Hey everyone! I am talking with a local breeder about getting a conure for the first time! But they just informed me that their wings are clipped. I don't plan to keep their wings clipped, as I want my bird to be able to live normally.

So I have a few questions I wanna ask before I purchase from them.

The baby just got weaned off of their formula, so won't clipping their wings mess up how they fly when they grow back?
How long does it take for the feathers to grow back?
Is it normal for babies to be clipped before learning to fly?
Are there any issues I should expect because of this?

I really wanted to get this bird from them, but I don't know how I feel about the wings being clipped. I want my bird to be able to fly around the house, since their isn't anything in my house they could hurt themselves on. The breeder said it should be about 4 months till they grow back, so that means it wasn't their secondary feathers? I really want this bird, but I will not purchase them if they will not be able to ever fly normally due to this.

Sorry for the longish post, and thanks to everyone who is able to help!

Hi GiraffeMan, welcome to the Forums to you and your soon-to-be-baby, and congratulations!

Your birdie's flight feathers will grow back after he has had his first moult, which should be around the age of 8 months or so. Hopefully the breeder clipped both wings evenly and not too short, as birdie will most likely instinctively try to fly anyway and a bad clip can lead to injury if the bird hits the floor too hard, particularly if the floor is timber or tiled. You might think about having him checked out by a certified avian vet as soon as possible once you get him home, to check how the clip has been done and also for a general wellness check. The link below may help you to find an avian vet if you don't already know of one.....

https://www.aav.org/

Some avian vets also carry out the procedure of "imping", where donor flight feathers can be reattached to your bird's wings. I've had it done with one of mine and the power of flight is restored straight away! Your bird will ultimately regrow his own feathers though and will learn to fly, although some who were clipped before ever learning to fly can remain somewhat reluctant flyers for life - I've had one like that too.

Other than that, I am looking forward to seeing some pics of your new baby when he comes home!

How to Post Pictures

(This is a subtle hint )

Once again, welcome to the Forums, we look forward to sharing your journey with you!

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"Words speak us more than we speak them.” Hercule Poirot (He may be fictional, but he’s my favourite “Belgian upstart”!)

Thank you very much for the quick answer! I just asked the seller, and the bird learned to fly before they clipped their wings. So hopefully all will be good with that! I have a friend who is an avian vet, so I will for sure be taking them the day after I get them!

Thanks again for the quick response!

babies should nit be clipped and learn to fly. Fledgling and that urge to overcome fear abd make the leaps to fly, and try again when fall. Is pre programed into them. And even clipped they will keep trying and much more likely to be hurt, split keel, other injuries, and after the molt, upto a year, may not ever learn well.

Also learning to fly abd having those feathers in place does help guide growth of wings, development of muscle, development if sight, and brain . They become speed thinkers who can think on the wing, processing things much faster than we can. Promotes confidence in development, abd sets the burd up for life. Later in life wing clips do nit have all these issues, tho I my self am still against them.

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"When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear. "Thomas Sowell

Please remember, they will lie to make a sale....they likely clipped for making their life easier way before this baby learned to fly. As they learn at weaning...unless they have a great set up i doubt very much what they told yiu was true. Why else not keep in feather sbd ask buyers preference

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"When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear. "Thomas Sowell