Decisions, Decisions

Hi All I am trying to make a decision and seeking some of your opinions. Here is the situation......

Rose has completed her first molt and has beautiful wing feathers. She is flying pretty well now and seems to be loving it. My place is very small. My front door opens into a hallway and windows are seldom open but when they are the window screens are secure. Since the molt she has gained some wt. and is eating more. Is this the result of being able to fly?? Not sure but suspect it is. She is not banded or microchipped. Her annual vet exam is not until Dec. and that would be also for grooming. My delima is to clip or not to clip. I have been leaning towards not clipping because she seems to be thriving. My conscious says to clip her. Feedback from members welcome.

SB,

I would certainly think flying would help a parrot add some weight.

Their pectoral muscles are out of necessity, the largest muscles in their body, and I would think exercise of them would restore some atrophy from lack of use.

Hey SB, I've always believed that the often controversial issue of wing clipping should be left up to the individual based on their beliefs and circumstances, for me the choice in most all cases with my hooked billed birds has been to clip, I do admit I have felt guilty at times for clipping, but I don't think that guilt would compare to the guilt I would feel if one of my fids was lost forever and never knowing its fate, this is just the way I feel, like I said, its a personal desicion we all must make, if Rosie is flying now I suspect that the weight gain is more due to putting on muscle mass and not so much due to the increased appetite, I have confidence that you'll make the right desicion for you

It really depends on how scared you are about losing her. If you have a screen on all windows in the house, then it should be safe to leave her flighted. I have my birds fully flighted, with no incidences of losing them so far. I have however, had incidences where the birds got spooked and went straight for the window.

IMO, you should keep her flighted. She is eating more, getting more exercise, both of which will help her to maintain good health. She also sounds much happier.

I also think it depends on how likely you believe your parrot is to get into trouble by flying vs. not being able to fly. You know Rose and her behavior better than anyone.

Like I have said, Gandalf broke the tip off of his beak flying into a wall when about 1 year of age. I don't think he ever forgot that, and he really got to love being on his cage, rather than flying around. If he wanted to see what was happening in the other room badly enough, he would usually just hop down and walk. Even if something startled him, and he flew across the room, he always walked straight back to his cage, and climbed back up.

I actually used to worry about him losing the ability to fly, but those fears were unfounded. One day when I had him on my bed with me, I got the feeling he really wasn't interested in playing when he took off, made two complete 90 degree turns through my door and down the hallway, and landed on his cage. Pretty fancy for a fat Grey who didn't fly much. It must have been all that flapping exercise he did scattering his down feathers all over my living room.

If Rose is as smart as I bet she is, she may have a mishap or two, but will learn to be careful. For me, the risks involved with having a flighted bird are less important than them being happy and confident.

I guess this may boil down to happy or safe. Ideally there could be a half way medium point with a little of each. Hearing your persontal stories does help in the decision making process. Thanks everyone.

It is normal for them to eat more when they are able fly. I had my teil fully flighted up until about 3 months ago. He weighed 108-110 grams before going to sleep. Now he weighs 96-98 grams.

I trimmed his feathers because he was being nasty and would sometimes bite me and then fly if I tried to pick him up.

I don't think it necessarily has to be Happy or Safe. I'm sure that a flighted bird is happy to fly, but a clipped bird is not necessarily unhappy because it can't. Do whatever feels right...it is a very personal decision...