How to Properly Clip a Parrot's Wings (Don't Clip at All)

[Nokota]

Thanks for responding, Michael!

There are a couple of issues with your suggestion.

First of all, while Peeper's OTHER advances are met with a violent reaction, Vivi allows him to preen the top of her head and sometimes feed her. I think this is because she's barely a year old and sees it as parental behavior. But Peeper takes this as encouragement. It's prevented Vivi's rejections from having any impact. I am worried that when she gets older, things may get more violent because she unknowingly encouraged him in the past.

Second is the sheer fact that Peeper hates people. I've had him far longer than Vivi and did manage, at one point, to recall train him. But I can only get him to do anything at all for me if I hide his cage, hide his food for a full day (he won't do a thing unless he's half starved, hence I no longer bother. I think it's mean.) and put him in a partial wing clip. That's not to say he isn't tame. He's never bitten anyone and steps up just fine. But good luck getting him to stay there. I do know what I'm doing, and I've had wonderful, people-oriented budgies in the past. And if I recall Vivi in front of him, he either lands on my hand immediately after her and chases her away from the millet, or lands on her back, which is NOT ok with Vivi. Fighting ensues.

Peeper has never been interested in people at all. I spent the better part of three years focusing my full attention on him, but despite getting some basic commands down he would always, even if all his toys were taken away, choose to socialize with his food bowl rather than give me the time of day.

I had been rushed into buying him by my mother; 'If you're getting a bird, you pick one from this store, and in the next five minutes"

I strongly believe Peeper would be much happier in a different home with other budgies, but my mother refuses to let me try to re-home him. She says it would be cruel. What I think is cruel is forcing him to stay here when he'd be far, far happier in an aviary.

Sorry for the rant.

Yeah, waiting for Peeper to take a hint isn't going to work. Vivi sends mixed messages, see.

[Nokota]

Also, some of those clips in the video are REALLY brutal, man! And most of them are doing it wrong to begin with! You never clip from the base of the feather, never clip secondary flight feathers, and always leave the bird with SOME flight capability so that they can be safe in the event of a fall. Preferably enough flight to navigate the house, even without full freedom. Yeesh! Those are some nasty clips.

[angelasfeathers]

To be outside with clipped wings is unbelievable dangerous!
You know it is a false sense of security and not really safe to have a bird outside that is clipped if the bird gets spooked it can and will fly and fly far enough to get lost and have a terrible and often tragic disadvantage . Everyone should teach their bird to come for safety . Most people already know their bird is smarter than most other pets and so why not teach them to come when called ? Your bird has a much better chance if lost if it is flighted and trained than if it is clipped and untrained.

[RobinS]

Have read all the terrible cases of wing clipping. All our birds are free to fly when they are in their averies or in the house. Are the birds perminently damaged or will they recover if they are not clipped any more. If so how long do they have to suffer. I wish we could educate the cruel owners a lot of them sould not own bird or animals. Robin.

[Michael]

Muscle atrophy may be overcome but is sometimes permanent. The bird grows back feathers but is too weak to fly. Out of habit it doesn't fly so the muscles remain weak and it can't fly. Cycle keeps it flightless. At other times the mental retardation of not having developed properly by fledging young can be permanent. Some birds rehabilitate/recover better than others. But the damage is permanent to a lesser or greater extent.

[vdaman]

Thank you so much for posting this article. I've owed my parrot for about a week , and I'm still learning how to care for her properly and keep her happy. She started flying again yesterday because the lady who gave her to me didn't have time to clip her wings. Now I'm so glad she didn't. Sunshine will forever be a bird in flight.
Thanks, Vickie

[seagoatdeb]

I dont support fully not clipping or clipping. it is up to each bird owner to assess the risks and benefits. Bird get atrophied muscles whether flighted or not if kept in their cage too much. A bird that is costantly flying away often becomes a cage prisoner. A very modest clip still allows flight. The problems come from bird owners not giving the bird what it needs for a happy life. Birds with modest clips can have full happy lives. If they have many play areas and are confident they play hard and flap their wings and fly a lot with their modest clips. People are all too ready to all jump on one band wagon and have all these reasons that can always be resolved in other ways. I have had fully flighted birds and modest clipped birds depending on what was best in the situation. Any clipping I do myself, with the coperation of the bird, i dont want to ever traummatize them. For any one to say a bird in captivity, which is not a natural thing, has to be only one way is going to be wrong. It is not even natural for dogs or cats to be in captivity but they have adjusted over time. Even us humans have adapted to change, becoming domesticated. Its the bird owners that are making big mistakes that are the problems here not just clipping. Its better to juse good judgement in each situation than to already have a pat answer.

[Pajarita]

Well, dogs and cats are both domesticated species and have been living with humans for thousands and thousands of years so living in homes with humans is what they were created for - ergo, one cannot really use them as comparison to undomesticated bird species. On the other hand, keeping pet dogs or cats in cages (euphemistically called 'crates') is both unnecessary and cruel and, mainly, an American 'invention'. A clipped bird might be content in its life if provided with good food, company, freedom from a cage, etc but it will never be really healthy because no animal that is deprived of its main mode of transportation could be physically fit. It's impossible. Even when it's a light clip and they can still glide... it's like saying that a person who sits all day long in an office is as healthy as one that exercises, something we all know it's not true. And, with birds, the difference is even more pronounced because flight is the only way they can inflate and deflate the posterior pair of air sacs so it ends up atrophied. This added to the fact that an atrophied organ is much more prone to infection (the lack of the regular function would also mean the lack of the proper 'cleansing' mechanism) and that, as their respiratory system is open-ended, all the air sacs and the lungs are connected to one another, an infection in one pair will spread to the entire system.

So, in reality, although one can say that clipping or not clipping is a matter of choice, it would be incorrect to say that it's a matter of opinion as clipping is always detrimental to a bird's health... and that's not even touching the subject of emotional health, only the physical one.

[ParrotsForLife]

I clipped Rocko and Loki a few days after I got them (I got Rocko in November and Loki in June 2015) And they love flying now that they have their wings back not fully still about 2 left to grow out.I would never clip again I love having a flighted bird.I will let Rio's feathers grow out too and Tiko was clipped 7 years ago when she was a baby and she loves flying and is very good at flying around the house now.

[seagoatdeb]

Again I will repeat, a modest clip does not deprive a bird of flying. There are many times that a parrot is stuck in a cage and the people are afraid to let it out because the bird flys up to where they cant get it. I would rather see a bird mildly clipped than stuck in a cage. Its that simple to me, quality of life trumps everything else. To have a clipped bird you must have the right situation for it. To have a flighted bird you must have the right situation for it. The clip should be modest if done, a bird needs to fly.