Two feather trim questions!

Clover: is now fully flighted and even flies up and down the stairs. She commands the house and is becoming less and less gentle with her beak. Her mood is horrible (she's molting), but her bipolar aggression makes me wonder whether a wing trim is in order. It's hard to train her when she has the freedom to LEAVE whenever she feels. How much would a moderate wing trim damage her psychologically? Do you think it would make a difference in training? She most definitely needs pressure training again.

Flaco Peabody: I doubt this bird has ever NOT had his wings trimmed, or someone really did a job on him to prevent him from flying at all. Sometimes he flies off his stand, raises up for a bit and then crashes into the floor beak first. I'm concerned about his landings on tile, that just must hurt! This afternoon I examined his wings and was surprised at what I found. He only has P1, 2, 3, and 4. He also has S1, 2, and 3. He had P10 on one wing and not on the other. I trimmed P10 to the length of the other primaries so he would at least be balanced. Have you ever seen such a strange feather trim? Why would they have trimmed him that way?

Harry, was plucking, underweight, an aggressive biter and maybe a touch psychotic! I had a pet store owner and a vet suggest a wing clip for her, I refused both offers. In her case, I chose not to take away her ability to fly, even temporarily. I was really worried that a clip would cause the plucking to accelerate. Training took more time and patience, but IMHO I made the right decision for her. Harry loves to fly.

Zeke was practically cage bound and overweight. The first times out of his cage, he panted after a short flight, but he got a little better and a little braver every day. Zeke is still on the plumper side of his weight boundaries, but only by a few grams now and he can fly several laps without exhausting himself. I know he's much healthier and I think flying helped a lot in his case.

Maybe you could put a blanket or a softer landing pad over the tile for Flaco Peabody. The keel bone can take a real jolt with that kind of landing.

I have no idea about Peabody's clip, but I'm not that familiar with clipping. It makes me wonder if the clip had any affect on Peabody's plucking. Personally, I would never consider clipping a quaker, but that's only one opinion.

I respect everyone's personal decision to clip or not. Make the best decision for your situation and your birds.