Do you clip your own birds wings

[Cedardave]

Im just curious as to who clips their birds wings .Do you clip them yourselves or have a vet do it? Same question with their nails.It seems everyone has differant opinions as to what is best for their birds.Some will suggest clipping wings prevents them from randomly (even when supervised) taking off and getting hurt or dying after hitting something.Others suggest its very stressfull having wings trimmed.Most of our birds have had their wings clipped...several never have.The only negative clip was from an inexperianced vet who clipped to short.Our little bird sat puffed for a couple hours pouting.So for those of you who clip your birds wings..why and what do you use.For those that dont...also why.

[Michael]

Yes, I don't trust anyone else to do it. I clip zero feathers cause it is not a good idea to do that in the first place.

[KimberlyAnn]

I'm choosing to let my bird fly so she will never have clipped wings again, but I just can't do her nails. I don't know why. They are just so tiny so it freaks me out, but I'm learning. There is one person at the bird store in my area I trust to do it, so I take her there. Maybe someday I will learn and do it myself. Lol

[GreenWing]

Im just curious as to who clips their birds wings .Do you clip them yourselves or have a vet do it? . . . why and what do you use. For those that dont...also why.

I think Bowie's expression pretty much summarizes my feelings on the question of clipping wings.

As to her nails, well, CAGs chew and Chance has yet to get to the point that her nails are so sharp they need a trimming. IF her nails came to that point, I would have a professional trim or file them, only VERY slightly. Greys are clumsy and need good gripping ability.

[marie83]

I don't clip wings because I don't believe its ever a good thing to do morally, it impacts the birds health and wellbeing too much, I also believe it increases the chance of a bird having an accident- a belief that is backed up by a few avian vets I have spoken to.

I do clip nails myself but only if needed- if birds have the correct perches it shouldn't be necessary- I've only ever had to do two of mine, one of which came to me with grossly overgrown nails but once they were taken to a normal length over the space of a few clips they never needed doing again. The other is my green cheek, his seem to just grow regardless, I can only put it down to the fact he is the only one who sleeps in a happy hut rather than perching as all other potential reasons for them getting too long has been looked at.

[Tikki]

yes. when I was a kid, we had a parakeet fly into a mirror and break her neck. had a couple teils that we let fly. current bird has them clipped because of large picture windows in our house.... don't want another dead bird from a broken neck,

[marie83]

yes. when I was a kid, we had a parakeet fly into a mirror and break her neck. had a couple teils that we let fly. current bird has them clipped because of large picture windows in our house.... don't want another dead bird from a broken neck,

What's wrong with teaching the bird they are there and keeping them covered when the bird is out? Just something to consider. Of course there's always the risk of accidents whether a birds flighted or clipped but clipped birds are at a higher risk of falls or trying to take flight and crash landing than a well taught flighted bird is of crashing into a window- particularly if precautions are taken by keeping them covered.

[Pajarita]

I've only clipped a bird in my entire life and regretted it immediately. He was the bane of my existence for two entire years so, on the next breeding season (he attacked me because he hated all humans but most especially me because his mate loved me), in desperation (this bird flew out to attack me several times a day, every single day and I would absolutely dread going into the birdroom because of him), I clipped him. He hid for three days and I felt like the biggest heel in the world! And it didn't even curb his aggression (he would then run on the floor to bite my feet). Clipping a bird is like having a dog chained to a post all his life or like having a horse hobbled all the time, it's unhealthy both from a psychological and a physical point of view and, if you ask me, it's downright cruel. In my personal opinion, if you cannot have a flighted bird because of your house/family set-up, keep chickens.

As to birds that crash against windows, I've heard this argument over and over in birdsites as an excuse for clipping and for the life of me, I don't really know if this is true or not because I used to run a bird rescue and had over 240 birds living cage-free and I never had a single bird crashing against a window even though the little ones (budgies, lovies and tiels) would fly over and perch on the top of the bottom half of them. Birds can see much better than we do but, when they panic or during twilight, they don't look where they are going very carefully or get blinded by he glare and could (I guess) crash against a window but it's all a matter of finding the way -like putting decals or sun catchers on the glass or drawing the curtains on the windows until they no longer panic and learn the windows are there.

[KimberlyAnn]

I think Bowie's expression pretty much summarizes my feelings on the question of clipping wings.

Lol

That's how I feel about this ~~~> "You are going to do what with those sissors?"