To Clip or not to Clip?

[tim west]

Hi, not sure whether i should clip my Amazon. Only had him 3 months and he is 13, previously beloinged to my Mother in law but she was finding him a bit of a handful so he now lives with me. Hes a funny bird , somedays hes friendly other days hes not. The reason i think i should clip him is so i can take him to work with me and have him on a perch and also in the summer i work outside alot and also when at home im in the garden most of the time. If hes clipped then he can also sit out in the garden and not be stuck indoors. Although saying that i dont think he would fly off anyway but not worth the risk. The other problem with his flying is that he has fallen in love with my 3 dogs and when hes in with them he turns into a killer parrot with anyone that dares to enter the room they are in! This doesnt bother me too much but i have a baby at home whose just starting to get about. To get to the dogs he will fly off his perch or where ever we are at the time and fly to there room, hes fine to step up if he decides hes going to walk to see the dogs so another reason to clip his wings. But saying all that i like the fact he can fly and im quite happy for him to fly round the house but means he is house bound and im sure he would love to get out and see more things.
What do you think the best thing to do would be????

[zazanomore]

Not to clip. Even a clipped bird can end up flying away if kept outdoors. So don't risk it. I think a good alternative would be buying an aviator harness. http://www.theparrotuniversity.com/aviator_harness.php

That way, you can take a perch outside, and have him safely join you.

I think that you shouldn't let your amazon play with the dogs. Their saliva has enzymes in it that are fatal to birds. Even a playful nip could prove deadly.

I would monitor closely interactions between your daughter and your amazon. Kids can be pretty rough, and they are prone to lots of accidents (I should know, I live with my 5 year old brother).

[tim west]

Hi, a harness is a no go really, theres no way i would get it on without sressing him. Im not worried about the Dogs biting Bill , more the other way round but to be honest they all sit happily together for hours. As for my Son he is only 9 months and i dont let the parrot anywhere near him.
But all this would be easier and safer if he didnt fly , as he then could not get to any of them without me taking him there.

[MandyG]

If you can't get a harness on him, I'd recommend getting a decent sized travel cage. I bought one suitable for a cockatiel (18"x18"x26") for camping, going outside for some sun, and as a temporary cage in other places we go to. I had to clip my Amazon last year when he became extremely violent towards my husband, and now that he's flighted again he's definitely much happier. So far no issues towards my husband. They still don't like eachother but they seem to have developed a healthy respect for eachother and don't seem to bother one another.

One problem with clipping Amazons is that they're quite heavy. If you clip them severely enough to ensure that they can't get lift they will fall like a stone and injure themselves and possibly break their keel bone.

[tim west]

The reason i would like him clipped is so that at work he can sit on a perch and not in a cage, and being that our office doors are open all summer if he gets the urge he may well fly off, doubt he would go far but not worth the risk. I just think that if he was clipped i would take most places with me, dog walks etc. He has been clipped before and was fine with it, he has just been left to grow back and has started flying again. I t would also be great for him to sit in the garden in the evenings with us . Plus our doors are always open in the summer which means he would have to be in his cage more if he can fly. The ultimate would be to have him fly about and come back but we are not that bonded as yet.

[Michael]

Clipped or not, you should not be taking your parrot outside without a cage/carrier/harness. Here's just one of many examples of a clipped parrot flying away outside. Someone else wrote about a clipped Cockatiel flying out the back door of the house and down the street. Clipping is absolutely not and should never be regarded as a safety precaution. It is merely a mechanism of convenience for the owner.

In your case you may still need to consider whether to do it or not, however, please do not think that clipping makes it safe to take the parrot outside unrestrained or keep outside doors/windows open.

[tim west]

Hi Micheal, i totally understand and agree with that. Which is why i posted this on here, i think the best thing to do is go for a harness, he is more than happy to be carried around by me all day and if and when hes had enough he will fly back to his cage. The only problem is that hes really not a big fan of being touched or stroked, but will sit and talk to me for hours and sit on me , so putting a harness on could stress him alot. Im really just trying to free him up from being stuck at home indoors, i have got a travel cage for him , its just the worry of him flying out the door, not that he will fly away but what might fly or bump into him is what im worried about.
My mother in law as i said had him before me and so my wife when he was younger and she lived at home used to have him outside on a perch and also take him every where with her, he never flew off or even tried , but im on your side and im always a bit concerned that something nasty could happen. ( Although my wife used to take him everywhere before she moved away from home, he now hates her. makes me laugh).
I will have to try a harness and see how that goes.

[Michael]

The harness is a great idea. Here's an article about training your parrot to accept the harness. In your case this won't take 3 days. It could even take 3 months because you said the parrot isn't used to touch. So you have to start slow and get it used to hands, forget the harness. But once the parrot is hand tame and can be touched/grabbed then you can move on toward harness training as described in the article/videos.

[tim west]

He will be touched but when he feels like it, if he doesnt feel like it he can bite like a shark!!!! not sure that will change,hes pretty set in his ways, hes been like that for a good few years.

[tim west]

Micheal, this seems like a good time to ask, i have tried clicker training and he gets the idea, problem is he is not food orientated! he will walk away from treats if its not what he fancies. What can i try next?