..lil Booger (RIP) Have owned Parakeets, lovebirds, cockatiels, cockatoos, pocket parrot, and quakers.
From what I know.. it was a brand new pet.. not a problem bird... and a 3 inch bird at that!! Even if you have a testy new bird you use a lil patience, time, and a bit of respect... not a chainsaw. With that kind of thinking, no reason not to cut their toes off too. Then they wont bother ya climbing on ya. Sheesh
Wing clipping is such a hot topic, I would just like to remind everyone to keep it civil
Betrisher
Well-known member
- Jun 3, 2013
- 4,253
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- Dominic: Galah(RIP: 1981-2018); The Lovies: Four Blue Masked Lovebirds; Barney and Madge (The Beaks): Alexandrines; Miss Rosetta Stone: Little Corella
Notdumasilook, I feel your pain, I really do! My own birds are kept flighted because I absolutely share your outlook. However, it's not always possible for everyone to do that and sometimes clipping becomes necessary for safety reasons.
We've had members on here whose birds have flown repeatedly into walls, windows and mirrors for reasons no one fully understands. We've also had members whose birds have been either highly hormonal or highly aggressive and flown across rooms to attack family members for no apparent reason. I doubted the likelihood of this until my own dear old galah began flying across the room to attack my daughter's bright red hair!
In my own case, I've been able to defuse Dominic's hatred of my daughter (mostly) and prevent accidents without clipping him. BUT - I'm at home all day most days, so I have the time and the leisure to use patient training methods. Not everyone can do that, though, and clipping is sometimes the only answer. You might say: 'Well, then, if you don't have the time to spend with your bird, don't get one' but not everyone has choices. In my own case, my father died and I inherited his bird. No way my Dad's beloved pet goes to any other home than mine, faults and all, see? There are plenty of other stories here, too, about rescued birds with vicious traits that have benefited from a light clipping to restrict their activities while being tamed again.
I know it can be hard to see this issue as anything other than a black-and-white one, but it's essential to realise that not everyone has the ideal set-up and it can be a question of clipping or rehoming (or even euthanasia in the worst cases). There are going to be many opinions on this matter so please keep in mind that everyone here justifies his/her own stance and no amount of repetitive argument is likely to change anyone's mind. It will only make for heated threads that will, in the end, simply be closed by the mod team.
So, you and I choose never to clip our birds no matter what and aren't we lucky to be able to do that? Respect for those forced to take clipping as an option and an agreement to live and let live...
We've had members on here whose birds have flown repeatedly into walls, windows and mirrors for reasons no one fully understands. We've also had members whose birds have been either highly hormonal or highly aggressive and flown across rooms to attack family members for no apparent reason. I doubted the likelihood of this until my own dear old galah began flying across the room to attack my daughter's bright red hair!
In my own case, I've been able to defuse Dominic's hatred of my daughter (mostly) and prevent accidents without clipping him. BUT - I'm at home all day most days, so I have the time and the leisure to use patient training methods. Not everyone can do that, though, and clipping is sometimes the only answer. You might say: 'Well, then, if you don't have the time to spend with your bird, don't get one' but not everyone has choices. In my own case, my father died and I inherited his bird. No way my Dad's beloved pet goes to any other home than mine, faults and all, see? There are plenty of other stories here, too, about rescued birds with vicious traits that have benefited from a light clipping to restrict their activities while being tamed again.
I know it can be hard to see this issue as anything other than a black-and-white one, but it's essential to realise that not everyone has the ideal set-up and it can be a question of clipping or rehoming (or even euthanasia in the worst cases). There are going to be many opinions on this matter so please keep in mind that everyone here justifies his/her own stance and no amount of repetitive argument is likely to change anyone's mind. It will only make for heated threads that will, in the end, simply be closed by the mod team.
So, you and I choose never to clip our birds no matter what and aren't we lucky to be able to do that? Respect for those forced to take clipping as an option and an agreement to live and let live...
Mimsy01
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- Jul 7, 2014
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European Starling-Zeki
BCC-Ellie House Sparrow-Napolean Parakeet-Bean
I would rather see a bird who spends a lot of day with their human companions out of a cage and clipped, than a fully flighted bird that is cage bound.
Foo is flighted again, but when she went through the phase of attacking my husband none stop we clipped. She was over bounded with me and just wanted him gone. He's extremely patient and tolerant, but we could not get anything done around the house since it was constant. We could of caged her, but we prefer the birds out of the cage unless no one is home or it's bedtime. I can understand why people may clip after we dealt with Foo. She was so single minded about it all. She now is a sweety with hubby, well as much as she is with any of us..which is most of the time accept those days she feels the humans have malfunctioned.
Foo is flighted again, but when she went through the phase of attacking my husband none stop we clipped. She was over bounded with me and just wanted him gone. He's extremely patient and tolerant, but we could not get anything done around the house since it was constant. We could of caged her, but we prefer the birds out of the cage unless no one is home or it's bedtime. I can understand why people may clip after we dealt with Foo. She was so single minded about it all. She now is a sweety with hubby, well as much as she is with any of us..which is most of the time accept those days she feels the humans have malfunctioned.
- Dec 18, 2013
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Most well and eloquently stated, dearest Trish!Notdumasilook, I feel your pain, I really do! My own birds are kept flighted because I absolutely share your outlook. However, it's not always possible for everyone to do that and sometimes clipping becomes necessary for safety reasons.
We've had members on here whose birds have flown repeatedly into walls, windows and mirrors for reasons no one fully understands. We've also had members whose birds have been either highly hormonal or highly aggressive and flown across rooms to attack family members for no apparent reason. I doubted the likelihood of this until my own dear old galah began flying across the room to attack my daughter's bright red hair!
In my own case, I've been able to defuse Dominic's hatred of my daughter (mostly) and prevent accidents without clipping him. BUT - I'm at home all day most days, so I have the time and the leisure to use patient training methods. Not everyone can do that, though, and clipping is sometimes the only answer. You might say: 'Well, then, if you don't have the time to spend with your bird, don't get one' but not everyone has choices. In my own case, my father died and I inherited his bird. No way my Dad's beloved pet goes to any other home than mine, faults and all, see? There are plenty of other stories here, too, about rescued birds with vicious traits that have benefited from a light clipping to restrict their activities while being tamed again.
I know it can be hard to see this issue as anything other than a black-and-white one, but it's essential to realise that not everyone has the ideal set-up and it can be a question of clipping or rehoming (or even euthanasia in the worst cases). There are going to be many opinions on this matter so please keep in mind that everyone here justifies his/her own stance and no amount of repetitive argument is likely to change anyone's mind. It will only make for heated threads that will, in the end, simply be closed by the mod team.
So, you and I choose never to clip our birds no matter what and aren't we lucky to be able to do that? Respect for those forced to take clipping as an option and an agreement to live and let live...
itchyfeet
New member
- Nov 1, 2014
- 1,013
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- Ethyl the cockatiel, Henry & Clarke the IRN's, and Skittles the lovebird (my daughters)
I have one of each!
Ethyl is fully flighted - and fully harness trained.
Henry came clipped and I assumed, sharing the usual 'birds have wings to fly' philosophy, that I'd let his wings grow out and he'd to be harness trained. Except he's not yet completely content in his harness, and our birds are world famous in our wee town for coming down the street with us etc, and for geocaching - his clip allows him a life outside my home. In the ideal world, as soon as he's genuinely consistently harness happy, he'll be flighted. But meanwhile, he gets far more interaction, socialisation, stimulation and engagement with a clip.
Ethyl is fully flighted - and fully harness trained.
Henry came clipped and I assumed, sharing the usual 'birds have wings to fly' philosophy, that I'd let his wings grow out and he'd to be harness trained. Except he's not yet completely content in his harness, and our birds are world famous in our wee town for coming down the street with us etc, and for geocaching - his clip allows him a life outside my home. In the ideal world, as soon as he's genuinely consistently harness happy, he'll be flighted. But meanwhile, he gets far more interaction, socialisation, stimulation and engagement with a clip.
SoCalWendy
New member
Trust me its possible!!! hahaha, and they can crawl under bathroom doors (excuse me, privacy please!) too. We still keep Kiwi flighted though, even though she follows us everywhere!
SoCalWendy
New member
Notdumasilook, I feel your pain, I really do! My own birds are kept flighted because I absolutely share your outlook. However, it's not always possible for everyone to do that and sometimes clipping becomes necessary for safety reasons.
We've had members on here whose birds have flown repeatedly into walls, windows and mirrors for reasons no one fully understands. We've also had members whose birds have been either highly hormonal or highly aggressive and flown across rooms to attack family members for no apparent reason. I doubted the likelihood of this until my own dear old galah began flying across the room to attack my daughter's bright red hair!
In my own case, I've been able to defuse Dominic's hatred of my daughter (mostly) and prevent accidents without clipping him. BUT - I'm at home all day most days, so I have the time and the leisure to use patient training methods. Not everyone can do that, though, and clipping is sometimes the only answer. You might say: 'Well, then, if you don't have the time to spend with your bird, don't get one' but not everyone has choices. In my own case, my father died and I inherited his bird. No way my Dad's beloved pet goes to any other home than mine, faults and all, see? There are plenty of other stories here, too, about rescued birds with vicious traits that have benefited from a light clipping to restrict their activities while being tamed again.
I know it can be hard to see this issue as anything other than a black-and-white one, but it's essential to realise that not everyone has the ideal set-up and it can be a question of clipping or rehoming (or even euthanasia in the worst cases). There are going to be many opinions on this matter so please keep in mind that everyone here justifies his/her own stance and no amount of repetitive argument is likely to change anyone's mind. It will only make for heated threads that will, in the end, simply be closed by the mod team.
So, you and I choose never to clip our birds no matter what and aren't we lucky to be able to do that? Respect for those forced to take clipping as an option and an agreement to live and let live...
Totally agree with this post.... For Kiwi's safety I had to keep Rio and Kiwi clipped. My space is too small, and wasn't worth the risk. I always had someone else clip Rio, but Kiwi was an easy bird to clip. Now that Rio is re-homed, Kiwi is fully flighted and very happy to be so. She is a nut though :30:
AJBirds
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- Apr 9, 2015
- 73
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- Pixie - Hahn's Macaw
You haven't met Pixie
(She's just a little bigger than 3 inches)
I'm a very naive parrot owner so I'll mostly keep my opinions to myself; I do understand the arguments for clipping though I prefer fully flighted.
But what's wrong with a parrot taking over your house? Isn't that just how things are meant to be?
ChrisWink
Member
I had to clip my baby U2's wings the other day for she was flying into a window. I just did the outer 4 on each wing so she can glide to the floor. Not sure if I'll keep her clipped once she's older
AJBirds
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- Apr 9, 2015
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- Pixie - Hahn's Macaw
Re: flying into windows - Pixie used to do that. I carried her over to all the windows in the house, and let her lick them. It took her a few attempts (flew into windows/glass doors maybe three times?) but she got it pretty quickly.
JerseyWendy
New member
- Jul 20, 2012
- 20,995
- 26
Just because a parrot knows about every single window doesn't always necessarily mean he/she will no longer crash into any of them. I learnt that the very hard way. My Niko (B&G) was spooked while in the kitchen on his Java tree. It happened super fast. He let out a blood curling scream, then quickly and aimlessly took off and crashed into our huge window in the front living room. Feathers everywhere! Bald spot on his head, too, from the impact. I was lucky he didn't break his neck. I'm sure he had a massive headache (as did I). I now draw heavy blinds when my big macs are out. :54:
This post started with humor and as all discussion regarding 'trimming' flight feathers has split into two or more factions.
The reality is:
If you keep your parrot fully flighted, you have responsibilities to maintaining a flight safe home and life style.
If you keep your parrot trimmed, you have the responsibility of assuring that the individual trimming (cutting) your parrots winds (primary and/or secondary) feathers knows what they are doing. The goal is a parrot that can glide (or fly) to a safe landing. Here you have the responsibility to assure that your parrot is kept trimmed to this level. The most common fly-a-ways are from this group.
If you keep your parrot flightless (like a dropped stone), you must keep your parrot in its cage since this type of feather cutting is very dangerous to the health of your parrot should it attempt flight from height.
There is no right or wrong, only different levels of responsibility, all have their advantages and their dangers.
Recommendation: Revisit the OP's post and regain that smile!
The reality is:
If you keep your parrot fully flighted, you have responsibilities to maintaining a flight safe home and life style.
If you keep your parrot trimmed, you have the responsibility of assuring that the individual trimming (cutting) your parrots winds (primary and/or secondary) feathers knows what they are doing. The goal is a parrot that can glide (or fly) to a safe landing. Here you have the responsibility to assure that your parrot is kept trimmed to this level. The most common fly-a-ways are from this group.
If you keep your parrot flightless (like a dropped stone), you must keep your parrot in its cage since this type of feather cutting is very dangerous to the health of your parrot should it attempt flight from height.
There is no right or wrong, only different levels of responsibility, all have their advantages and their dangers.
Recommendation: Revisit the OP's post and regain that smile!
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