Wings clipped or no?

[LordTriggs]

I would not get a bird if I had to clip its wings. One of the reasons I love birds is their ability to fly, and I could never take that away from them. If my home was so dangerous I would just get a dog instead. I can't imagine why so many of you have dangerous homes and can't responsibly keep your bird flighted. Like I said before, wing clipping is illegal in some European countries. They obviously don't have a problem with keeping their birds safe. Like LordTriggs said, wing clipping should only be done in special circumstances, such as birds attacking or bad fliers.

it's not so much a dangerous home but if a bird frequently goes to a place they can't be retrieved from and they show interest in a light cord then that is dangerous and the only way to eliminate that is to remove the light which is extremely tricky considering we need to see at night

 

[clark_conure]

So....CKP should abandon his blue fronted amazon flock member to a rescue, or let it out free to the wild, or let it risk it's life on ceiling fans and windows until..., or chase it around with ladders.....All on your opinion? I believe on his testimony this qualifies as a special circumstance!

You sound completely unreasonable, look, I know I'm missing out on the flighted part, everyone knows that when they clip, we miss out on the flight, we get it.....but some of us sometimes have a valid reasons to believe we are being better, and more loving and more caring owners by looking after our own birds safety in a valid pragmatic way in response to our own particular environments, temperaments, abilities and the abilities of our birds.

This is not a political movement, no one cares who voted for who in an election or who votes for one method or another method in parrot raising.....This is a message board to give and take advice. Sometimes it's good advice to clip, sometimes you don't have to it's as simple as that; and the OWNER can decide what is best for themselves.

 

[LordTriggs]

exactly like Clarke said, it's up to the owner. I'm merely of the opinion that it should be a decision revolving entirely around their well-being

I think it's unfair that some countries ban it entirely. What happens if someone moves in with a parrot that has had a wing clip all their life because they are a poor flyer? Let them hurt themselves? Pretty sure that would constitute as abuse

 

[YUMgrinder]

well, I see benefits in both situations. But there's a much higher risk of losing your bird with full flighted feathers. I lost my lovebird to an open door one day. It was my fault, the door opened and she was flying around the living room and shot right out the door. I miss her. I dreamt last night she came back to me all bloody and near death. In my dream I saved her, but in reality she most likely died weeks ago on one of these cold dark nights

I choose to keep mine clipped now.

 

[FlyBirdiesFly]

No, of course he shouldn't abandon his bird! I'm just saying that me personally, I would not keep a flightless bird. I know there are many loving owners who clip, and this may be a special circumstance! But there are so many "special circumstances" and so many birds have their wings clipped! It's almost like having a home suitable for a flighted bird is its own "special circumstance"! YUMgrinder, I'm sorry about your lovebird. But many clipped birds fly away also!

 

[LordTriggs]

I think the discussion is becoming circular now (as it will forever be lol)

at least we can all agree here that it should always be in the interest of the bird and not the human

 

[clark_conure]

Agreed lordtriggs if you put in the effort to do it or pay to get it done lets all agree it's for a valid reason.

 

[CKP]

No, of course he shouldn't abandon his bird! I'm just saying that me personally, I would not keep a flightless bird. I know there are many loving owners who clip, and this may be a special circumstance! But there are so many "special circumstances" and so many birds have their wings clipped! It's almost like having a home suitable for a flighted bird is its own "special circumstance"! YUMgrinder, I'm sorry about your lovebird. But many clipped birds fly away also!

Props to you for maintaining such a viewpoint; however, I'll say it again...

My personal decision to clip my bird comes AFTER attempts at training and AFTER attempts to make my home safer. Our homes were not meant for birds to live in them. There's walls and glass windows/doors and electric cables and ceiling fans and toilets and hot stoves and toxic chemicals. None of these things foster a 100% safe environment. But we do our best to give them the safest and most stable environment to live in.

I didn't throw my arms up at the first issue having a flighted bird would entail. I would LOVE for him to be flighted. You can look back on this forum and see that I have been so excited to work with him as he has grown his flight feathers back in. But I also understand that his safety comes first and, despite multiple attempts at "parrot proofing" my home as best as I can this is the decision I have come to as a parront.

Sure, I could stick him in our spare bedroom while we work on recall training him, where the ceiling fan never turns on and there's curtains over the windows and the ceilings are low enough that I can retrieve him. But then I'd be ignoring him and leaving him stranded on that side of the (largely unused) house.

Again, kudos to your resolution about maintaining your birds' abilities to fly. But I want my baby to be happy and healthy and SAFE, and this is the way that I know how to do that.

 

[CKP]

I think the discussion is becoming circular now (as it will forever be lol)

at least we can all agree here that it should always be in the interest of the bird and not the human

Exactly!

Which is what I was trying to illustrate for the OP's consideration...

I don't WANT to clip my little man, but I also don't want to come home to or even worse witness a horrible horrible preventable accident.

 

[clark_conure]

Actually flybirdiesfly wasn't the OP we should all gang up on jbready!!!!!!!!

Just kidding don't do that!!!!!! LOL

 

[LordTriggs]

I vote we gang up on bad breeders!

Who's with me?

 

[CKP]

Actually flybirdiesfly wasn't the OP we should all gang up on jbready!!!!!!!!

Just kidding don't do that!!!!!! LOL

No, I understand. jbready asked about clipping wings, so that was what I was speaking to, giving our example and all...

 

[CKP]

I vote we gang up on bad breeders!

Who's with me?

That, and Craigslist scammers :25:

 

[clark_conure]

when I posted that last I was thinking of this

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWJM5YFXA7I"]Your Fault 'Into the Woods' Disney - YouTube[/ame]

skip forward to 1:15 in....it's from into the woods Disney with anna kendrick and meryl streep! IT's their fault!

 

[FlyBirdiesFly]

There are two kinds of people in this world, clippers and non clippers. Just kidding! Let's gang up on bad breeders instead!

 

[clark_conure]

There are two kinds of people in this world, clippers and non clippers. Just kidding! Let's gang up on bad breeders instead!

AGREED!!!!!!!!!!!
100%

 

[SunnyJ]

I see valid points in this back-n-forth...to clip or not..... I'm considering having Baby clipped but now I'm not sure. Since the loss of my other half she will not stay on her play perch and just play like she use to.....more and more is is just flying off into the other room at will. She is not 'return trained'......so she is a one way bird. I think I need to give this subject more thought! Baby has always learned things not by 'reward' but by good praise and encouragement. 'teaching an old bird new tricks'......hmmmm

 

[Anansi]

Ah, recall training is huge when it comes to keeping flighted birds. I worked at it tirelessly with Bixby, and now with Jolly, until their response time was pretty much immediate. Rarely any lag time between call and response. Not because I'd dominated them, but rather by turning it into something they wanted as much as I do. And don't worry, old birds can definitely learn new tricks... so long as you are willing to be equal parts persistent and consistent with their training.

Station training is also helpful as well, btw.

 

[LordTriggs]

Ah, recall training is huge when it comes to keeping flighted birds. I worked at it tirelessly with Bixby, and now with Jolly, until their response time was pretty much immediate. Rarely any lag time between call and response. Not because I'd dominated them, but rather by turning it into something they wanted as much as I do. And don't worry, old birds can definitely learn new tricks... so long as you are willing to be equal parts persistent and consistent with their training.

Station training is also helpful as well, btw.

I put recall training a bird the same as training a dog to "come". I'm sure many who have read my threads from last year know how me and Rio began our bond but it was over an impromptu teaching of recall training, we hadn't been close before but then he decided my finger looked comfy from a distance and flew over, nothing has ever felt as rewarding in my life as that moment.

Like everything else with a bird it's all a case of time, bribery and fun. If a bird gets rewarded AND recall training turns into a game for them then they can be amazing with it. Rio never liked to sit still out of the cage, he was always moving from place to place exploring around. to be honest as long as the places they go is bird proofed (as the whole house should be) then there's no reason to worry about them going off to different places. If you want a certain place to be where they hang out for longer then simply make it more interesting! If they have a favorite toy then put it there, hide their favorite treats in the area, give them something interesting to look at.

As I always say, a clip should only ever be for safety and never for 'correcting' behavior

 

[clark_conure]

curious why this came up again....I've re-clipped clark. I can get him in his flight harness but all he does is try to chew on it....maybe that will go away in time, but he likes to go out with me and I think the flight harness takes away from that, he so into chewing on the harness to enjoy life.

I've got another 30 years to get him used to it, so we will see... and this summer we will keep practicing, but for now for safety he is still clipped.