Awful wing clip, what to do😩

I originally had Anzu my B&G un-clipped due to wanting to recall train him and let him fly on a leash, but it became a hazard to himself. He would be out sitting with me then he would randomly fly into a window or mirror. after that happening a couple times I figured for his safety, I should keep him clipped.
clipping is not what I'm trying to get ask about in this thread (just incase anyone thought that's what I was asking about)
we went to the vet the other day, and the person who clipped him butchered his poor wings. he was sitting on his play gym and he lost his balance and fell, normally he would land safe, but since his clipping he just falls straight to the ground, it seems like he lands pretty hard too. What's the best way to keep him safe until his wings grow back in? Other then keeping him off of high places, is there anything else I can do? On average how often will they molt? He just turned one June 16 and he just finished a pretty heavy molt

OMG, that's so horrible! Maybe you should file a complaint with this clinic? I have smaller birds, but I cannot imagine to let anyone except myself clip their wings. You would probably have to wait another year until he molts again.

Poor little guy. Unfortunately, theres not a whole lot to do in the short term. Right now, he is used to flight and now he no longer has that capability and you simply can't explain it to him. He is going to have to learn he can't fly right now. Wings do play a small part in balance too, so he's going to need to learn to compensate. Give him a few days, and he'll be getting around his perches better And just be sure until he realizes he can no longer fly, keep him in a safe area (low, soft landing surface, away from things he can crash into). It can take a year or 2 for a bird to grow his flight feathers back, so it'll be a while and that's ok. Take the time to train and bond with him and always keep it in the back of your mind, they will grow back

If you ever need a bird clipped in the future, either do it at home OR request the vet do a "light clip" (just a few feathers in is enough to "humble" them, but not make them come crashing to earth).

Kiwibird said:

Poor little guy. Unfortunately, theres not a whole lot to do in the short term. Right now, he is used to flight and now he no longer has that capability and you simply can't explain it to him. He is going to have to learn he can't fly right now. Wings do play a small part in balance too, so he's going to need to learn to compensate. Give him a few days, and he'll be getting around his perches better And just be sure until he realizes he can no longer fly, keep him in a safe area (low, soft landing surface, away from things he can crash into). It can take a year or 2 for a bird to grow his flight feathers back, so it'll be a while and that's ok. Take the time to train and bond with him and always keep it in the back of your mind, they will grow back

If you ever need a bird clipped in the future, either do it at home OR request the vet do a "light clip" (just a few feathers in is enough to "humble" them, but not make them come crashing to earth).

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I agree with this advice. Nothing much you can do until it grows out, and your bird hasn't quite adjusted to his level of flight.

I keep mine "long clipped" which is the three to four outside primaries about half way down. It still gives them some flight capability, just not enough to get lost or hurt unless it's super windy outside....

I would supervise the vet next time, and give explicit instructions on what you want done... don't be afraid to be opinionated on this.

I would also look for a good groomer. It's usually cheaper, and since they do volume, they do this more often than vets do. A lot of vets are crappy groomers, frankly. You don't go to an orthopedic surgeon for an ingrown toenail...

Thank you all for the advise, I will not be going back to that vet for grooming. Normally I go to a bird store to get it done but it's almost an hour drive, but after all this I will be taking the long drive out to them. After inspecting the other birds to see if anything else had gone wrong Barney my Congo had a bloody toe, so I think they cut to deep put powder on it and let him be but it must have re opened there wasn't any blood after I had gotten home. I made sure he had stopped bleeding and put him back in his cage, but he wouldn't stand on it for a couple hours, but he's standing on it fine as of now.

Heres a picture of the awful clip on Anzu, Barneys wings also look like this but I'm not able to touch him like i am anzu

Poor baby. That is a pretty severe clip for a previously flighted bird. No wonder he's having some balance issues, he's going to need to learn how to compensate for that. That's gonna take a while to grow back, and you'll likely have to "re-teach" him to fly once those have had enough time to grow out. I might suggest you do daily "flapping" exercises with him to keep his muscles strong and for exercise. A clipped parrots flight muscles will atrophy if they aren't using their wings daily. It will take even LONGER if he has to wait for his flight feather to grow back then has to regain strength. Best to keep him strong from day one. "Flapping" (or assisted flight, as I like to call it) is a really good bonding activity and fun for your bird. Basically, hold his feet and let him flap his wings while you walk him around the room Use verbal encouragement and give rewards afterwards so it become an enjoyable activity he looks forward to. Our zon LOVES flapping. It's good exercise since he doesn't actually fly and he gets super excited about it.

P.S. Our Kiwi is clipped and from our understanding, never actually learned to fly (he's 16 and not interested in learning, we've tried lol so he remains clipped for safety). We clip at home, and I like to COUNT feathers instead of just lopping off feathers at random. I go 5 feathers in, which prevents lift and would keep him low and slow if he were ever to get spooked and have some kind of jump and flap reaction. I'm not familiar with conure wings, but it looks like you're guy would only need 3 or 4 feathers in to prevent lift if you chose to keep him clipped or ever need to clip another bird of that size. Counting is more tedious, but a MUCH more accurate method IMO. It looks like that wing is cut 8 or 9 feathers in, which is like half his wing feathers. It's totally excessive.

Re: Awful wing clip, what to do��

I don't need to re-emphasize that whoever clipped him didn't know a thing about it.

Since he JUST finished a heavy molt, it will take quite a while for Anzu to regrow those flights. IME it won't happen with just one molt, BUT, one molt may stabilize him a bit.

I can see how he would just flop to the ground now when he loses his balance, so please be careful. If you have slippery perches, maybe wrap some vet wrap around it?

What an awful experience! My best advice is to make sure there are a lot of ways for him to get around without flying - lots of ladders, rope perches, huge branches, etc, so he can learn and work out without flying, and so he doesnt feel so "grounded"

Re: Awful wing clip, what to do��

JerseyWendy said:

I don't need to re-emphasize that whoever clipped him didn't know a thing about it.

Since he JUST finished a heavy molt, it will take quite a while for Anzu to regrow those flights. IME it won't happen with just one molt, BUT, one molt may stabilize him a bit.

I can see how he would just flop to the ground now when he loses his balance, so please be careful. If you have slippery perches, maybe wrap some vet wrap around it?

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WTF!!! I AGREE...

THIS WAS A VET?! They cut way, way, way too many feathers, it's shorter than I care for, and it isn't even! That is a total hack job...

And that's exactly why I use a groomer. It's cheaper, they do a better job, and they generally do what you ask them to do.

This person clearly did not know what he was doing, and this kind of a clip could cause the poor bird to get hurt. I would definitely be raising hell with the vets office.

IT WAS A SIMPLE CLIP JOB! IF YOU WERE NOT COMPETENT TO DO IT CORRECTLY, YOU SHOULD HAVE SAID YOU DO NOT DO BIRDS...

With heavy species of birds it's the outer 3-4 primary flights, half way down...

Who ever did this has absolutely no business grooming birds!

So I know I already commented, but I thought of something. Where are you located? I know I would never have the funds for this, but if money is not an issue (I have no idea how much they charge or if they would be willing to do it for a bird who was going to be trimmed), but Dr. Steve Hartman of Parrot University has and article on "imping" parrots, that is attaching molted feathers as is done to rehab wild birds. I cannot include the link here because they do not allow us to include links to sites that sell things, but if you google "imping parrots" and read the article on Mowglie, maybe that is something to look into. Perhaps he would be safer flighted than clipped that badly

It looks like at least one of your birds allows you to handle their wings pretty easily, based on that picture, maybe you should have the groomer show you how next time you take a bird in, so you can be comfortable doing it at home? I always do my own, so I can do EXACTLY what I want when I want a bird clipped or trimmed. I prefer not to have my birds clipped at all, but I do it when someone else is going to be transporting them (like when we moved to Hawaii), When I am taming a new bird who has never been handled (like my turquoise Green Cheek, Buddy) or when a new bird comes into the flock and one of mine is aggressive, I "trim" the aggressive one to allow more maneuverability for the new one.

My yellow-sided GCC, Cache, has a pretty severe clip from his last owner (they were told to trim his wings and beak every 6 weeks...) and he has serious balance issues along with being the LEAST confident bird I have EVER met - this leads to him throwing himself backward, forward, and sideways off perches and fingers all the time, and hitting the ground sometimes. To help with this we are working on confidence, but we have also placed table top play stands on the ground, and are planning to flight-suit train him so he can spend more time on the back of the couch where he would have a softer landing. We will potty train later but we are focusing on other things right now. Just some thoughts on what you may be able to do. I am just glad your birds have an owner who cares enough to notice when something like this has been done so very badly. I also agree with the other posters, whoever clipped them like that needs to be reported to their boss. You don't need to yell and scream, but I suggest being very VERY firm that this is NOT acceptable, and that this vet, vet tech, or whoever, did HARM to your birds.

SilverSage said:

I also agree with the other posters, whoever clipped them like that needs to be reported to their boss. You don't need to yell and scream, but I suggest being very VERY firm that this is NOT acceptable, and that this vet, vet tech, or whoever, did HARM to your birds.

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The hard part would be NOT yelling and screaming! To bad there isn't a BMQA for vets!

OMG! That looks really horrible to me… so sad that there are many incompetent vets around. One of the members of this forum kindly shared with me the graphs of wing clips, and I've done a light clip to all my birds myself since then. Most vets clip the wings way too short. I'm in no position to advise you, but I just think you would feel much safer if you learn to do it yourself (and save a few bucks as well).

Can you call your local bird vet and see if they do imping?