Wing clipping
 

Wing clipping

Here is a good link showing and explaining dangers and safety of proper wing clipping.

http://www.exoticpetvet.net/avian/clip.html

Clipping of wings probably lead to loss of even more birds than knowing how to live with flighted birds.

People clip wings thinking that their bird will not fly away.

I honestly have nothing against the way people chose to keep their flock. No one should allow others to pressure them one way or other into any prescribed way. They and only they alone must decide.

But they should know as much as they can , not relying on the word of anyone alone, less of all, not from me.

But to think that clipping of wings will meant bird will be safe is so unsafe that that is frightening to me.

Trimming wings is about the worse measure to try to stop birds from flying away.

In fright and with wind gust, clipped birds will , and can fly away.

By trimming feathers, you lull yourself into a false state of mind that all is safe. Then when the clipped bird fly away in fright up a tree, the very lack of those clipped feathers meant that bird cannot fly down to you again.

Those who live with flighted birds will know that flying down is one of the hardest act EVEN WITH ALL FEATHERS INTACT. Successful flying down from high points require much more skills than flying up in fright.

If you think clipping prevent unwanted escapes then read extracts below

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lost cockatiel 'Tory'
Lost cockatiel. Grey/yellowish pearl. Banded 03. ay come to 'Tory Bird'. Poor flier due to wing clipping. Email: dbrueck685@aol.com. White Lake, MI.

Our bird was lost on 11-23-03 in the area of St. Petersburg, Fl. In the region of OLD NORTHEAST. We are heart broken over it, any info that is given will be greatly helpful, wings are clipped and can't fly There is a reward out for the return of the bird , under one year old. Email: ywwalker@mypetshop.com. St Petersburg, FL.

Blue & Gold Macaw, Lost in Pembroke Pines, Fl Distinctive Forth black Line Under Eyes. Still Being Handfed. Wings Were Clipped First two Wing feathers Still On. Lost On Sept. 21. Reward If Found. Email: mattshaninfl@aol.com. Pembroke Pines, FL.


My daughter and I are so sad because my husband went outside on
Saturday Feb. 24th at 3 o'clock and he had our little Mustached Parakeet. It's a female, and she was scared about the noise that my husband did with the trashcan, so she flew away.

We try to find her, we gave to the people some flyers and we put some
of them on the mail boxes, we look around our home where we thought that she can stay but anything happened. Our Parakeet Vet told us that she can't fly long distances because she has just 3 feathers on each side, she is missing 4 on each side.

She was living inside the house in a warm weather and now outside is
cold, the Vet thinks that she can survive outside but I don't know what we
can do. We are missing her a lot. Her head is light gray, she has
salmon-colored half breast, some of her tail feathers are turquoise, and some yellow on her wing feathers. We are living in Gilbert, Arizona.

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You should make your decision when you know wthe consequences .

Take a look into what Pamela Clark wrote. Read that and then you decide.

Feathers, Flight and Parrot Keeping
http://www.indonesian-parrot-projec...brary/pam2.html


Shanlung

Ultimately one has to be careful one way or the other. In anycase if those with clipped wings do escape (sometimes) then those with unclipped wings are guaranteed to be able to escape. I think the choice is yours.

dogcom,

It is perfectly your right to think as you please and talk as you like. Who am I but just a junior member while you are no less than the Forum Advisor!

But strangely, despite your quarantees, Tinkerbell is still with my friend and Yingshiong still with my wife. My other friends who decided to use Tinkerbell Legacy still have their flighted parrots with them. For reasons strange to those flighted parrots and birds, they do not seem interested in escaping regardless of quarantees that you are making.

And those clipped parrots that people had been advised as 'safe' flown away. I have even more of those pleas. Should I upload another 100 ? or 200?

For others who still like to read what this junior member got to say, here are a couple of letters I had written on this thread in international parrot forums. Or you can accept those quarantees and not read what I write.

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Re:Wing clipping?? - 2007/03/11 11:31
In this bundled series of letters, I was talking about what I termed as the gyrodrop. That was in the
context of the mechanics of bird flights as to how they fly downwards. You can gauge how much I
know about the difficulties of birds flying downwards.
Feel free to dispute with me on what I wrote, if you have some such experiences.

About the end of that article, I suggest the best flight angle for you to
induce your clipped or unclipped bird to fly back to you. You never know
one day you might need to use this.

An article from Part 1 Tinkerbell Early Period
http://www.geocities.com/shanlung9/w6gyrodrop.htm


Shanlung
http://www.geocities.com/shanlung9

And if above works for you and you are grateful,
send a nice cheque to Gerald Durrells Wildlife Trust

http://www.durrellwildlife.org/

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Re:Wing clipping?? - 2007/03/29 15:43
MrSpock wrote:

Proper wing clipping will allow a bird horozontal movement and the ability to glide downward to a floor. The ideal wing clip is one that allows a bird to fly about 8 ft before gliding down.


Hi Dave,

In an ideal world, what you say above may be right.

The other extreme will be extremely severe clipping of wings. When I was in Riyadh and in a parrot shop, this grey jumped off the top of cage about 5 feet from ground. The sound of him hitting down, the spray of blood around him, and the screaming of that poor guy hurt me crazy. I do not wish ever to have another keel bone broken even if not in front of me.

People clipped for a few key reasons.

1. They had been conditioned to that because of what they read or were told. This seemed to be peculiarly American. Tinkerbell wings were so nearly clipped by me at the beginning as the books I read all recommended that (all American books) as well as forums in 2002 when I first had Tinkerbell. I was lucky enough to bought a British parrot mag to give me second thoughts.

2. The sight of initial flights, the crashing into walls was extremely frightening and I thought my precious Tink was crazy in trying to fly through walls while I stumbled about chasing her with a pillow to cushion her falls after hitting the wall. Once again, I so nearly reached for that scissors and Tink the flyig grey of Taiwan so nearly did not exist. But that british mag persuaded me to let that continue for a few more days.

She then found her flying skills to turn, slow, hover and stopped banging into walls.

Folks, this episode is inevitable. Your birds may be natural fliers, but even so, they MUST develope their muscles , flying skills and sense of balance. But at this early stage, their speed will be very slow(even if it appeared fast to you) and chances of harm to them will be there.

You can minimise this by letting them fledge in a small room, with curtains or rope nets around the walls for them to fly to and cling too. Or you can run around like me with a cushion.

If you see a human toddler trying to walk and falling down, will you have fear for his/her safety and not ever let him discover balance and walk? Will you have him/her crawl for the rest of their life because you are afraid to see them fall?

This is same as your choice for your bird.

3 By clipping wings and thinking thus the clipped bird will never fly away. I need not repeat my earlier postings of clipped birds that flown away.

In what Dave said , that is true in an ideal world. Unfortunately, we live in the real world.
But most people then went on to extrapolate that then, their bird will never be able to fly away. That is where I draw that line.

So after you got that 'perfect clip' and your parrot then fly about 8 feet and not gaining height. But again, have that clip been tested under worse case condition? Such as a sudden blast of air horn , or a strange hat thrust in front to see if that parrot cannot gain height in a spook situation?

Can you bear to do a sudden spook, or allow others to do that to your parrot? To see if that clipped wings hold good in spook conditions? And with Murphy at your elbows, how about throwing in that gust of wind at the same time?

Can you ever guarantee such conditions will never ever occur to you?

People had thought so. Their parrot paid heavier price than they did.
Your choice again to see if you can beat those odds.

On a different note Dave, I tried to log in to your old forum to let you and other friends there know about my last trip to be with Tink in Nov last year. If you did know, fine. If not, you might like to read this

Tinkerbell Interlude photoset and videos, and start of next chapter of life. Also as to why I am now here in Brisbane , down under.
http://shanlung.livejournal.com/65169.html


Shanlung

Hi all,
I believe this a very subjective matter and depends on individual. Personally I clipped the wings of all my parrots. My lesser cockatoo once broke open his cage and I found him 4 floors down the block. If his wings aren't clipped then I would have lost a beloved pet. In Singapore most of us stayed in flats and once the parrot flew out, they would not know how to fly back as all flats looked alike to them. Another incident was my Yellow Nape took flight in a coffeeshop due to some noise caused by a customer. I personally had received many calls regarding lost and found parrots and these are all the ones with unclipped wings. I visited the birdpark last week and a show cockatoo took flight and disappeared into some high trees behind the stage. :D

This is an extract(http://www.petparrot.com/index.html) from Judy Leach, a very reputable parrot breeder/trainer.
If you have been doing your research on the internet, I am sure that you have come across some controversial opinions on the subject of clipping the wings of parrots. There are those that believe that it causes psychological damage, inhibits the development of confidence, and reduces balance. Although, clipping wings could be a contributing factor to any or all of these, it would certainly not be the only cause or the primary reason for these problems.

In the wild, flying is necessary to the survival of a bird. It is a means of travel, escaping enemies, and finding food. For domestic pet birds, these reasons for flight are no longer valid. In fact, the ability to fly can be detrimental to the safety and well being of a pet bird. An unclipped parrot that has accidentally escaped outdoors will become disoriented in his freedom. He has not been conditioned and trained by his parents to survive. He will not be able to find his way back to his home, will not be able to hunt for food, and will not even have the instincts to warn him of the threats of other animals.

In addition to the risks, of your pet getting lost outdoors, an unclipped bird may injure itself by flying indoors. To an inexperienced parrot, a mirror or large window may appear to be an opening to another area. A head-on flight into one of these could cause a serious injury, a broken neck, and death. Although, parrots can learn that these are not exits, they may not survive the necessary lessons.

In a young parrot, unclipped wings can cause difficulty in training for a new parrot owner. Since parrots have the intelligence of a young child, it doesn't take them long to learn that they can fly from their owner to avoid having to obey. Clipping the wings of a young bird will help to maintain control for training.

As a breeder and experienced handler, I normally don't clip young parrots until they are weaned and ready to go to their new homes. I believe that the only benefit of unclipped wings is the additional resistance that helps to build chest muscles while exercising the wings. Confidence is built with positive re-enforcment, affection, and encouragement. Development of self-confidence can only be inhibited by the development of fears. When the baby is clipped, it should be done so that his balance is not compromised. He should not able to fly, but will have enough lift to break a fall. Proper clipping will insure his safety and help in his training and adjustment in his new family.

This is the email reply from Judy Leach on wing clipping.

Hi Silvanus,

The excerpt from my site explains reasons for clipping, and I have heard pros and cons on the subject. I personally don’t clip my pets unless they get too obstinate during the adolescent period. After the feathers grow out again, I normally don’t need to do it again. If a parrot is properly trained and handled, they usually don’t need to be clipped unless you plan to take them outdoors. The problem is that most people don’t know how to train a young parrot. If left unclipped, a pet bird can be seriously injured, or lost.



Clipping wings is usually necessary when working with an aggressive parrot or one that is not tame or needs training. Clipping the wings helps to establish control during the period of training.



I don’t think there are any hard fast rules on this subject. Whether or not a parrot should be clipped depends on the individual parrot and the handling experience of the owner/trainer. The judgment can also be made on whether or not there is a possibility of the bird getting lost outdoors. Every year I get emails from people that have lost their pets because the wings were not clipped. In many of these cases, either the birds are never found or it is too late by the time they are found.



I hope this helps. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me.



Judy Leach



Judy Leach's Parrots

http://www.petparrot.com

judy2304@petparrot.com

Hi Silvanus,

I do not take any stand one way or other on the clipping of wings.

Too many intangibles are involved and situations always fluid and may change. No one must ever be pressured to adopt one approach against another.

It is not the clipping/not clipping that lead to the loss of birds. It is the
lack of understanding and knowledge in handling birds in different surroundings that lead to the loss, clipped or unclipped.

Keeping flighted birds must come with the great responsibility of really knowing them and the steps that must be taken and the training that must be done.

Far too often, people thought clipping wings will keep their birds from ever flying away and never bothered to go deeper into training and bonding. This is where I draw the line.

Your latest letters are good and will hopefully allow readers to see both sides more objectively and decide on which path they should take.


Warmest regards

Shanlung