Flight feathers

[Semperfimom1617]

Hi guys we have a 5 month old hahns macaw, she came clipped, how long will it take for her flight feathers to grow in? Or should I keep her clipped, that is what the vet recommended,
Thanks

[Wolf]

I am very curious as to why this vet would recommend keeping this birds wings clipped, did he give you any reason for this recommendation ? Was this an avian vet or an exotic animal vet ? How much experience do you have with parrots and especially with macaws ? Perhaps this may have something to do wit it.
Hahns Macaws are probably the smallest of the macaws, but don't let this fool you as they have a very strong beak and can be very destructive, so it is recommended that they have plenty of bird safe wooden chew toys to destroy or you may find out just how destructive that beak can be. They also have the tendency to be rather nippy, especially towards people that they don't know or people that they don't like as they are usually one person birds. They are very active birds so you do need to keep a eye on them when they are out of their cage and due to their nature this should be a lot of hours daily. I do not intend to sound like you have little or no experience or disrespectful but since I don't know I thought I would say a few things about them that may have a bearing on why this vet recommends keeping this bird clipped. I can't say at what age they go through their juvenile molt but it normally will take two years for any parrot to regrow all of their clipped primary flight feathers. If she has already gone through her juvenile molt then this two year schedule will be pretty accurate. If she has not yet gone through her juvenile molt then it will probably take about a year for her to regrow her flights. This is because she will replace half of them with he upcoming juvenile molt and the remainder when she next molts.
You also asked if you should keep her clipped. This can be a touchy topic and has led to lots of arguments for and against clipping birds wings, so it is an ongoing debate in many forums. I myself am of the opinion that unless there is an underlying medical reason for clipping a birds wings that it should not be done and then only by an avian vet until you understand how to do it properly so that you can do it yourself. The bird should never be clipped until it has fully fledged and learns how to fly or it may never develop the neural pathways or the muscle strength and tone to ever fly. Some will learn to fly but if not allowed to fully fledge most never learn to fly. This is the first drawback to clipping a birds wings. I am not going to take the time to try to inform you of all of my reasons for not recommending that you clip your bird as there have been numerous studies done and you can research this yourself rather easily. I will say that clipping a birds wings can create both temporary and permanent damage to the bird physically, mentally as well as emotionally. And with that I will recommend that you don't clip or allow anyone else to clip your birds wings. I further recommend that you thoroughly research this topic for yourself and then make up your own mind concerning it.

[ParrotsForLife]

When she moults the clipped feathers will fall out.No bird should be kept clipped

[Semperfimom1617]

thanks for the reply, she will not be clipped again for sure we want her happy, shes only 5 months old so i'm guessing she hasnt gone through a molt yet, vcant wait till she does, the vet said it makes a better bird and yes an avian vet i have a new one for the next visit, we also have a GCC and he has never been clipped and loves to fly, we take the precautions to ensure safety when out. I appreciate the info, we are new to the macaw species and knowledge is great to have we are always willing to except it,

[Wolf]

I just can't agree with that vet, if being flightless would make a better bird then I think that nature would have already made it so as there are a few species of flightless bird and even a flightless parrot that did well as long as there were no predators on the island that it lived on and they are now almost extinct. The only thing that clipping a birds wings does it to make it easier for humans to control the bird, which I normally attribute ( right or wrong) to their unwillingness to put forth the effort that it requires to live with a flighted bird.