Will she fly again?

Hey guys, I’ve had my IRN since April, when I got her the previous owner had clipped her wings. She can semi fly, she will land fine, she just can’t fly high or long. Will her other feathers grow back? I’d really want her to fly again

Most likely yes. It might take a couple molts to get all her flight feathers back but it will happen. And if she's still making attempts to fly then she has likely flown in the past and will be a relatively strong flier once her feathers grow back. If she's still clumsy it's relatively easy to teach them how to get back into the groove of things with some basic target training and just practice. Just make sure she continues to keep using her wings so her muscles don't deteriorate.

Owlet said:

Most likely yes. It might take a couple molts to get all her flight feathers back but it will happen. And if she's still making attempts to fly then she has likely flown in the past and will be a relatively strong flier once her feathers grow back. If she's still clumsy it's relatively easy to teach them how to get back into the groove of things with some basic target training and just practice. Just make sure she continues to keep using her wings so her muscles don't deteriorate.

Click to expand...

The place I got her from just kept her in a tiny cage and she barely had place to move, they kept clipping her wings

At home i’m amazed at how good she is though, she flies properly especially for a bird with clipped wings so I do have hope, I just really want her to have the chance to fully fly again

Yes she will fly again, if you’ve had her since April she’s probably due for a moult soon so once those feathers start to grow back she’ll get stronger and more confident every day

MrLaurieKeats said:

Yes she will fly again, if you’ve had her since April she’s probably due for a moult soon so once those feathers start to grow back she’ll get stronger and more confident every day

Click to expand...

I hope so! She’s very anti social and she always sits in one spot and doesnt really interacts with us, I hope she’ll gain confidence and becomes more active

Most likely if she can “semi fly” clipped, she will have no trouble actually flying once her flight feathers grow back in. Be aware though, that could take upwards of a few years depending on how drastic the clip was and when the clipped feathers were last replaced by her body. Parrots tend to have a big molt annually and will only loose a couple flight feathers at a time during a molt, plus the odd one here or there during the rest of the year. They do not necessarily replace clipped flight feathers any faster than unclipped ones either. The big feathers on the wing and tail can last a bird a few years before replacement. So overall, it can be a lengthy process for a clipped bird to grow back all their flight feathers.

Yup, once the clipped feathers fall out the new ones will grow in and she will be able to fly.

Just wanted to add, since you never know who might read a thread, that it is not always the case with clipped birds that they just magically start flying after you let their wings grow out, though it sound s like the OPs bird will have no issues picking flight back up. We have a non flyer and have let flight feathers grow in twice during the 11 years since we adopted him and he steadfastly refuses to learn to fly. He was likely clipped before fledging and never learned as a baby. He has zero interest in flight as an adult. His last encounter with a cabinet door rendered him unconscious after panic flying while fully flighted, so we have decided he will remain clipped from now on. We clip just enough he can’t get lift or speed and gently glides to the floor if he panic takes off (which is exceedingly rare for him as flight is not his automatic response to danger). At around 21 years old, he knows no different than to climb and ask for rides from humans to get around.

It can be very hard or downright impossible to teach adult birds how to fly who have been clipped their whole lives. Beyond simply growing back flight feathers, a long term clipped bird also never developed the proper musculature to support flight and likely compensated by building different muscles that better support climbing instead. It can make owners of older birds who have always been clipped feel very discouraged, like they’ve failed their bird and even like their bird can never truly be happy without flying (which isn’t true at all!). Birds who did learn to fly when young before being clipped tend to have minimal issues picking it right back up again after growing back their flight feathers and that is getting to be the majority of clipped birds being adopted or bought these days. Clipping in general is becoming less and less common, especially for breeders to do before a bird fledges or for new owners to have done to freshly weaned babies they just brought home as people tend to learn more before buying parrots.