Timneh is going to get her wings clipped

I’ve been thinking this over for a few weeks now. For her safety and mine she will be loosing her flying liscense. She getting into everything from scraping paint of the metal of the part that holds the curtains to destroying the fan blades on the ceiling fan. Crashing into my face and scratching right by my eye when she goes one way into the living room and I i to another. I turned to get ice in my glass bang yet again she go into the cabinet and threw another glass her third now. I love her dearly but even just taking a drink from my glass can get a dive bomb if she wants it. Hopefully it doesn’t change our bond. And she keeps on trusting me but for now for my sanity and her safety she will be going back to short sleeves. I feel like a failure in so many ways.

I can’t tell you guys how much I love Timneh and how hard of a decision this is for me. She loves flying and has gotten very good at it. I much prefer her flying than walking on the floor also. My landlord prefers I do t hang a chain rail from the ceiling to give Timneh more places to land and call her own. I’m going to try and figure something out to keep her entertained , safe. Out of her house, and out of mischief somewhat anyway.

I will be discussing with her CAV also. She’s not always into stuff either just when she’s bored. She sat by my head on the couch this afternoon watching a movie for an hour. And she will just hang out on what used to be a bar for coats in the hallway for a long time napping or just hanging out.

Why would you feel like a failure? She could have blinded you, so I think a light clipping makes perfect sense.

Billdore said:

I’ve been thinking this over for a few weeks now. For her safety and mine she will be loosing her flying liscense. She getting into everything from scraping paint of the metal of the part that holds the curtains to destroying the fan blades on the ceiling fan. Crashing into my face and scratching right by my eye when she goes one way into the living room and I i to another. I turned to get ice in my glass bang yet again she go into the cabinet and threw another glass her third now. I love her dearly but even just taking a drink from my glass can get a dive bomb if she wants it. Hopefully it doesn’t change our bond. And she keeps on trusting me but for now for my sanity and her safety she will be going back to short sleeves. I feel like a failure in so many ways.

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Bill don't feel undefeated! It IS however for Tims best interest,and safty...and YOUR piece of mind! Tinneh has discovered she can go anywhere she dang well pleases and "hahaha you can't stop me dad!!" "Oh yes I CAN,sweet little Timneh! clip clip clip that'll learn you!!"

Personally Bill...I think its the best thing to do at this moment. Heck..her sleeves will grow back soon enough. Maybe it'll make her think twice now on what she does! She'll kind of be dependent on you to get around.


I'm having the same thoughts with my little fluffboy BB..he has never been clipped (except by the breeder just before he came home with me) and he has learned to fly ( Amy never did learn,never fledged,and I feel bad about that) So I let BB grow out his sleeves and learn. Now he flys very well,and goes wherever he wants,unfortunately,sometimes it is where I don't want him to go

I just got off the phone with their doctor. I made an appointment for next Wednesday for a wellness check and birdicure for BOTH of them. Amy will get another clip. The weather has gotten very nice and I'm sure she is dying to go out riding/visiting with me and her nails need a trim.
BB's nails need a trim too,but he doesn't go outside,so I'm up in the air about shortening his sleeves. But if I do decide to have them shortened,he won't be able to zoom around and go places he isn't suppose to go, ( like landing on Amys outside her house ropey perches and getting Amy all worked up)
What to do? what to do??


Jim

My Bella recently tried to land on my face. She scratched my lip with her talons.

I understand your reticence to do this but when it's a mater of safety you gota do what you gota do. It's only temporary

We all know how much you love Tim. This decision shows it even more, safety first and foremost. So don’t beat yourself up.

I’ve also let Levi’s flight feathers grow in and so far so good.
However, today I was about to give my son his bath and I walked away for a minute to get his medication & I heard flapping. Levi likes to hang with us and he perches on the back of the shower chair. When I walked away he flew into the tub. That was a first. He was fine and was able to tread & flap, so he didn’t submerge himself completely. But, he’s never done that before.
The funny thing though, once I put him back on the chair he kept getting low & opening his wings like he was going to fly in the tub again.
I actually had to remove him from the bathroom. Later, I offered him a bath and he had no interest. I honestly think Levi wanted to take a bath with my son ....?
It was the craziest thing. He’s never done that before.

Thanks guys really appreciate that. Pros and cons on either side. I just feel like I didn’t do enough to enforce where she shouldn’t go and give her enough cool places to go around the house. For so long she never left my shoulder. Now it’s 1/2 shoulder 1/2 wandering around. She learns so quickly so I know it’s my fault for her not knowing whAt she needs to know. My little grey feathered Diva. I can’t even imagine how she will react to this grooming. Better have lots of new toys and treats ready for her. Jim Timneh has destroyed the first keyboard and got a couple out of the white one. I kind of use that one for my backup as the others are destroyed. I keep forgetting but Timneh reminds me that we have to send something to her buddies. Thanks again for being awesome guys. I was telling my ma about you all.

I bet Levi was a little jealous. Probably not with your son but instead. Lol.

I believe you've made the right call. That you are reluctant shows how much you love her and yet must balance your role as a terrific parront. If anything, she may bond even closer after losing flight. And this is temporary, her feathers will grow back and you can reassess. Might even find, when all is done, a "light clip" may be the best scenario. But for now, let us know how she responds!

Enzo is the same, if I let her, its part of being an intelligent and inquisitive minded bird I suppose. I work around it myself and Enzo continues to fly. If my kids annoyed me by walking in the mud all of the time I wouldn't cut their legs off, the only benefit of being a bird (prey!) is the ability to fly, I have never taken that away from any of my birds.

Personally I have areas that I allow Enzo to destroy and areas she cant, for example I have a £3000 hand made wing back arm chair that I enjoy sitting in, Enzo knows not to chew or indeed go any where near it unless I actually call her when im sitting there. Other areas, one spot on top of one kitchen cupboard I look at as sacrificial as I can always repair...... Enzo can chew all she wants there.

Work with the issues, dont take your birds flight please.

Happy to hear that your girl loves her keyboards




Jim

Everyone’s situation is different Big Fella. Most of the thing Timneh is choosing to destroy can be dangerous to her. Like trying to pull the ceiling fan down or eating paint. I hope you see that not everyone situations are the same and support other members decisions especially when they are not easily made. Thankfully your kids can’t fly and don’t own a can opener on their face. Kudos to you for having better control of Enzo I believe I already said I felt like a failure. Hopefully when her feathers grow out again I will be able to keep her more safe.

I've been feeling the same way with Bella, she came to me as a clipped baby who never learn't to fledge, it took her almost a year to grow back all her flight feathers and she quickly learn't and now about 6months later is a master pilot.
On one hand she's alot happier and a much more confident bird but on the other I can't leave her unsupervised for longer than a few seconds. shes a very curious bird that want's to play and chew up anything and everything. She's destroyed my favorite hat, portable aircon cord (thankgod it wasn't plugged in) wall picture frames, iphone and this is while supervising her and just being distracted for a few seconds.. there's nowhere shes afraid to land and my home is far from birdsafe.
It's gotten to the point where everytime she's out of the cage i'm constantly chasing her around from picture frame to picture frame telling her to get down, she 100% knows I don't like it but it's a game to her, she has a stand and a couple more area's to play and chew but she won't stay on them for long, always back to her favorite wall frames which are probably toxic wood/paint
She's now caged alot more than when she was clipped but I can't bring myself to clipping her after seeing how much active and happier she is but I think I might have to for her safety and my sanity but I want to try a few more things first

With my rb2 its completely different, he's fully feathered and can fly but chooses not to unless spooked, he's completely happy just walking around the house exploring and he doesn't seem to use much bite force on anything so I feel alot less worried about having my eyes on him at all times

bigfellasdad said:

Enzo is the same, if I let her, its part of being an intelligent and inquisitive minded bird I suppose. I work around it myself and Enzo continues to fly. If my kids annoyed me by walking in the mud all of the time I wouldn't cut their legs off, the only benefit of being a bird (prey!) is the ability to fly, I have never taken that away from any of my birds.

Personally I have areas that I allow Enzo to destroy and areas she cant, for example I have a £3000 hand made wing back arm chair that I enjoy sitting in, Enzo knows not to chew or indeed go any where near it unless I actually call her when im sitting there. Other areas, one spot on top of one kitchen cupboard I look at as sacrificial as I can always repair...... Enzo can chew all she wants there.

Work with the issues, dont take your birds flight please.

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While I totally understand why many people feel the way that you feel BigFella, and while I respect your opinion and feeling on what you do with your own bird in your own living situation, I hope that you can really think about this and take a step-back for a second, put yourself into the shoes of others, and realize that everyone has their own, individual situations and issues, and each bird-owner has to make their own decisions based on their own living-situations, and they must do what is right for both them and their bird...And more importantly, in this particular situation the bird's flight has presented a serious safety issue for both Billdore AND for his bird....

So while Billdore and the rest of us totally and completely respect your choice to not ever clip your bird's wings, you also need to respect everyone else's choice if they do choose to clip their bird's wings. The way that you made your statement, even though you didn't purposely mean what you said in this way, I know that, but it came-off to me as though you were saying that clipping your bird's wings, regardless of the reason, is a form of abuse. And because the decision to clip your bird's wings is an extremely difficult one for most people, as it obviously has been for Billdore since he stated right away that he "feels like a failure", making him feel guilty for the decision he made is not at all helpful. People make this decision for any number of very serious reasons, whether it be for the health and/or safety and welfare of their bird, or the same for themselves and their family members, and there is usually a very good reason when an obviously committed, loving, caring parrot owner chooses to clip their bird's wings.

So to be so judgmental of someone for making this very personal decision when you have no idea what this person has been going through or how serious an issue it actually is for them, and you're only basing your comments on your own situation with your own bird in your own home, the end result could be the person actually changing their mind and deciding to not clip their bird's wings...which is exactly the decision you want them to make, I understand that's your purpose, but then what do you say when a week later the bird dive-bomb's Billdore and he loses an eye because of it? Or his Timneh gets up to the curtain-rods, chews some of the paint off of it and eats it before Billdore can stop him, and then his Timneh dies from the paint he ate? These are the individual situations/issues that Billdore has been dealing with for quite a long time, and it's gone-on for quite a long time because Billdore has taken this decision very seriously and it was obviously a last-resort. But now he has made the decision that he feels is right for him and his bird. And it would be nice if you could understand that and also respect it, as we all, including Billdore, respect the fact that your bird's are all fully-flighted.

It's good that your bird does well being fully-flighted and that you're able to "work-around" his flight and any issues that arise because of it. Unfortunately this is not the case for quite a lot of parrot owners, for whatever the reasons. No two birds are alike, no two owners are alike, and no two homes/living situations are alike. That's what you need to try hard to understand, out of respect for all bird owners on this forum and everywhere else. And you also need to remember that clipping a bird's wings is a painless and very temporary decision to make. At most Billdore's Timneh will be grounded for a couple of months, after which he'll be fully-flighted again, just as before, and hopefully the couple of months that he is unable to fly will not only strengthen the bond between Billdore and his Timneh, but it will also result in his Timneh learning that the behaviors that he has been displaying while he was flighted are not acceptable, and that he has many other options/activities that he can do instead of the ones that he's been doing. The dive-bombing at people faces is the scariest behavior that flighted pet birds can exhibit, as it can result in not only serious injury to the people they are dive-bombing, but the immediate, automatic reactions of the people the bird is dive-bombing can be fatal to the bird too. So when everything else that you try doesn't work or even help, and you've exhausted all other avenues to the point where your relationship with your bird is being strained due to their behavior, you must do what you gotta do...And once again, it's completely and totally temporary, and short-term at that. It's completely painless, and as long as the bird's owner commits to taking full-advantage of the time while the bird is grounded and spends ample time working with the bird, bonding with the bird, etc., then it's all for the better.

Billdore, don't you dare feel like you failed, this happens to most bird owners at one point or another, especially the owners of larger parrots who can potentially pose a safety risk to both themselves and the people they live with. It's a necessary and usually very successful solution to your problem, and most importantly, remember and remind yourself often that it's short-term, painless, and for the good of you both...

On a side-note, I'd look into either buying or building some different stands/play-gyms, either out of PVC or wood/branches, that you can place in various rooms of your home, so that Timneh always has somewhere that he can call "his own", and always has something to do with his time and his beak. Keeping him busy and from becoming bored is crucial, and I've found myself that having an area/stand/play-gym in every room that the bird knows is all-his and no one else's can help tremendously...