a wing clip oops!

My non avian vet husband clipped my cockatoos second ary flights (back of wing) instead of primaries (front of wing) which were already trimmed when 4 weeks ago. Grrrrr. Now his wings are pretty much straight across. I call them " Mow bangs" (3 stooges...). Will they ever be normal again and if so how long will it take? I don't want to dwell on it with my husband since he feels real bad!

They will be that way until molt which could be a while depending.

They'll stay like that until the next molt unless he 'pulled' the feathers out (which I seriously do not recommend).

The feathers that are left will just drop out and replace eventually, but I can't tell you when your too's next molt will be, so!

I got Kai (quaker) as a re-home and thats how his wings (esp the right wing) were. The a-vet was horrified. I was told to be very careful with Kai because he was so unbalanced he would drop like a rock. His keel bone was already very bruised. I got him in Oct 2011 and he has moulted now and is starting to fly. I dont know when he was clipped before I picked him up but I have had him for 6mths. Please be very careful that this bird does not fall

This seems common to me. Two of the birds we have were clipped that way. I dont know if they were oopses or did it to prevent flight completely. Our cockatiel is clipped and can still fly across the room just fine, lol

Sulphiria said:

This seems common to me. Two of the birds we have were clipped that way. I dont know if they were oopses or did it to prevent flight completely. Our cockatiel is clipped and can still fly across the room just fine, lol

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Yes, my husband swears he was taught this way - and did say something about it preventing flight more completely. Zazu is "dropping" faster but his behavior seems normal otherwise. I certainly would have preferred only the primaries trimmed, but they were, and he still was able to fly clear across a livingroom/dining room combo, over a dog gate and into the kitchen where luckily my husband was near enough to the dog to grab her collar. That's what prompted this "trim". The woman at the adoption place had also suggested we check his trim because she must have known he was still able to fly. I feel better - he is eating and playing with his toys and I did lower his main perch so if he fell it would not be as far - and since I hate cleaning grates, I have several layers of cage liners on the floor of his cage. It does look a little funny, though. I prefer wings to not look so cropped straight across! Oh boy, I hope I don't have to wait a whole year for a molt!

My opinion is that wing clip is deficult to do corect and shold only be done by person knowning what they are doing. Wrong done it could kill the perrot

the first time i had the avian vet clip remington, it was awful, very jagged and uneven, it took about 4 months for the new feathers to grow in

Thank you for all the replies. Just want to let you know that Zazu actually flew pretty darn well tonight. He apparently just needed time to get a feel for his new aerodynamics and is just fine! My husband is giving me a bit of an "I told you so" but not too bad. I feel bad I accused him of a bad clip. He would never have done it if he hadn't been taught that way. Apparently today's preferred clip is primaries only and allows for a completely natural look. Anyway, he's flying - although not as far, so that's a good thing. We have a friendly dog but she chases wildlife out in her yard and I don't want to test the waters! Thank you again for the feedback. After he molts and is back to his original look, I'm going to request a more modern feather-do for Zazu.