CANT DECIDE!!! PLEASE HELP!!!

[TheNzJessie]

clipping a bird is not safe they can still get away if they want to.

[Kim S]

I never said it was. But not every clipped parrot leads a misserable life ful of dangers.
But thats a whole different discussion.

[TheNzJessie]

i dont want to turn this discussion into clipped v flighted but birds are supposed to fly once you have a flighted bird you never go back to clipping. if you dont want a animal that flies you can always get a cat, dog, rabbit, mouse, rat.....fish????

[Marnie]

i'm with Kim on this. yes birds fly, its necessary for their survival in the wild, but when we subject them to living in our homes with our "stuff", many of it dangerous to them,
then we need to be sure they are safe.
Marnie is very precious to me and i would die if anything happened to her because she flew into a window, the fan, or out the door etc. when i find her on the floor i can just go pick her up, give her a little cuddle time, and put her safely back in her cage.
right now she is going out on the deck with me while i enjoy a cup of coffee with her and keep and eye out for my free flying budgie who is probably lost forever.....

[Michael]

Ok, I totally had a response to that and I started writing it. But I don't want to drag this topic any more off topic than it has already gone. So I will refrain from responding to the recent posts and will ask that if you wish to discuss the merits of flight, you either start a new topic or post on one of the existing flight topics. Thank you.

[pchela]

I think that is nonsence. It happens to responsible pet-owners as well. Look at Marnie!
And saying that people who clip their parrots wings are irresponsible is a bit too black and white for me, sorry. If you had to take away every bird that is clipped I'm sure a lot of people on this forum will lose their birds as well.

Dont patronise, educate.

I agree with you Kim. We should absolutely educate people rather than running them off with rudeness or holier than thou attitudes. None of us were born with our bird knowledge. Somebody taught us or we did research on our own (probably both) and I'm positive that all of us still have a lot to learn!

[entrancedbymyGCC]

I'm one whose bird is currently clipped and I'm very happy to continue to debate the topic in the existing threads, but I do agree with Micheal -- let's try to keep the topics SOMEWHAT on topic, and point evolving discussions on hot-button topics to existing threads on those topics.

[KrystalSCharlston]

Start off small !!
I started with parrotlets and you have to feed them the proper nutrition, they have to have billions of toys, sunlight, clean water, playgyms, and alot of attention. And cage plus all the other accessories cost me like $300 just for a small parrot. I now have a conure and a senegal, and yet it way more work when its a bigger parrot. You would need a stainless steal cage which is $500 and toys which would be $20.00 each for the small ones. So if you want a parrot start with a parrotlet, they have personalities like macaws, and they have have small bird syndrome ( think that they are the biggest bird out there ) LOL, anyways i hope this helped.

[fun-toos]

I would go for the gray. But I agree that one should start out with a smaller, common species of bird first. You will be wasting too much money if an expensive parrot does work out for you. Macaws are very loud, have much power in that beak, and you can never find a cage that is big enough, or sturdy enough, for them not to break out of. Been there, done that. There are just too many birds needing re-homing on Petfinder, Craigs List and other internet websites now. Pls. do your research on parrot species first. One never knows how a parrot will work out until you LIVE with one in your house. And not all parrots will talk. My one gray will only whistle tunes. My other grey never opens his beak.... But they are here to stay.