Wing Clipping

[Lee11]

Okay, for those of you who may be following the adventures of Rico, I took him on his first short train trip yesterday to spend Thanksgiving with me at my friends apartment. However, once there he seemed to discover the art of flying!

I want to keep his wings clipped...at least for a while....and wondered how many of you do this yourselves and how easy it is?
I certainly don't want to screw it up, but the guy in Petco said it isn't difficult and a lot of people do it themselves....


Thoughts?

 

[DannyA93]

A lot of people do it themselves if they know how! Ugh petco**tisk**tisk** haha! But it really is pretty simple but I don't like to do it because I don't want the bird to think I'm the bad guy so I usually let the vet or somone with good experience be the bad guy

 

[wenz2712]

You will probably be better letting someone else do it, as they do often see the person doing this as being the bad guy. I always get someone else to do Codie's

 

[bkparrot]

My take on the situation is that if this turns out to be a negative experience, I would rather the bird think its the "other" guy then me. I dont try it and always take them to someone who can do it safely and quickly.

 

[Rana]

it is quite simple really. pip is fully flighted but bandit is clipped (as a once off it seemed a good idea since her past was so... turbulent)
I clipped her myself the first time, and she happened to have a vet check up later that week. the vet said i did alright but they were not 100% even and it is very important to clip them evenly cause it will mess with their balance. sooo, there, that's my advice

 

[Lee11]

Thank You...I understand what you are all saying....better he doesn't think I am the bad guy. He is pretty well behaved though and I don't think he learned to fly as a baby so he only does it when its what he considers an 'emergency'

 

[DannyA93]

Then i dont' see a problem with leaving im flighted usually the only reason people clip is for safety reasons(kids leaving doors open etc.) and sometimes training. both my budgies have been clipped only once and thats right when i first get them and thats when they learn step up and we can hang out and stuff and then i let there wings grow in and by then were usually already good friends lol and since you think he hasn't learned to fly then it would probably be good to leave him flighted for now so that he learns and his muscles will grow nice and strong. you can always clip him later if you think its necessary good luck!

 

[triordan]

I would suggest~If you wanted to do them yourself be sure to watch carefully the first couple times a vet or someone else that has experience does it~

 

[JerseyWendy]

I totally agree with Triordan. If you've never done it yourself, watch a professional do it the first FEW times. Clipping wings is a VERY simple task - but only IF you know what you want to achieve.

All my birds are currently VERY lightly trimmed. Now lightly for ones, doesn't necessarily mean lightly for another. I.E. my Hunter has only the first 2 primaries trimmed - she's fine. Sam has his first 5 gently trimmed - he can still fly from point A to point B. Both are Amazons.

None of my birds see me as the "bad guy" though because I generally handle them all over the place. Even my Macaw.

 

[bubbaanddaisy]

i always do it my self and im 14 and its pretty easy if you want you can go to places like youtube and look on how to clip wings all i do is look for the spot that sperates the fly feathers and normal feathers i can post a picture of the cutting line if you want

 

[Lee11]

i always do it my self and im 14 and its pretty easy if you want you can go to places like youtube and look on how to clip wings all i do is look for the spot that sperates the fly feathers and normal feathers i can post a picture of the cutting line if you want

Yes, please do that would be great

 

[MonicaMc]

Just so you know the pros and cons of clipping flight feathers...
Should you clip your parrot

One method of trimming flights...
Managed Flight, Not Wing Clipping



Here's a diagram of a parrots wing.

Dark blue feathers are primary feathers. Red feathers are secondaries. Pretty self explanatory... lol



The cyan/light blue line indicates a "half clip"

The green line indicates a covers clip.

The green line indicates a 'show clip'

And, not shown, is a quill clip, which cuts below the primary coverts so as to not bother the bird with annoying feathers.

Sometimes the half clip or coverts clip can bother a bird so much it leads to plucking (seen most often in African Greys?). The jagged edges of these feathers may rub up against their sides bothering them. Likewise, since clipping is unnatural, if a bird is used to their flight feathers, lacking those feathers to preen may irritate or bother them.

However, the half clip is ideal for new feathers growing in. It provides extra support for those feathers, so less of a chance of blood feathers breaking as they grow in.


The type of clip you decide to get done is up to you. If you do it yourself, make sure there are no blood feathers growing! If there are, then leave an unclipped feather on each side of the blood feather, or wait until it's grown out.


If you have someone else do the clip for you, then you are subject to whatever clip they know how to do.

 

[Karigan]

I give my birds this cut. It looks good and I've never had any problems with the outer primaries getting haggered or breaking. None of them have ever held the cut against me, and everything went very smoothly every time.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvXMZ0kgeq0]Wing Clipping - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Lee11]

Thank you....I am definitely going to look at the links and video and decide from there...So far he seems unable to stay in the air for any length of time so I will see how he does in a few weeks time